G'wee, ye traitor ya!

We've begun the early planning stages of our next holiday trip. In late June and early July of 2008, we'll be heading to Ireland for a two week tour. This will be a really special trip, as we'll be doing a self-drive tour of the entire island, accompanied at least part of the way by our friends Sharon and Desi.

Now we begin the daunting task of assembling desired tourist stops, clustering them into an itinerary, and booking hotels for all the stops. So far, I've assembled a first draft of "must sees", based partially on a list from Sharon and Desi, who are experts on Ireland (both being Irish).

If you use Google Earth, I've assembled an Ireland Tour KML file to with all the stops assembled into one contiguous loop. Click here for the KML file.

"Must see" stops include:

• Dublin - stay in Ballsbridge, Guinness, Whiskey Corner
• Newgrange
• St. Nicholas Church, Ardglass, County Down--my great (x 5) grandparents' church from 1820's
• Belfast
• Carrickfergus Castle
• Giant's Causeway
• Dunlunce Castle
• Bushmills Distillery
• Donnegal - hiking?
• Aran Islands (possibly a one night stay?)
• Cliffs of Moher
• Bunratty Castle
• Ring of Kerry Dingle Peninsula
  
• Blarney Castle
• Old Midleton Jameson Distillery
• Lismore Castle
• Dunbrody Famine Ship
• Powercourt House