Blogs from Ireland, Europe - page 326

Well we have arrived now in Dublin. Sorry for the delay in the blog, but there was no internet access on the Aran Island. In fact we didn't have power yesterday for about 8 hours. No worries though, the pubs were still open and the grocery store had a generator! The trip so far has been awesome and I am sure it will just get better as we continue on! So much has happened I don't know what to put on here... but one story is this: Mom and I were on a walk around the Aran island and we came upon a rooster...in the middle of the road....and asked ourselves....why does a rooster cross the road. (mom says: To get to the Guinness silly) Lisa says: to get to the local KFC type restaurant! As ... read more

Hey everyone....just thought I would add to the last post. Lisa and I headed out to find the Temple Bar district to have a celebratory drink for her dinner. She really wanted an Irish dinner on her birthday so we found Gallagher's Bar where she ordered Corned Beef and Cabbage. We toasted to her 30 years on this earth with a Murphy's and Bulmer's. There was traditional music playing and the place was packed. Temple Bar itself was packed so we will return tomorrow during the day when it won't be so busy with the tourist crowd. We did lots of walking around.....absolutely stunning old buildiings in Dublin. O'Connell street was so busy! The people here don't wait for the safe crossing light and just go....streets are going every which way with buses, cars, and motorcycles ... read more

Negotiated a bus from Heathrow to Gatwick for my flight to Dublin. I wasn't scheduled to leave until 9pm-ish and I arrived at Gatwick at around 3pm. I inquired at the service desk whether it might be possible to be put on standby and catch an earlier flight. The reply was "Sorry, Ryanair don't do Stand-by, however, if you wanted to book a separate ticket for an earlier flight it will cost you ............................121 Pounds" "Ahh thanks, but no thanks" was my reply. Ryanair also have a policy of charging 5.5quid for every kilo that your luggage is over 15kg. Now I knew that my backpack was at least over 20kg so I put my brain to work to alleviate the problem. Solution = Chuck the heavy non-essential stuff like washing powder etc and wear as ... read more

Being a technology trainer and always encouraging my teachers to use blogs in their classrooms, I thought, "What better way to learn about travel in Ireland than to read the blogs of people who have traveled the same route as us?" So I started reading travel blogs. Did you know that most people who blog are 18 to 22 and they like to get drunk every night? Not being pious here--when I was 18 to 22, that was fun for me, too. But now that I am 46 and wiser (or maybe just wear out easier), that just isn't the scene I crave when finding out about Ireland. So this is the blog for people like me: those who want to find out what it will be like to spend 10 days in Ireland, rent a ... read more

Thursday, June 19, 2008 Killarney to Waterford, Ireland We were keen to leave Killarney after one night. So, we plotted a route to the south to Kenmare. This town was recommended to us just before we left by our closing attorney. She said it was a fun town and a good alternative to Killarney. We had already decided that we would not do the famous ‘Ring of Kerry’ on this trip. We were satisfied that the Dingle Peninsula would suffice for this vacation. We needed to leave at least one highlight for a return trip. As we drove south we entered the Killarney National Forest. Just on the entrance is the “Muckross House.” It is a mansion built in the nineteenth century. Queen Victoria spent three nights there once. It was owned by a rich English ... read more