HEY! FROM IRELAND!

Well we are having a fantastic trip so far... the weather has been AMAZING... literally we could not have dreamed better weather!

Our first day in Limerick we were a little bit like zombies, we still wandered around in the rain for an hour trying to find the church... to no avail. But it was still fun. Michelle, Mindi and I went to Fionn Regan and we all ate a Dolan's... Matt and I had traditional Irish Stew that was amazing.

The Next morning we started out early... It was freezing and the wind was blowing like mad! I was a little nervous, but by the time we were on the Road in ADARE it was beautiful and was just as nice all the way to Dingle and finally to Kenmare where Anne met us at our beautiful B & B.

I am just going to post some pictures right now because i am not making much since.

Ireland or Bust!

Well, the day has arrived. I just hada couple of things for everyone:

Make sure you have your passport, and medication (if you need it). Everyting else we can get along the way if we need too. Thanks, in advance, for you patients with me... it will be a great trip!

Here is an email my mom sent me... I think it is fitting:

Have a wonderful time on your travels to Ireland.
St. Augustine of Hippo wrote, "The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only one page." Travel changes us, sometimes superficially, sometimes profoundly. It is a classroom without walls. This is from the introduction to the book "1,000 Places To See Before You Die", by Patricia Schultz. She also quotes Mark Twain, who says, " Travel is fatal to predjucide, bigotry and narrowmindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts." Travel dispels many of our bad impressions, confirms the positive, and promises innumerable surprises!

More important than packing a bag full of money, pack a bag full of patience and curiosity; allow yourself-encourage yourself-to be sidetracked and to get lost. There's no such thing as a bad trip, just good travel stories to tell back home. Always travel with a smile and remember that you're the one with the strange customs visiting someone else's country. Relying on the kindness of strangers isn't naive, there are good people wherever you go. The more time you spend coming to understand the ways of others, the more you'll understand yourself.

Mr. Twain says,"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did."

Happy Travels

love mom
 
Gotta love Momma Smith, she is wise beyond her years!

Check List

I found a really good travel check list for packing here (I love that it has a hers and his list). Check it out... don't worry about the comfirmations and car rental stuff, I have all of it three times over. BUT pay attention to the identification information... BRING YOUR PASSPORT. and make sure you have warm clothes at a waterproof coat of some sort. Gloves are not out of the question, I don't think I will bring them... but will not laugh at you if you do.

Day 9! Sunday, 11/30/08

Depart / Newark Airport
655am - # CO1535

Yes that early.

Arrive / Sky Harbor
1036am

Welcome home!

Day 8! Saturday, 11/29/08

Our flight home leaves at 4:00pm...  So this will be alot of packing and getting ready to head home. We will also do any last minute shopping anyone wants to do... go get out last bit of Irish Pastry. Michelle will have her last bit of Irish Guiness and we will bid our farewells to the lush land of Ireland. We'll need to be at the airport by 1:00pm in order to get through international customs. I will probably take everyone and drop them off at the airport and then take the car to the drop off, and come meet up at the gate.

Depart 
Dublin International flight # E1 0109
4:00 pm

Arrive
New York (JFK)
6:40pm

Once we get to JFK we will have to head across town to Newark the same way we came over from Newark the first day.
Michelle has made us reservations for two rooms at the Sheraton Hotel right by Newark airport. (the cost of the hotel room will be $50 per person)
We'll sleep like babies!

Day 7! Friday, 11/28/08

Welcome to Dublin!

Get out your walking shoes! Most of what we do here will be from Rick Stevens book. BUT, I wanted to give us these last two days in Dublin for a couple of reason; one, it will give us time to get into the city and do some travelors shopping (touristy stuff), two, once we are in the city we don't HAVE to stay together, if people want to go out on their own that is fine as long as we have meeting places and a good plan. Three, we might be pretty sick of each other, or at least you'll be sick of me telling you what to do so go be free in the city. I will plan stuff for us, but Dublin is yours!

Ofcourse you are welcome to stick with me, but I promise to do a lot of walking and most of my plans will be off the cuff AND WICKED FUN.

Some include:

1. Dublin Castle
2. Trinity College
3. The O'Connell Bridge and Street Tour
4. Moore Street Market
5. Grafton Street for lunch/dinner

This is just at a quick glance... as I put more stuff together I will let you guys know.

Day 6! Thursday, 11/27/08

Happy Thanksgiving!

I would really like to try to eat at a nice place. I have emailed our B & B in Dublin and asked them if they have any recommendation but have not heard back from them. IF we are in Doolin and hear of a great place to eat I say we do it... but the only problem is that we will still need to drive 3 and a half hours across the county to Dublin. WITH THAT IN MIND. I think we should get up pretty early, check out the cliffs of moher one last time, if we didn't get a good view the night before. Then head off the Dublin, try to get in before 12p... and then talk to the locals or look around for a really great place. Reguardless it will be a different Thanksgiving then normal... kind of like the Thanksgiving Matt and I had with the Tongan's in LA... Pig Brain, Crab and Fish... lol. Anyway, i really think we should be able to find a great place and I will look for the next couple of days on line... but the locals always recommend the best places.
Here is our basic route across the country... this day will be mostly driving and EATING, once we get to Dublin. It is possible that we will make it into Dublin this day. Our B & B is about 30 minutes out, but I am all about getting into the city and find some fine food in there. If I find something I think everyone will like, I will post it on here and send it out!

ps no cracks about my spelling errors, my blogger is working weird.

Day 5! Wednesday, 11/26/08

Depending what we get done the days previous to today will determine how quick we get up to the Cliffs of Moher. However, it takes about 4 hours to get up there, including a ferry ride and the sun goes down around 4:15pm. So we will want to be to the Cliffs of Moher earlier rather then later so we can get a good look at the Cliffs of Mohr before the sunset.

If we get everything we want to get done near Kenmare, we can go straight up to Doonagore Farmhouse and check out the Barrow area.

Here is our route to:
Doonagore Farmhouse
Cliffs of Moher Road
Doonagore
Doolin Co.
Clare.

This is where our B&B is...

Our main activity for this day is to get up to see the Cliffs of Moher. But if we get up there early enough we can spend some time in The Burren.


Rick Steves has a lot of different ideas for this area, including a place to eat dinner in Doolin. So we will work of his book for this day if we make it up early enough to see some things.
Below are some picture of the Burren and the cliffs of Moher

Day Four! Tuesday, 11/25/08

Happy Birthday Preston!

Today we are going to do everything Preston wants to do; Lots of Guinness, small downs and hanging out with the locals! I thought we would start the day by bringing Preston breakfast in bed. Next massage his feet, back and head. After that you can bring him your presents that you have hauled from the US. Then I thought we would drive around the green country side while someone feeds Preston grapes and fans him.

Slash!

We are going to drive the famous Ring of Kerry... only backwards! Rick Stevens suggests that to a void the tourists, we will want to be out by 8:30pm and that we should take the backwards route. Here is a list of some ideams on the agenda for the day:

• Glacier Lake
• Parknasilla Hotel
• Sneem
• Staigue Ring Fort
• View of Beara Pennisula
• Carroll's Cove
• Derrynane House
• Coomikista Pass
• View of Skellig Island
• Skellig Ring Loop
• Skellig Chocolate Factory
• St. Finan's Bay
• Portmagree

This is not all we will see that day... but we can kind of go at our own pace.

Depending on how much time we have, we might want to go over to Dingle. It is the town I really wanted to stay in but couldn't get the B & B to write me back. Anyway, Rick raves about this little town being a beautiful little place to get to know the locals.

Below are a ton of picture or the Ring of Kerry:

Day Three! Monday, 11/24/08

I suggest we start day three as early as possible: this is certainly up for debate but I would suggest we are leaving the hotel around 8p. We have a lot to see and a little time to do it in. I have two suggested route to get to Kenmare the place we are staying the night.

Kenmare - Via Cobh and Kinsale

1. Adare - This is only if we don't make it out there the day before.
2. Blarney - Okay the moment of truth / are we going to tourist, or travelers. Tourist go to Blarney, pay 15 Euro to see the Blarney Stone and kiss it. If we are travelers we drive right past it and on to the real human part of Ireland. This is what Rick Stevens says about the Blarney Stone, "the best part about this lame site is opportunity to watch a cranky old man lower lemming tourists over the edge, belly up and head back, to kiss the stone while his partner snaps a photo that will be avalible for your purchase at 10 euro on your way out."
3. Cobh - This is the last harbor of the Titanic and the first place the Queen stepped foot in Ireland. (1 hour 45 minutes from Limerick)
4. Kinsale - This would probably be a great place to stop for lunch... there are alot of great sights and eateries! (50 minutes from Cobh)

5. Kenmare - This is our destination stop for the day. Its a small town, but was recommended as a more unigue connection with the Ring of Kerry the the larger touriesty towns. There are a couple of unigue little things to see in town, a stone circle, Holy Cross church... but mostly a nice evening at a pub for dinner with some locals and hopefully some authentic Irish music. (12 hour and 30 minutes from Kinsale)

THIS IS THE WAY WE WILL GO, I HEARD PEOPLE PEE ON THE BLARNEY STONE, SO WE ARE STAYING AWAY!
Kenmare - Via Killarney and the Muckross House (this route is a lot shorter so we would be able to leave later)

1. Adare - Again, this is only if we don't go the night before
2. Killarney - this is a cool town, but is more of a tourist hub for the Ring of Kerry... so there will be a lot of tourist at the pubs which will mean there will be less locals... but it would be a nice place for a brunch.
3. Muckross House - If we don;t make it to this on Monday we will probably go on Wed. But it is a beautiful home set 10 minutes into the woods, on a lake. It cost 10 euro and we would need to be there before 4:30p in order to get in.

4. Kenmare - It is a a 2 hour drive to Kenmare from Limerick and we would get there in plenty of time fo really get to know the city, go and meet our host Anne Maybury at Tara Farms and have a nice realxing look out at Kenmare bay and the little town that is nestled there.

Honestly, I am up for either. I think it would be great to go down to Cohb and Kinsale, but it is a lot of driving for one day. However, we might get to Kenmare and get our fill of the town in a couple hours and wish we went to Cobh and Kinsale. This is something we can decide when we get there; but I wanted to let every know the options.

Day Two! Sunday, 11/23/08

Arrive / Ireland (shannon)
5:55am - Shannon Ireland

I guess it will take only a few minutes to get through international check in and get those lovely passports stamped.

We pick up our car the the airport / and our chariot is a Ford Galaxy van! (this will an extra $15 per person, sorry) Once again, these has room for 4 people's luggage, so it is important that we pack light. It we need to we will strap something on the roof.


Map to Hotel
I am going to call the hotel and see if we can get some type of early check in; but if not we will have the car to store all of our stuff while we cruise the city.


View from Hotel
Mindi has located a church for us to go to! and its even an LDS church. It meets at 11am and is on Doradoyle Road... hopefully we will be able to go to the hotel and change before we go to church, also if anyone doens't want to go to church they can hang at the hotel... but this is a great opportunity to meet locals!
Map to Church

As far as the rest of the day, there are a couple of options I want to list:

1. Bunratty Castle and Folk Park - This is a cool little castle on the out skirts of Limerick... it is a bit of a drive and we can find some better castles but it is an option. (10 mile drive)


2. Adare - This was voted the pretties village in Ireland (17 mile drive)


3. Fionn Regan (myspace) / Dolans Pub - This would be a great place for dinner and as an added bonus a great Irish musician is there that night (18 pounds). I have his album if anyone wants to listen it... its brilliant. (obviously we don't have to do this) (2 min walk from hotel)


4. Hunt Museum - local traditional museam closes at 5p on Sunday (10 min walk from hotel)


5. King John's Castle - a brilliant castle over looking Limerick and the Shannon River, last admitance is 5:30p and its 9 pounds (10 min walk from hotel)


6. Limerick Milk Market - YES! GOOOOOOOOOD Cheese (10 min walk from hotel)


7. 20 dining options with in 10 min walk of hotel

I know everyone will be really tired... I recommend we stay up as long as we can in order to get use to the change of time. But I am trying my hardest not to be a travel nazi, so I figured we would stay near the hotel that night so those who want to go to bed early can and those who want to PARTY can : ) Below are some maps of the area.

Day One! Saturday, 11/22/08

This day starts late the evening before!

Depart / Phoenix
11:35pm - we board the Continental Flight #CO434 to New York: We will need to be at the airport an hour and a half a head.

Arrive / New York (Newark)
6:15am - We land in Newark Airport. Cool Michelle has graciously booked us a hotel right by Newark airport for showering and resting... For those who need that kind of pagan ritual : ) If you need to sleep and relax we have the available... I am telling her to get just one room, as I think that will be plenty for us. We can also leave our stuff in the hotel room while we head over to New York for a couple of hours. The cost of the hotel room is going to be about $50 per person / this is dependent on how many rooms we get.

For those who are interesting in going into New York City; as most of you haven't been there before, I thought we would go to Time Square, Central Park (Temple) and Ground Zero. I also recommend we go to Rocco's Pastry as it is the best in NY! (roughly $15 for transportation / $2.50 for the best eclair you'll eat ever!)


Roccos

Me and my sister in NY (central park)

Michelle is checking with the hotel about getting some type of transportation across to JFK. However, it is my opinion that it will be pretty expensive to take all of us from Newark airport to JFK... however, IF WE ARE ALL PACKED MARGINALLY LIGHT... i can get use across to JFK easily for around $20-25. However, we will need to leave Newark fairly early because we need 3 hours to get through all the international stuff at JFK.

2:00pm - Leave Newark Airport for JFK (by whatever means we decide)

3:40pm - Arrive at JFK international terminal. Remember to keep your passport with you.

Depart / New York (JFK)
6:40pm - Depart JFK for Ireland EI Aer Lingus # E1 0110

Arrive / Ireland (Shannon)
5:55am - Land in Ireland

There is no getting around that this is going to be a long day slash couple of days... I can't stress this enough how much better it will be for you if you pack light : ) You're not going to want to be carrying 100 pounds of luggage. Consequently, I am not going to want to be helping you carry around 100 pounds of luggage. Your going to hear this reoccurring theme through our the next week on this blog... anyone who wants light packing lessons I am more then happy to help.

Also, please sharing this blog with your families so they can have an idea of our plans in case they need to be able to get a hold of you for whatever reason. I will try to post as much helpful information as possible.

The Places to Stay...

I know I have not updated this blog as much as everyone expected me to, including myself. But I run 3 other blogs and so have a hard time keeping up... no worries though, the plan for the trip is coming along wonderfully! Below, I have listed the places we are going to stay. This week I am going to work up a rough itinerary.

1. Clarion Hotel Limerick - November 23rd




2. Tara Farm - November 24th & 25th -




3. Doonagore Farmhouse - November 26th




4. Hillview House - November 27th & 28th -




5. We fly into NY the night of the 29th and have a hotel room near the Neward airport; we fly out the following morning at 9:30am... so we will be ready for the flight home.