I did a practice pack today to see what I am taking to Ireland. We want to take just a carry-on bag since we are taking the train and the bus in Ireland and we don't want to have to haul around large suitcases. I got everything in and I still have room to expand my suitcase in order to bring home souvenirs. There are a few incidentals that I have to add in and I will have to do that in the next few days so that I know exactly where I stand with what I am taking.
We have some tours and ideas for sight-seeing set up and I am putting together a booklet with important information to take with us. We need train and bus schedules and Internet cafe locations to name a few. We haven't booked any tours yet, we want to leave things open so that we are not tied down but we have some ideas about what we want to see and do.
All our accommodations are booked. We used a travel agent that we have used before and she booked everything through Royal Irish Tours. It is so nice to know that have a place to put our heads each night and don't have to start looking for a B&B or hotel and then have to pay top price because we didn't book beforehand.
We had originally thought that we would rent a car and drive through Ireland but decided that we would see more of the countryside if we took the train and bus. We are visiting 6 cities. They are Dublin, Donegal, Knock, Galway, Killarney and Cork. We are spending our last night back in Dublin and will be staying at a different hotel and hopefully do a tour of the Wicklow mountains before saying goodbye to Ireland.
Peggy
