We traveled to Ireland with Dave’s youngest sister Dori and promptly lost her and found her, and lost her again and found her, and lost her yet again but finally found her for good. This tangled tale was the result of us being cheap on two fronts – (1) we did not spring for GPS, and (2) we chose not to activate our cell phones.
Our trip to Ireland was spurred by a steal of a deal I found on Travelzoo offered by Aer Lingus Vacations. The deal: Per couple, $649 per person for direct flights from Chicago to Dublin, 6 nights accommodations, and a manual rental car. Accommodations included two nights at a hotel in Dublin, three nights at B&B’s anywhere we chose across the country, and one night at Ashford Castle. Travel had to be undertaken between January and March. We went in February.
Dori and her husband, Wayne, were experienced travelers but had never been to Europe. They had no experience driving a stick shift vehicle while sitting on the wrong side of the car and, furthermore, driving on the wrong side of the road. They also had little to no experience with roundabouts or other challenges of driving in Europe.
Our travel strategy was to caravan everywhere we went. Dave and I would be the lead car. Dori and Wayne were to follow us, no matter what we did, so that even if we got lost we would still be together. This was put to the test getting out of the airport as we took a wrong turn and Wayne dutifully followed us. So far, so good.
As a group, we decided not to bring or activate cell phones. As part of my research for this trip, I had mapped our routes between stops. We had also gotten road maps from the rental car agency, so we saw no need to upgrade to GPS. These choices would haunt us on this trip.
Losing Dori in Ireland the First Time
Not five minutes after Wayne passed the “follow us no matter what” test, we saw him get on the highway going north while we were supposed to go south. Our destination was Kilkenny, the first of our B&B stops. It sounds silly now but even though we did not have cell phones, we had brought walkie-talkies. As soon as we saw them veer off in the wrong direction, we contacted them on the walkie-talkie. However, we quickly got out of range so about all they heard was that they had gone wrong. Exits were few and far between so we kept going to Kilkenny while Dave fretted that his mother would be most upset that he had lost his baby sister in Ireland.
We arrived in Kilkenny where we spent about an hour trying to find our B&B. After driving around and around, we finally parked the car and decided to ask for directions. Kilkenny is a small town and, surprisingly, nobody we asked seem to know where our B&B was. Someone in another hotel gave us some directions to where she thought the street was. These directions took us the long way around and through a not-so-nice part of town but we finally did find the B&B. Turns out it was right around the corner from where we had parked the car! After all that, Dave was really concerned that Dori and Wayne would never find us.
We checked into the B&B and asked the owner for a recommendation for lunch and instructed him to let Dori and Wayne know where we were if they showed up. As we were getting ready to leave, the doorbell rang. It was Dori and Wayne! The trip was back on track.
Losing Dori in Ireland the Second Time
A couple of days later, we all decided to drive the Dingle Peninsula between our stops in Killarney and Bunratty. We were the lead car. Somewhere along our way, another car came between our vehicles that looked like Dori and Wayne’s. By the time we realized it wasn’t them, they were gone. It turns out there are two ways to get to Dingle from Killarney and when they lost sight of us, they took what they thought was the best route while we took the other one. With no way to contact them, we hoped we would find them in Dingle.
No such luck. We stopped in town and waited for a while but they never showed. We decided to drive the peninsula on our own and stop back when we were done and hope that they did the same. That didn’t work either so we headed for the B&B in Bunratty only to find that they had beat us there. We had a truly entertaining time in Bunratty but those are stories for another day.
Losing Dori in Ireland the Third (and Last) Time
We deliberately went separate ways one day as Dori and Wayne were going to meet up with some co-workers in Shannon while we were going to the Cliffs of Moher. The plan was to meet at a fish and chips shop called McDonagh’s in Galway at 2:00. From there we would all make our way to Ashford Castle for our last night before heading back to Dublin.
The Cliffs of Moher are breathtakingly beautiful. It was cool and windy and the weather fluctuated between light drizzle and bright sunshine. We even saw a double rainbow. We enjoyed it so much that we lost track of time and left for Galway a little later than we intended.
Getting into Galway was confusing so it took us some time to figure it out and find McDonough’s. We parked in a garage up the street and arrived in McDonagh’s around 3:00 (only an hour late!). We went up to the counter and were stunned when the girl asked, “Would you be having lunch with Wayne?” How did she know? It turned out that Wayne had brought his work cell phone along and decided to activate it. Since they too were running late, he called McDonagh’s and asked them to tell us that they would meet us at Ashford Castle for dinner.
So now we were in no hurry. We ate and decided to walk around Galway a bit and do some shopping. A couple of hours later, on our way back to the car, we walked past McDonagh’s. To our surprise, Dori came running out calling our names! We went in and sat with her and Wayne while they finished eating and spent a little time with the girl from the counter who found the whole episode quite amusing.
The Moral of the Story
We were able to cover a lot of ground by driving in Ireland. But, as you can see, we had some challenges as well. It’s always a good idea to have a back up plan if you get separated from your travel partners. It’s also worth the expense to get GPS and have a working cell phone. An earlier post provides more information on driving in Europe if that’s what you want to do.
Despite some separation anxiety resulting from some of our decisions, our trip to Ireland with Dori and Wayne was great. We had many adventures together in only six days. Future posts will include stories on the horse racing gang at Durty Nellies, how Wayne became “that tough guy,” and more.
