The Game Plan - thus far

May 1 - 2
After a long flight over the pond (can you say that if you're not going to England?), we land in Shannon, Ireland at the crack of dawn. Dave says that he won't be able to sleep on the flight, so I'll be in charge of that days driving... I say he is under estimating the power of NiQuil. :-)

May 2-4
After we pick up our probably very small car, we will make the hour drive North West, towards Doolin, which is right near the Cliffs of Moher (www.cliffsofmoher.ie/) and the Doolin Caves (www.doolincave.ie/). We're staying at a nice little B&B called Crosswinds for two nights. For one of the nights, we're going to go to a Medieval Feast, which will be really cool! Have us some authentic Irish Mead (honey wine) and pretend that we're lords and ladies for the night (or does that just make us sound... um... like 'ladies of the night'?)

May 4 - 6
After we have seen it all in Doolin, we will head North-ish (yes, that's a technical Irish traveling term) towards County Mayo (hoping we'll be able to pick up a supply of Hellmann's Mayo - hardy har har). We're going to stay at the Ashford Castle (www.ashford.ie/) which was apparently once apart of the Guinness Family's estates.

May 7 - 10
After our sure to be wonderful stay at Ashford, we begin the 4 hour drive towards Dublin. We opted out of staying in the city of Dublin... instead we'll stay in a nice hotel on the water, about 25 minutes away from the city... we'll prob take the city bus to the city so we don't have the anxiety of trying to drive in Dublin.

We'll also be doing some day trips to the Japanese Gardens in Kildare (www.irish-national-stud.ie/tourism/) and to Powserscourt Caste in Wicklow (www.powerscourt.ie/gardens/house/). The drive through Wicklow will be beautiful... at least from the photo stalking that I have done thus far... especially around Glendalough; it seems very picturesque. The whole trip will be amazing! i'm very excited.

In Dublin, we'll do the typical touristy things like Trinity College (Book of Kells), St. James Gate, drink some Guinness, National Gallery Museum, Ha'Penny Bridge, St. Stephens Green, ... plus, we found this pretty cool GHOST bus ride, which I for one am super excited about. Dave is nervous that I will be freaked out, but I think it'll be fun. There's also a Literary Pub Crawl, where these actors pretend to be various famous Irish authors like WB Yeats and take you to various pubs, which might be kinda cool.

Some quick links... i'm sure we'll post more!

Dublin Links:
www.dublinbus.ie/sightseeing/ghostbus.aspx
http://www.dublintourist.com/towns/temple_bar/

Planning our Ireland Trip

We have decided that we desperately need a vacation.... so why not go and scout out leprechauns, fairies and castles while drinking some delicious pints in Ireland? And with a little bit of luck, we'll find a pot o' gold...

The flight, the car and the 'major' hotels/bed and breakfasts have been booked. After a minor didn't realize exactly where the castle hotel was really located booking error (my bad), we've decided to focus on the middle part of Ireland as well as Dublin. It's all part of my 'evil' plan to have to come back and show Dave southern Ireland and visit county Cork and Kerry. :) (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) Besides, the castle is def worth it!

Now, we just have to figure out what we're packing and trying to remember to drive on the other side of the road! eek

Dates: May 1 - May 10
Locations: Shannon, Clare, Doolin, Galway, Bantry, Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow (at least at the moment)