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I've taken two Rick Steves tours in the past and really enjoyed them, so I wanted to take another
one. I did some study on destinations and the various tour itineraries. I kind of narrowed it down to Ireland, Scotland, Village France, Village Italy, or Scandinavia; and then decided on the 14 day Best of Ireland tour. It makes a complete circuit of Ireland starting and ending in Dublin,hits a few places I've already seen, but also hits several that I want to see but haven't yet.
I decided to add on some extra time on my own in addition to the tour. I toyed with the idea of adding the extra time in England, Scotland, or maybe mainland Europe thinking that maybe the airfare would be better flying in and out of London, Paris, or Amsterdam than Dublin but it turned out to not be any better. So I decided since the Rick Steves tour is kind of a highlights tour and covers seven different overnight stops, that I'd pick one area of Ireland and focus on that area with my extra time.
I quickly narrowed in on the southwest of Ireland, Cork, Kinsale, Kerry, Beara, and Dingle. I also did some research on hiking and hillwalking in that area. After some research into the area,the hikes, destinations, and sites worth seeing, and considering car rentals and guided tour, I found a company called Hillwalk Ireland that does many self guided hillwalking trips all around Ireland. They have several base trips but you can also add free days at any point in your trip. The tours include detail route information and maps, bed and breakfast lodging each night, and luggage transfer.
I was trying to decide which trip,and had come down to two; a trip in the Beara Pennisula; and one in the Kerry Penninsula. With the hillwalking trip I really had no need of a rental car, other than to get from Dublin to the start of the walking tour. And after looking at the Irish train and bus routes I decided on the Kerry trip, since its starting and ending locations (Glenbeigh and Kenmare) which more convenient for bus train access than the Beara trip route.
In addition to the hillwalking tour, I'm arriving in Dublin 3 days prior to the start of the Rick Steves tour and also have 2 extra days in Dublin after the hillwalking tour before I fly back to Seattle. Sept. 11. Fly Seattle to Dublin, arrives Thursday Sept 12 Sept 15 Rick Steves tour start. 4PM. Buswells Hotel Dublin
Sept 28 Rick Steves tour ends. 8AM Buswells Hotel Dublin - train Dublin Heuston Station to Killarney - bus Killarney to Glenbeigh Oct 7. Hillwalking tour ends. Kenmare
- bus Kenmare to Killarney - train Killarney to Dublin Oct 9. Fly Dublin to Seattle
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