Why All the Taxis--Thought You Were Going Without a Car?
 

That is a fair question, and I have the answer. I made a last-minute change of plans. Because we were flying out of Newquay to Belfast within a few days of leaving Falmouth, I had reserved a Newquay hotel walkable from the station and near services. But as the trip loomed, I realized I just didn't want to see anything in Newquay. I told my husband about my dilemma, and he asked, "What did you want to see last year that you did not get to see?" I had told him that Charlestown/St Austell had intrigued me, but the area wasn't that great without a car. His response: "I could care less how much I spend on a taxi. Anything that keeps me from renting a car for a few days is worth it." And so I centered on finding rooms in St Austell and outlying parts.

Nevertheless, none of the places available appealed to me. I would make reservations, have second thoughts, read all the reviews again, and cancel. I was on our third booking when the availability of Seaways popped up, and it truly appealed to me. Location-wise, it was the most illogical selection of all the hotels I considered. But my husband had sanctioned non-stop taxi use for our short stay and I felt relieved that I was not staying at places I did not want to stay.

Next: Heligan Gardens and Mevagissey

I just read a trip report on TA about a 2 week trip someone took in Ireland. They paid 1800 for the rental car and it was the smallest car they had. We just did two weeks and even using taxis to get to places in Cork we never spent a 1/4 or that for four of us. Taxis, buses, trains and tours.

Heligan Gardens and Mevagissey
 

Breakfast at Seaways was amazing. Jules had warned us: "I'm not just a chatter; I'm a feeder." It was a lovely breakfast with a lovely view from their breakfast area.

We were still making our mind up about our plans for the day, but we knew we wanted to get laundry done. As wonderful as our room was, its bathroom and the outside weather would not be contributing to our abiity to "get 'er done." We checked with Jules about local "wash-and-fold" services, and she did not know of any, although she quickly offered the use of her machine to us. We did not want to impose or to babysit our clothing. I Googled for such services, and a local dry cleaner came up: Johnson's in St Austell. Jules really did not believe they had that service, but when I called, they said, "If you can get here in an hour, we can have it finished by the time we close."

We hurried up and packed up to go for the rainy day. We still did not know where we were going after the laundry. We knew we "should" do the Eden Project. Problem was, neither of us wanted to do the Eden Project. Jules said she really like Heligan Gardens. I told her we were unsure if we were the "gardens type." Jules said, "But you both are fit and you like history. This place is made for you. Plus you can walk down to Mevagissey for a look afterwards" We took her opinion under advisement.

The taxi driver was equally a) unconvinced that Johnson's did wash-and-fold laundry and b) convinced we should do Heligan Gardens. When I dashed into Johnson's, I asked the staff their opinion. It was unanimous: Heligan's followed by a "Meva" visit. Heligans it was.

Our wonderful taxi driver dropped us off at the entrance while carefully pointing out the bus stop we'd use for our Meva visit. When we got inside, we asked the ticket agent how we could combine a short hike around the gardens with a bus trip down to Meva and bus back to St Austell. Thank goodness there was no one in line behind us! The agent drew a circuit on the gardens map for us and looked up the bus times, too. We were off.

So why don't we like gardens? Don't we like flowers? I volunteered for years at a nature conservancy, and I enjoyed the programming that educated about sustainability and conservation. I loved maintaining my perennial flower beds when we owned four acres of land for 25 years. But gardens themselves are not "me" and they are not my husband.

So we disliked Heligan, right? Wrong. We LOVED this place. Loved it. The full name says it all: The Lost Gardens of Heligan. Part of the ancient Tremayne estate, the grounds were left in neglect for decades. Luckily, most of the grounds were never sold, and once its history was unearthed, it has become part of a local effort to bring its nursery, kitchen gardens, fields and flowers back to life. Part of the local economy years a centuries ago, its revival is now generating jobs, too. We felt as though we were walking through a miracle.

It is indeed lucky that the weather had become so horrible--it lowered the traffic on the paths. The "Burma Rope Bridge" can be backed up for almost an hour; with my hiking poles aiding our descent, we were able to cross it in record time. It was so wonderful to see ancient strains of common flowers and read history about all the former employees. The garden's dedication to the history of its WWI fallen moves one to tears. We saw a true effort to make the place open to families (lots of playground and nature activities), to those with dogs, and to the elderly. At the end of our hike, we visited the kitchen and bakery area where the food looked not only scrumptious but also quite healthy. If Jules had not overfed us, we would have been tucking in.

We were able to catch our bus to Meva near the road. The bus was empty, and the bus driver and another employee were interested in why we were riding it. When we explained our "without a car" philosophy, they said that UK/Europeans did it all the time, but older Americans didn't, and that's why they were curious. They told us how to make our way into town from the bus stop and wished us well. How kind.

The rain started pouring and pouring. I had looked up two St Austell pubs where we could get our Proper Job IPAs, and as filled up as they were, we found a tiny corner in The Ship Inn bar area in which to wait out the deluge. Once the rain lessened a tad, we ventured out to walk around town.

I had wanted to see this place because there were quite a few movies filmed here, and the place was mentioned in a lot of fiction (I had read all of the Wycliffe Novels by W J Burley the year before and Meva was the setting for one of them). Mevagissey is the second busiest fishing port in Cornwall, so not only is it picturesque, but it has a "real" job. Nevertheless, as pretty as the setting of the town and the town itself was, we were happy we were here on a miserable day, midweek, in low season. The streets were filled with tourists, and they'd otherwise be packed, packed, packed.

We had time to drop into a Boots so I could stock up on Voltarin Gel (it's prescription only in the US; it's OTC in UK/Europe) for we two aged persons, and then it was off to the bus stop, where the line to return was long. It seems that the route from Meva to St Austell is lined with holiday parks, and many were finishing that day's outing. We were dropped off mere yards from Johnsons. I told the staff not only were they brilliant at their laundry service but also brilliant in their touring advice. They should advertise! They giggled.

We walked up to St Austell shopping area to have took a look around on our way to the rail station taxi rank. Ah-oh, retail was not doing well. So sad. Our taxi driver echoed our thoughts. He told us the whole town was for sale.

We proudly displayed our laundry tote bag to Jules when we returned, and she was pleased she had one more helpful hint to give future guests. The sun had come out, and we enjoyed the view from our terrace until our time to depart for dinner. Our driver was the same as the previous night, and he immediately started "in" on me about the politics again. This time, I could enjoy it.

Our dinner place was Edie's Kitchen. It's a small restaurant in a tiny stripmall, and even midweek, it was packed. I loved my meal; my husband did not. We got a taxi home. Same driver! As he dropped us off, I said, "I'm going to miss arguing with you." And he said, "Darling, the fact is that I totally agree with you."

Jules called down as we entered, wanting to know if our dinner had been up to snuff. And she was worried we had not pre-booked our taxi to the airport for our departure. I assured her all was well. We said good night to both her and dear Leila and went off to bed.

Next: Newquay to Belfast

Macross,
Yep you are right. My husband has always maintained that the car rental is not the cost problem; the needed insurance, etc is. what blows the cost out of proportion. But he's stated that if the car rental came with the option of a peronsal driver (!) he'd be in.

We were remarking last night about all the conversations we would have missed by being locked inside a car, too. I love hearing about other's lives, and so many people kind people shared their worlds with us as part of the journey. Indeed, those conversations are equal to scenery in terms of trip memories.

I don't know how a car rental in Ireland could cost this much. We rented a midsize automatic trasmission car in 2016 for two weeks, pick up and return at Dublin airport. The total cost, including insurance, was €660. The rental agency was Sixt.

On TripAdvisor, people always recommended Dan Dooley for rental cars, but a little research convinced me that they were over priced, even without the hefty surcharge if the driver was over age 70. Sixt had no surcharge. However, I don't think even Dan Dooley was quite that over priced.

I'm enjoying this trip report immensely. It has just the right amount of detail, and is consistently entertaining and very well written.

I've done a number of trips by public transportation, or partly by public transportation. On a recent trip to Scotland and northern England, we rented a car for two days but otherwise used public transportation. However, my husband really prefers a car.

Someone said above that Europeans were more apt than Americans to use public transportation on holiday, but I think that must apply only to northern Europeans. In Italy, very few people would even consider this. Italians mostly either go on an organized bus tour, or they drive. I'd like to see some statistics on this.

bvlenci--I was quoting the bus driver's observation about the people he had seen riding the bus in his area, and a lot of those people were the tourists residing in various holiday parks. It makes sense: their vehicles are parked and they are using the bus and trains to get around.

Caravan holidays are not nearly as popular in the US, so that explains why he's not seeing a US presence there. One sees such parks near US National Parks, but they are not nearly as numerous per area as we've seen throughout UK. We were in awe on this trip and in N Ireland how many holiday parks had choice locations--and we saw much the same in New Zealand.

Of course, it was sort of strange that in our UK travels last year (21 days) and this year (18 days), we encountered people from all over the world but not one other American on a bus or train that wasn't immediately linking to an airport. There were Americans on the Heathrow Express and I'm going to assume there may have been Americans on the 600 Bus to/from George Best City Airport in Belfast. Other than that, no one.

And as to the cost of the car rental, I think I made my point early on that we could care less how much a rental would cost. Our choice of public transportation or taxi or a short tour is a matter of preference, one that has increased in fervor with age as we lose our eyesight and our hearing. Our ability to drive at night at home has greatly diminished, so why in the heck would anyone want us on roads that are unfamiliar to us? We're trying our best to stay away from cruise ships and large bus tours for now, and we think this way, we're still able to be the travelers we want to be--engaged in the people around us and in control of our own agenda.

And bvlenci, thanks for the kind words about the writing. At this point, I'm sort of slogging through the process. :)

On to Newquay Airport and Northern Ireland
 

One of the things I liked best (and there were so many things to like!) about our stay at Seaways was that one could unpack and pack and sort and putter with this amazing view. We all forget that most of life (at least for those not to the manor born) contains a lot of drudgery. Drudgery with a view is luxury indeed.

So we were up early because the sun was up long before us. The sea was shining beneath us as we redistributed belongings for air travel again. This might be the perfect juncture to explain our luggage once again. So I'll more or less copy and paste my entry from last year's Cornwall trip report. We used...

• 1 Lipault 20" Spinner Carry-On We use these for shoes, underwear, socks, misc, and an ever increasing supply of medications and physical aides. Getting old is a ***!!
• 1 GoLite TraveLite Convertible Carry-On (Out of production. Here is a link to how I ended up buying it years ago: Quick Take: GoLite TraveLite Convertible Carry-on and you'll see why I will hand repair these should they ever fall apart. I insert large packing cubes I bought at TJMAXX into each side so that all I have to do it pull out one for tops and the other for bottoms. I slide those into drawers or onto floors.

My purse is also out of production. It's a mini Baggellini that was off the market so long that it disappeared from ebay for a year. But as soon as it reappeared, I bought three. I'm good to go.

This is not just my travel purse, it's my life purse. With hip joint problems, one of the first things one learns is to lessen and distribute any additional body weight. This purse carries my passport, cash, my credit cards, my Galaxy Note, and a lipstick/liner/cover, all tightly packed. That's it.

We both carried small and large lightweight daypacks. There are days when weather demands lots of layers; there are other days that one just needs a few other items on the trail. This way we were prepared for both.

And we both wear clothes with a zillion pockets.

So once packed, we had our last breakfast with Jules, who took it as her personal duty to make sure that any flight delay would not make us hungry. Our taxi came, we hugged her goodbye, and off we headed to Newquay.

Our driver was an interesting local guy. We got to see so many china clay spoil heaps in the distance, and we asked him about it because we had never found the time to do a tour, and working in china clay had been my husband's great great grandfather's last job before he left for the States. He related his knowledge, and then he and my husband had a long interchange about the local economy. Soon we started talking about Heligan Gardens, and he said it was now providing jobs that the decreasing year-round crowds to the Eden Project were not. He was delighted his son had found work there, and we were equally delighted to tell him how wonderful we found the place to be.

We were quite early for our FLYBE flight out of a small airport, but we were very happy we were. There were too many people ahead of us in line who were checking all their earthly belongings, and it took ages. Then when we went through security, it seemed that no one understood what they could or could not carry onto to the plane or through the body scanner. We told the security workers they deserved medals for patience. We arrived just in time to board--and the plane had been delayed. Of course, there was a wait until the people whose luggage had already boarded to do push back, but we were pleased with our timing.

The flight itself went smoothly. George Best Belfast may be small, but our walk to the baggage claim was not short--we were at the very last bit and had quite a walk. The luggage came fast and we exited quite near the travel information desk where I had a list of tasks to accomplish:
1) I had to buy two one-week iLink passes for all of Northern Ireland
2) I wanted to make sure the 600 bus to Belfast was included (yes, it was)
3) I wanted to make sure our timing to the airport for our return to Heathrow was correct. They recommended at least two and a half hours before the flight. I queried--are you sure Aer Lingus staff will be there then? They said even if not, you don't want to be held up in line by people trying to check all their worldly goods. Words right out of my mouth, right?

And off we went.

Here is where I'm wondering if I should split this report in two. I always intend two purposes whenever I write:
1) To serve the reader as a travel guide
2) To serve me as a sort of diary

I'm thinking there are few people who want to do Cornwall who want to fly right away to Northern Ireland. And I'm thinking there's a dedicated crowd who would like to try ANY part of Ireland without a car. Opinions (and questions) are welcome.

I totally forgot to add in the luggage blurb section that this year, I had to add a little luggage cart!

Some health problems meant my ability to lift weight for periods of time had been compromised. Instead of cancelling our trip, I was in search of every possible solution to lessen ounces on my body. So I ordered a fold-up BluJan Luggage Cart for my GoLite suitcase/backpack. I attached it for use on treks to and from check-in gates, train stations, and so on. When I checked the suitcase/backpack on planes, I'd simply tuck the contraption in the space between the two suitcase halves and rezip the it shut.

It really did work out well, and while my husband was initially suspect, he became a fan.

Thursdays,
Thanks so much. Your comment will keep me going, although I do think I'm stopping for the day.

Please do share your opinion if I should make a separate post for the Northern Ireland section. I would link it to this one. Your opinion and that of Macross and a few others would be the most meaningful, I'm thinking.
AZ

Sorry the writing is a slog, I am certainly enjoying reading it. Very jealous that you were in Cornwall, I think I am stuck at home this year.>>

that's a shame, Thursdaysd, but Cornwall will still be here when you are ready to visit us again.

I too have been enjoying your TR very much; reading about one's own area always has so much of the "Robbie Burns" about it. You certainly had a great experience at the Shanty Festival, more due to judgement than good luck I suspect, and I'm glad you enjoyed Heligan and your visit to Mevagissey, which BTW an elderly friend of mine who was evacuated to nearby Veryan during WW2 used to refer to as "Fishy Gissey" which has stuck with this household ever since!

Since you put Northern Ireland in the title I should just keep going. There isn't a separate tag for Northern Ireland in any case.

Actually, Thursdaysd, your mention of the tag has just convinced me I should write about the second half in a new thread.

Think about it. While technically, I tagged this thread correctly--United Kingdom--I bet you there are people who are trying to find information on Northern Ireland in the coming years who won't find this thread because they'll be searching for all of Ireland.

I'll be back to link to the new one once I created my first entry or so.

And by the way, GET WELL! We need to have you on the road.

Trip Report Contintued Under New Thread
 

Here's the new thread: Done!--North Ireland Without a Car (A Trip Report Continuation)
I'll continue to respond to questions and comments on this one, though.
AZ