WooHoo! I'm going to Ireland!

[madeleone]

I booked our trip yesterday, I am so excited!

It has been a dream of mine for a long time to go to Ireland someday. Both of my dad's grandparent's came from there, and I have always, always wanted to visit. I don't know a lot about them, other than what county they came from, but just to have the chance to go there is a thrill.

I have been after hubby since our youngest graduated from high school four years ago, that now is our time to travel and do things like this while we are still young enough and healthy enough to enjoy it. And while he agreed in theory, he always had an excuse... can't get time off work, need to save up more money, we'll do it someday, yadda, yadda, yadda. I finally told him about a year ago if he didn't make up his mind to go within the next year, I was going to sign up for a tour or something and go by myself. Of course he said: no, no, I really want to go too, we'll get around to it.  Sad to say, it was his mothers passing last summer that was a real eye-opener for him that life really is too short.  So he said then that we should start planning to go.

I spent several months drooling over travel sites and deciding where I want to go and what I want to see. He is pretty much letting me choose where we are going as I want to focus on one region rather than try to rush through a whirlwind tour of the whole country. We applied for our passports early in December and they arrived last week. So I did some final checking on different packages and made a final decision and booked it yesterday.

We will leave on 3/29 arrive in Ireland on 3/30. We're going to rent a car and have B&B vouchers for 10 nights, I want to mainly explore the western areas, the Great-grandparents were from Mayo, so there definitely, and also probably Galway and Clare. Return home on 4/9. If anyone has been there, or has any pointers, suggestions, likes, dislikes, please feel free to let me know.

I am so excited, I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas. :)

Comments

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

Squeeee! It sounds like the trip of a lifetime. I hope you get good weather and that you find out some interesting stuff about the family.

[madeleone]

Thanks for Squeee'ing with me! It will be early spring so I'm just hoping the weather is decent. I know we can expect rain but I'm hoping not too much. *fingers crossed*

As far as the family info, all of my dad's brothers and sisters are gone now (him as well, he died when I was just 21) so the only info I have is sketchy. While doing a random search a year or so ago I found some information someone else had posted who was actually a descendent on my great-grandmothers side of the family. (I guess that would have made him a very distant cousin). Anyway I did learn the town they came from which is tiny, was Ballyvary, the 2006 census listed the population as 147. But still it's a start. I am going to talk to my cousins to see if they have any family stories that might give further clues. All my dad told me was his grandfather came from County Mayo, and they originally came to Canada before moving to Michigan. I also know that the spelling of the last name was changed, but I do know the original spelling. It's kind of interesting, like unraveling a mystery in a way. :)

[kribu.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is so wonderful! *squees*

And yeah, just exploring a specific area is a much better idea than short stops in a dozen different places. You may not get to "see it all", but the memories will be so much stronger.

[madeleone]

Thanks, more squeeees with me! It is tempting to try to plan too much. But that was one of the suggestions I read and it makes sense. If you try to do too much you will just be rushing from one place to the next with no time to kick back and enjoy the trip.

[libertyelyot.livejournal.com]

Galway and the whole Connemara region in the west are beautiful (but very rainy). Great places to stay overnight are Westport (beautiful and if you like folk music you will love it), Clifden and Galway City. Also definitely worth getting a ferry over to Inishmore and cycling around the island, maybe buying yourself a genuine Aran sweater at the shop :D. Galway area is brilliant for seafood, traditional music, beautiful scenery and sheep. Loads of sheep. And make sure you have plenty of petrol in the car if you don't want to get stuck on the Bog Road (as we did, oops).

Have a wonderful time - you can't fail to in Ireland imo.

[madeleone]

Ooooh, thanks for the tips. I taking notes. LOL! No really, I am. We will definitely want to get lots of souvenirs, and lots of pictures.

I think I am going to check around for a travel book about the area. It's so hard to choose where to go an what to see, ten days seems hardly long enough. :)

[dickgloucester.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy for you! I hope the weather plays nicely.

[madeleone]

Thanks Dickie, I'm hoping the weather cooperates but whatever it is we will just have to make it work.

[ratherbsailing.livejournal.com]

So jealous. That's going to be really awesome. Take pictures!

[madeleone]

My son said the very same thing. Get a good digital camera and a huge memory stick. :)

*\o/* YAY!

[mrs-helenesnape.livejournal.com]

I'm so excited for you! It's fantastic that you're finally able to go.

We'll be expecting lots of picspam when you get back.
{{squish}}
MHS

Re: *\o/* YAY!

[madeleone]

There shall be picspam galore, I assure you. :) I am excited too, MHS. I have wanted to visit there forever, luckily I have a small savings from some money an uncle left me a few years ago.(my dad's brother, which seems appropriate. What better way to spend his money?) So I tell my kids that Uncle Ed is sending us to Ireland. God bless Uncle Ed!

[droxy.livejournal.com]

Lucky You!!! Travel safe and enjoy. Don't overpack. =)

[madeleone]

Thanks Droxy, My future son-in-law said the same thing. Leave enough room in your suitcase to bring home souvenirs! :D

[m-mcgonagall-65.livejournal.com]

Squee! I'm happy for you! Some of my dad's ancestors are from Ireland as well. I hope you and Mr. M. have a wonderful (and smooth) trip!

[madeleone]

I'm hoping everything runs smoothly as well. Do you know what part of Ireland your dad's family came from?

I don't plan to spend a huge amount of time there on genealogical research, my maiden name was WELCH, but the spelling was originally WALSH. From checking online, it appears to be a very common name in that area. But, just being able to go there and see the places they were from is a real thrill.

[m-mcgonagall-65.livejournal.com]

Apparently, the earliest of my ancestors to come over from Ireland was from Ulster (the northern province). He came over in the early 1700s. I had other Irish ancestors that came over in the 1800s, but offhand I can't remember what part of Ireland they were from.

[dreamy-dragon73.livejournal.com]

Squee! I'm so happy for you. I hope you have a great time!

[madeleone]

Squeeee! Dreamy guess what? Remember the village of Clonbur in my story, that you beta'd, New Beginnings? I am going to visit it in real life! Sweet!

[mischievous-t.livejournal.com]

We ended our trip of Ireland at Ashford Castle, near Galway. I played a falconer. :D

[madeleone]

Ooooh, you've been there. Any tips, pointers, must see sites, or thing off the beaten path?

[mischievous-t.livejournal.com]

Let's see. We bopped around a bit more than you're planning on so I'm not sure how helpful this'll be.

Our itinerary had us driving a loop - south from Dublin, west to Dingle, north to Connemara and east back to Dublin. We only reserved lodging for the front and back end of the trip - since it was the shoulder season we decided to wing it (successfully) on the days in between.

Dublin ~ Trinity College, Grafton Street, Kilmainham Gaol, Temple Bar <-lots of hen parties and drunken 20-somethings

drove south to Powerscourt Castle (Count of Monte Cristo movie set, beautiful gardens, inside an empty shell w/tourist shop) - also got desperately lost in the Wicklow Mountains - Salley's gap :D

Glendalough - tower, monastery with a lovely scenic hike to the lake... hike might be over-stating, but a nice long walk with nothing terribly steep.

On the way to Dingle we we to the Rock of Cashel which was breathtakingly beautiful.

We stayed a couple of days in Dingle and explored the peninsula, the famine cottages (when I looked inside the first one, I almost screamed - if you go, you'll know why), etc.

Drove north thru The Burren... where "there's not enough water to drown a man, wood to hang him, nor earth to bury him" - and that about sums that up. Think 'moonscape' and you'll have the general idea.

Doolin - I know there are caves here, but I don't remember much about this place.

Cliffs of Mohr - a must see.

Galway - We didn't spend a lot of time exploring this city. We went to the dog races and shopped some of the cute side streets (the tourist-y part).

We visited the Aaron islands - the weather was beautiful (for most of the trip, amazingly enough) and we hired one of the many horse-drawn buggies for the tour around the island. - I would've liked to stay overnight here, but we still had all our stuff at the hotel thinking we wouldn't want to schlep it with us and try to find another place to stay if we didn't want to stay on the island. Oh, btw, Galway was the most difficult place to find a hotel during the whole trip.

From there, we explored Connemara and County Mayo - Roundstone (the Matchmaker movie set)

We hiked around Croagh Patrick and wanted to explore Diamond Hill, but didn't get to it.

Stayed at Ashford Castle (we had reservations) for the last few days before heading back to Dublin. Ashford Castle has a GREAT falconry experience. I wish we'd done this every day, as their golfing was so-so (and I'm a total hacker anyway).

With no reservations between Dublin and Ashford Castle we had a lot of flexibility. The driving's nerve-wracking, highlighted here and there with points of sheer terror, but we had a GREAT time and I know you will, too.

If you have more specific questions, let me know. I hope this helps.

Bon Voyage!

[madeleone]

That is so cool, t, it all sounds fabulous.

That generally sounds very similar to our plans. We will reserve out first and last night, but we are flying into Shannon and will concentrate our travels on the western counties.

Definitely had planned on the cliffs of Moher, also interested in the Aran islands. Of course for me Mayo (the birthplace of my great parents) is a main point of interest even if just to be there. I'd like to visit a castle or two, but want to avoid the extremely touristy ones, (kissing the blarney stone just does not appeal to me. LOL) Hubby would like to golf at least 9 holes one day (I am a devoted non golfer so may just take an afternoon for myself there). I am so looking forward to the whole trip. I've already got a couple of travel guides and am pouring over them madly.

Thanks for the pointers. When did you go there? Do you have Irish ancestors also, or did you just go there for fun?