Trip Report - Day 7 Emerald Isle 6/17-6/24

tigger_ttfn

Mouseketeer
Joined
Sep 2, 2008
Day Seven – Ever Moher

Not only does this day start off early, it is a very jam-packed day. We covered a lot in one day. It probably would be good to add another day to the itinerary and break this day up. It would also give you more time to enjoy the castle.

We headed down right at 7:30am for our first breakfast in the castle. They had a continental breakfast buffet with fruit and pastries outside the dining room. They you go inside to your table and you can order a hot main dish. I tried the eggs benedict (it had poached eggs, with creamed spinach and hollandaise sauce. The only bread for it was tiny pieces of toast. It was pretty good, just a little different. DH got the breakfast omelet and thought it was good.

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It was about an hour drive to the Cliffs of Moher. We had an hour to enjoy the views and shop. It was a little windy up there, but nothing like Rock of Cashel. If you look closely you can see the big rock with the puffins on it. It didn’t make for a good picture because you can’t really see the birds. There was a visitor’s center with other stuff, but we didn’t get a chance to check it out. I had to buy some last minute souvenirs of course.

After another short drive, we arrive at Monk’s for light lunch. We are not huge seafood fans, but we did choose the shrimp and the crab. We were told they were very good and they were. There are supposed to be these infamously great brownies for dessert, but they were out of them. We had apple crumble and a mint cheesecake. I didn’t care for either dessert.

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After lunch it was another 45 minute drive to the farm. We began first off with making the scones. Then we went off and saw sheep herding, sheep shearing and the kids got to feed bottles to the baby lambs. By then the scones were ready and we went to enjoy them. They turned out fantastic. They were probably better than any scone I had on the whole trip.

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When we returned we had about 3 hours on our own before the farewell dinner. We took advantage of the gorgeous day and got bikes to ride around the golf course trails.

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The dinner was in the same dining room of the castle. Everyone dressed up a little but nothing too fancy. The food had the usually fancy presentation you would expect from such a place. But, the food was actually pretty good as well.



After the meal, we had the farewell presentation and we said our good-byes and exchanged email addresses. Several people were headed home the next day and some were staying on another day or so. I would love to hear from those who had pre and/or post nights, if they felt it was worth it.

So ends the trip of a lifetime!!!!

DH had always wanted to come to Ireland and he realized his dream. Going with ABD was the best choice. Ireland is an amazing country. If anyone is considering this trip, you will not be disappointed. It is especially good if you have never been overseas. The guides told us we made a good choice for our first trip overseas. It is more laid-back, there is no language barrier, and it is a gorgeous country.
 
I've read your 7 day journey and just want to say thanks tigger_ttfn for taking the time to post your pictures and observations ... and for the trip down memory lane. It is unbelievable to me how the majority of us come back on such an ABD high and are ready to book the next one. It is a testament to the product Disney has developed with these tours.
 
We opted for a pre-night in Dublin as well as a post-night at Dromoland. The pre-night was VERY worth it for us because we got acclimated to the time change and had the chance for some extra "on your own" time. Our post-day was nice as well, as the castle is so beautiful and we really wanted to explore the ground and do the hawk walk, but to be totally honest, I would have much rather stayed an extra day in the beginning. I had such a great time with the group, that I was almost depressed our last day there on our own without Francesc and Andrew guiding us. Plus, as great as the castle was, we are not tennis pros or golfers or anything like that and the nearest town (which we took a cab to, Ennis) left a little to be desired. The woman at Reception in the castle said it's a "cute town with shops and restaurants" so I imagined something like Killarney. Wrong. Our driver told me as we were getting out of the cab to "not flash your money around because the locals will be watching". I know this is probably true in many areas, including Dublin and Killarney, but it did not sit well with me. Overall, I would definitely do at least one pre-night with ABD but probably not a post-night.

By the way, I loved reading your report and seeing your pics. It brings me right back there. I miss it sooo badly. And it was such a great trip!
 
Hi,
Were there a lot of children on your tour? It sounded wonderful. Our sons are both adults and we are thinking of looking into the Ireland trip for a future ABD and were leaning towards an adult only trip. What are you thoughts after being adults on a combined adult-child tour?

Thanks!
TK
 


Hello
I am going to jump in here while you are waiting to hear back from Tigger TTFN
I was on this trip with her. Along with my husband and 2 girls 11 and 14.
It was a GREAT trip and we loved it. There were lots of kids on it. Two non-kids couples.
I talked to Tigger about the "no kids -but on a trip with lots of kids part"
She said it did not bother her. She and her husband were very laid back and general good sports.

That being said -It would have bothered me!
We had a full group with lots of children and I think that if my kids had not been along -I would have been happier without kids. There is some historical stuff (I like that kind of thing) that we could have went deeper with if kids had not been there. Also the bus. this is the biggest thing. The kids got pretty rowdy on the bus and some of the parents didn't seem to think this was anything worth correcting their children over. (I did and wanted to go all mean mama on them)
I think in general I am an uptight kind of parent.

I want to state again -that we had a wonderful trip and our kids had a great trip too. If it was a choice between a trip with children and no trip at all -I would still take the trip.

I hope this helps
 
I think in general I am an uptight kind of parent.

clarabelle, that's not being an uptight parent. That's just being considerate of your fellow travelers.
 
That being said -It would have bothered me!
We had a full group with lots of children and I think that if my kids had not been along -I would have been happier without kids. There is some historical stuff (I like that kind of thing) that we could have went deeper with if kids had not been there. Also the bus. this is the biggest thing. The kids got pretty rowdy on the bus and some of the parents didn't seem to think this was anything worth correcting their children over. (I did and wanted to go all mean mama on them)

I hope this helps

WOW you said exactly what I thought! This absolutely helps. I really appreciate your honesty. I'm the same type of parent as you :goodvibes
 


WOW you said exactly what I thought! This absolutely helps. I really appreciate your honesty. I'm the same type of parent as you :goodvibes
I'm not a parent, and I always thought my biggest problem being on a trip with kids would be having kids misbehaving/being rowdy that I had no authority over. It would drive me crazy not to say "Don't you think maybe you need to sit in your seat and BE QUIET????"

Sayhello
 
We don't have any kids but we have lots of nieces and nephews. We expected kids on the trip and knew what that would entail. All in all the kids in the group weren't bad at all.

The main thing was on the bus rides. As long as we sat up front, the noise from the kids didn't bother us. One time we were closer to the back and we really couldn't hear the comments the tour guides were making and it was a little distracting.

I agree with Clarabelle that there were parts of the tour that were a little boring for the kids but the adults would like to have more time.
 
Overall it was a wonderful trip -I would not want to discourage anyone from taking it.
I miss my fellow travelers -and think about the trip all the time!!
 
We don't have any kids but we have lots of nieces and nephews. We expected kids on the trip and knew what that would entail. All in all the kids in the group weren't bad at all.

The main thing was on the bus rides. As long as we sat up front, the noise from the kids didn't bother us. One time we were closer to the back and we really couldn't hear the comments the tour guides were making and it was a little distracting.

I agree with Clarabelle that there were parts of the tour that were a little boring for the kids but the adults would like to have more time.

Thanks for your response. We had a similar bus experience on our recent ABD but our bus rides were relatively short. I think we'll dream of an adult-only for now :goodvibes
 
As with any vacation, it is what you make it.

This trip was truly awesome and I highly recommend it to anyone considering it. We had a great time both with the sites and the group. :yay:
 
As with any vacation, it is what you make it.

This trip was truly awesome and I highly recommend it to anyone considering it. We had a great time both with the sites and the group. :yay:

I couldn't agree more. I appreciate your (and everyone else's) comments.
We will try first to fit an adult-only ABD trip into our budget and schedule but if the family adventure fits better in our schedule that would be fine as well :goodvibes
 

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