With this in mind plus the fact that it would be a very long day starting out at 7.00pm and I would need to be up earlier than that to get there by 6.45am, it really didn't seem worth it hence going straight to Galway from the airport.
Cork and Kilkenny?
I'd like to visit Cork to see Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone plus go to the Blarney Woollen Mills, but this would mean an overnight stop between Killarney and Dublin and I've been asking myself how important is it to stop there. Will I be disappointed if I don't and will I regret it? I'm not sure, from past experience, if you don't go to something you often have regrets and if you have gone to something you might think along the lines of, 'Had I known it was like that I wouldn't have wasted my time.'
Having seen a picture of Kilkenny, it is just the sort of place I'd love to stay but again, it means another overnight stop before Dublin. After leaving Killarney, I have the choice of one night Cork, one night Kilkenny, then three nights in Dublin. I will be doing a Glendalough day tour from Dublin, some companies include Avoca with Glendaglough, others include Kilkenny. I can also do a day tour from Dublin to Cork/Blarney/Rock of Cashel. This would be a very long day and it seems a bit silly in one way to go all the way to Cork when you have to change buses anyway at Cork on the way to Dublin. I really would like to see the Rock of Cashel and apart from the day trip from Dublin with Daytours IE, so far I haven't found any other tours that go there.
This is what I've settled on for my Dublin leg.
Thursday 17: Paris - Dublin - Galway
Friday 18 - Cliffs of Moher and the Burren tour
Saturday 19 - Connemara and Cong tour
Sunday 20 - Galway to Killarney
Monday 21 - Dingle Peninsula tour
Tuesday 22 - Gap of Dunloe tour
Wednesday 23 - Killarney to Dublin
Thursday 24 - walk around the city
Friday 25 - Glendalough and Kilkenny day tour
Saturday 26 - Rock of Cashel and Blarney Castle day tour?
Sunday 27 Dublin to London
Undecided whether to go by ferry and train or fly. I'm leaning towards the ferry/train option as I think this would be a different experience and I'd get to see a lot of scenery in England.
If I decide not to do the Rock of Cashel/Cork tour, I will probably leave Dublin a day earlier, but this is something I will decided a little later.
Killarney tours
Another change I made is in the choice of day tours. At first I was going to do just the Ring of Kerry and stay two nights, then decided I'd like to see the Dingle Peninsula as well which meant another night. Someone mentioned the Gap of Dunloe. I had a look at that tour and felt this is a tour I really would like as it included a ride in one of the jaunting cars which is one of the things I badly want to do while in Killarney so I've scrapped the Ring of Kerry and settled on Dingle and the Gap. Of course, if time and budget allowed I would stay four nights and do all three tours, but this really isn't an option. The hardest decision was choosing which two tours. I hope I've made the "right" decision. From the many travel posts I've read, it seem Dingle Peninsula is rated better than the Ring of Kerry. But like everything in life, what one person likes, someone else will like something different. With Dingle, that is around the beach, with the Ring and the Gap, both are around mountains and greenery and the Gap tour has a boat trip across three lakes which will be very scenic. I just hope the boat doesn't capsize as I can't swim!
