Ireland
Travel Blogs from Ireland
Met Up With Ma and Pa Norrie!!
We arrived in Dublin around 10am and waited for my (obviously, James') parents to meet us at the airport to pick up their car they rented. When they arrived they didn't see us so I snuck up behind them to surprise them. Mom of course ...
An Island of Stone
We got up in the morning unsure of what we were going to do for the day, but after going to an information centre we decided to go to the Aran Islands and check out a 3000 year old fort that was there. We drove west of Galway to where we could ...
The Cliffs of Moher...and more
... a bite to eat and finally bought the next book in the series I've been reading, also so we could say we ate in Ireland's Ennis, haha. We wanted to get to the Ring of Kerry tonight so we drove for the rest of the ...
James' Birthday & Kissing the Blarney Stone!
It happened to be raining for our visit to the Blarney castle but we still enjoyed ourselves. We toured through the castle reading about old rooms with wooden floors that had now rotted away so we were now looking up into the next room above as ...
Back to Dublin and a Guiness Tour
On the 13th James and I (Jackie) woke up with the feeling that we still had booze running through us and Karen and Bill were surprisingly fine! (Definately not fair!) We got all packed up, had a bit of breakfast and got on the road. When we arrived ...
Goodbye Karen & Bill :(
Karen and Bill had to leave early in the morning so they woke us up to say goodbye. We were very sad to see them leave and very much appreciate them coming to see us and hope they had as fantastic of a time as we did! They certainly ...
Ready for the off!
Can't believe it's finally June and I only have 2 weeks left till D-day. The career break's granted, the house is let, the mail's redirected, the savings are in the bank and the bag is packed... I'm ready to go. It's sixteen years since i left Japan for ...
OH MY GOD, I'M IN INDIA!!!
... of 'free sex' in my country, at which I looked suitably horrified and school ma'am-ish and informed him that Ireland is a conservative Catholic country in which it is extremely impolite even to mention such things!! And it worked, he actually looked ...
Dublin, Ireland - Day 1
Lets just say our wonderful airplane experience of nearly pure bliss was followed by a nearly pure meltdown mode with the kids. It was half funny, and half ... not. All four of us turned in to zombies for the first half of the day as we tried to fight ...
A chance to help Smile!
BARN DANCE!! When - Saturday 12th April 2008 @ 7pm Where - Greenisland, Co Antrim, N Ireland Help to support Smile's work in Sri Lanka. You can see a snippet of what they do by reading my blog! Great night's entertainment for all ages and you get ...
4 days to go....
Hi all!! This is my 1st entry and i'm still in bright and sunny NI!! I've uploaded some photos (if i ever work out how to do that!) which show details of where i'll be staying, who i'll be working with etc! I'm just thinking, the next time i'm ...
Goodbye Paris!
We start the day by getting all the bags completely packed. All the last odds and ends and such. Today is our last day in Paris. Well, not a full day really. But we'll make the most of it. Mimi makes a boulangerie run with the kids, giving ...
Goodbye Kilmeague
... through the lightening, thunder and rain Jim and Paul managed to get us safely through the hair raisingly narrow streets of beautiful Ireland. It's true what they say about the forty shades of green of Eire, even in the summer it's green ...
Kit and Gwen's Ireland
My brother Lou and partner Lynn joined us at John and Jenny's for a night and were delighted with the cooked English breakfast John and Jenny prepared as a team effort. We ate so much we didn't eat again till tea time. The following day Des and I caught ...
Dublin, Ireland - Day 2
... hoofed it about a mile to the nearest DART station. All of the research I had done on Dublin told me that for a true Ireland experience, one must travel to the countryside. Unfortunately for us, time wouldn't allow for that this trip. BUT, we could come ...
India - yay or nay?
Getting a life after graduation is all well and good, but why sit around waiting for job replies when you can be travelling? This niggling insidious little thought has been bothering me a lot in the past week. To humour it, I picked a destination: ...
The land of U2
... snowing!! DB do I look like the Queen because of all the grey hair? (I can read between the lines!) So we have arrived in Ireland. We got in at dinner time last night. It was our first flight with Ryan air and it was nerve racking. The flight was ...
Getting ready to go again
Well hello to everyone. We are heading away from Belfast again on 3rd September. In our time back we have done our best to catch up with everyone possible and will do over next few weeks. If we don't, i am sure you all realise we are up to our eyes ...
And so the Sri Lankan chapter ends
And so the travel blog ends as it started, back in Baltic Carrickfergus! It's hard to believe that the Sri Lankan adventure is over. Here's a summing up of the last few days in sunny Hambantota. Wednesday was our last official day with the kids ...
Ring O' Kerry
... drivers Lou & Des with many winding roads uphill and down. I would have to recommend The Ring of Kerry to any visitor to Ireland. Our stay in a Caravan Park in Ballylickey was a lucky find as we danced, sang and laughed the night away in the local pub ...
Ring of Kerry Tour and SUN!!
... drove around the island. It was a very sunny and absolutely beautiful day out, which we counted ourselves lucky for being in Ireland and all. We went to a granite quarry and climbed a huge hill to get a better view of the surrounding. ...
It's only hours away!!
I just have to say my plane leaves in 11.5hrs.....how mad is that!! So it's so long, farewell and bon ...
Guinness and Nuns.
Another missed flight (we swear it wasn't our fault) meant a long wait around the airport and a £40 fee to get on the next flight.. Each time we miss something were sure its the last time.. When we finally made it to Dublin we headed off to our ...
And back to the beginning.....(plus hacking fun!)
Well, after a few weeks of visiting family down south, we finally complete the journey full circle and end up back "home". We were planning on seeing some friends on the way up, but Emma wasn't feeling great last week and had a stint of antibiotics to ...
Hearing aids and Bookies
So we have enjoyed two full days in Ireland now. We are amazed at how many 'book makers' store fronts there are here. It seems as though there is one every couple of blocks. We also have been struck by the number of hearing aid stores there are. (Now it ...
Guiness and Leprechauns
... of Ballyheigh, this weekend was the traditional celebration of the pattern festival. This was a real glimpse into small time Ireland. Various families presumably from around the county descended on Ballyheigh for the weekend to set up stalls and peddle ...
Passport to Rio
Well folks the long awaited day has arrived and in an hour`s time we`ll be on our first flight of many! So excited!!! We`ll finally get into Rio at 08.10 tomorrow after 15 hours on the plane, but it`ll be worth every minute! We`ll keep you updated and ...
Overnight with Shielagh and Dennis
As night doesn't actually fall until about 10pm here we have plenty of time to look for overnight stops. We arrived at Kinsale with no room at any inn so we travelled along the coast to a great looking spot near a dairy farm. Lou checked with Shielagh ...
Back home - for now at least + Trans-Sib Itinerary
Just back from Deb & Nicks after a good drive. Had to post a couple of e-mails we received after sending some enquiries to Kostya (a Russian) related to our Trans-Sib trip! ------------------------ Hi David. Glad to hear from you. I got ...
We have Flights!
After numerous iterations and changes to the route, we've finally booked our flights. The first of many major milestones in making the trip a reality. We searched around on the internet, read books, visited STA/Trailfinders and spoke to friends to ...

