meriberi

Hello all -
Thanks again to all our fellow travelers who have provided such a wealth of information in planning our trip to England and Ireland! Here's the itinerary we've concocted, thanks in large part to your input. Please let me know if you see anything awry, missing, too rushed, or have any tips in general on any of these areas.

Background: We are fit 30-somethings with no kids, used to independent travel; though we travel well together, we have conflicting interests: I prefer gardens, scenery, and history, whilst DH prefers people watching and "city life", so it's always a delicate balancing act for us. DH thinks he'll be fine driving on the left; we have reserved automatic cars in both countries to make things easier. I'm a fairly good navigator and we have Europe maps on our GPS from 2 years ago; hopefully not too out of date. The "worst" thing that will happen is we'll have to ask some nice ol' chap for directions, and make some great unplanned discoveries, right?

So here's a general idea of what we might do each day, but of course we're flexible and often change our plans as we go This exciting trip is scheduled for late May:

Day 1: arrive Heathrow, tube to B&B near Marble Arch (just our carry-on bags, so hopefully tube is do-able)
Days 2-4: London - revisit favorite sites (been here before, love it), EPL game (tickets already reserved), markets, museums, tour parliament?, day-of tickets to shows, eat Indian food
Day 5: pick up car at Heathrow (National car rental, reserved via AutoEurope), drive to B&B in Stow-on-the-wold. Possible stops: Oxford (use park & ride if so), Blenheim Palace
Day 6: drive up to Warwick Castle, then Stratford; see Shakespeare show (tickets already reserved)
Day 7: explore more of the Cotswolds by car and on foot
Day 8: drive to Luton, fly (RyanAir) to Kerry, pick up car (Murray's, reserved via AutoEurope), drive to Dingle
Day 9: drive Dingle Peninsula ring, possible boat trip to Blasket Islands
Day 10: visit Killarney Nat'l Park (Torc Waterfall, Muckross House, Ross Castle), OR drive western part of RoK, boat to Skellig Michael? (DH really wants to see puffins)
Day 11: drive to Galway, see Cliffs of Moher (and Burren?) on the way; B&B close to downtown Galway
Day 12: boat to Aran Islands
Day 13: explore Galway OR drive around Connemara (Clifden, Kylemore Abbey)
Day 14: drive to Dublin, stop at Clonmacnoise on the way? Or try to get to Newgrange in time for a tour, possibly Trim Castle after? Drop car at Dublin airport, bus to B&B near St. Stephen's Green.
Day 15: usual Dublin city center tourist traps (Trinity College, Guinness, trad pub crawl)
Day 16: Newgrange/Trim if we didn't make it before, or bus out to Powerscourt Gardens?
Day 17: flight home out of Dublin airport

What do you think? See anything that concerns you - out of order, unreasonable, wasted time, something missing?

Thanks again for all your help! We're so excited about our trip!

janisj

Looks good IMO -- be sure to allow plenty of time for the drive to Luton. Its only about 75 miles but can easily take 2.5 hours.

CaliNurse

Seconding totally what Janis said, including about Luton travel time. I havent been to Ireland, but the plans for England sound fantastic

Sounds like you've put a lot of thought and planning into this. You'll have a great time, Meribiri! Tube from LHR def'lly do-able .
Wow ,you're brave driving on the other side of the road. Never did master it and was very glad all my friends drove!!

Tony2phones

Ryanair have Very Strict did I say they have Very strict Baggage policies. I fly with them them 4 or 5 times a year return and have no problems with them. They are a budget airline and whilst the tickets are cheap there are lots of extras to watch for. We use a pre paid Mastercard and book in the 8 to 6 week earlier window and pay a total of €19.98 return from any Irish airport to any UK airport. But watch the baggage costs and cabin baggage restrictions.

http://www.ryanair.com/ie/questions/search?q=baggage

shakespeareland

I would say that 2 days to cover the Cotswolds and Warwickshire isn't really enough, but you are trying to cover a lot of ground so I understand the constraints.
As you are into gardens there are a wealth of them in our area - Capability brown landscaped the gardens at Compton Verney (also an art gallery), Charlecote Park (Tudor History), Warwick Castle (more history), Ragley Hall (nice country house still occupied by the family), Repton did Stoneleigh Abbey (Medieval gatehouse, Victorian West Wing and Jane Austen stayed there).

So much to see and do.

bellini

"Pear Tree park and ride" on outskirts of Oxford is on the most covenient side of the city for easy access to Woodstock and Blenheim Palace. Frequent bus service - newly refurbished Ashmolean Museum well worth a visit and bus stops opposite the museum.

Mimar

Highlight gardens to see: Hidcote and Kiftsgate, close to one another and near Stratford. Hidcote is famous for its garden "rooms."

meriberi

I'm always amazed by the generosity and speed of your responses! Thanks!

Yay, so many gardens to see - DH will love that

Sounds like we should forget Oxford/Blenheim and go straight to the Cotswolds so we have another day there (I'm sure we'll be back to London someday, so we can visit Oxford as a day trip). Debating whether we should skip Warwick Castle, too - sounds sooo touristy, but we are Disney castle-loving American tourists after all...

Thanks for the reminders about LTN driving time and RyanAir baggage. We travel light, just one backpack and one carry-on roller bag each, so we pre-paid for one checked bag each (for the carry-on roller bags) and hopefully our backpacks will meet the cabin baggage requirements.

Thanks again for your help! I hope to hear from someone soon about the Ireland part of the trip, too!

ron

»»Debating whether we should skip Warwick Castle, too - sounds sooo touristy, but we are Disney castle-loving American tourists after all...««

Granted it is owned by a company that makes its money by attracting tourists, the fact remains that Warwick Castle has a long and fascinating history going back to William Conqueror.

But, if you feel that Merlin Entertainment's Disneyfication of this historic gem is offensive, Kenilworth Castle is a mere 15 minutes drive north from Warwick. More of a ruin, but lots of history and no evidence of the spirit of Walt Disney.

OpenRoadClassic

Warwick Castle is interesting on two levels. Loads of history, fantastically restored buildings. Well worth walking the battlements. Go to the top of Guys Tour and you can see why the castle is where it is for strategic reasons - you can see for miles in all directions. No army could have approached unnoticed.

As for 'Disneyfied' it is a family attraction and we all know how hard it is to keep kids entertained - which they do very well.

If you have kids then go at the weekend or during the school holidays when the entertainment is laid on.

If you want to avoid the kids then go on a weekday in school time and enjoy the adult side and the history without the kids.

kellytravel

Dublin City contains sights, sounds and experiences for every taste. There is much to explore, beginning with the historic buildings at Trinity College where the Book of Kells sits on display at the Old Library.

TeddE

Wow, you really are packing a lot in. Sounds like a great trip.
Saw that you might be thinking of skipping Oxford...hmnn....if you have never been, YOU MUST GO. The buildings are amazing, the streets & alleys are amazing, the Pubs are amazing.....I am not biased, honest, I am a Londoner and I think London is amazing, but Oxford,.....; just telling you the way it is. If you want specific detail on Oxford (or London), let me know. Good Luck !

meriberi

TeddE,
I assume Oxford (and possibly Blenheim) would easily fill a whole day, so we'd only reach Stow by the evening; then we spend 1 day at Warwick Castle and Stratford-upon-Avon, so we're left with only 1 day really enjoying the Cotswolds. If you had your choice to spend a 2nd day exploring the Cotswolds vs. spending it in Oxford, which would you choose?

Thanks so much for all your help! I'm so excited!