We just booked a flight last night: two weeks in early September. :eek:
For me and (especially) my wife, this amount of lead time for a vacation constitutes “last minute.”
Normally we book things years in advance, but:
• We’ve been stockpiling money for a trip.
• She’s of Irish ancestry* and has always (always) wanted to visit.
• A sale on airfare means it will cost us less to fly from San Francisco to Dublin than it did to fly to Maui this past February.
Our sketch of an outline of a rough idea of a plan is to do a road trip of some sort. The recent trend of having bed & breakfast vouchers good at an association of lodgings is appealing. Since we have two weeks, I’ve also thought about renting a cottage, probably in or near County Kerry, for part of our stay. We have a decent budget, but we’re not the luxury-accommodation type. Ideas?
Any tourist spot suggestions? Places to visit apart from the usual stuff? I’m looking to take some actual landscape photography. Any target-rich locales I should take my tripod? Castles, ruins, megaliths, cliffs, rolling hills; anything.
*: IIRC, all her great-grandparents were born in Ireland and emigrated. Does that mean she’s third-generation or something? About ten years ago she even went to the Irish Consulate in S.F. to look into citizenship (no go).
The western seaboard in general is littered with the stuff you’re looking for. Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, and Kerry are all good spots to take in. Clare has the infamous cliffs of Moher and a variety of other gems besides. If you find yourself in Dublin (for your sins) I’m sure myself, Yojimbo, or ruadh can help you find places of note to visit.
It’s dangerous to go alone. Here take this!
The Cliffs of Moher are a definite must-see. Nearby, there’s a town called Doolin. Tiny little spread-out community, but it has four pubs, and they all have live music every night. We stayed in a nice B&B there and enjoyed the music and singalongs in the pubs.
If you’re going to Dublin and you’re a beer fan, don’t miss the Guinness visit. It is touristy, and there is a line to get in, but it’s fascinating. Just the memorabilia and the cask-making parts made the visit–although sitting up in the Gravity Bar on top at the end is an awesome view of the town.
Oooh, I’m *green *with envy (no pun intended). I would LOVE to visit Ireland!!
Places I’ve wanted to see are: (along with all the other general tourist destinations like Blarney Castle) Giant’s Causeway, Lake Glendalough, Avoca (I’m a BallyK fan), Powerscourt Gardens, and just most of the scenery in Wicklow County that I’ve seen on TV and in books. So pretty…
You do realize that you MUST post pictures upon your return!!