Let me say first that frequent travelers are going to try to dissuade me from doing what I am proposing because it doesn't make sense to most people. Trust me, don't even try to talk me into a different itinerary. But that doesn't mean I don't desperately need the help of someone who knows about travel to and from Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
We will arrive and depart from Dublin. Because we don't care for cities and prefer to see the countryside and small towns by car, we will go straight to the Dingle Peninsula to see Dingle and the Ring of Kerry. From Western Ireland, we need to get to the Isle of Skye and the Central Scottish Highlands.
This is where the questions start. Is it best to keep the car that we rent in Dublin for our whole trip and travel by car ferry to Scotland, or should we take a low cost air carrier to Scotland? Who are the low cost carriers and where do they fly into and out of? How "low" is low cost?
If we keep the car, how long will it take us to get to the ferry point in Northern Ireland (hours? days?) assuming we see the important sights along the way? What is the best land route in terms of time savings? If we fly, where should we drop our car?
The other questions are essentially the same except that they refer to getting back to Dublin from North Wales. Should we go by ferry (leaving from what port?)or fly? How long does the ferry crossing take? Is the expense of a flight worth the time saved?
The absolute "must sees" in our short stay (June 8 - June 23) are Western Ireland, the Isle of Skye and the Central Highlands, and North Wales. Anything else is gravy.
We're open to any and all suggestions except a change in the basic itinerary. Thank you for anything you can tell us.
Jammy