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Ireland With Children 3

Here we are, returning to Ireland with children once again.  The children are now six and nine years old and veterans to international travel.  We couldn’t keep ourselves to one checked bag this time despite me taking less clothes than before.  We aren’t sure why we are now two-bag travelers but our best guesses are that it is either because we are staying in Bed and Breakfasts for five days before our first self-catering house or maybe it’s that the children are bigger and their clothes take up more room now.

Anyhow, onto the trip…

June (18 &) 19, 2018

This trip is going to be different than the others in a lot of way of ways.  Firstly, we feel more rushed and less prepared due to both of us going to work on our day of departure.  Secondly, we will be in staying in Bed and Breakfasts for four nights before reaching our rental houses.  The other ways, we will be able to tell you in three weeks!

We had originally planned on doing everything on the same schedule as our last trip, but the taxi showed up to our house half an hour early!  We were pretty much ready, so I began loading the taxi while the rest of the family finished the last few remaining things on our preparation list. This allowed us to leave the house at 6:35 PM.

Thanks to a great taxi driver and the TSA PreCheck that comes with membership to the Global Entry program, we reached our departure gate at 7:35 (one hour after we locked the door of our house)!  We had four one-time passes to the United Club from our MileagePlus credit cards and the United Club at C7 (Dulles Airport) was only two gates away from our departure gate, so in we went.  The Club was quiet, clean and had plenty of room.  We found it so relaxing to be in there instead of at the gate like last time (boarding for our flight was scheduled at 9:10 PM for a 10 PM departure).  Even though complimentary wine and beer is offered, we opted for no alcohol or caffeine before the long flight.  Our plane took off about 30 minutes late, but the day went smoothly overall.  The children are really great travelers now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the pictures above, you can see the headbands that the children are wearing.  These are new headphones called Cozyphones that we bought for the children hoping it would be easier for them to sleep on the plane.  The plan worked, Fionnuala (6) slept well on the plane (with her head in Sarah’s lap) and Liam (9) got a couple of hours of sleep (more than last time), but Sarah didn’t get much at all.  Other than the lack of sleep it was a great flight.  Again we had booked Economy Plus seats and were very thankful for the extra room and the difference it makes in comfort.

We touched down in Dublin on time (10 AM) and were disembarking the plane at 10:30 AM.  It took no time at all to get off of the plane and we didn’t even have to wait for a single person at Passport Control in the airport.  We even had a very short wait for the Avis/Budget shuttle and were at the Avis desk at 10:55.  Even though everything had moved along quickly to this point, the line at Avis was VERY slow, mostly because people were very surprised about how insurance works in Ireland (you can read about that here).  At 11:40 we were pulling away from Avis listening to Raidió na Life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My original plan was to eat lunch at Alice’s Restaurant in Naas but it closed in March.  We decided that instead we would try Junction 14.  Junction 14 is like the rest stops on Interstate 95 in the Northeast US or along the main motorways in England.  We arrived at 12:35 and surveyed our options.  There was a place doing hot foods and quite frankly the healthiest food, a Supermac’s, a coffee stand called Insomnia with baked goods and a Spar shop in addition to a petrol station and restrooms.  Liam and I had Supermacs (which was actually expensive), Sarah had carrot and parsnip soup with brown bread and it was delicious and Fionnuala got banana bread from Insomnia.  Fionnuala also enjoyed the indoor play area.  We were all content with our meals and Sarah and I were pleased that it didn’t take very long but still met all of our needs.  For this trip it was also a nice midpoint in our journey.

As we got further from Dublin it became a sunny 20° day.  We reached Cahir Castle at 2:36 and decided we would go ahead and visit it now (instead of tomorrow as we had originally planned).  Everyone had slept in the car and the day was beautiful, it seemed like  too good an opportunity to turn down.  We paid €2.40 to park for two hours in the car park, €0.40 for the public toilets and €10 to enter the castle.  They don’t take credit cards, but children under 12 were free!

The children loved the castle, the only down side was there was no guided tour this time.  They also have blocked off a lot of the the stairs since our last visit in 2008.  The children loved it though.  If the castle looks familiar to you, you might have seen it before as the castle was used in the film Excalibur, and the TV programs The Tudors and Moonfleet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the castle we checked into Tinsley House and relaxed for a while.  The children mostly stayed in the room while Sarah and I chatted with the other couple in the B&B on the wonderful roof top deck/garden.  Our host Liam was gracious, friendly and engaging with the children.  We even got the same room we stayed in 10 years ago!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For dinner, we were all worn out so we went to Galileo Cafe (as it is less formal than most of the other restaurant options) where Sarah and I ate on our visit 10 years ago.  Our two pizzas and two Kids Meals plus one bottle of sparkling water came to €46.45.  Our meals were very good (better than I remembered) and we were all happy that we ate here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our meal we took a walk along the river behind Galileo and then returned to Tinsley House.  It was a long full day, but we are all ready for tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we went to sleep though, Sarah took advantage of the Free Wifi and paid our M50 toll (the circular Motorway around Dublin does not have toll booths).

Liam and Fionnuala’s Highlight of the Day: Cahir Castle

Total time from leaving our house to Cahir: 15 hours
Total from Dublin Airport to Cahir including lunch stop: 3 hours and 36 minutes

 

 

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