who has been to Ireland?

[trailhogg]

We are leaving in late May for the west of ireland. Its a Bed & breakfast self-drive trip and we will spend 7 full days there. Flying into Shannon airport, pickup rental then traveling from shannon (co. clare), to kenmare (co. kerry), to doolin (co. clare), to westport (co. galway, i think), then to ennis (co. clare) and flying back out of shannon.

If anyone has done a self-drive trip chime in. I am very curious to hear what you thought of driving over there. My wife and mother are already petrified at the thought of driving our rental, so most likely it will be me and my father behind the wheel.

Also, anyone that has spent anytime in any of the towns i mentioned let me know what your thoughts are. where are the good pubs? cafes? sites? Doolin seems like a fantastic little coastal village, very close to the cliffs of mohr.

This is a life's dream come true for me.

 

[sven]

Cool. I did the same self-drive trip on our honeymoon in 2002. I rented a turbo diesel Toyota corrola with a 5sp. Took me about a day to get used to driving over there...wrong side of the car, wrong side of the road, no shoulders, crazy round-abouts! I probably hit the left hand mirror about a dozen times on tree branches. Very fun, Id do it again if I had the chance.
What company did you book the trip?

 

[trailhogg]

What company did you book the trip?

cant remember the name of the company at the moment, but we used a local agent that set it up through an Irish tourism company. It was one of the big ones, not brenan, but still cant think of it. We did the B&B vouchers, so we could stay anywhere we wanted that accepted the vouchers.

what part of ireland were you in?

 

[MtclimberVT]

I spent 2 days in shannon, lots of old castles you can visit just outside the airport...the local food was an acquired taste with all the different cheeses they use, hotel and meals were very expensive compared to the U.S..... overall it was a great time

Mike

 

[KevinNY]

Been there many times. Almost all of the towns now have bypass roads as the streets are VERY narrow and now full of cars instead of carts. Westford is a very nice town, kind of a tourist place for the Irish themselves. If you can, make it up to Donegal and drive the Inishowen penninsula, go to Malin Head too. That where my Mom was from. Watch out for tinkers on the west coast.

http://www.visitinishowen.com/about/about.html

 

[trailhogg]

Been there many times. Almost all of the towns now have bypass roads as the streets are VERY narrow and now full of cars instead of carts. Westford is a very nice town, kind of a tourist place for the Irish themselves. If you can, make it up to Donegal and drive the Inishowen penninsula, go to Malin Head too. That where my Mom was from. Watch out for tinkers on the west coast.

http://www.visitinishowen.com/about/about.html

wow, seems like a wonderful area, unfortunately i dont think we'll have time to get up that far north, maybe we'll try that on our return trip in a few years

thanks

 

[antichrist]

I took my mom there in Oct 2001 (was a great time to fly, the plane was 1/2 empty).
We drove down to Limerick the morning of arrival and stayed, one night to adjust, at the George Hotel, pub in the basement. A ton of clubs, discos (the dancing kind) and pubs close by.
The next day we drove down to Killarney and rented a house in the country for a week. Was a lot cheaper than anything else. 3 bedrooms, living room, parlor/dinning room kitchen laundry, the whole nine yards. We spent the week driving around the SW/south central part of Ireland.
We also went to Waterford, the crystal factory of course, and the Waterford Museum was cool. So was a woman I met in a club
Then we drove up to Dublin, which I could do without really.

Driving on the left wasn't a big deal. A little nerve wracking at first coming around a curve on the 1 1/2 lane back roads and coming face to face with a full size tour bus or lorry, but not that bad.

 

[Emerson00]

My SIL did this twice; my family opted for a driven/bus tour... I hated it. The self-drive B&B looked and sounded SOO much better and at a fraction of the cost.

I hope to go back next year, and we're definitely doing the self-drive tour.

 

[jymmiejamz]

I've been there quite a few times, and I am a citizen there. Driving is not difficult at all, the only thing you need to pay attention to is when you make turns that you end up in the correct lane, that is the most confusing part to me.

 

[Mike_Rupp]

My wife and I took a trip to Ireland several years ago. We flew into Dublin & stayed there a few days and then drove from Dublin to Limerick stopping at cities along the southern route. We arrived in Dublin a couple days after the Omagh bombing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omagh_bombing) so I was a little taken back when we were walking around Dublin late at night and some of the bar crowd were singing IRA songs.

Driving was pretty easy to get used to. The hardest part for me was keeping the car centered in the lane. Its natural to want to be too far to the left in the lane.

 

[brianhoberg]

In 2001, I spent a month traveling through Ireland, Scotland, and England with my best friend and his girlfriend (now wife). We rented a vehicle, ate at the pubs, drank with the locals, and had (almost) daily hangovers. Ireland was an awesome place to visit. I loved the time in Killarney and the Ring of Kerry. There is a town down there called Caherdaniel and Cahershiveen (sp?) that has awesome beaches next to it. There's a pub in Killarney called McSweeney Arms you should check out, excellent fish and steak there. I enjoyed the area around Tara and the historical sites there. Overall, it was a blast. Expensive, but a blast.

 

[Emerson00]

I've been there quite a few times, and I am a citizen there. Driving is not difficult at all, the only thing you need to pay attention to is when you make turns that you end up in the correct lane, that is the most confusing part to me.

Any knowledge of living there as an immigrant? There are a few job opportunities that are intriguing to me, and I've sent a few resumes... Just a wild hair, I suppose, but we're interested in moving to a different culture and country for a few years, just temporarily for the experience of it.

Wages seem sorta low, but I guess in the SW areas cost of living seems relatively a bit less, too?

 

[trailhogg]

Any knowledge of living there as an immigrant? There are a few job opportunities that are intriguing to me, and I've sent a few resumes... Just a wild hair, I suppose, but we're interested in moving to a different culture and country for a few years, just temporarily for the experience of it.

Wages seem sorta low, but I guess in the SW areas cost of living seems relatively a bit less, too?

I looked into this a few years back...as far as I can tell there is no way to become a legal citizen. They have short term work visa's but i think the longest you can stay with one of those is 2 years, and you have to find an employer that is willing to sponsor you. The Irish gov't is very against employers hiring immigrants when there are perfectly capable citizens to do the job...think we could learn something from that? I do

 

[Emerson00]

Well, that part I got covered. My industry is one on a list of "welcome" fields. I can go with a sponsored company - I MUST remain with them for the 2 years, or we get the boot. After 2 years, I forget the term, but it's the next best thing to citizenship; after X years of that, you actually can gain citizenship.


I'm curious what the Irish think of immigrants. There are a few small companies in the southwest of Ireland apparently in need of my skills... I think Ireland would be an interesting place to relocate for a time. OTOH, I wonder how welcoming they are when it's not tourist dollars you're spending, and when you're there for a while. How expensive is it? What's a comfortable salary? Etc...

 

[fordbuilder98]

when coming back from the gulf I flew into shannon spent a week their visited some relitives

 

[trailhogg]

taxpayer, tourist, they shouldnt care either way...they are supposed to be the most welcoming people in th world

 

[bovw]

when coming back from the gulf I flew into shannon spent a week their visited some relitives

I spent 30 minutes there. 250 Marines who hadn't had a drink in a minimum 5 months, 3 bartenders, 30 minutes, but f'n beer I'd ever had. Those bartenders rocked, everyone who wanted a beer got one in that timeframe.

 

[jymmiejamz]

Any knowledge of living there as an immigrant? There are a few job opportunities that are intriguing to me, and I've sent a few resumes... Just a wild hair, I suppose, but we're interested in moving to a different culture and country for a few years, just temporarily for the experience of it.

Wages seem sorta low, but I guess in the SW areas cost of living seems relatively a bit less, too?

I'm not living there, I live in the US. I just have dual citizenship. If you have any parents or grand parents that were born in an EU country I am pretty sure you can get a citizenship to that country. Since I am an Irish citizen anything I know about immigrating there would be irrelevant to you, unless you are a citizen of an EU country.

You might find some good info here http://www.irishlinks.co.uk/

Remember, google is your friend.

 

[Michael Slade]

We did the same thing, rented car, self-drive, B&B's, etc... We stayed at farmhouse B&B's, which I would DEFINITELY suggest. Very friendly, great countryside walks, in the outskirts of town where it is quiet and peaceful.

We rented a diesel Seat (Spanish VW), and I would definitely recommend getting a diesel. It was worth it in mileage for sure. Just remember the diesel pumps over there have the BLACK handle, the petrol pumps have the GREEN one...backwards from here in the US. Don't ask me how I know...definitely don't ask me how I rectified the situation.

Also, one thing we learned, is that if you rent your car with a Master Card, the car rental insurance is included If you rent with a VISA it is not. Would be worth getting a Master Card just for that alone.

Don't eat at any resteraunts, only eat at Pubs. Get your lunch food at a grocery store and eat at parks or cemetaries as you drive around. Save your coin for the big meals in the evening.

We did the Dingle peninsula and I can give recommendations for B&Bs there if you'd like.

It's an amazing trip for sure. I'm jealous!

 

[JackW]

I was seriously looking at this company before the dollar fell so low....

http://www.vagabondtoursofireland.ie/irelandtourvehicles.htm

Touring Ireland by Land Rover - what could be better?

And that's an interesting tip on the dual Irish citizenship - my grandmother, Mary Downey was born in County Cork in the early 1900's and emigrated to the US in the 1920's. My other grandmother, Mabel Nyren was born in Orrefors, Sweden in 1899 and emigrated to the USA in 1914.