We flew into Shannon Airport on 9/2 from Heathrow, having spent the previous week in London. We (my wife Jan and I) were tired but not jet-lagged. My experience with jet lag on a tour is that it leads to a sub-optimum first few days. Our time in London was on our own so we did not have to be anywhere at any specific time - we were able to schedule around the exhaustion.
The Shannon Airport is fairly small and easy to navigate. We got Euros from an airport ATM with no trouble. The bus to our first city, Ennis, was easy to find - out the door, turn right, the bus stop (as described in our tour document) was right there.
I see I have already reached 23% of maximum length so I will resort to highlights (and one lowlight):
- Dingle is amazing. We had a dinner at our guide Stephen McPhilemy's B&B and while there participated in a fascinating falconry display. Also, we had a wonderful boat ride and saw Fungie the dolphin.
- All of the stops were interesting and satisfying.
- All of the group dinners were very good.
- I particularly enjoyed the Cliffs of Moher and the Blasket Islands.
- The hotel in Kilkenny, the Club House Hotel was, for me, the one weak spot in the trip.
- Dublin is a great city, crowded, vibrant, but you might check prices before ordering anything in a pub. We went to a pub not far from the hotel and ordered a glass (not a pint) of Guinness and a diet coke. We got a pint and the coke for 13.5 Euros.
- Otherwise, I found the prices fairly reasonable.
- Another highlight was the 'passage tomb' near Dublin. It is 5,000 years old and, on December 21, the sunrise peeks into the structure and, for a few minutes, illuminates the otherwise dark interior. Impressive knowledge of building and celestial event timing.
- What we saw of Ireland is beautiful. We spent more than a few hours on the bus, traveling mostly through the countryside and small towns. I was never bored with the bus rides because I was seeing new and smashingly attractive scenes the entire time.
- in general, the natives I encountered could not have been friendlier, which is amazing considering how many tourists crowd the streets of places like Dingle.
- We were told that the crowds are particularly intense in July and August and that we escaped the intensity by a week. Lesson learned.
- I will note that Stephen has a very roubust tenor voice and he favored us with several songs while we were on the bus. If you take this tour and Stephen is your guide and starts to sing, listen up!
In short, I had a great time and learned so much. I could see returning to take a hiking tour (I found a hiking tour website that looks interesting) as areas like the Wicklow Mountains offer tremendous hiking opportunities.
A very worthwhile experience.