All the way back in January of this year, we asked my mom where she wanted to wake up on her 80th birthday and she picked Ireland. It’s one of her favorite places and it’s one of my favorite places. To make it special, we were able to get fourteen family members (including her and the two of us) to plan a ten-day trip to the Emerald Isle. After a lot of planning throughout the year, the time for the group trip finally arrived.
Sandy and I were up on Tuesday morning (the 22nd of September) along with Kevin, Chad, and Garret to get things cleaned up at our Airbnb in Salt Lake. We then met Russ and Brooke for breakfast at the Olympian and then Chad dropped us off at the airport as he and Garret headed north back to Montana. It was such a fun weekend with the Salt Lake group.
We flew on Delta Airlines from Salt Lake to Detroit, arriving in Detroit a little late but we had a couple of hours for our layover, so no problems making our connection to Dublin. For the flights, I got a combined three-and-a-half hours of sleep and Sandy got a combined one-and-a-half hours. Upon arrival in Dublin on Wednesday morning, passport control went smoothly and then we found the Airbus transportation into the city center. From the bus stop, it was a ten-minute walk to the Mespil Hotel and we were there by 11:30am. We dropped our bags off and I had created travel guides for each of the family members on the trip that I needed to get printed. Hacketts Printing was quite close to the hotel, so we walked over there and arranged the printing project. Sandy grabbed a snack at one of the local Spar grocery shops and then we were able to get into our hotel room, so we got our bags, settled into the hotel room, and I worked on emailing the printing project to Hacketts. I was then able to get a snack at Café Nero and we called it a day a little after 8pm.
Neither of us slept that well – just adjusting to the new time zone after Tuesday night’s overnight flight – and we were up at 8am on Thursday. We had coffee at Insomnia Coffee and I had a breakfast sandwich there while Sandy got some eggs and yogurt at Spar. The pharmacy was across the street, so we walked over and did our monthly blood pressure check. We did a couple of logistical things to get ready for the family arrival the next day and then we did our workouts at the gym in the hotel. In the afternoon, we did more preparation work, including picking up the 14 travel guides – Hacketts did a great job on the project. The timing of our trip coincided with our friends, Nick and Jacinta, also being in Dublin for one night while were there and so it worked out great to be able to meet up with them and two of their friends for dinner. They had reservations at Amy Austin and they were able to add us to their reservation. Amy Austin is a Michelin Bib Gourmand Restaurant – high-quality food at great value and it was exactly that. We did the chef’s menu and every dish that was presented was great and the experience was very reasonably priced. It was a neat experience and so fun to be able to see Nick and Jacinta before they head off to Spain.
We headed home and talked with Dee because their flight from Tampa to Boston was delayed and there was concern about whether the 10 of them (coming from Tampa) would make the connection to their Dublin flight (but they did 😊). We printed a couple more documents in the hotel’s business center before going to bed at midnight.
We were up on Friday morning after another night of little sleep and left the hotel at 7:20am to get the bus to the airport to meet the arriving family members. The bus was late (we actually ordered an Uber but then the bus showed up just as the Uber arrived, so we stuck with the bus). We arrived at the airport at 8:45am and the first group (Sue, Terry, Mike, Dee, Neil, Rusty, Mickey, Noelle, Mark, and Susie) came into the arrivals hall around 9:20am. They got some coffee and breakfast snacks while we waited for Alex and Angie to arrive about an hour later – they had come from Jacksonville through Charlotte. Our driver, Brian, was there to meet us at 10am and once we were all together, he drove us in a 19-passenger shuttle bus to the Mespil Hotel. The hotel managed to have everybody’s room ready for check-in when we arrived at 11am. We had a group meeting at 11:30 to talk about the plans for the day and then Alex, Angie and Dee (Neil went along for support) left to get tattoos to memorialize the trip while the rest of us gathered again at 1pm to walk to Doheny and Nesbitt for lunch. Following lunch, we all jumped on the Hop On Hop Off bus to see some of Dublin before the Musical Pub Crawl scheduled for Friday night. Ideally, we would have done the pub crawl on Saturday, but they don’t offer it on Saturday nights, so some people had the energy after their long overnight travel to enjoy music at both pubs (Ha’Penny Bridge Inn and Flanagan’s), some for one of the pubs, and some chose to skip the pub crawl. The two musicians were fun and we had a great time together. We took taxis back to the Mespil after the pub crawl. Sandy, Mickey, Noelle, and I were hungry so we had a bite to eat in the hotel restaurant and we were asleep by 11pm.
The Mespil has an excellent breakfast buffet and everybody took advantage of that on their own schedule Saturday morning. Saturday’s first main group activity was to be at the Guinness Storehouse by 10:15am for our self-paced tour of the home of Guinness. I’ve toured this property quite a few times and it never gets old for me. Guinness is my favorite beer and so it always feels like a good place to be for me. Everybody enjoyed learning all about Guinness and learning to pour a proper pint and then we went in different directions for the afternoon.
Alex, Angie, Dee, and Susie headed to the Irish Museum of Modern Art after lunch at the Guiness Storehouse. Mike, Terry, and Mickey went for a visit to Christ Church Cathedral and lunch at a kebab place that they wish they had skipped. Sue, Rusty, Neil, Mark, Noelle, Sandy and I walked to the Brazen Head Pub for lunch, which is Dublin’s oldest pub – dating back almost 900 years.
In the late afternoon, Rusty, Terry, Mike, Mickey, Noelle, Susie, and Mark went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells, one of the world’s oldest manuscripts – more than 1,000 years old. The rest of the group headed back to the hotel to relax. Dee, Alex, and I took an Uber to the airport because we were going to be the drivers for our trip around Ireland. Dee and I each had seven-passenger vehicles and Alex had a five-passenger vehicle. This would work well for our group of 14 and the luggage we had. Impressively, everybody was able to pack carry-on luggage for the ten-day trip. The three of us successfully picked up our cars and navigated our way through the city back to the hotel to meet the rest of the group at 7:15pm. Dinner was a 7:30pm canal dinner cruise on the Canal Boat Restaurant. That was a fun experience. It was a calm way to enjoy Dublin at night. The food was better than I thought it would be given that it was on a small canal boat. We wish we could have spent more time outside, but once dinner was served, we stayed at the table to enjoy the food, and it was fun being together for our first group dinner of the trip. After the boat ride, we were back at the hotel at 9:45pm to get packed and ready for departure in the morning.
Once again, the group followed their own schedule for breakfast at the Mespil on Sunday morning and then we had the cars packed up and on the road around 9:30am. It was a three-hour drive across the country and we made a stop to see Ireland’s oldest pub in Athlone (Sean’s Bar is around 1,100 years old – this is not the original building 😊).
Each car dropped off its passengers at Brasserie on the Corner in Galway at 1pm for our lunch stop and then the drivers parked the cars in a nearby parking garage. We had an excellent lunch at Brasserie and then we went for a walk around Galway. We met back at Eyre Square and then to the cars to continue our evening drive. We made a stop at the viewpoint on Corkscrew Hill and finally arrived at our Airbnb house on the Lahinch Golf Course at 7:45pm. We had a grocery list meeting and then Susie, Mark, Alex, Angie, Sandy, and I headed to the grocery store in Ennistymon to pick up snacks for the evening, breakfast food, and drinks to have at the house. We all visited and ate for a bit and then called it a day.
Monday was a group day together. We left the house at 10:15am and headed to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. Everybody explored the grounds at their pace – castle and the village that is included as a part of the folk park. The castle is from the 1400s and is interesting to walk through to see how it was used more than 500 years ago. Durty Nelly’s is a great pub that sits in the shadow of the castle and most of us went there for lunch and then returned to Bunratty to finish up the exploration of the gardens and castle. We left Bunratty at 3pm and planned to stop at the house to relax for an hour, but an accident closed the road for an hour, so we skipped stopping at the house. We all met at the Cliffs of Moher at 5pm. This is my favorite place to visit – it’s spectacular and it is especially nice to visit when the crowds have dissipated. That was the case for us. Everybody explored the views and trails. I listened to the audio guide through the app for the first time and I thought that was a good way to experience the area. It forces you to slow down in the exploration.
After the cliffs, we drove into the village of Doolin for dinner at Gus O’Connor’s pub at 7:30pm. Today was Susie and Mark’s 35th anniversary so it was pretty cool to celebrate that event with them in Ireland.
The nightly music started around 9pm and we watched that for a bit. Our car was the first to head back to the house – about a 15-minute drive – and we went to bed around 11pm.
Tuesday was a day for groups to head in different directions. Alex and Angie were originally scheduled to do a day trip to Inishmor of the Aran Islands, but the weather was too nasty to allow the ferry to go to the big island. They were able to switch to the ferry going to Inisheer – a smaller island but they had a great time exploring the small island. Sandy decided to spend the day in Lahinch – she got out for a walk in the rainy and blustery weather we were all experiencing for the day. Dee, Neil, Sue, Rusty, Terry, Mike, Mark, and Susie had a driver pick them up and take them to the Caherconnell Sheepdog demonstration and then lunch in Ballyvaughan at Monk’s and then a drive to various castles around the Burren area. Rusty, Mickey, and I headed inland to Ireland’s second largest lake, Lough Derg for fishing with Damien. We all thought we were crazy for being out on the water in the weather we had, but we had a fantastic time.
Each group eventually made their way back to the house and we had a great time talking about our various experiences from the day. Dee and Neil headed into town to explore and found an enjoyable spot for dinner for them to unwind. Alex and I went out to pick up pizzas and the rest of us had a pizza party for dinner and more visiting together before heading to bed at 10pm.
Wednesday was travel day. Angie, Alex, Mickey, Rusty, and Noelle left early and went to see Doolin Cave. The rest of us left the house at 11am and made our way to Lough Gur with a few stops on the way.
At Lough Gur, we enjoyed a picnic and a walk around the area, including seeing the ancient Grange Stone Circle. This is the largest stone circle in Ireland and was established 4,000 years ago. It is considered one of the most impressive pre-historic sites in the country.
Alex’s car stopped for lunch and a little exploration in Adare and they arrived at our next house in Killarney around 4:30pm. Dee’s car and my car arrived around 6:45pm and Sandy and I went to get some groceries to have at our new house here in Killarney. Alex’s car group was already out pub crawling in Killarney. Dee and Neil found a spot for dinner and the rest of us had an excellent Italian-Irish dinner at Salvadors and Robertinos. The fish and chips were excellent. Susie, Mark, Mike, Sandy and I then went for ice cream at Murphy’s and headed home. We went to bed around midnight.
Thursday was the big day – my mom’s 80th birthday and many of us spent the day with her touring the Dingle Peninsula – another of her favorite places in Ireland. Mark, Susie, Dee, Neil, and Rusty decided to take a day off from driving around the small roads and they explored Killarney and its National Park. Terry, Mike, Mickey, Noelle, Angie, Alex, Sandy and I traveled the peninsula with Sue. Our first stop was at Inch Strand, which is a beautiful three-mile-long stretch of sand. We then stopped for lunch in the town of Dingle at Paul Geaney’s. After lunch, we continued our drive around the peninsula and passed a sign where one could hold a baby lamb. Of course, we had to stop and that ended up being one of my mom’s favorite experiences of the trip.
The next stop was Coumeenoole Beach – a stop that shouldn’t be missed touring the Dingle Peninsula. It’s a small beach surrounded by cliffs and it just feels like the proper Irish coastline.
On our way back to the eastern side of the peninsula, we passed back through Dingle and then up and over Conor Pass and its waterfall. We made it back to the house in Killarney at 5:20pm and we all went to Murphy’s of Killarney for dinner to celebrate my mom’s birthday. It was a great dinner and then we headed home, made our plans for Friday, and went to bed a little after 11pm.
Friday saw the group go in a variety of directions. It was a rainy day, so we all had to deal with the showers – some had it harder than others. Sue and Terry took the day off and relaxed at the house and ventured out to the grocery store. Alex, Angie, Mickey, and Noelle headed for a tour of the Gap of Dunloe – an absolutely beautiful part of Killarney National Park, but they had the worst of the rain and wind and ended up having to turn back. The story of their experience was one of the funniest of the trip. They did get out in the afternoon when the weather was better and see some beautiful parts of the park. Dee and Neil explored the National Park but ran into rain and ended up getting soaked, still having a good time through it all. Sandy and Susie did the same but a little later and they managed to stay relatively dry. Rusty, Mark, Mike, and I drove to Blarney Castle where Rusty and Mike went to the top of the castle and kissed the Blarney Stone. We also toured the gardens around the castle and managed to stay dry for the most part.
After sandwiches at the castle, we drove to Kinsale for an excellent tour and tasting at Blacks Brewing and Distilling.
We all did different things for dinner and then visited and shared stories about our days back at the house before getting packed and to bed around midnight.
Saturday was a travel day to get back to Dublin. Two cars headed out toward Dublin via a stop at the Rock of Cashel. The Rock of Cashel is one of Ireland’s most important historic sites – a complex of medieval buildings that served royal and religious purposes. My car went to Dublin via a stop at the Waterford Crystal factory and showroom.
Susie, Neil, Sue, and Sandy rode with me and everybody else headed to the Rock of Cashel. It was a successful day for everybody, and we arrived at our hotel near the Dublin airport in the late afternoon. Dee, Alex, and I returned our rental cars to the airport and then took an Uber back to the hotel. We had one last group dinner together at the hotel restaurant before saying goodbye because people were leaving at different times on Sunday morning.
This has to be one of my favorite trips ever. To be able to spend that kind of time with the family I love in one of my favorite places in the world was beyond amazing. We were able to create memories together that I think we will all cherish for many years to come.
With the family Ireland trip officially over, my mom had decided that she would like to take advantage of the fact that we were so close to Scotland, so we planned several days there to finish out this incredible trip. The three of us took the 9:30am hotel shuttle to the airport, passed through security, and then got a light breakfast in the airport while we waited for our Aer Lingus flight at 11:40am. We landed in Edinburgh a little after 1pm and took the bus into the city center and then walked about 20 minutes to our apartment in the New Town area. We settled into the apartment and then went for an early dinner at Cote French restaurant – Sandy and I had salmon and my mom had chicken Caesar salad and two glasses of wine. That knocked her out and she was ready to call it a night on the early side. It didn’t help that it was clear that she was coming down with the same kind of cold that circulated amongst our group while we were in Ireland. We walked back to the apartment to get her settled and then Sandy and I went and picked up some groceries to have at the apartment for our time in Edinburgh.
Monday was planned to be a day of doing nothing – just resting after such a busy ten days. We had breakfast and lunch in the apartment and in the afternoon, Sandy and I walked to the pharmacy to get some things to help my mom feel better. She didn’t feel like eating much and Sandy and I walked a few minutes to Nok’s Kitchen Thai food that was in a cool old building. Edinburgh’s New Town is around 200 years old. 😊
Sue wasn’t feeling any better on Tuesday. We went to the Pantry for breakfast. It’s a restaurant in the same building as our apartment. I had excellent eggs Benedict, Sandy had a waffle with blueberries and scrambled eggs, and Sue ordered French toast, but she just wasn’t hungry. She ended up going back to bed after breakfast and Sandy and I went for a walk around Edinburgh. We walked through the Princes Street Gardens, the excellent (and free) National Galleries, and up the 221 steps of the Scott Monument, dedicated to the famous Scottish author, Sir Walter Scott.
We walked around the Royal Mile in the Old Town for a little while and then went to Rose Street to find some dinner. We ended up at Rose Street Brewery where we had Saint Mungo and Tennent’s beers, I had a fantastic steak and ale pie, and Sandy had salmon. We enjoyed that dinner location. We headed back home after dinner and Sue wasn’t feeling any better. We took care of some tasks we had to get done and we were asleep by 10pm.
On Wednesday, we all had breakfast at home and did a little laundry. Sue felt good enough to go out and see some of Edinburgh. We left the apartment at 12:40pm. Edinburgh Bus tours offers three different routes around the city and we intended to take all three routes to see as much of the city as we could. We did the green route around the city center primarily from 1:10pm to 2:10pm.
This route had live commentary and our guide was awesome. None of us could believe that she was sharing information without any notes. We loved it. We then stopped back at the main stop and our starting point to get some lunch. Sandy and I had soups and sandwiches and my mom had a little fruit and hot tea. We then went back to the bus stop and hopped on the blue route that took us up near the Firth of Forth (the water on which Edinburgh sits). This route was recorded commentary and took around 90 minutes. It was another good experience and helped us to see more of the city than we could have by walking around. After our bus tours, we went to Souvlaki Greek restaurant for dinner. We all had chicken pitas and tzatziki sauce with pita bread. We headed home and started to watch the movie, Greyfriar’s Bobby. It’s about a dog in the 1800s in Edinburgh who slept every night for 14 years at his master’s gravesite. He is one of the symbols of the city.
Sue was up for more exploring on Thursday, so we had breakfast in the apartment and then took an Uber to Edinburgh Castle. This is the centerpiece attraction of the city and it dominates the hill overlooking the city.
Some of the buildings go back 900 years. We toured the grounds and enjoyed the views overlooking the city. The line to go into the palace and see the crown jewels was long, but it went quick – maybe 20 minutes or so. The walk around the castle started with uphill walking. My mom had total hip replacement surgery three months ago and to see her tackling all of the walking she has done over the last couple of weeks has been very impressive. None of us could have imagined her being able to do anything like this six months ago. After the castle, we walked a little way down the Royal Mile and stopped at Deacon Brodie’s Café for scones. Sandy had done research and decided this was the best place. She was right – the scones were excellent and they aren’t something either of us typically like because they are usually too dry. Maybe the key was the jam and clotted cream. I don’t know, but they were very good. And so was the hot chocolate. SuSu was finally able to get some iced tea and she had a shortbread cookie. We then did a little shopping and walked to see Greyfriar Bobby’s statue and his gravesite in the nearby cemetery.
We took an Uber home so that SuSu could rest after a busy couple of days because she was still not feeling very good. Sandy and I went back out and did the red tour on the hop on hop off bus, which was relatively similar to the green tour route from the day before. We finished around 5:30pm and went to Fierce Beer on Rose Street and tried seven different beers. They were all good, but the pumpkin spice latte beer was outstanding, so we each did a pint of that after the small tasters. That’s one of our new favorite beers. After the beers we went to The Queen’s Arm for fish and chips and then headed home and eventually went to bed around 11pm.
SuSu was still feeling bad on Friday morning. I went to Patisserie Florentin near the apartment to get her eggs and toast. Sandy and I had our normal breakfast at home – yogurt with blueberries and flaxseed along with bananas. Sandy and I decided to go out in the afternoon. We walked for a little less than an hour to the port to tour the Royal Yacht Brittania. This was the royal yacht from 1954 until 1997. It was such an interesting tour to see the entire ship and learn so much about its history and what it meant to Queen Elizabeth II. The queen’s bedroom is in the picture below. Also, they have a tearoom on board and we took the opportunity to enjoy two more scones and hot tea. These were excellent again.
Following our tour of the yacht we took the tram to Princes Street Garden and walked over to Top Cut for steak dinners. We had sirloin, flat iron, and picanha steaks, beef dripping popcorn, broccoli, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. For dessert, it was back to Fierce Beer for the pumpkin spice latte. We walked home and packed and then we were in bed by 11pm.
That gets us to today, Saturday and our journey back to Sarasota. Our Uber picked us up at 8:50am and took us to the airport. Check-in and security were finished by 10am and we got a table at Wetherspoon’s. We all had breakfast (Sue was feeling a little better but still not eating much). We headed to our gate and boarded our United flight to Washington, DC Dulles airport. We were all in the same row – SuSu in the A window seat, me in F window seat, and Sandy next to me. We watched movies and I thought the flight was one of the easier eight-hour flights I can remember. It was a long walk between gates in DC and we took our time with plenty of rest stops for SuSu along the way. The plane departed on time at 6pm and we landed on time at 8:30pm in Tampa. Terry was kind enough to drive and pick us up. We arrived at SuSu’s house at 10pm and then we made it to our usual Airbnb “home” in Sarasota. Terry had made a big batch of beef vegetable soup and bread for all of us. We warmed it up – it was delicious. And we collapsed into bed around midnight.
SuSu gathered enough strength to eventually see her doctor and she was diagnosed with Covid. That explains how she has been feeling for the last week. It was disappointing that she couldn’t enjoy Scotland the way she wanted to, but even the few experiences we were able to have together were great. A lot happened over the course of the last three weeks and it was the experience of a lifetime to get to do it all with the people we got to do it with.
Leave a Reply