Going against the Grain: Too long of a trip
Oct 2nd, 2019, 01:37 PM
#42
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Love this report, and love the honesty, though I am someone who could travel for years at a time without burning out. I do react to weather, though, and get pissy when faced with days of cold and wet.
But your photos are beautiful - you can't really say you lacked for scenery!
But your photos are beautiful - you can't really say you lacked for scenery!
Oct 3rd, 2019, 06:05 AM
#46
DUBLIN:
My husband was so relieved to turn in the rental car at the Dublin airport without incident. If you’re going to rent a car, I advise you research all the issues on TripAdvisor or Google. Just know that there are many additional fees that crop up at the end if you decline CDW with your credit card. And, make sure you photograph every inch of the car and tires before and after you return. If the renter is over 75 (my DH) you need a letter from your doctor saying you’re fit to drive and one from your insurance company saying you haven’t had an accident in 5 years.
The car rental shuttle takes you back to the terminal where we caught a taxi to our hotel.
My choice of hotel turned out to be poor. The Schoolhouse Hotel, again, a lot of good write ups, is just too far from the main part of the city. What made matters worse, I started to come down with a nasty cold this morning so you know how weak, tired and overall miserable you feel. They tout it as a 20 minute walk to Merrion Square/Trinity College area but when you’re going to walk all day…that extra 40 minutes took a toll on me and seemed longer.
Our first room was big but so dark…just one little window in an alcove. We switched rooms to a ground floor room that was marginally better. Shouldn’t have wasted the time. The bathroom is small.
So, while I’m dragging, I managed to put on over 20,000 steps on my Fitbit today. We decided to just walk around the city and shop to pick up needed gifts. Ate a very late lunch at Fallon & Byne Food Hall. Had wanted to explore the north Dublin area but only made it to the O’Connell Bridge. Tried to take a taxi back to hotel but couldn’t get one. Went for comfort food at Paulie’s Pizza, a five minute walk from Hotel.
The next morning (sunny!) breakfast was served in an attractive, soaring, wood-beamed dining room, but the buffet selections were poor and it’s freezing in there. Feeling worse today so asked the front desk to call us a taxi to take us to our 9am ticket entry time at The Book of Kells (bought these online ahead of time). She said no problem, take 5 minutes to get a taxi on the street outside and only a 5 minute drive. Wrong on both counts. Waited and waited until she said the taxi company cancelled the request (?)…just walk outside and hail one. That didn’t work as every one we saw was full and we finally started walking until we grabbed one waiting for someone else. It took 20 minutes to drive in the rush hour traffic…about the same time as walking. Luckily, they let us in at 9:20. If you’re interested in the background, watch the animated movie, Secret of Kells.
From here, we walked back across the river to the EPIC Emmigration museum. This is a huge, very well done museum that I”d recommend. Unfortunately, I only saw half of it because DH lost me in one of the many dark rooms (my version) and we spent too much time trying to find each other. (he broke the family rule and went up the escalators at the end…never leave the original site!) This is the problem when you only buy international coverage for one phone…later on wi-fi, I did get the text messages he was sending.
I’d made a lunch reservation at the beautiful Bank on College Green pub back near Trinity College. If you can, stop in and at least see the beautiful stained glass ceiling.
Next stop was the National Museum of Archeology to see the preserved Bog People and glorious gold artifacts. Stopped in St. Stephen’s Square and Merrion Square Park on the way back. No more energy left so missed much of what Dublin had to offer. I liked the city better than expected. Dinner that night was in the Schoolhouse Hotel …convenient and good.
So, our time in Ireland closed on a sickly note which does color one’s impressions. Glad we visited but think a 10 to 12 day trip would have been sufficient. Would have cut out Westport (although my favorite photo was taken there), the Burren, Dingle and maybe Kinsale and added time to the Klllarney National Park area. And a final shout out to the public bathrooms in Ireland… some of the cleanest I’ve seen in Europe. (I’m talking to you Italy!)
I did manage to get a lot of beautiful photos so yes, my earlier remark about not enough great scenery (only when it’s raining!) is incorrect.
If you’d like to see these, check out this link on Smugmug…
https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-6wXzfN
Slainte!
My husband was so relieved to turn in the rental car at the Dublin airport without incident. If you’re going to rent a car, I advise you research all the issues on TripAdvisor or Google. Just know that there are many additional fees that crop up at the end if you decline CDW with your credit card. And, make sure you photograph every inch of the car and tires before and after you return. If the renter is over 75 (my DH) you need a letter from your doctor saying you’re fit to drive and one from your insurance company saying you haven’t had an accident in 5 years.
The car rental shuttle takes you back to the terminal where we caught a taxi to our hotel.
My choice of hotel turned out to be poor. The Schoolhouse Hotel, again, a lot of good write ups, is just too far from the main part of the city. What made matters worse, I started to come down with a nasty cold this morning so you know how weak, tired and overall miserable you feel. They tout it as a 20 minute walk to Merrion Square/Trinity College area but when you’re going to walk all day…that extra 40 minutes took a toll on me and seemed longer.
Our first room was big but so dark…just one little window in an alcove. We switched rooms to a ground floor room that was marginally better. Shouldn’t have wasted the time. The bathroom is small.
So, while I’m dragging, I managed to put on over 20,000 steps on my Fitbit today. We decided to just walk around the city and shop to pick up needed gifts. Ate a very late lunch at Fallon & Byne Food Hall. Had wanted to explore the north Dublin area but only made it to the O’Connell Bridge. Tried to take a taxi back to hotel but couldn’t get one. Went for comfort food at Paulie’s Pizza, a five minute walk from Hotel.
The next morning (sunny!) breakfast was served in an attractive, soaring, wood-beamed dining room, but the buffet selections were poor and it’s freezing in there. Feeling worse today so asked the front desk to call us a taxi to take us to our 9am ticket entry time at The Book of Kells (bought these online ahead of time). She said no problem, take 5 minutes to get a taxi on the street outside and only a 5 minute drive. Wrong on both counts. Waited and waited until she said the taxi company cancelled the request (?)…just walk outside and hail one. That didn’t work as every one we saw was full and we finally started walking until we grabbed one waiting for someone else. It took 20 minutes to drive in the rush hour traffic…about the same time as walking. Luckily, they let us in at 9:20. If you’re interested in the background, watch the animated movie, Secret of Kells.
From here, we walked back across the river to the EPIC Emmigration museum. This is a huge, very well done museum that I”d recommend. Unfortunately, I only saw half of it because DH lost me in one of the many dark rooms (my version) and we spent too much time trying to find each other. (he broke the family rule and went up the escalators at the end…never leave the original site!) This is the problem when you only buy international coverage for one phone…later on wi-fi, I did get the text messages he was sending.
I’d made a lunch reservation at the beautiful Bank on College Green pub back near Trinity College. If you can, stop in and at least see the beautiful stained glass ceiling.
Next stop was the National Museum of Archeology to see the preserved Bog People and glorious gold artifacts. Stopped in St. Stephen’s Square and Merrion Square Park on the way back. No more energy left so missed much of what Dublin had to offer. I liked the city better than expected. Dinner that night was in the Schoolhouse Hotel …convenient and good.
So, our time in Ireland closed on a sickly note which does color one’s impressions. Glad we visited but think a 10 to 12 day trip would have been sufficient. Would have cut out Westport (although my favorite photo was taken there), the Burren, Dingle and maybe Kinsale and added time to the Klllarney National Park area. And a final shout out to the public bathrooms in Ireland… some of the cleanest I’ve seen in Europe. (I’m talking to you Italy!)
I did manage to get a lot of beautiful photos so yes, my earlier remark about not enough great scenery (only when it’s raining!) is incorrect.
If you’d like to see these, check out this link on Smugmug…
https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-6wXzfN
Slainte!
Oct 7th, 2019, 05:54 AM
#48
Surprise...now I could upload some photos! The first is my favorite of the trip...yes, a cloudy morning in Westport.
Sheep everywhere. A "Tidy Town" bridge in Westport. Way to the beach in Keel, Achill Island.
Sheep everywhere. A "Tidy Town" bridge in Westport. Way to the beach in Keel, Achill Island.
Oct 8th, 2019, 04:30 AM
#56
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You can only use up so much space posting pictures, assuming you are even able to. If the system is working probably (a big if), it will tell you when you reach the limit. Just reply to your own post and start adding pictures again.
Oct 8th, 2019, 09:15 AM
#58
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Your photos are beautiful--love the photo of the goat (ram?)!
I am sorry that the trip felt too long. We are planning Ireland for 2021 for my husband's 50th but not as long as you stayed--10-11 nights. Maybe that's the perfect time frame although on most trips we wish we could stay longer! We accept that we could get lots of rain (but of course, we hope we don't). We don't like moving and changing hotels so are planning to stay put in one place and venture out from there. We do choose hotels that we feel like we will love if we never get to leave but you never know until you get there. I hope the hotel we chose will put us in a good spot to venture out to the things we want to see and we readily accept that we will not even scratch the surface during our trip.
I appreciate your report and the honesty. Sometimes, it just isn't what you hoped for but I hope your next trip will be perfect!!
I am sorry that the trip felt too long. We are planning Ireland for 2021 for my husband's 50th but not as long as you stayed--10-11 nights. Maybe that's the perfect time frame although on most trips we wish we could stay longer! We accept that we could get lots of rain (but of course, we hope we don't). We don't like moving and changing hotels so are planning to stay put in one place and venture out from there. We do choose hotels that we feel like we will love if we never get to leave but you never know until you get there. I hope the hotel we chose will put us in a good spot to venture out to the things we want to see and we readily accept that we will not even scratch the surface during our trip.
I appreciate your report and the honesty. Sometimes, it just isn't what you hoped for but I hope your next trip will be perfect!!
Oct 8th, 2019, 02:12 PM
#59
deniesea, thanks for your comments...that sounds like the perfect amount of time. We also usually prefer to stay at a place longer than 2 nights, but actually, on this trip, I was ready to leave each locale. Hard to explain why some areas resonate more with one than others.
Oct 8th, 2019, 02:28 PM
#60
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Barefootbeach
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy much of your trip.
We’ve been on trips where the weather has been dreary a lot of the time, my arthritis has been bad and I’ve caught a cold. It’s hard to remain positive when those things happen. To me it makes such a difference if the sun shines, even when the other two factors are there.
I’d like to visit Ireland but the idea of lots of wet weather doesn’t appeal. Most countries have a time of year most likely to have fine weather. I wonder if that applies to Ireland too?
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy much of your trip.
We’ve been on trips where the weather has been dreary a lot of the time, my arthritis has been bad and I’ve caught a cold. It’s hard to remain positive when those things happen. To me it makes such a difference if the sun shines, even when the other two factors are there.
I’d like to visit Ireland but the idea of lots of wet weather doesn’t appeal. Most countries have a time of year most likely to have fine weather. I wonder if that applies to Ireland too?
