gogoellen

Hi! Just thought a trip report might be helpful to anyone in the planning stage. We spent 5 days in London. We stayed at the Vicarage Hotel in Kensington. It was very nice! London was great! We did musuems...following the guidelines we read on this board...basically two big activities a day. We went to the theatre most evenings.

gogoellen

The week pass for the tube and buses was great! It took a while to get the hang of how to follow the correct signs but we were "pros" by the second day. I misplaced the directions to our hotel...don't make that mistake! We especially enjoyed the audio guides at the musuems. You coould go at your own rate!

gogoellen

The food in London was GREAT but expensive! We ate in Italian restaurants almost every night! It just sort of happened that way! I enjoyed the antiques in Portobello market! We can't wait to go back to London! So many things deserved a whole day!!!! On the last morning we flew to Dublin!

gogoellen

In Dublin we picked up our rental car from Dan Dooley without any problems. We drove to Cashel. That was just an amazing place! We stayed at Abbey House. It was not glamourous...but clean and the hostess was friendly and served us a good breakfast. We only stayed one night and left for Kinsale!

gogoellen

Kinsale was great! We stayed at The Gallery. It was WONDERFUL! You just park your car and walk every place! We really enjoyed Don Herligy's Historic Town Walk. It was about 2 hours of fasinating history! The man know how to make it come alive! Kinsale is a beautiful little town! We were there for two days and then drove to Dingle...The only down side to our trip was we (husband, 16 year old daughter and self) all found the driving pretty miserable. It takes forever and the roads are awful...you've been warned!

gogoellen

We stayed at Greenmount House in Dingle. It was the BEST! We splurged and got one of there superior ocean view rooms....french doors...lots of windows *sigh* Wow! The breakfast was also unlike anything you have every seen. Very, very wonderful! So...Holly swam with the dolphin! We did the drive from Rick Steves book and loved every minute! Our only disappointment was we paid to do Sciuird Archaelology Tours (from Steve's book) and it was everything we had seen the day before on our own. The book said the tour "skips the famous sights". Well, it didn't.... Finally, the weather didn't cooperate too much...everyday the forecast was sunny and showers. That's what we got! Fortunately, we were prepared! After two days, we drove to Galway for our final two days.

gogoellen

It was a hard decision to take the extra time to drive to the Cliffs of Mohr. We were so burnt out on that little car and those roads! However, I can't say how awesome the Cliffs are!!! It was worth the time driving there! Galway was ok...we aren't shoppers and that seemed to be what it was about. We stayed in Ardawn House. It was ok. Our last night we did the banquet at Dunguaire Castle. It was nice! There was so much more to see! We crammed in as much as we could in our trip! Like I said...I hope this info is helpful to anyone who is starting to plan their own trip!

gogoellen

Also, I am aware of incorrect spelling and grammatical errors...it's past midnight so there are bound to be even more errors than there might be at 3 in the afternoon. So the point is that I guess you can "correct" if holding back would cause you extreme emotional distress...or you can just graciously accept my "thanks" for all the help this board has been to me! We spent at least a year planning our little trip and it was joyous....thanks to so many of you!

Mina

Hi gogoellen....<BR><BR>May I ask why the Ardawn house was just OK? I will be there as well, but booked it because I couldn't find much else. I wanted to be close to the thick of things, and it seemed to fit the bill.<BR><BR>Thanks for the trip report. I will be hitting many of the same spots, so it helps!

forgogoellen

who insists that this posting has disappeared, when it took about 30 seconds to find.