Ireland '23 - trip Intro
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In February '23, I learned that two of my three sisters, Doris & Mary (plus Roger) were booking for ten nights in Ireland in mid-October, part of a 120-person bus tour arranged around a performing Irish music band called The Elders, who like my sisters live in Colorado Springs (as do most of the people on the buses).
Once the tour ends, in Dublin, they wanted to see more of the City and then head north to visit the Neolithic ruins at Newgrange & Nowth, plus the Hill of Tara, and, to stay two nights near, or on, the Irish Sea, which sounded good to me.
After that, Doris and I would return to Dublin and fly home in two days, while M&R wouyld drive to Belfast & then to Galway in time to see annual Halloween parade.
My wife said she did not wish to travel in fall '23 & gave me her blessing to go and soon enough, all of us had overnights & flights booked, and, I added 8 days of destinations to see, before meeting up with the Fam in Dublin.
My itinerary: 3 nights in Dublin, 2 nights in Killarney, 3 nights on the Ring of Kerry (Knights Town, Portmagee, and Kenmare), 1 more night in Killarney, then 4 more in Dublin, 2 nights at Carlingford (north coast), and finally 2 nights in Dublin = 18 nights in Ireland, plus 1 more in Chicago on the way back.
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I should add that when my wife & I first visited Dublin, in October 2019 (with Rich and Linda B.), it was only a 4 hour visit and we did not get much from the HOHO bus perspective. Photo pages from the that trip are still posted (see main Index). In the Epilogue I wrote that becoming more familiar with Dublin, especially on foot, was a necessity.
So once the Oct. '23 plan was set, I was content to see I'd be staying in Dublin for 9 nights, on 3 separate occasions. And all of us agreed ahead of time to maximize walking opportunities during our time together.
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