My husband and I are planning our first trip to Ireland in August (to celebrate my 40th birthday!). We are flying in and out of Dublin, and we plan to take Rick's advice and pick up our rental car at the airport and head out of town, saving Dublin for the end of our trip. We'll have 9 days in Ireland, and our general plan is to head south and west and make a clock-wise circle hitting Wicklow and/or Kilkenney, Cashel, Dingle, Doolin and possibly Galway, ending up with 2 nights in Dublin.
Once we get to Ireland (on August 20), we'd like to spend the first two nights in the same town to help with the jet-lag recovery. We've also never experienced "left-side driving," and I'm nervous about how stressful this will be after our overnight flight.
So here's my dilemma:
1) Should we opt for a very short drive and stay in the Wicklow area (Enniskerry seems like a good option) for two nights, which would allow us to see Glendalough and Powerscourt but set us up for a very long drive to Dingle on the third day (especially if we'd like to see the Rock of Cashel)?
2) Or, should we head straight to Kilkenny from the airport (about a 2 hour drive, I understand) and spend two mights there, which would make a visit to Glendalough unlikely (too much backtracking) but would set us up in what sounds like a great town, and would allow ample time for a visit to Cashel and a more leisurly -- if still long -- drive to Dingle? I thought about visiting Glendalough on the way to Kilkenny, but might that be too much to pack into our first day? (Neither of us sleep well on planes!)
Any thoughts and advice would be most appreciated!
Shannon