After deciding to go to Ireland (in early 2013) I spent months daydreaming and going over not only the Rick Steve's website but many others to come up with the things I wanted to be sure to do while visiting the Emerald Isle. Why an RS tour? Because I went on another to Venice, Florence and Rome with his company a few years ago and had a great time, I like his travel philosophy of "no grumps" and traveling light is good. Yes, I am taking a wheeled carryon for this trip and a second small bag for about town.
Being in the planning stage was great but we could only do so much without the tour dates posted to choose from....Finally the Rick Steve's site had the tours dates for 2014 in mid-August and now we just needed to pick dates that would work for our schedules. On the 19th of August we booked the tour and our air fare and two nights at the Harding Hotel and a final evening at same so we can have a final night in Dublin to hear one more night of trad music and enjoy another pint of Guiness!
A note about planning: I happen to think that is half the fun of a vacation...the anticipation and learning about what there is to see. I even started this stie as part of the pre-tour fun. And it doubled as a great place to "placehold" our travel docs so I could print out a hard copy of flight, hotels, etc before we left. It also served as a way to let folks know how to reach us and that we were having fun while the trip was in process. That being said, I only used it as a guide and was open to just having the experience of the day, rather than being worried if something did not happen. It was more of a suggestion of what I might do, rather then what I had to do.
This is what is included in the tour costs and why I think it is a good bang for your buck:
All tours and admissions — at no extra cost — covering at least 23 group sightseeing events • Dublin walking tour • Trinity College • Book of Kells • Kilmainham Gaol tour (when possible) or Powerscourt Gardens • Rock of Cashel • Kinsale walking tour • Charles Fort tour • Sheep Farm tour • Dingle's Slea Head Drive • Blasket Islands Heritage Centre • Gallarus Oratory • Irish musical evening • Burren nature walk • Cliffs of Moher • Boat ride to Aran Islands (weather permitting) • Aran Islands minibus tour • Connemara drive • Derry coach and walking tour • Dunluce Castle • Giant's Causeway • Old Bushmills Distillery tour • Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge (weather & season permitting) • Coach tour of Belfast.
All group transportation from Dublin to Dublin
13 nights accommodations in memorable, centrally-located hotels and B&Bs
All breakfasts and half your dinners
All tips for guides and driver
Free stuff including Rick Steves' Ireland guidebook, moneybelt and earplugs
Guaranteed tour price, locked in the moment you make your deposit (August 19, 2013)
I think Rick Steve's has a great travel philosophy: no grumps and pack light. You are traveling to enjoy time away and being loaded down with "baggage", both literal and figurative will no add to your experience. No hassle about transportation...once you join the tour, most of the travel parts that are a hassle are over. Your guide takes care of musuem entrance fees, and the driver of the coach gets you where you need to be. And once your pay, your price is locked in, and there is no need to tip anyone as part of the tour. The only extras are what YOU add on - additional musuems, lunches, souveniers and pints!
A word about craic ....craic (crack) is the word for fun...popularised in the phrase Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn ("We'll have music, chat and craic")
Geocaching or caching is treasure hunting for nerdy adults....I found a few on the trip and may have converted a few tour members to the joy of caching...for more information, read on. Oh yeah, everything is clickable or linked so you can find more information about the places and sites we visited.
Hope you enjoyed this web travel journal!
ON TO DUBLIN
Being in the planning stage was great but we could only do so much without the tour dates posted to choose from....Finally the Rick Steve's site had the tours dates for 2014 in mid-August and now we just needed to pick dates that would work for our schedules. On the 19th of August we booked the tour and our air fare and two nights at the Harding Hotel and a final evening at same so we can have a final night in Dublin to hear one more night of trad music and enjoy another pint of Guiness!
A note about planning: I happen to think that is half the fun of a vacation...the anticipation and learning about what there is to see. I even started this stie as part of the pre-tour fun. And it doubled as a great place to "placehold" our travel docs so I could print out a hard copy of flight, hotels, etc before we left. It also served as a way to let folks know how to reach us and that we were having fun while the trip was in process. That being said, I only used it as a guide and was open to just having the experience of the day, rather than being worried if something did not happen. It was more of a suggestion of what I might do, rather then what I had to do.
This is what is included in the tour costs and why I think it is a good bang for your buck:
All tours and admissions — at no extra cost — covering at least 23 group sightseeing events • Dublin walking tour • Trinity College • Book of Kells • Kilmainham Gaol tour (when possible) or Powerscourt Gardens • Rock of Cashel • Kinsale walking tour • Charles Fort tour • Sheep Farm tour • Dingle's Slea Head Drive • Blasket Islands Heritage Centre • Gallarus Oratory • Irish musical evening • Burren nature walk • Cliffs of Moher • Boat ride to Aran Islands (weather permitting) • Aran Islands minibus tour • Connemara drive • Derry coach and walking tour • Dunluce Castle • Giant's Causeway • Old Bushmills Distillery tour • Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge (weather & season permitting) • Coach tour of Belfast.
All group transportation from Dublin to Dublin
13 nights accommodations in memorable, centrally-located hotels and B&Bs
All breakfasts and half your dinners
All tips for guides and driver
Free stuff including Rick Steves' Ireland guidebook, moneybelt and earplugs
Guaranteed tour price, locked in the moment you make your deposit (August 19, 2013)
I think Rick Steve's has a great travel philosophy: no grumps and pack light. You are traveling to enjoy time away and being loaded down with "baggage", both literal and figurative will no add to your experience. No hassle about transportation...once you join the tour, most of the travel parts that are a hassle are over. Your guide takes care of musuem entrance fees, and the driver of the coach gets you where you need to be. And once your pay, your price is locked in, and there is no need to tip anyone as part of the tour. The only extras are what YOU add on - additional musuems, lunches, souveniers and pints!
A word about craic ....craic (crack) is the word for fun...popularised in the phrase Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn ("We'll have music, chat and craic")
Geocaching or caching is treasure hunting for nerdy adults....I found a few on the trip and may have converted a few tour members to the joy of caching...for more information, read on. Oh yeah, everything is clickable or linked so you can find more information about the places and sites we visited.
Hope you enjoyed this web travel journal!
ON TO DUBLIN