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IRELAND? WHY NOT?
MegaMan001
CRNARochester, MNRegistered User regular
CRNARochester, MNRegistered User regular
Booking a holiday for me and the good woman to Ireland for a week. Other than the usual advice of "adapters LOL" for electronics what advice do you all have for traveling to Ireland?
We are a male 29, female 30, passports are active, no felonies (to my knowledge).
We are a male 29, female 30, passports are active, no felonies (to my knowledge).
I am in the business of saving lives.
+1
Posts
If you do drive, opt for the "super coverage" insurance. It is expensive, but absolutely worth it.
When are you thinking of going?
The writer's museum isn't really worth the time unless you're really into Irish writers.
It's pretty rainy and humid there. (Not warm humid. Cold humid.) So if your hair is prone to frizzing (or gets curly in humidity) that's something to think about.
Definitely visit some of the old castles. If you want to splurge, you can stay in one for a night, or eat at one.
I don't remember there being a lot of particularly good Irish restaurants that specialized in Irish food, at least for lunch and dinner. Breakfast and tea were really good. (You can substitute tea for lunch.) They have good French and Italian restaurants, though.
Hot chocolate in Europe is almost always better than hot chocolate in America. And you should consider getting some with your breakfast if it's cold outside.
Bus/train is your best bet, you're unlikely to find a cab driver that will take you around the country. Take buses between major hubs and cabs/buses within them.
Every single car will have the capability to do this? Either with 2 sets on the dial or a toggle on the display.
There are a lot that will do good Irish food (maybe less in Dublin centre)...they just won't advertise it like that? It's Ireland, Irish food will be the cultural background and a good food pub will do a few good Irish dishes.
Slightly smaller than Indiana, but Ireland has a highly fractal coastline and not flat in the slightest. The only fast routes are the rail/motorway connections from Dublin to Belfast/Galway/Cork, everything else will take time either in a car or on a bus.
Flying into shannon gets you pretty close to Galway and the West of the country, which I adore. Check out what festivals will be on while you're here, they're definitely worth visiting.
I'd start building up a bundle of euro now too, since the exchange is better for you guys than it has been in a long time. I may be wrong though, the value of the euro against the dollar might continue to fall.
If you're going around Dublin, Dublin Bus is your best bet for getting around. You can pick up a 5 day unlimited travel card (leap card) for €30. Taxis from somewhere in Dublin city centre to somewhere outside of town will run you anywhere from €15-€30, which you probably don't want to be doing a lot. Going further than Dublin, trains or buses are you best bet. Buses can be a bit unreliable with regards to how often they run, or how quickly they go though. Trains are great, but can finish early (I believe the last trains from Dublin to Cork/Belfast/Galway are around 8pm or so, so you might be better off staying in the place you travel to for the night).
If you're into live music/comedy and you're here the end of May, you could hit up Forbidden Fruit (Wu Tang/Run The Jewels/Fatboy Slim), Cat's Laughs or Foo Fighters and Hozier playing in a castle.
Feel free to @ me with any more specific questions, I live here.
The way my wife and I did it was to basically turn the trip into a road trip. We flew into shannon and then spent a week driving around, staying at a new B&B every night, as we made our way all around the coastline to dublin. Most days were about 4-6 hours of driving total, intermixed with an hour or two at each location that we decided to stop at. We got to see a ton of the sights, and we could have easily spent another week and not seen everything we wanted.
With that type of a trip though we mostly got to see landmarks/nature hikes. Which was exactly what we wanted, but when we left I did sort of wish I could have seen a bit more of the cities. Dublin and Cork in particular were two cities that I could have spent a while at. As it was we would usually get into a new town around 6 or 7 and only really had time to eat dinner and maybe grab a drink or two before we went to bed, so that we could hit the road early.
I like the idea of having the car, but I can see the risks associated with it.
@Bé Chuille @Tav are you guys both in Ireland / are Irish? What kinds of things should we do to try and not look like USA Yuppie Tourists?
I am both of those things. I'm Dublin born and raised, so I'm not too much use for outside of there though. If you do end up in Dublin, avoid Temple Bar. It's the most faith'n'begorrah hellhole tourist trap full of fake atmosphere you're likely to come across. It's also a blatant rip off for food and pints. There's a few decent spots within it (Elephant & Castle springs to mind), but for the most part you'd be best off to just walk through it to say you did and then go somewhere more interesting, like Stephen's Green or Trinity College.
If I recall correctly there were 2 levels of insurance. We took the lower level that basically just maxed our contribution to repairs. So if we totalled it we would only be out a $1000 or so, but anything under that we had to pay. For an extra $15 or so a day we could have gotten the better package which means you pay nothing for any damage what so ever. Worked out fine for us, but given how easy it is to scratch up the side of the car since there is no shoulder on most roads and trees/bushes are right up on the road, I probably would opt for paying the extra hundred or so just to be safe.
Only reason we took the lower level is because we pre-booked through AVIS's website and I didn't understand my options at the time. When they explained it to me at the actual location it was too late to change anything so we just risked it.
As for the tourist give-away, it's always the baseball caps
If you're looking for places to eat in Dublin, lovin dublin is pretty decent. In munster at least, the mckenna guide has some great suggestions
Well I feel like a jackass now.
I want to thank you personally for the Baseball Cap info - that would have been my first mistake.
(I studied in Trinity College aka a huge tourist spot so skipping lectures involved cookies, tea and spot -the-tourist)
West coast >>> East coast
:P