Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Ireland Approaches...

Our big summer vacation is quickly approaching. I can hardly believe it! We're only two weeks away from our most ambitious summer vacation ever.

Our trip will have us landing in Dublin, renting a car, and driving a complete circle around the island lasting fourteen days. Each night (or at most, two nights) we will stay in a different Bed and Breakfast. Our airfare, car and the B&Bs are all paid for, thankfully, when the Euro was closer to $1.30.

With the Euro now at $1.60, and only breakfast guaranteed, I'm seriously entertaining the thought of bringing a suitcase full of Ramen noodles for suppers. I envision each morning, I will tell the boys to "Fuel up! Don't tell me you're full!! EAT!"

"Come on, Eddie, stuff another sausage in you!"

"Luke, wrap up this egg and toast and stick it in your pocket! This is the last meal til tomorrow!"

We're not likely to starve to death, but we will feel the pinch of a weak dollar and high petrol costs. Undeterred, though, we will have a great time touring and hiking the island.


The map below shows our planned trip. I've pre-loaded the routes and most of the waypoints into my GPS software, establishing a rough itinerary for the trip. This is not to suggest that we have no flexibility in our schedule, but we must ensure that we arrive at the appropriate B&B each night, or the whole trip gets bungled up. There are sufficient gaps in the itinerary that we should have time for some free-form exploration, which in my experience is always the best way to tour a country. (Especially when such exploration involves the local pub.)

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