heading to Ireland for 3 months - any advice/tips?

[CTdiznymom]

My DD and a friend actually won a trip to Ireland a few years back. It was her first trip outside of the US, and she had a wonderful time. The two of them spent nights in prearranged B&B's and spent the days sightseeing and just touring and stopping along the way. The one thing that they were glad they did was get an automatic car and a GOOD GPS. They found most roads and addresses were not marked well or numbered. It was invaluable to them.
Have a wonderful adventure!

 

[NotUrsula]

They found most roads and addresses were not marked well or numbered.

LOL. That reminds me of the first time I took DH home to meet the extended family. DS was 15 mos. old at the time, it was the day after the Omagh bombing, and we had been traveling for 23 straight hours.

We were looking for a hotel in Antrim, and were sure that we were on the right road, but the only driveway we could find in the area appeared to be a farm track. At one point we tried driving up the track and met a fertilizer truck halfway, then had to BACK 1/3 mi down the track to let him pass, so we were thinking it wasn't the correct place. Finally we came back round again and said this just has to be it because there is nothing else around, and 2 miles in, it turned out that it was. When we booked in, DH told the clerk that there just didn't seem to be clear signage directing travelers to the hotel. The clerk just looked at him and remarked, "Why would we need to. Everyone knows where it is." At that moment I thought that DH was going to have a stroke, I swear to it.

(It was a lovely hotel, actually, and you could see Scotland from the upstairs windows, but unfortunately it burned down two years ago. The Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland is really NOT to be missed if you have the time; it is some of the most spectacular scenery you will see anywhere in the world. The Giant's Causeway is fascinating, and so is Dunluce Castle. Carrick-a-rede is only for the very brave, though.)

 

[Qtips4Mick]

Spent 10 days there last July. Beautiful country! Must have Butlers chocolates and Murphys ice cream. (From Kerry cows) Ok we went to Dublin, jumped on and off the tour bus. Saw Trinity college, the old prison where In the Name of the Father was filmed, guiness brewery, the churches and many other sites. Also went to Killarney (my favorite city) stayed across from a reserve and where the horse and carriages were lined up. Galway was beautiful too but near the beach is is sort of like the Jersey shore. (without Snookie and friends TG!)
On to Youghal, County Cork, home of my Mom See lighthouse, clocktower etc)
Back to Dublin where we stayed in the Fitzpatrick castle hotel in Dalkey. Bono and Enya have castles there. (Thanks to the cab driver who took us from train (Dart) easy to use and very cheap.) My son drove across the country and it was a trip of a lifetime. People are lovely you won't be lonely for long and the country is gorgeous! I am sooooooo jealous, have a grand time!

 

[rockyroad]

Also, is there like a shuttle sevice or something that could take us from the airport to our house so we don't literally have to learmn to drive right off the plane! Would love to be able to pick up the rental in Galway if that's possible. I'm just really nervous about the driving and would rather take baby steps. haha.
Really thank you everyone for the tips though, I appreciate it!!!

I'm not an expert on Ireland by any stretch of the imagination.

We were able to go for a week in January 2010.

We flew into Shannon.
The plane landed at 6:30 and I had thought that by the time we got our bags, went through customs, deal with Dan Dooley and rode the shuttle to pick up the car (Ford with automatic transmission) that it would be starting to get light.

Wrong.

In January it does not get light until 8:30 or as they say "half eight".

So we drove from Shannon to Adare on what we would call the interstate.
In the dark on a work day and on left side of the road.
DH drove.
I helped watch...and sweated like a pig...

Anyway, it was fine.
The people did not drive aggressively.

And after a few times around a traffic circle it starts to make sense.

What is weird is realizing how trained we are to stay right and look left.

The rental car even had "Stay left, Look right" on the dashboard.

And they even had it painted on the crosswalks in Adare.
Good thing too as I it feels really unnatural for a while.

I also noticed that even the store brand cheese was great.
The milk, bread, and butter are also really good.

Galway is really picturesque.
I hope you have a great time.

You might want to get a copy of Rick Steves' guide book.
He seems to go into a good bit of detail.

 

[MEG&MINNIE]

I have been to Ireland 3 times ...but like I said the last time was 30 years ago. I vividly remember getting off the plane early in the morning and straight away after getting our bags and car at Shannon Airport ...we headed to a close by B&B for some rest. It was probablly like 10am or so and we were all exhausted ...jet lag...with the 5 hour time difference.

You may want to think of checking into a hotel/B&B right outside the airport upon arrival. You'll be very tired ,especially with 2 little ones ...so start your trip with a good nap and then a good night's sleep. That is what we are planning on doing this time too. We arrive @ 6:30 am ,I think, Ireland time ...so it's like 1:30 am EST...even with napping on the plane ...it's still not enough sleep.

Check out Ireland Hotels/B&B's on www.Tripadvisor .com or just google Irish B&B's...there are plenty web sites.


B&B's also have family suites with baths and showers included...don't rule out a B&B...check with the locals in Galway as they may have some advice on family friendly ones in the areas you want to visit.
Definitely plan atrip to Kerry and the Dingle area...most beautiful Irish country there.

Also, if you have an Irish surname "google it" and see if you can't find a pub or a storefront with that name and visit it! It'll be a great photo of your family and a keepsake for framing when you get home !!! I hoping to find ones with my maiden name and married name on them !

 

[Brer Shay]

As so many others have said, you will have a fabulous time. The hospitality and civility of most Irish people is fabulous.

There is definitely an adjustment to driving on the opposite side of the road, though once you get through it, it's not too bad. They also use traffic circles instead of exit ramps. These can be rather confusing - my suggestion is to, literally, drive around the circle a few times until you are SURE which spoke you want to take to get off. Roads are NOT WELL MARKED. I never tried using a GPS there, but would think that would be most helpful. Road signs just aren't much of their culture. In terms of size/driving times, Ireland is roughly the size of Ohio. They don't have quite as many highways, but you can roughly guess from there.

Places to go?? There are so may - I hope that you are able to see a good bit while you're there. I won't bother reapeating what others have said, but some lesser known places are wonderful too. Some of my highlights: Moycullen for the marble quarry and factory (you'll often hear about Connemara Marble here in the states, this is where it comes from. The town of Dingle is a busy fishing port and cute town - also nearby is Inch beach - this is somewhat similar to Galway. Have to do Blarney Castle because you're there, don't forget to wander through the Rock Close while you're on the castle grounds. My two very favority places were Cobh in County Cork, be sure to visit the Heritage Center. The other is a ferry ride/daytrip out to the Aran Islands - this is one of the last bastions of traditional Irish culture. Gaelic is still spoken, the people live by sheep, fishing and potatos, and there is an amazing ancient fort Dun Aengus that is amazing.

Have a phenomenal time!

 

[NotUrsula]

ok, that's sort of what I expected about a B&B. We'll try and stick with something more hotel-ish. But hopefully we will get to visit a real farm and I'll be sure to keep a close eye. He'd be more than happy to help out with a pitchfork, while I'd be having a heart attack!
I am pretty sure we;ll be flying into Shannon, so that's good we can hopefully arrange transport from there.

Proper hotels can be hit or miss in terms of whether they are welcoming to children; some of them (especially the historic country house hotels) can sometimes have a rather formal atmosphere that is a bit stifling for little kids. I think that for the most part your best bets will be self-catering cottages or the sort of purpose-built B&B's that are less home-like and more like a small motel (only nicer architecturally.)

One thing that you will find in proper hotels (and in some larger inns as well now) that Americans don't have (and which I'm SURE I'll get flamed for ever using, LOL) is a baby-listening service. The idea behind that is to have the front-desk staff act as a baby monitor whilst your children are sleeping, so that you can go downstairs to the restaurant or the bar without them. If they wake and/or make any noise the staff will notify you immediately. Part of the reason that the hotels have this service is that they would just as soon you didn't bring young children into the dining room for dinner except very early in the evening. Some of them now have formal children's clubs as well, and mostly for the same reason.

 

[meg8017]

A guidebook is a great idea, I will head to the bookstore this weekend. I will check out Rick Steves, my aunt and uncle used to travel a lot and love him.
That's good to know about the hotels. I'll have to do some research for the areas we know we might stay over a night or two (Cork, Dubin for sure). The baby listeners might come in handy once or twice though, it would be nice to have at least one quiet dinner while we are over there It would also be fantastic to stay in a castle one night, so if you can recommend any, please do.
(anywhere, we really want to visit as much as we can) I am a little worried about the street signs or lack there of. We will definitely get a GPS and a good map. Will an American GPS plug into a car over there or will we need to buy one there?
A friend was telling me about Blarney Castle and kissing the stone the other day, I am really hoping to get to do that. She mentioned that it might be tough with the baby though, as the stairs are really narrow? We'll figure something out.
Oh, we would like to tour the Guinness factory, is that something we can do with the kids though or is that frowned upon or not allowed?
I was looking at flights for around the time we'll be heading over and nonstop from Boston only have one flight that arrives at 6:30 a.m. so maybe we will look into staying somewhere near the airport to get some sleep. Google maps says it's about an hour and a half to Galway, does that seem right?

 

[NotUrsula]

A guidebook is a great idea, I will head to the bookstore this weekend. I will check out Rick Steves, my aunt and uncle used to travel a lot and love him.
That's good to know about the hotels. I'll have to do some research for the areas we know we might stay over a night or two (Cork, Dubin for sure). The baby listeners might come in handy once or twice though, it would be nice to have at least one quiet dinner while we are over there It would also be fantastic to stay in a castle one night, so if you can recommend any, please do.
(anywhere, we really want to visit as much as we can) I am a little worried about the street signs or lack there of. We will definitely get a GPS and a good map. Will an American GPS plug into a car over there or will we need to buy one there?
A friend was telling me about Blarney Castle and kissing the stone the other day, I am really hoping to get to do that. She mentioned that it might be tough with the baby though, as the stairs are really narrow? We'll figure something out.
Oh, we would like to tour the Guinness factory, is that something we can do with the kids though or is that frowned upon or not allowed?
I was looking at flights for around the time we'll be heading over and nonstop from Boston only have one flight that arrives at 6:30 a.m. so maybe we will look into staying somewhere near the airport to get some sleep. Google maps says it's about an hour and a half to Galway, does that seem right?

Car electric is universal; your GPS will function, but you'll have to load it ahead of time with maps for Ireland.

Going up and down stone steps in old castles, you'll definitely want the baby in a soft backpack carrier so that your hands are free; an Ergo works well for this.

The drive time from Shannon to Galway is relatively accurate, that' stretch of the N18 is a divided highway (same style highway as a US interstate; they even have exit ramps, though of course they are all on the left and terminate in roundabouts nearly every time.)

 

[mumoftwo]

Being irish and living in Dublin I thought i would chip in.

Food, other than .mac and cheese and american style pancake mix you can get most things in Ireland or good equivilants. We do have peanut butter readily available.

Plumbing, never had a particular problem anywhere in ireland with toilets. But like anywhere individual houses and hotels may have their own issues.

Cars, We all tend to drive manual cars, people in the cities do tend to drive aggressively. Country roads will be different than you are use to. If a smaller road has a hard shoulder you are expected to pull over (as long as its clear) into it to allow cars behind you to pass

Most homes that you will rent will have a front loading washing machine. These tend to be smaller than you will be used to. Flats and appartments will generally have dryers, houses with gardens will not always have dryers. Lots of people still line dry their clothes.

Hotels and B and Bs, there is so much choice and lots will market themselves as family friendly with family rooms.

Any questions let me know I will try to help but i don,t know Galway very well.