Month: September 2015

It feels like we’ve been planning this trip forever, and tomorrow we leave. I finished my spreadsheet of “Things To Do By County” today – don’t mock. It’s how I roll. I think we’re going to be surprised at how small the island really is. I feel like I’ve really done my homework – I’ve watched travel videos and scoured the internet. Who knew so much could be crammed into a space the size of Indiana?

As I mentioned earlier, the itinerary is aggressive. Here is is…

Fly into Dublin, First night Howth. Second night Killarney. Third night Galway. Fourth night Sligo. Fifth night Derry (Londonderry). Sixth night Belfast. Seventh (and last) night back to Dublin. Leave the next morning. Lots and lots between stops!

This is definitely TURBO IRELAND!

The packing has been easy. Jeans, tees, fleeces, socks, and a waterproof jacket. Not glam. Still deciding on footwear.

My only regret is not getting enough Ancestry info to really sniff around about the Kearney Clan (Mike’s mom’s folk.)  I’ll spend a few hours on that tomorrow. I’d love to hear your thought on Ancestry.com….it sends my ADD into overdrive!

Stay tuned…probably no pictures tomorrow, but after that…green, green, GREEN!!!

We are really starting to feel the pressure to get everything done by Wednesday. Apparently we have angels watching over us (disguised as Flight Attendants.) One of my regular students from Apple asked for our flight info so she can ask her fellow FA’s to give us some “special treatment.” We’re not sure what that means…it can only be good! I’ve started to stack things by my suitcase…a travel umbrella, a wide-brimmed hat, and a little something for our “hosts.” We’re going with a patriotic theme.

Some studying of the TSA rules revealed some good info. You can even bring this on-board. (You’re not supposed to consume it, but we can be sneaky!)  I told you we were being very economical…do the math vs. buying refreshments on the flight.

The final purchases will be hiking socks and some yarn for an on-board crochet project. I know I haven’t posted the itinerary…tomorrow…I promise!

The countdown to Ireland is on. We leave next Wednesday and naturally I’m feeling enough stress and anxiety to wake me every morning at 5:00 AM!

We’ve actually been amazingly organized. As I mentioned earlier, we have the proper currency, all the Airbnb’s have been booked and confirmed…heck, I’ve even ordered special meals on the flights.

Then the reality sets in. Mike is going to be driving on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD! I didn’t think this was going to be such a big deal but, when we talked it through, we also realized that the gearshift will be operated with the left hand. THIS became the only real roadblock we’ve encountered since we started the planning.

It seems that the majority of cars in Ireland (and probably most of Europe for that matter) are small and have manual transmissions. This isn’t regularly a problem….my Mini has a manual transmission (I’ll describe the ordeal that was our first attempt at The Cooper Cup Rally another time.)

Two calls to Expedia and the problem is resolved … hopefully. You’ll know by the posts I write once we’re there how it’s going!

Now when I’m up at 5:00 AM I can watch videos about Ireland and driving on the wrong side of the road.

I know I promised the itinerary…that’s next. I just thought I’d interject this little speed bump.

Have a great weekend.

I promised more information as we got closer…here it is!

We leave for the Emerald Isle a week from Wednesday. This weekend I lugged the suitcase up from the basement (it’s a carry-on, but will still be hefty when I’m done loading up on MY essentials.)

We also had a revelation this weekend…we discovered not all of Ireland uses the same currency! We knew we’d need Euros, but Northern Ireland still uses British Pounds Sterling (£). Yikes. What else don’t we know? Apparently there might be an issue with the electrical converters that we used in Spain…it seems Ireland may be slightly different there too. Hellooooo Amazon. Ordered those too. Whew!

Now for the nitty gritty. As I mentioned earlier, we are doing this trip on a very aggressive budget. The planning was pretty intense, but with the help of Expedia, Airbnb, and Amazon we were able to make all the arrangements. We will be flying non-stop from Philadelphia directly to Dublin, and returning the same way. No First Class for us…Coach will have to do!

Figuring out the accommodations was a little trickier. Apparently lots of people in the world (the Irish included) are interested in welcoming strangers into their homes! We put a few restrictions on this process…we’re not staying in someone’s guest room while they are in the next room snoring away! In each place we are staying, we’ll be in a guest house, separate apartment or cottage on the property. (I’ll be sharing pictures of each place we stay so you’ll get the idea.) I scoured all the reviews, and my interaction with each host (that’s an Airbnb thing) has been warm and lovely.

Mike will be spending part of the next week watching YouTube videos on how to drive on the wrong side of the road. I predict there will be some heated conversations around this phenomenon. I also plan to stop and take pictures of EVERYTHING, so prepare for some charming architecture and lots of sheep.

We’ve been socking away $100 a week since we started planning this trip in an envelope marked “IRELAND” – this week I’ll be heading out to the bank to exchange some of our savings into euros and pounds. The only things (other than entertainment ) we’ll need to buy are food and gas.

Coming up…the itinerary.

We find ourselves in mid-September having already had quite an interesting year (in terms of travel!) We were extremely  fortunate to be offered a vendor trip to Spain at the end of April. Spain was everything we imagined and MORE…architecture, culture, history, and lovely people.  I’ll actually write a little piece on that adventure after this NEXT excursion which will start at the end of this month.

I have been to Europe a few times, but Spain was Mike’s first real venture outside the U.S. (not counting Mexico and various islands.) It was the eye-opener I expected it to be and so much more!

Planning a vacation for us is tricky. Even more-so now that we work together – how will DuBell survive with both of us gone???!!! Plus, we still have Michael in college, and the dogs to think about, and Eagles season tickets and BLAH BLAH BLAH. It’s painfully easy to talk yourself out of something…STOP !

After much consideration, the trigger was pulled….Ireland here we come! This decision came about for several reasons. Mainly, Mike’s mom, Joan, has serious Irish roots. My mom’s family is from somewhere in the British Isles (mainly Scotland I think) but we’re focusing on the Kearney clan for now.

We’re inviting all of you to embark on this expedition with us. I’ll be documenting, in words and lots of pictures, the whole thing in detail. One of the reasons we’re sharing is that this whole trip is going to be done on an extremely tight budget. We carefully watched airfares, and with the exception of the final night of the trip, all our accommodations will be through AirBnB.

We are also taking a very aggressive approach to seeing the whole island. Most commercial tours focus on one area…we’re hitting the whole damn thing – HARD! (Even Northern Ireland which some consider still dicey.)

Welcome aboard…it’s going to be a wild (Irish) ride!!