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Chapter Eleven - Photos, Travel Tips and Miscellaneous
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Sue and I had five holidays in Ireland, each about a month long, in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2013. These holidays were a combination of researching and (mostly) sightseeing. We met a few cousins and other wonderful people.
We found the most difficult part of the journey to be the traveling necessary to get to Ireland. It was a long day and night that required an hour's drive to catch a CoachUSA shuttle bus in Milwaukee, an hour and a half bus ride to O'Hare in Chicago, several hours processing through the airport and an eight-hour flight through the night where we found it impossible to sleep. Adjusting to the "jet lag" that followed seemed to become more difficult with each holiday. The return journey (east-to-west) was a little easier.
Photos and commentary from our last three holidays were put on travel blogs at:
- www.leftbehindinamerica.blogspot.com for our 2008 holiday,
- www.leftbehindinamericaagain.blogspot.com for our 2009 holiday, and
- www.toallthoseweleftbehindinamerica-3.blogspot.com for our 2013 holiday.
We hope others will continue genealogy research on their future holidays and enjoy the country and people as well. We include the following "travel tips" and genealogy background to make those journeys all the more enjoyable. Please contact us at okeane.robert@gmail.com if there are specific questions. Policies and products may have changed since this write up in 2020.
Travel Tips
1- The best travel advice we ever got was to not worry too much about everybody else's travel suggestions and just create and enjoy your own travel experience. For example, we know people who got a rental car and just drove each day with a travel book in hand until early evening when they looked for a B&B to spend the night. From our past travel experiences, we felt more comfortable making almost all of our itinerary and accommodations online before we left. Nothing wrong with either approach---just make sure you are doing what you feel comfortable with.
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2- The best rental car driving advice that we got for driving on "the wrong side of the road" was to remember that the driver---whether driving in America or Ireland---is sitting next to the center line of the highway. It seemed to make my brain feel more comfortable to make this connection whenever in doubt, instead of getting confused or alarmed on which way to go. It seemed to take about a day to get comfortable with driving on "the wrong side of the road." Just having other passengers in the car say: "Left, left, left" at intersections and roundabouts helped as well. We always took the advice to get a car with automatic transmission to give us one less challenge to deal with when driving, even though it costs more. We had the nicest rental experience with the "Dan Dooley" rental company. We traveled in a Peugeot, diesel, intermediate-sized sedan that was comfortable and economic. The diesel fuel in Ireland appears to be more refined, without the powerful diesel odor. Our worst rental experience was with the "Dollar/Thrifty" rental company. On the motorways (our expressways), we noticed drivers would pull into the left service lane briefly when another car would come up behind them at a faster speed. The "flasher" lights on both vehicles were used briefly in the process. We never saw this recommended in rental car literature, but it helped to keep things moving. We did appreciate the rental cars that had a power button to electronically move in the side mirrors. It helped when on narrow city streets, whether driving or parking. We were told that broken side mirrors were the most common damage to rental cars. Because we were traveling for around 30 days, we did not get the "super insurance" which would have been very costly. We only took the required "CDW" (collision damage waiver) insurance. We tried to do our traveling in the rental cars when we were rested and able to stay focused. Drinking and driving is a big "no-no." Ask for details on "motorway tolls" on the M50 beltline around Dublin, since it is necessary to pay the toll at a gas station or grocery store along the way, after you have traveled on the beltline. Most other tolls are paid at a typical toll booth along the way. The website: http:www.carrentalcouncil.ie/index.html has good information on all rental car aspects, including helpful "rules of the road" info.
3- Unless you are young and adventurous with high energy levels, we found it easier as senior citizens and poor travelers to spend three-to-seven days in one location and travel out from that home base for "day trips." It helped to be able to unwind and relax in just one area. Cottage and apartment rentals are traditionally rented from Saturday to Saturday. Like most hotels, Sunday through Thursday stays usually had better rates. Weekly rentals usually had the most reasonable rates, but sometimes would be too lengthy a stay. We noticed that more and more hotels were offering packages that included breakfast and some amount of dinners. The "Golden" (senior citizen) packages at the hotels generally were the best deal. This was another good reason to select online packages in advance.
4- Remember that "July and "August" are the "high season" for holidays and prices reflect this. "May-through-June" and "September-through-October" are "on the shoulder" and are more reasonable. There are so many online travel planners and price selectors that this should be the easiest process for selecting a flight. With each holiday, we were more and more disappointed with Aer Lingus, the official airline for Ireland, but the prices were usually the best.
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5- Guided travel packages, usually by bus, are certainly the most reasonable and least tiring way to travel. We know several people who took a guided bus tour and then went on to rent a car for extra trips to special places after that. Many package holidays are seven-to-ten days, but we think fourteen days is a better minimum timeline. Ireland is about the size of Wisconsin, so you can cover quite a bit of ground---except for the times you are traveling on some winding backroads.
6- You can get a good idea of the major tourist attractions that are "must-sees" by going to travel websites like Rick Steves at http://ricksteves.com/ and the Ireland website at http://discoverireland.ie/ . We also like the ability to get guest reviews of accommodations and attractions on Tripadvisor at http://www.tripadvisor.com/ . We really study the individual reviews and photos, especially the negative reviews and photos, to get "a feel" for a particular place. An interesting website for accommodations in historic facilities like castles and lighthouses can be found at the Irish Landmark website at http://irishlandmark.com/ . Rental of vacation homes and apartments are on Dream Ireland at http://dreamireland.com'home'index.php . You can also find rentals at http://www.accomodation.ie/ , http://www.booking.com/ and http://www.irelandhotels.com . We generally stayed in 3 or 4-star hotels. 5-star places are usually great places but pricey. We especially liked "Manor West" Hotel in Tralee, County Kerry, the "Westport Hotel" in Westport, County Mayo, "The Trident Hotel" in Kinsale, County Cork, "The Ramada-Viking" in Waterford, County Waterford and "The Ramada-Lough Allen" in Drumshanbo, County Leitrim.
7- Special events---from plays to horse racing---can be found on special websites like http://www.aoifeonline.com/ . We were very much impressed with the enjoyment the Irish have for horse racing described on the website at www.goracing.ie/home/ . A little online "exploring" can lead you to many special things, such as church times at http://www.catholicireland.net/ . Just looking around the internet brought us to Galway's Art Festival, the nearby Salthill "Trad on the Prom," the "Burren Perfumery" in County Clare in the heart of "The Burren," and the "English Market" in Cork City , County Cork.
8- We got the best telephone rates on our later holidays when we could take our own cell/mobile phones and use a monthly AT&T international calling plan.
9- We usually brought several credit cards with "electronic chips" that did not have a "foreign transaction fee" and made sure we contacted the credit card offices before we left to let them know we would be in Ireland for specific dates. We used a credit card at ATM machines to get cash. We usually took out the maximum amount since most ATM's only let you take out money once in a 24-hour period.
10- We purchased the proper electric power outlet adaptors before we left and a power reduction apparatus for certain electric products.
11- It's a good idea to bring clothing that allows you to "dress in layers' on the occasional rainy, windy day.
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12- A special note on Dublin City:
- we followed the advice to rent a car at the airport after our tour of Dublin City so we could avoid driving in city traffic
- in addition to taxi service, several kinds of buses are available to take you to and from the airport to Dublin City, so we typically stayed at hotels near the airport that had shuttle bus service to the airport to catch a "city bus" (unless we just took a taxi when we were in a hurry)
- hotels are fairly expensive in Dublin City and it is less expensive to stay just outside the city and travel on the bus, "Dart" or "Luas" to come in and out of the city
- multiple-day passes on the "Hop On - Hop Off" buses are a great way to see all of Dublin's highlights; viewing their online route is a good way to find the best sights to see at https://www.hop-on-hop-off-bus.com
- http://www.visitdublin.com/ will provide good info on Dublin attractions and activities
- specialty, one-day bus trips can take you north and south of Dublin to see other areas, such as Glendalough to the south and the ancient "passage tombs" near Knowth and Newgrange to the north
13- As our cousin Margaret told us, it's a good idea to avoid going down roads with grass growing down the middle...
Dedication Clarification
If the four people named in the "Dedication" at the beginning of this story are not clear, here is where they are in The O'Keane-Prendergast Family History:
> "Bridget" is the first-born infant daughter of Mathew O'Keane/Keane and Catherine (Prendergast) O'Keane/Keane who likely died "at sea" in 1848 and is referred to on pages 10 and 43
> "George" is the first-born son of Mathew O'Keane/Keane and Catherine (Prendergast) O'Keane/Keane who likely died as a teenager and young soldier in the Crimean War in 1855 and is referred to on pages 8 and 11
> "Catharine" is the infant daughter of Thomas Cosgrove and Mary Jane (O'Keane) Cosgrove who likely died at birth in 1870 and is mentioned on page 59
> "Paul" is the infant son of Terence O'Keane and Catherine (Comer) O'Keane who died as an infant from meningitis in 1898 and is mentioned on page 66
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