Dennis & Tracy's Amazing Adventures
After leaving Galway, we headed south towards Limerick. Our plan was to visit Bunratty Castle and Folk Park in County Clare. Bunratty Castle was built in 1425 and restored in the 1950s and is surrounded by buildings typical of the era including a fisherman’s cottage and farmer’s home.
We left Dublin early on Monday morning, heading towards the town of Galway and the west coast of Ireland. I was able to use my debit card to take out euros at a service plaza. The exchange rate seemed pretty good– 1 euro was equal to $1.24 U.S. Surprisingly, there were no fees at the …
Continue reading “Ireland, Day 2: A Rainy Morning in Galway”
If you know me, you know that I don’t make Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter dinner. However, there is one tradition I’m trying to establish with our growing family, and that is our annual Easter egg hunt. Last year we started this tradition with our grandchildren, the oldest of whom was almost three (read about our …
Continue reading “The 2nd Annual Cleland Clan Easter Egg Hunt”
I’m currently in the middle of planning our next trip. Because it’s my big birthday trip, I was supposed to be surprised. However, that’s not how it’s worked out. Dennis did have some great ideas, but none of them worked out with the time we have off work. Somehow, exactly how I’m not sure, I …
Summer always seems to fly by, and this one was no exception. Our last day of school for staff was the Tuesday after Memorial Day, and we reported back on August 13. I had planned to write over the summer, but not nearly as much as I ended up doing. And, over the summer, I …
Imagine waking up at 1:00 a.m. on the morning before school starts and checking your phone (just because) to learn that you’ve been nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award! That’s my life this morning–what a great way to start the school year off!
The view at the Cliffs of Moher is an iconic portrait of the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland, one that graces tourism sites and brochures. That being said, I wasn’t too optimistic about our actual chances of seeing the cliffs. The weather is often foggy, and while nearly one million people visit each year, many …
On our second day in Ireland, we were offered six optional excursions on the Brendan Vacations / Trafalgar Tours Irish Highlights tour. They all sounded great, so we booked them for a total of 220 euros a person. The first of these was the medieval castle banquet in Limerick. We didn’t know which castle, but …
After our overnight flight from Toronto, we easily passed through customs and quickly found our Brendan Vacations greeter upon exiting the airport in Dublin. Hotel Arrival Our bus driver, the lovely Louie, dropped us off at the Sandymount hotel next to Aviva Stadium where we met out wonderful guide for the week, the Amazing Allie …
We were exhausted by the time we boarded our Air Canada flight AC842 from Toronto to Dublin. It was a larger plane with two seats on each side and four in the middle for a total of 291 passengers. I didn’t see any empty seats at all. I put my headphones in and turned on …
Continue reading “Air Canada Flight 842: Dublin, Here We Come!”