offhegoes03

Hey everyone. I'm new here, but I've already learned a lot from the other posts. I already posted in one of the other sections about a packing list, but I figured I'd post my initial itinerary and see what your thoughts are. Once I get done with exams, my brother and I are going to get a guidebook and go into more depth with our plans in each city we're visiting. I'll be 21 when we leave and my brother is 19. Here's what we have so far:

-Leave May 23rd
-Arrive in Shannon Airport the 24th, Take Bus to Galway
-Stay in Galway from the 24th-27th of May. Planning on seeing the aran islands, cliffs of moher, burren day trip
-Take Train to Dublin and stay there the 27th-28th of May. Mainly want to see the Temple Bar District, Guiness Factory, etc. I know it's like any other big city, so we don't want to stay there too long.
-Kilkenny for 28th-30th of May
-Cork for 30th of May - 1st of June (I heard Cork is great, so we might want to spend more time here)
-Killarney 1st-3rd of June
-Limerick 3rd-5th of June
-Shannon 5th-6h of June
-I think our plane flys out of shannon on the 6th.

A couple questions. Do you think we have time to go to Northern Ireland and cut maybe a day or two from one of the other cities? Any other places we should try to fit in? Kerry, Dingle? Does this seem possible to do using the bus/train system?

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Life's a garden, dig it - Joe Dirt

Barcelona and Beyond, My 2008 European Blog:
http://www.travelpunk.com/blogs/offhegoes03

lauren313

The Guinness factory was so cool! Haha, I dunno why I liked it so much, but yeah, it was good.

You get a free pint of Guinness in the bar at the very top of the building, you get really good views over the city. And when they do your pint, they draw a shamrock in the foam on top, hehe.

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MeTurk

Good ol' stab city

Stay on the Aran Islands for a night if you can, it's supposed to be great craic. Inisheer is the smallest one it has 3 pubs that never close and you can just kip in the bar so you don't need to pay for accomidation.

Theres also a big comedy festival in Kilkenny from june the 1st to 5th so it might be worth re-aranging slightly to get it in. thecatlaughs.com

I think northern Ireland would be worth it, you have the giants causeway the bog side all the lovely paintings. It's worth a look just to see the two sides trying to outdo eachother with their banners and flags.

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"It's nice to have a nun around. Gives the place a bit of glamour." Fr Ted
Couchsurfer (:_irritainment_

offhegoes03

Thanks for all the responses. Lauren, I am looking forward to the Guiness factory. ha, it might be a little touristy, but I think it would be fun and plus you get a fresh pint at the end. MeTurk, do you not recommend Limerick? hah, or were you just commenting that it seemed like a random city to choose? I think we will try to find a way to get to northern Ireland if possible. Maybe head there from Dublin and that way we can make it to Kilkenny during the comedy festival. Again, thanks for all the advice.

__________________
Life's a garden, dig it - Joe Dirt

Barcelona and Beyond, My 2008 European Blog:
http://www.travelpunk.com/blogs/offhegoes03

offhegoes03

also, when do you guys think would be the best time to get to northern ireland? going from dublin to northern ireland to kilkenny seems like it would eat up some time. Anyone know of the best way to fit it in?

__________________
Life's a garden, dig it - Joe Dirt

Barcelona and Beyond, My 2008 European Blog:
http://www.travelpunk.com/blogs/offhegoes03

MeTurk

I've only ever passed through Limerick and I've never really heard anything good about it. It's supposed to be ruff it got allot of bad press in the past there's major criminal gangs in the city that caused allot of trouble. They earned it the nickname stab city. It could be totaly different now.

The longest you can spend traveling to anywhere in Ireland (depending on traffic) is 6 hours and that's from the top of the country to the bottom. I'd say Dublin to Belfast should take about 3 hours then Belfast - Galway would take maybe 4 tops. Since your passing down through Mayo you could go see Croagh Patrick (St Patricks mountian with his church ontop) , the town next to it is westport which is worth a look aswell. Then your not to far from Galway.

__________________
"It's nice to have a nun around. Gives the place a bit of glamour." Fr Ted
Couchsurfer (:_irritainment_

Wibbs

mmmmm Guiness Store house , definately a must when your in Dublin!!

Have a good one!