Planning a Trip to Ireland: Getting Around

I can not say this enough, "Thank God for Google Maps".  Let me say it again, "Thank God for Google Maps".    It has taken all the mystery away from navigating anywhere in the world.  It has made my love affair with public transportation so much better.

Let me give you an example, we are staying at the Cassidy Hotel in downtown Dublin for two nights.  At the end of our stay, we need to take a train to Galway.  Use Google maps to search for the train station and it will tell you where to walk and what bus to get on.   It will include the bus number or train number, it's pure magic baby.

It's worth every penny of the $10 a day that AT&T charges me to use my phone like I'm in the USA.  You can change the travel options for any site you'd like to walk too or ride public transportation too.  Forget the tourist city map and travel like a local.  Google it!!

It is important when selecting a hotel in any city to look at the local travel options for the place you are thinking about staying.  Before booking your reservation do some google map searches to places you want to visit while your there.  Ensure that it fits into your touring plans while you're at a particular location.  Most place will be an easy walk away if you choose the right hotel.

When we get off the train in Galway our hotel is an 800-meter walk from the train station into the heart of the city, with all local attractions within easy walking distance. Once we finish our stay in Galway we will take a bus to Cork, but we will stop in Limerick for a few hours to visit King James Castle.  It is bus number 51 or X51 which is the express bus that only stops in Limerick and then Cork.  We haven't decided if we'll take the express or not.  It does shave an hour off the trip to Cork, but there might be somewhere else we want to stop.  It a decision that can be made right before we get on the bus.

A lot of people rent cars when they go to Ireland personally it's not for me.  There is a lot of stress in driving and parking.  I don't mind driving on the other side of the road but I prefer to leave the driving to someone else while on vacation, plus public transportation is so well developed in Europe there really is no need for the extra expense or stress.  In my next post, I explore the Hotels and the best way to make reservations.