first trip to ireland
 

In early September we'll land in Dublin & spend 2 days. drive to Galway and stay overnight. On to Donegal for 2 days & return to Dublin for another 2 days. We're big on vistas, sunsets & local color. Fodor's gives good tips but are there any MUST SEE spots?

Also, Fodor's mentions Handicapped Orange Badge for auto but fails to say where to get it. Can it be gotten before we leave US?

Thanks/Mike K.

Found the following paragraph that might answer your question:

(from this website: http://www.undiscoveredbritain.com/access/ )

"If you plan a self-drive holiday, don?t forget to bring your handicapped parking placard from home. The ?Orange Badge? is the official disabled parking permit in Britain; but ECMT Resolution 97/4 grants reciprocal handicapped parking privileges to permit-holders from other countries. The resolution requires permit holders to ?display a document that shows the international symbol for persons with disabilities, as well as the name of the document holder?. As of Jan 1, 1999, travelers from associate countries (including the US and Canada) are included in this resolution."

Hmmm weird, I copied and pasted directly from the website, so I don't know how the ? marks got in there. Sorry!

To BrimhamRocks,

Thank you! That will help a lot.

regards/Mike

Very welcome!

I've been informed on another thread that the Orange Badge scheme is now expired and has been replaced with the Blue Badge sheme. Sorry for the outdated info!

Here's more information on the Blue Badge (formerly the Orange Badge) scheme:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/group...?n=5132&l=

The usual problem! When you live here you sometimes miss the beauty.
one suggestion, I'll think of more, if your driving from galway towards Donegal, you might like to stop in Clifden (beautiful spot) and continue on. Be aware that the roads in these places can be much narrower than your used to particularly coming from the states, most raods have been upgraded very impressively over the last few years of the "Celtic Tiger", but bad roads thankfully tend to mean out of the way spots, where the natural beauty particularly around galway, connemara, Donegal is stunning.

I'll try and come up with more ideas.

Mike,

If you like vistas and sunsets then a 'Must See' is the Cliffs of Moher. It's is not very handicap accessible --though I have seen lots of people pushing prams up the sidewalks. Lots of fairly steep hills and a good many steps. Still, so worth it if you can get there.

Overall Ireland is not very handicap friendly, especially the ancient sites, castles, houses, etc. However, they have made great strides in the last few years. In April I actually saw special parking spots reserved for not only handicap drivers but for pregnant women and people with families!

Safe and happy travels,
Wendy

If you ever go across the sea to Ireland/ %%-
Then maybe at the closing of your day/ I-)
You can sit and watch the moon rise over Claddagh/ ((s))
And watch the sun go down on Galway Bay/ ((#))

Someone on this board said a handicapped placard from the U.S. would be honored for parking in handicapped spaces in Ireland. That's totaly hearsay - I have no first hand knowledge.

Speaking of handicapped: I asked the bartender at the Spanish Arch Hotel in Galway if they had handicapped-accessible restrooms. She smiled and said: "yes; just go up those steps and when you get to the top, turn left and go down the steps .... " Handicapped friendly?? Not!!

All that info about "Handicapped Badges" is very interesting, but misses one crucial point. All the references are to Britain and British websites - not Ireland.

I'll have a look around to see if I can find details for the Irish schemes (but I think US and Canadian badges are honoured here)

-- Viola

Blue Badge info for Northern Ireland:

http://www.roadsni.gov.uk/BlueBadge/bbadge.htm

Information from the ECMT (European Conference of Ministers of Transport)about Blue Badges and also about reciprocal recognition of parking badges. Note that it covers Ireland:

http://www1.oecd.org/cem/topics/handicaps/parking.htm

And a quote from the above mentioned ECMT website:

"In addition to all the Member countries of ECMT this Resolution now applies also to the ECMT Associated Countries (Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, United States). This means that disabled motorists from all ECMT Member and Associate countries are now entitled to the same parking concessions as nationals in all ECMT Countries. The only condition is the display of a badge showing the international wheelchair symbol."

Thanks to all for sharing your ideas and information. Surprisingly (maybe not to some), I have not yet heard back from the blue badge commission site set up for questions ([email protected].). We will carry out US badge and wing it.

The important thing is we are finally getting visit the land of our roots. We can't wait for out first trip and are already thinking about the second.

Thanks again/Mike

Hope you have a wonderful trip!