clarabelle
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- Joined
- Apr 12, 2003
Just back from Ireland. I am not planning on doing a full scale trip report -but will post a few thoughts and highlights.
We had the BEST time. Ireland is the prettiest place I have ever been to. The people are so friendly and warm.
Our ABD guides were great. So friendly and funny.
So......
Highlights:
The people. We never encountered anyone that was rude. Seriously every store clerk, guide, hotel staff -everyone was just so charming. Without being desperate. (No one tried to braid your hair LOL)
The sights. There is no way we could have crammed in all we did and saw on our own. Days were full and there was plenty to see.
We really liked the Dublin Castle, Rock of Cashel the boat ride in Kenmare bay -amazing views time after time.
Guides -great with the kids. Patient and funny with a lot of knowledge about Ireland. I never felt worried that we were out of our depth. I felt safe and taken care of.
The Bus. Seriously our bus driver was a rock. Totally unflappable. We encountered closed roads, cows, other tour buses -nothing he couldn't handle. The bus was comfy we loved just looking out the windows while watching the scenery go by.
Other Adventurers.
Such nice people! Meeting other people who liked to travel and knew about Disney was the best! For the most part the adults sat with their spouses or traveling companions and the younger kids (below 12 or so) sat in the back of the bus together.
We all talked at group meal times and group activities.
Some adults hung out at pubs at night together -but we didn't. We were too tired!! I don't think you have as much of that kind of thing with the family trips as opposed to the adult only trips. I really enjoyed meeting a few of my fellow disers. I would love to travel with them again!!
Hotels -all good -all different
Lowlights. -No real ones!
Sometimes the kids would get a little rowdy on the bus. I am really uptight about my kids behavior though -so this just might be my hangup. If noise gets on your nerves -I would get to the bus early to stake out a good up front seat. We did not have assigned seating and we moved seats around some-but some people routinely got up front.
There were a few activities that I felt went a bit long -but other people were loving it. I think this might just be one of those personal tastes issues.
Food. I thought the food was good -but not amazing. Some of that might be my "Americanized" palate. There was always plenty to eat and I never went hungry. The food we got on our own was not amazingly better that the group meals -so it was not an ABD issue. I think it may be a "Clarabelle" issue.
Besides I don't think that Ireland is known for it's amazing cuisine. My husband loved the Guinness and I loved the cider.
I hope that tigger ttfn and Wonders10 will chip in here -even if they disagree. They may have a totally different opinion on some things.
In conclusion I LOVED this trip -best vacation ever and would do it again in a heartbeat. Andrew one of our guides does the Provence France trip and we may do that next year.(He highly recommended it) Some of our fellow travelers were talking about doing Spain.
I considered this trip as good for my family (my husband and I would have been squabbling and I would have been uptight and nervous if we had been doing it on our own)
I loved Ireland and would love to go back.
I am happy to answer any questions
We had the BEST time. Ireland is the prettiest place I have ever been to. The people are so friendly and warm.
Our ABD guides were great. So friendly and funny.
So......
Highlights:
The people. We never encountered anyone that was rude. Seriously every store clerk, guide, hotel staff -everyone was just so charming. Without being desperate. (No one tried to braid your hair LOL)
The sights. There is no way we could have crammed in all we did and saw on our own. Days were full and there was plenty to see.
We really liked the Dublin Castle, Rock of Cashel the boat ride in Kenmare bay -amazing views time after time.
Guides -great with the kids. Patient and funny with a lot of knowledge about Ireland. I never felt worried that we were out of our depth. I felt safe and taken care of.
The Bus. Seriously our bus driver was a rock. Totally unflappable. We encountered closed roads, cows, other tour buses -nothing he couldn't handle. The bus was comfy we loved just looking out the windows while watching the scenery go by.
Other Adventurers.
Such nice people! Meeting other people who liked to travel and knew about Disney was the best! For the most part the adults sat with their spouses or traveling companions and the younger kids (below 12 or so) sat in the back of the bus together.
We all talked at group meal times and group activities.
Some adults hung out at pubs at night together -but we didn't. We were too tired!! I don't think you have as much of that kind of thing with the family trips as opposed to the adult only trips. I really enjoyed meeting a few of my fellow disers. I would love to travel with them again!!
Hotels -all good -all different
Lowlights. -No real ones!
Sometimes the kids would get a little rowdy on the bus. I am really uptight about my kids behavior though -so this just might be my hangup. If noise gets on your nerves -I would get to the bus early to stake out a good up front seat. We did not have assigned seating and we moved seats around some-but some people routinely got up front.
There were a few activities that I felt went a bit long -but other people were loving it. I think this might just be one of those personal tastes issues.
Food. I thought the food was good -but not amazing. Some of that might be my "Americanized" palate. There was always plenty to eat and I never went hungry. The food we got on our own was not amazingly better that the group meals -so it was not an ABD issue. I think it may be a "Clarabelle" issue.
Besides I don't think that Ireland is known for it's amazing cuisine. My husband loved the Guinness and I loved the cider.
I hope that tigger ttfn and Wonders10 will chip in here -even if they disagree. They may have a totally different opinion on some things.
In conclusion I LOVED this trip -best vacation ever and would do it again in a heartbeat. Andrew one of our guides does the Provence France trip and we may do that next year.(He highly recommended it) Some of our fellow travelers were talking about doing Spain.
I considered this trip as good for my family (my husband and I would have been squabbling and I would have been uptight and nervous if we had been doing it on our own)
I loved Ireland and would love to go back.
I am happy to answer any questions