Final Ireland 2011

It is home from our fabulous, fun and magical journey to the Emerald Isle we are but I have a few more tales to tell.

Cat asked me why I didn’t tell you about her escapades out with the Irish folks on Friday and Saturday nights.  It isn’t my tale to tell, but she wants me to and so I will.

Saturday 11/11/11 after the meditation I was wiped.  So many wonderful experiences in that hour left me needing sleep.  After getting back to the hotel, I crashed.  About 1900 Cat said she was hungry and was going down  to dinner.  I told her to have fun.  Little did I know how much she would have!

About an hour after she left I hear lots of guys yelling and hooting like they do when they are watching sports and their team is winning.  Then I hear one woman’s voice - Cat!  After a while the shouting is over and I realize the match is over.  I go to sleep and wake about 0200.  Still no Cat.  About 0330 or so in she strolls!  She hooked up with some of the guys watching the match and they took her to another pub and then to a club or two for dancing.  She met some women at the dance club too so she hung out with them and the guys all night.

One of the guys walked her back to her hotel to make sure she arrived safely.  When she came in she was all excited about her night.  She loves the Irish anyway and this solidified it.  She had a ball and had made some fast friends.  She already was communicating with them on Facebook!

The next night she and I ate dinner downstairs.  After dinner she got to talking with some guys by the bar and we ended up having great chats.  However, I was still not ready to party all night and anyway It just didn’t feel right running around with the 20 to 30 crowd.  She told me later that the dance club was patronized by people of all ages including mine:-).  I guess in a small town with only so many places to go everyone goes where the action is.  And the Irish can party, no doubt about that.

When she arrived back at the hotel at 0230 (she got home early because we were to leave at 0700 for Dublin!). She, once again, had had a great time.  She met up with the women and some of the men from the night before and danced until all hours.  Again another of the men walked her back to the hotel to make sure she got home safely.  She was quite impressed with that.  They were fascinated with the fact that she is an American redhead.  They had never met one before.  

It seems that Kenmare is full of single, really good looking, late 20’s to early 30’s single guys.  This is the place to be if you want to grab a husband, it appears.  The men appear to outnumber the women in that age category.   Also, the legal drinking age is 18 so there are many men under 21 as well :-).

Sunday night 11/13 we spent in the bar at the Hilton Hotel at the airport watching the SF Niners beat the Giants in a nail biter.  There is a station that televises two American football games each Sunday and one of the teams was the niners!  How fun!  

Our flight was at 0545 and the shuttle to the airport at 0400.  The game was over at 12:30, I was up at 0245.  After checking in at the airport we headed out to find the BMI lounge.  At our gate I stopped an airport employee and asked Do you know where the BMI lounge is located?  Yes, he replied- silence.  Well, I prompted, can you tell me where it is?  Well, he said with a twinkle in his eye, that is a whole other question!  I LOVE the Irish wit.

To finish I thought I would offer some tips for traveling in Ireland and Europe in general:

1. There are now toll roads that make traveling through the Republic of Ireland much faster.  In the past only Northern Ireland had them.  The back side of this is that you don’t go through the quaint small towns and villages.
2. If you have a GPS with European maps, update it.  It did cause some frustration with getting around using my outdated GPS maps.  
3. The Dublin Pass is a great deal.  It offers entry into most of the major sites many of which have a fast track lane.  In the National Museums that are free it offers discount shopping.
4. The Hop on Hop off Bus pass is great too.  Get the Dublin Bus one as it also allows you to travel on the public bus system for free and has a free bus from the airport into Dublin and from there you can catch a public bus to anywhere you need to be.
5. I took too many warm and bulky clothes.  The weather was chilly but not that cold.  Lighter layers would have been a better choice.  You’d think I’d know that by now!!!  If the weather says in the 50’s F, lighter layers will work fine.  Southern Ireland is warmer and more temperate than the north.  Take a raincoat, one with a removable lining is ideal, and umbrella.  It rains 12 months out of the year.  
6. Frequent the local pubs for food.  Ours was fantastic.  Gone are the days of the bland Irish fare.
7. American Express platinum card charges no transaction fee and no conversion fee.  They also use the bank rate of conversion so we got the best rate by using that card.
8. As in all cases when traveling internationally, use the ATM machines to get cash.  You will get the best exchange rate.  Check with your bank before leaving to see what they charge for fees.  I find that my credit union is the best, charging only 1%.
9. When shopping, ask for a VAT tax refund receipt.  Some shops even take the amount of the refund off your purchase and then trust you will put their form into the box at the airport so they get refunded.  The VAT tax that is added to everything and embedded in the price you see is 21%.  You get 17% of that back.  This applies to all sales no matter how small.  However, if you purchase one item amounting to 2,000 Euro or more you will have to go to the Customs desk at the airport to get a stamp and you MAY have to have the item with you.  Otherwise you can choose to go to a manned VAT Tax return desk or drop your filled out forms in a collection box.
10. You have 3 months to export your items from Ireland and get back the VAT.  However, if you leave Ireland and then mail in your forms, you will have to fill out a form, have it notarized and then mail it back, so take care of it before you leave.
11. Remember petrol is priced by the liter, not gallon so be prepared to spend about equivalent of $10.00 to $12.00 per our gallon!!!  If you can manage a manual transmission and shifting with your left hand, you will get a better rental price and gas mileage.
12. If you are flying UNITED out of Europe, you will need to get an extra stamp on your passport from security at the GATE.  This is only if you are flying UNITED and not Lufthansa.  I do not know if American and Delta do the same, but be prepared to stand in a LONG line at the gate to get this done.  This should apply only to connecting flights in the EU since the check in counter attendants should take care of it at the time of check in if you are going directly to the US from your first airport of departure and not connecting in the EU.  It applies only to your last point of departure from the EU.  
13. All flights within the EU are considered domestic flights and are treated as such.  If you are in transit for a flight stateside, keep your passport handy as you will have to show it more than once.
14. If you are thinking of bringing back liquor from the EU, check the prices at home before you leave.  We found that the duty free price was less expensive than in the country, but not compared to prices at home.  This is caused by the unfavorable exchange rate of dollar to euro.  The same applies to perfume and makeup.  
15. Don’t want to drive, but don’t want to take a formal tour?  Look into the bus systems and train within the country.  There are buses that leave from Dublin downtown and from the airport to many points in Ireland.  There are trains from Dublin Heusten station to the south.  Google works for tracking this information down.  Then when you get to your destination you can take a local tour or hire a car and driver.
16. If you have an iPhone or Droid download the free App called Tango and then have your friends and family who have these phones do the same.  With this app you can make FREE VIDEO or audio calls to home and they can call you free also.

Last but not least here is the video of the tree cutting incident in Kenmare.  The internet was too slow to download it in Ireland.  Enjoy!