Ireland - Getting ready for departure

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I have been a traveler all my life (airforce brat) but I still get the giddy feeling in my stomach as the departure for a trip grows near. My husband Jim and I are heading for Ireland. While I have my typical ritual for getting ready which requires buying and reading way too many travel guides, underlining everything that sounds interesting to me and marking them on a map (I know way too obsessive). My husband is cruising the internet shopping networks buying sweaters and jackets for the trip. His plan is to wing it, meet people and drink lots of beer! When we look back at pictures they usually show me reading aloud from the guide book at some ancient site or museum and Jim hoisting a pint in a pub. We truly balance each other out. I dutifully drag him to every historical or artistic site and he makes sure we spend our evenings chatting with the locals and walking down those tiny back streets where you won't find many tourists. We have planned trips throughout Europe and even Australia all on the internet. Sometimes we have driven and sometimes we have hired a driver taken the train or caught a plane, but the adventure of finding out whether our online choices turn out to be a gem or dud is really fun. As all travelers know, there are rarely any real mistakes. It's all good in the end. We will be flying from our tiny picturesque little U.S. town, to Dublin. Three days in Dublin and then we pick up our car at the airport and make our winding way to Killkenny where we will spend a few days touring the southwest of Ireland (more details later). Then we are off to Killarney taking what we hope will be a beautiful winding tour through the southern heart of the county. For the days we are in Killarney, we will explore the southwest, then off to Ashford Castle in Cong. Since I am 50, I'm just the right age to ablsolutely require the pilgrimage to the town where John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara shot "The Quiet Man". I can't wait! After a few days enjoying the sites and possibly one of the Aran Islands, we will drive back accross the middle of Ireland to Dublin where we well rest for a day enjoy a few more pints and pubs and then catch our plane back to the states. Lots of planning and anticipation and we are hoping the trip will as enchanting as we dream of while we count down the days to our departure.

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Photos

SS-Voyager
Here I am in Vienna! Can't wait to get some photos in Ireland.