Glad the trip went well; and how cool to catch up with a Fodorite! I may have an occasion this summer to do the same.

Whenever we would visit our daughter who did her third level at Trinity, Howth as always an outing. The beauty for us was doing the cliff path loop for view of the Irish Sea, then walking down into the town for lunch and hoping to spot some seals in the harbor. I agree that driving around Howth might not be so interesting.

that makes sense fourfortravel, in general I think that day was not well organized, but on any trip there are always a few where things fall flat. and it was our first full day there so we were probably jet-lagged.

just to tie a ribbon around it. Lovely driver Pat drove us through ugly rush hour traffic for our final night in Dublin before our flight the next morning. I picked the Maldron hotel out of the airport hotel options - ugh - don't stay there. Just don't. Room was small and felt dirty, service was perfunctory and both of us felt queasy after dinner. I will say that the shuttle was prompt and easy.

I was nervous about how the whole go through customs thing before your flight would go but it was a breeze (granted not a holiday weekend). Checked luggage up front, went through security in about 15 minutes. Then sat in waiting area for a while - lots of food court options, picked up a last minute present in duty free. They post the time for people on your specific flight to head to customs on an overhead board. We had world traveler passes and it literally took 5 minutes to go through. There was a nice place on the other side where I grabbed a sandwich and almond croissant and final cappuccino. Flight was on time - drive home through rush hour traffic unpleasant but what can you do. Good to be home - kitties happy to see us (did not punish us for once) and weeds had their way with my garden. It was worth it. Happy travels everyone!

two for the road