Holy Days Batman!!!!

When I began this blog there were over 100 days until our trip. Now there are just 51 left until we depart. Not much has needed to be done in terms of reservations, rentals, or anything but there is still a lot of planning.

As I research areas, I still continue to come across places I want to add to the itinerary. Even with the length of the trip as it is, there will not be enough time to see it all. And many of the places are very different than what I would have visited before. For example, the Cork English Market is such an amazing place. I guess you could compare it to Pike's Place in Seattle. Can't wait to be taking some pictures there and try some of the local cheeses and chocolates.
http://www.corkenglishmarket.ie/

Two very different locations have a very similar product - smoked salmon. One is just to the north of Dublin in Howth Harbour called Wright's of Howth, and the other is in Lisdoonvarna called The Burren Smokehouse. Obviously, we'll have to sample both and compare!

http://www.wrightsofhowth.com/

http://www.burrensmokehouse.ie/

I'm going to need an instruction guide as to how to bet at the races in Ireland. We've planned a day at Dundalk Stadium to see some horse races. I've bet at horse races in the US for a win, place or show, but I'm not seeing place or show when I research betting in Ireland. I may just have to bet to win! Not that there would be any sense in a place or show bet. Now there's a real course of study before we get there. I hear if I set up an account beforehand I can phone in my bets! I'm sure they take credit cards! LOL

We would have loved to catch a High Kings show while we were in Ireland as their tours have not come to the west coast of the US, but unfortunately we'll be in the North when they play in Killarney. If they do add some more shows we'll try to get there. We've already booked a concert in Derry. Missed it last time I was in Ireland.

As I finish planning docs I decided to load them onto the "cloud" so I have access to them while we travel. Trying not to have to print everything and I'm not taking a big laptop with me. I've finished the document with the list of 28 days of B&Bs, hotels, and inns. Need to work on that as the pictures with maps did not transfer. Always something with technology!

As the days tick down, it gets more exciting. Until next post! Slan :)

So many places, so few days

Now that flights, car, and B&B have all been confirmed and we have set our itinerary - not in stone - but a general plan is in place, I've been searching out roadways and directions since I'll be doing the driving. I did all the driving on my last trip, so I don't mind. I do realize that the driver sees the roadside sights much differently than the passengers. The only way to help with that is to constantly pull off to the side of the road so the driver can take a gander at the wonderful sites being viewed by the passenger. And that is what sightseeing is all about.

As I've checked out roads and directions I've come across more sites to check out. And when I came across this site, things got even more complicated.
http://www.irelands-hidden-gems.com/index.html

I was so glad to discover that I had previously seen some of these "hidden gems" and that we have already scheduled to see many more. But in amongst the ones I've seen and the ones we plan to see were a few extra suggestions that I wanted to try and fit in.

I do have to say that after 3 previous trips most people would think I've seen pretty much all there is to see, but while Ireland might be small in size, it packs a punch when it comes to sightseeing. It was not until my third trip that I saw Kilmainham Goal in Dublin, or the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. With this trip lasting just under 4 weeks, there is that extra time, so we will adjust as needed, where we can, and I hope we have the time.

I want to pass on another website that is a great reference. Wish I had found it earlier for some additional references for B&Bs, but will mostly be using it for restaurant and pub references.

http://www.goodfoodireland.ie/

I love that Ireland is working on becoming a foodie destination. My last time in Dublin I was pleasantly pleased to find some very delicious tapas, and a surprisingly scrumptious vegan place for lunch. There will always still be the lamb and potato places with traditional Irish food, but they are now taking the traditions and turning them into a delicious and unique dining experiences. I'm looking to visit some of those places and see for myself. But don't forget, I am taking a cooking class in traditional Irish cooking! :)

So the list of places to see keeps growing. I'm sure we will have to weed through and eliminate a few, but we'll see. We've tried to leave enough time in each day so we are not too rushed. Hopefully that will help.

More to come now that we are under 60 days to departure.

Moving Along With the Agenda

As we move along with plans we've made our reservations at B&Bs along the way. It took an entire weekend just to get the majority of emails and enquiries sent off to approximately 17 locations for our 4 week trip.

This week I finally heard back from the last of the B&Bs with confirmations. I did find out that often the responses came back to me in my junk mail, so was checking there daily. And those online enquiries that are part of the B&B network don't always work. After not hearing from a few B&Bs, I searched for direct emails and received responses within 24 hours.

So at this point we have plane reservations and reservations at B&Bs, and a car reservation. I'd say we're pretty much ready. We did end up changing the tour plan for our last 4 days on the road to include a visit to the horse races. Something new for me during a vacation to Ireland. Now we are down to finding some additional unique places to make sure we have a chance to visit.

I'm very excited that when we are in Dublin a friend and her husband from London are flying over to spend our last weekend with us touring this wonderful city. They have never been to Ireland before, even though they have lived in London for a year. Have to admit, with everything there is to see in England, I might be in the same boat if I was there.

As a reference, I'll be listing the B&Bs in the various locations as we travel, so that if anyone is looking for a B&B in a town they might want to use the same one we stay in, or not, depending on our experience. For the most part, after having stayed at B&Bs my last trip, I really haven't found one that was unacceptable. It's really important to understand that some are newer and "purpose built" - built as a B&B, and some are older and converted to B&Bs. Most are ensuite, meaning each room has it's own bathroom and shower, but on occasion, they are not. For the most part a "double" room means a room for 2 with a double bed, no queen-sized, or king-sized. They are not really what you would consider luxury accommodations, but very comfortable and homey.

Outside of a hotel or a self-catering cottage, a B&B gives you a better chance to meet people. Both the people from Ireland and others traveling to visit Ireland. Some B&B proprietors are very business like and only tend to the business at hand, others are much friendlier and spend some time getting to know their guests and chatting with them. Back in 2009, at a B&B in Dublin, Mary our hostess sat down in the evening and had a nip of whiskey with us while she shared about her life. It was great.

In all these plans we did make reservations at hotels in and around Dublin when we first arrive and the last 4 days before we leave. It was important to be closer to the center of things where walking would be our means of transportation. If you are staying in Dublin City Center you are within walking distance of most locations. It's not really a city I'd want to do much driving in.

As we approach our departure time in close to 80 days, we'll make a few more online reservations where we can save a little with online reservations, like the ferry to the Aran Islands, or a hop-on-hop-off tour of Dublin.

I wanted to post this little picture of one of those "out of the ordinary" sites. I hope we get a chance to go and see this little church.

Always read the fine print!

Here it is almost the middle of March and other than inquiries and airline reservations we have not moved ahead much. Part of this is our schedules being so hectic, and part it the need to look over the itinerary now that we have added one day at the front of the trip and 4 additional days at the end of the trip. Want to make sure we have planned for the time we want to have a rental car and not be stuck somewhere needing to travel across country at the last minute.

This post is about rental cars. I've been doing a lot of searching for the best prices and thought I had found a deal. Yesterday when I went to check the reservation again I realized that the car I was looking at was a manual. I can drive a stick shift, I'd just prefer not to. As I dug deeper in the "more info" on the site, I realized that the reason this rental cost was so good was also because the CDW was not included. That can run anywhere from 14 to 19 euros a day. For a 24 day rental like ours, that's a pretty penny.

So back to Thrifty.ie and I think we'll be getting something very small to save some money. So at this point we're looking at a Nissan Micra, or something similar. Sounds really, really small. We could upgrade to a VW Golf for about another 75 euros. We'll see.

I've used Thrifty before and it was just fine. In fact, compared to the other major car rental places their prices are better than the rest. Just when I thought I had a deal. Make sure you read the fine print! :)

I also get the feeling it's going to be totally packed with our luggage.

Only good news

I know the title here sounds like something momentous might be happening, but we are moving closer to all that we had hoped for in this trip, short of moving to Ireland :)

Since we are using airline points and credits we are at the mercy of the availability of seats on the airlines and trying to coordinate 2 different airlines on the same days can be pretty tough. We're flying to Chicago first and then on to Dublin. As it was yesterday morning the only way we could even be close with the two flights was to fly into Chicago on June 21st and fly out to Dublin on June 22nd arriving on the 23rd.

By just a fluke, American Airlines opened up some seats for airline points yesterday evening on the 21st! So now we will just transfer from Midway to O'Hare without an overnight stay. I was excited that I might get to see some Chicago friends, but not sure that will happen now. By making the flight all in one day, we get an extra day at the front end of our trip. Always a good thing.

We did have to work a little and purchase a few points to get the return flight we wanted. Considering that 90% of the flights were free, that was nothing to worry about. So now we'll be in Ireland for 4 weeks. And our flights back are all in one day, with just the airport transfer in Chicago. This next weekend will be the start of reservations for some of the specific locations that we know where we want to stay. Now that we have the extra day at the front and have added 4 extra days at the end, we need to make some adjustments to the itinerary.

Imagine, we have to think of more places to visit in Ireland! As if that will be difficult. We have already decided to spend a few days on the Antrim coast. That way we won't be rushed and can enjoy all the beautiful Antrim coastline and find those little hidden gems that most people don't know about.

So all in all only good news for this weekend and trip planning. :)

Small steps

While there is still plenty of time, I'm thinking our airline reservations will be firmed up this weekend. We needed to purchase some extra miles so we could extend our trip over one more weekend. This will be my longest stay in Ireland and I can't be more pleased.

I ordered some electrical adapters - I never did find the ones I had from before - and received them this week. I ordered through Rick Steves site. It was the best price and now that I have them I understand why. If you are doing this check to make sure the adapters have the ability to connect with US 3 pronged electrics. Fortunately, all the electrics I'm taking have only 2 US prongs. If I was taking a larger computer with me (I have a netbook that I travel with) I would need the 3 pronged adapter. These were quite cheap - $2 each, but the shipping was $6. In the long run, it was still a deal.

Also, still waiting for some lightweight luggage I ordered and a better small carry-on for the plane. It's not pretty, but it will do the job. Over the last couple of trips I have never taken more than a 26 inch suitcase. We'll stop to do laundry, so I should be fine. I don't like to have to drag heavy suitcases up flights of stairs in B&Bs, so I try to stay on the light side with luggage.

It's time for some spring cleaning in the house and I'll be going through closets and looking at clothes I want to take with me. I shouldn't need to purchase much except for basics like socks, but a nice new lightweight sweater that can be layered would be nice. It's always a little cooler along the Irish coasts like Galway Bay, and the Antrim Coast. Malin Head will probably be cooler and very windy from what I hear. I don't think I've ever been really cold in Ireland.

For some reason I've never made it to Belfast. That will be remedied this trip. A Hop-on-Hop-off tour and maybe a Black Cab ride for starters. And I definitely want to get to the famous Crown Liquor Saloon. Some places just can't be passed up.

Hopefully firmed up reservations will be done in the next two weeks. Now that we have extended the trip, we may have to change a few things around. Just have to be patient and wait for confirmed plane reservations. :)

It's the little details

Even though we have not made any reservations yet, except for the airline flights, there are still way too many details that cannot wait until the last minute. I try to think of what some of these are as I go along, but I'm not the most organized person. I have at least a couple of power adapters for our electrical appliances, but have no idea where they are. I'd like to try and avoid purchasing something I already own, so I need to start searching my drawers and locate them.

Another thing I always worry about is luggage weight. Since we are going for 3+ weeks, there is no way that we can take everything and never do any laundry. More on the laundry plan later. But with having to porter our own luggage up flights of stairs, I like to keep my luggage to one suitcase and just under the 50 pound airline limit. The suitcase I've always used is 14 pounds empty and this really causes problems when I'm trying to load it with clothes, and a few souvenirs when we head back. I spent a lot of online time today looking for luggage that was under 11 pounds. That seems to be the breaking point and even 3 pounds will make a difference. My other choice is to use a rolling duffel. A duffel can run around 7 pounds so that would be a nice weight to deal with. Still thinking about that one.

The last time I went to Ireland we did laundry twice. Would have liked to do it a third time, but we stretched things to last. In order to do laundry we need to be staying in a location for 2 days. Arrive one day, drop off the laundry the next morning, go sightseeing, and pick up the laundry before 5:00PM the second day. We have already planned where we will be and use at least one of the same laundries from my last trip. And in doing some research, one of the B&Bs we are planning to stay at provides laundry service. Yeah for that!

So my job for the next couple of weeks is to find my power adapters and some acceptable luggage. I also have to replace my travel "purse" for everyday. My old one had the zipper break on the last trip and I had to replace it after the first week. Definitely got my money's worth out of that one. Eagle Rock makes some wonderful travel accessories and I'll be checking that out.

Everything else will have to wait until about mid March when seriously get planning.