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Ireland Dream Vacation

 

Ireland Dream Vacation

18 Months Ahead

Ireland .... We visited Ireland in 2016 with two brothers, two sisters-in-law, and a couple of friends.  It was a bit of a family reunion and the first we'd had for quite some time.  Our family has roots in Ireland and, when the trip presented itself, we all decided to go.




It was a 15 day bus trip circumnavigating Ireland visiting all the typical sites one visits on a bus trip.  It was our first bus trip and a good overview of Ireland but not the way we typically like to travel.  Family made it fun but we wanted to return and see all the things that were not on the designated itinerary.  So, this time, we're planning our "Dream Vacation" ...and it takes planning.

How to Start

We started with a Budget.  Then we chose a time of year.  Then we started reading travel books, on-line travel sites and blogs.  The reading generated lists of things we might want to see and parts of Ireland we might want to include in our travels.  Next we looked at the list and divided it into categories:  archaeology, ancient sites, pubs, historical buildings, modern history, natural sites, etc.
We grouped the sites and located them on a map of Ireland.  This became our general outline for our travel in Ireland.

Sounds complicated?  Not really.  I'm going to show you how we started HUGE and brought it down to our Dream Trip.

 Book Sources:

The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland by Cary Meehan (Best book I've found for all the ancient sites in Ireland both pagan and Christian with explanations of how they came to be and the legends connected to the sites.)

Mysterious World Ireland by Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell (They borrowed a lot from Cary Meehan's book and updated it with lots of pictures.  Not as in depth but good information and readily available.)

Eyewitness Travel has two books that we used.  The first is simply called Ireland.

 The second is Eyewitness Travel Back Roads Ireland.  The first is a good overview with places to stay and eat as well as major tourist attractions.  The second is a more in-depth look at traveling Ireland by car broken down into regions.  The drives highlight places to see and things to do as well as eateries and places to stay.

I also liked Moon Ireland by Camille DeAngelis.  Some things in this guide book I had not seen before.

We also looked at the Michelin Guide, National Geographic Guide, Frommers, Fodors, and Rick Steve.

You will see a lot of overlap in the various guides so you might want to check them out of the library first until you find one or two that fit your needs the best.

Once you have a feel for the areas of the country you can go to Google or Pinterest or any search vehicle and type in the area in Ireland and the words travel blog or interesting sites or ancient sites, depending on your interests.  You will find a wealth of information available to you.


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