A few closing thoughts

During our 12 night stay we put 1836 km or 1138 miles on the van we rented. This Avis rental was one of our biggest expenses. The van for 13 days cost €1368 or about US $1965 (the euro hit the highest of our trip the day we turned in the van and charges applied), with about half of this cost for the full insurance coverage. Compared to a driver for a full day when we cruise at $500-600 per day for 6-8 passengers, our van rental was a bargain although it was hard on Tim to sightsee and drive. Our accommodations in a combination of B&B, apartment and cottage cost us €412 per person converted to US $577 for the 12 nights. Diesel total was €170/$238 split six ways. Dinner averaged €30 per person in restaurants and €20 in pubs. We bought the Heritage Card (€21) when we arrived and that covered free admissions in a lot of the places we visited.

Tim and Joy
Ireland was beautiful and everywhere you looked was a picture just waiting to happen. The whole country is very clean and neat. Everyone we can in contact with was very friendly. No matter where we were, if it was raining everyone was apologizing to us for it. Tim would reply back to them without all the rain it wouldn't be so green and beautiful here. Every meal we ate out was wonderful. Service was hit or miss. We ate at the same restaurant twice and one time our waitress, Mary, was wonderful and talkative and the next time she was off. Instead of Mary we had a young girl that appeared to have just started working there and didn’t have a good grip on English or understanding of being a waitress. She looked at us like we were from Mars when we asked her what kind of salad dressing they had and she said she would have to go find out. She had the manager come and see what we were asking about since she didn’t have a clue. The Garmin GPS was fantastic. It got us everywhere we wanted to go and on some very interesting roads. We were on a few roads where, in places, the bushes were scrubbing on both sides of the van, or grass was growing in the middle of the one lane road. Thank goodness we paid for the full coverage insurance and didn’t have to worry about bush scratches on the van. It was a wonderful trip with family and memories we will cherish forever. As you can tell by a lot of my photos I love flowers. They were amazing everywhere. I am sure no mater what time of year you visit Ireland you would have a lot of eye candy in the blooms. Several places we saw fuchsia bushes 6-8 feet tall that had a few blooms open and were told in a few months they will be in full bloom. I am sure it will be a spectacular sight when they do.

Stacy
Ireland is not what I expected it to be... actually I am not sure what I expected, but my expectations were far exceeded. Words cannot describe how beautiful Ireland is. The open fields and amount of land is unbelievable. Everyone is super friendly and helpful. I must say even when it was raining I was still having a lovely time. The history here is deep and the rock castles and walls, built strictly of rocks stacked up nothing else holding them together, kept me in awe of how they can still be standing after hundreds and hundreds of years. I enjoyed this 2 week trip and am looking forward to my next adventure in Europe. Thanks mom for putting this trip together is was great.

Harry and Diann
Thanks in large part to our great travel agent, we had a wonderful time in Ireland. Harry and I measure how well we like a place by asking ourselves would we want to live there. Well, if we could have gotten all our animals over we probably would not have come back! It was the most amazing green I have ever seen and the cottages just make you want to go in and have a cup of tea and visit awhile. The people were all friendly and helpful even when they didn't have to be, and the drivers were even courteous! The pubs amazed me, the food was great and easy on the pocketbook, and they were not 'bars', they were meeting places for townspeople to bring their family and visit and listen to great music played by local musicians. The castles, forts, and ruins were awesome and beautiful but Mother Nature topped them all. It was well worth visiting and we hope to go back one day in the near future!

Sloane
They say that one picture is worth a thousand words but I can tell you that no picture could describe the beauty of Ireland and its people.
It has been a long life dream of mine to visit Ireland, I have always felt that I somehow had a connection to the people, land and music but nothing prepared me for the beauty of the land, the friendliness of the people and the everyday happiness they seem to enjoy. The Irish are justly proud of their distinctive heritage, their language, music and culture and are people of great faith. The pride truly is seen in the way they have worked to preserve their history, the castle ruins, churches, and yes even the homes, they have maintained their country styles in an unbroken tradition, as relevant as it was a century ago. For me, it was like going back in time, a time that I have only seen in movies or read about in history. A visit to Ireland is a very humbling experience and one I will never forget. I am so grateful for the experience it has definitely touched my heart.

Well, this wraps up another wonderful trip. Hope you have enjoyed reading and the photos. Until next time.............