If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Trip to Ireland, advice wanted
My husband and I have decided to cash in our Alitalia frequent flyer
miles, just in case it becomes difficult to use them in the future. So now we're going to Ireland in just a little over a month. Unfortunately, my husband can't stay away from his studio for more than a week, so we're leaving on a Saturday morning (arriving in Dublin mid-day) and returning on Sunday evening 8 days later. I think we need a few days in Dublin. I've already visited Dublin, albeit 18 years ago, but my husband has never been there. I would very much like to see Newgrange, which I think can be easily visited as a day trip from Dublin. Then I need at least a day or day and a half in counties Tyrone and Fermanagh, where my family is from. (The length of time depends on how many relatives I can find who will have free time to meet me.) My tentative plan is to spend two nights in Dublin at the beginning of the trip, and the final night before departure. (I will have half of the following day for Dublin as well, because our flight is in late afternoon.) I will spend one or two nights in Omagh or vicinity, which is a convenient base for the family visits. While in Omagh, I might be able to squeeze in a trip to the Giant's Causeway. According to Ulsterbus, I can easily get there from Omagh and could even go one from there to Dublin. The only question is what to do with the luggage if we're not going back to Omagh. This is where a car is handy. I think we'd be passing through Coleraine, and maybe the train station there has a left-luggage facility. I would also like to hear opinions about the Ulster-America Heritage park in Omagh. The Lonely Planet makes it sound very interesting, but they seem to have nice things to say about everything. In between, I have three or four nights. I would like to spend this time somewhere on the west coast. I was thinking of going to Galway, or somewhere nearby, and spending one day on one of the Aran islands and another day in some nearby scenic spot. Maybe the Connemara penisula, but one day may not even scratch the surface there. Another place might be Donegal or nearby. I have always heard a lot about Donegal. (Including jokes about the residents, as my family was from not far away. It seems they loved Donegal as people from Schenectady love Manhattan.) If so, I would really appreciate some advice for places to stay and visit on a two day trip. Especially places reachable by public transport. I especially like early Christian sites, high crosses, etc. (There are a lot of these in Fermanagh, near Enniskillen, which I've seen on an earlier trip.) I'm open to other suggestions as well. The west coast south of Galway also entices me, and I've never seen Kerry or Dingle, but it's getting a bit far from Omagh. One other hitch is that my husband isn't sure he wants to rent a car. The idea of driving on the left doesn't exactly appeal to him. From Galway, we could easily get to the Aran Islands by bus and ferry. Also, there seem to be one-day tours of the Connemare peninsula. Does anyone know if there are any tours that might include a nice several-hour hike? Or some bicycle tours, provided they aren't strenuous? (I'm only good for pretty flat biking, although my husband can handle moderate hills.) I'm assuming we could do some biking on Inishmore, but it would be nice to be able to take a good walk. I don't really fancy the idea of seeing Connemara with a big busload of tourists, although a minibus load might be all right if we get to meander around a bit on our own. If anyone suggests another spot along the west coast, perhaps they could suggest similar day trips. The trip will be the last week in June. I'm hoping that's a bit before the tourist rush. It seems to be a bit before the full summer schedule of busses to remote towns, unfortunately. ----------- Barbara Vaughan My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Trip to Ireland, advice wanted
B wrote:
... So now we're going to Ireland in just a little over a month. Good idea! ...so we're leaving on a Saturday morning (arriving in Dublin mid-day) and returning on Sunday evening 8 days later. I think we need a few days in Dublin. I've already visited Dublin, albeit 18 years ago, but my husband has never been there. I would very much like to see Newgrange, which I think can be easily visited as a day trip from Dublin. Bus to Drogheda, local service or taxi or a good walk to Newgrange. Well worth doing. It can be very busy, so get there as early in the day as you can manage to beat the rush. Not everybody can get into the tumulus. Don't miss Knowth, which is on the same site. Then I need at least a day or day and a half in counties Tyrone and Fermanagh, where my family is from. (The length of time depends on how many relatives I can find who will have free time to meet me.) My tentative plan is to spend two nights in Dublin at the beginning of the trip, and the final night before departure. (I will have half of the following day for Dublin as well, because our flight is in late afternoon.) I will spend one or two nights in Omagh or vicinity, which is a convenient base for the family visits. Do you want suggestions for Dublin? While in Omagh, I might be able to squeeze in a trip to the Giant's Causeway. According to Ulsterbus, I can easily get there from Omagh and could even go one from there to Dublin. The only question is what to do with the luggage if we're not going back to Omagh. This is where a car is handy. I think we'd be passing through Coleraine, and maybe the train station there has a left-luggage facility. I don't know about Coleraine station, but Irish informality might come to your aid. The Ulsterbus station might hold your luggage for you even if they do not have a formal facility. I would also like to hear opinions about the Ulster-America Heritage park in Omagh. The Lonely Planet makes it sound very interesting, but they seem to have nice things to say about everything. I liked it a great deal when I visited a few years ago. But I like that sort of thing. Folk history appeals to me. In between, I have three or four nights. I would like to spend this time somewhere on the west coast. I was thinking of going to Galway, or somewhere nearby, and spending one day on one of the Aran islands and another day in some nearby scenic spot. Maybe the Connemara penisula, but one day may not even scratch the surface there. Another place might be Donegal or nearby. I have always heard a lot about Donegal. (Including jokes about the residents, as my family was from not far away. It seems they loved Donegal as people from Schenectady love Manhattan.) If so, I would really appreciate some advice for places to stay and visit on a two day trip. Especially places reachable by public transport. I especially like early Christian sites, high crosses, etc. (There are a lot of these in Fermanagh, near Enniskillen, which I've seen on an earlier trip.) I presume you know Devenish island -- a very pleasant boat excursion from Enniskillen. White Island, also accessible only by boat, also has some interesting early remains, but there are no organised excursions. Perhaps some of your family connections might know a boat owner. I'm open to other suggestions as well. The west coast south of Galway also entices me, and I've never seen Kerry or Dingle, but it's getting a bit far from Omagh. One other hitch is that my husband isn't sure he wants to rent a car. The idea of driving on the left doesn't exactly appeal to him. From Galway, we could easily get to the Aran Islands by bus and ferry. Also, there seem to be one-day tours of the Connemare peninsula. Does anyone know if there are any tours that might include a nice several-hour hike? Or some bicycle tours, provided they aren't strenuous? (I'm only good for pretty flat biking, although my husband can handle moderate hills.) I think that if you don't hire a car you limit your scope greatly, especially in light of the sort of things you want to do and the places which interest you. I suggest an automatic, so that changing gear with the wrong hand does not add to the distractions. If he can drive in Italy, he should find Ireland easy! I suggest that you discuss it some more and, if he agrees, the range of workable options opens up greatly. You will be using up about half your time between Dublin and Omagh, so I suggest that you concentrate on one other place. Donegal, Galway, and Kerry are the three most scenic counties on the west coast. I agree that Kerry is too far, and too much of your limited time would be used up in a transfer which is not a particularly interesting journey. Between Donegal and Galway, my own preference is for Galway, but that's me. If you hire a car, an Omagh-Mayo-Galway-Dublin itinerary springs to mind which I would happily develop for you. I'm assuming we could do some biking on Inishmore, but it would be nice to be able to take a good walk. Either is workable. I don't really fancy the idea of seeing Connemara with a big busload of tourists, although a minibus load might be all right if we get to meander around a bit on our own. I don't know what is available, but you know the score with coaches and minibuses -- it's a compromise, and group discipline needs to be imposed. If anyone suggests another spot along the west coast, perhaps they could suggest similar day trips. The trip will be the last week in June. I'm hoping that's a bit before the tourist rush. It will be busy enough, even if you do beat the main rush. But things like B&B accommodation should be easy enough to arrange. It seems to be a bit before the full summer schedule of busses to remote towns, unfortunately. I take it that you have already looked. You are limited to one or two buses a day on many routes, which means that you have to plan very precisely. And you can't stop for 40 minutes to look at something because the next bus doesn't come for six hours. Let me know if your husband can be persuaded to hire a car, and we can take it from there. -- PB The return address has been MUNGED |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Trip to Ireland, advice wanted
On Fri, 7 May 2004, B Vaughan wrote:
My husband and I have decided to cash in our Alitalia frequent flyer miles, just in case it becomes difficult to use them in the future. So Oh yes, I wonder if I could transfer mine to some other SkyTeam airline (I've only about 12000 left, after I did a trip to Denmark with my mother last summer) ... I think we need a few days in Dublin. I've already visited Dublin, albeit 18 years ago, but my husband has never been there. I would very Although it's a city apparently very little monumental, we found it quite pleasant, however "a few days" can be perhaps too much. If you've been there long ago (I was a few years ago), you should not miss the Chester Beatty collection. It's now lodged in a building reachable from a yard of Dublin Castle, admission is free, and you get a 3-floor exhibition of ancient (and extraordinarily beautiful) manuscripts from all over the world ! Makes appropriate pendant with the Book of Kells at Trinity, and the stuff at the National Museum. It was a pity that during my trip, we discovered it late (we did a combination of two organised tours, and were on Blue Panorama flights which were quite unreliable, so we could not come back there because they anticipated our flight). While in Omagh, I might be able to squeeze in a trip to the Giant's Causeway. According to Ulsterbus, I can easily get there from Omagh I've been there, but with an organised trip, so I can't give advice about public transport. In general my impression was that hotels and foods in the North were worse than in the Republic of Ireland (where I found food a pleasant surprise, and most hotels brand new). Another place might be Donegal or nearby. I have always heard a lot We stopped in Donegal to visit the castle, and a shop where they make tweed cloth by hand. We bought a cut for a very low price, and my cousin, who is a tailor, made a nice jacket for me (and with the left over, my mother made a cap). Then we went to Letterkenny to sleep, and did a one-day tour of some peninsula north of it (I do not remember the name now, but it was towards a place called Rosapenna). The only problem was that in Letterkenny they seem to clean the streets at 4 am with very noisy machines. As I said, we did a combo of two organized tours. We usually travel with TCI, but that year TCI bought a number of Ireland packages from a third party, and the quality was not perfect as in TCI style. Our first tour was Dublin-Kilkenny-Waterford-Cork-Tralee (in Tralee there is a nice theatre giving shows in Gaelic which can however be perfectly understood even by tourists) from where we did a one-day tour around Kerry. Then we moved through Burren to Galway and back to Dublin. The second tour was Dublin-Sligo-Donegal-Letterkenny (with the tour of the peninsula) than some place near Giant's Causeway, then Londonderry, Belfast and back to Dublin. As I said, at the time the north seemed a bit backward concerning tourism, probably they'd just opened after the end of the terrorism period. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- is a newsreading account used by more persons to avoid unwanted spam. Any mail returning to this address will be rejected. Users can disclose their e-mail address in the article if they wish so. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Trip to Ireland, advice wanted
"B Vaughan" wrote in message ... My husband and I have decided to cash in our Alitalia frequent flyer miles, just in case it becomes difficult to use them in the future. So now we're going to Ireland in just a little over a month. [snip] Then I need at least a day or day and a half in counties Tyrone and Fermanagh, where my family is from. (The length of time depends on how many relatives I can find who will have free time to meet me.) My tentative plan is to spend two nights in Dublin at the beginning of the trip, and the final night before departure. (I will have half of the following day for Dublin as well, because our flight is in late afternoon.) I will spend one or two nights in Omagh or vicinity, which is a convenient base for the family visits. We stayed nearly three weeks in Omagh itself last summer. While it's a pleasant place with few tourists and handy as a base, the area isn't packed with sights, but we enjoyed some enjoyable hikes in the Sperrin mountains and cycling in the valleys. While in Omagh, I might be able to squeeze in a trip to the Giant's Causeway. According to Ulsterbus, I can easily get there from Omagh and could even go one from there to Dublin. The only question is what to do with the luggage if we're not going back to Omagh. This is where a car is handy. I think we'd be passing through Coleraine, and maybe the train station there has a left-luggage facility. Left-luggage facilities are pretty non-existent in N Ireland, a legacy of the Troubles. I would also like to hear opinions about the Ulster-America Heritage park in Omagh. The Lonely Planet makes it sound very interesting, but they seem to have nice things to say about everything. I went there with my family last summer and enjoyed the visit very much. Very informative and brings to life what must have been like for Ulster folk to start a new life in America. I think at weekends they have guides in period costumes retelling the story and answering questions. Allow at least 3 hours for the visit. In between, I have three or four nights. I would like to spend this time somewhere on the west coast. I was thinking of going to Galway, or somewhere nearby, and spending one day on one of the Aran islands and another day in some nearby scenic spot. Maybe the Connemara penisula, but one day may not even scratch the surface there. I'm going to the area this year! Another place might be Donegal or nearby. I have always heard a lot about Donegal. (Including jokes about the residents, as my family was from not far away. It seems they loved Donegal as people from Schenectady love Manhattan.) If so, I would really appreciate some advice for places to stay and visit on a two day trip. Especially places reachable by public transport. I especially like early Christian sites, high crosses, etc. (There are a lot of these in Fermanagh, near Enniskillen, which I've seen on an earlier trip.) It's not too difficult to do a trip to Donegal from Omagh. We did a day trip to Dunfanaghy - just over 2 hours - but we did have a car. You can use Letterkenny or Donegal City as a base, as they are both transport hubs. I'm open to other suggestions as well. The west coast south of Galway also entices me, and I've never seen Kerry or Dingle, but it's getting a bit far from Omagh. Yes, a long way, takes good part of day to get there. One other hitch is that my husband isn't sure he wants to rent a car. The idea of driving on the left doesn't exactly appeal to him. From Galway, we could easily get to the Aran Islands by bus and ferry. Also, there seem to be one-day tours of the Connemare peninsula. Does anyone know if there are any tours that might include a nice several-hour hike? Or some bicycle tours, provided they aren't strenuous? (I'm only good for pretty flat biking, although my husband can handle moderate hills.) Hiring a car has definite advantages, as public transport, except between major towns, is pretty sparse with few connections. Alec |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Trip to Ireland, advice wanted
If you do anything in Ireland, go out to the Aran Islands.
Just do it - by boat, or plane, or even swim!! You'll never, ever, forget it. Dee "B Vaughan" wrote in message ... My husband and I have decided to cash in our Alitalia frequent flyer miles, just in case it becomes difficult to use them in the future. So now we're going to Ireland in just a little over a month. snipped of busses to remote towns, unfortunately. ----------- Barbara Vaughan My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
My terrible Dragoman experience in Africa | Nadine S. | Africa | 5 | April 26th, 2004 06:54 PM |
Using olfactory cues to remember your trip of a lifetime | Mxsmanic | Europe | 18 | February 7th, 2004 06:17 AM |
Trip Report (Very long) -- 5 days over Christmas 2003 in Olos, Finnish Lapland | Ian | Europe | 5 | January 9th, 2004 08:14 PM |
Mountaineering Trip to Hkaka-bo-ra-zi | Asia | 0 | October 29th, 2003 10:23 AM | |
Winter Trip - Opinions Wanted | Dougal | Europe | 4 | September 22nd, 2003 04:13 PM |