Trip #14 to Ireland - Staying in Doolin

Flying to Ireland is a mere 5.5 hours from Philadelphia when the tail-winds are good – short flights are great but when it’s overnight, you really feel the effects of jet-lag. No sooner do you get settled into your seat, watch a movie and then drift off to sleep … and you’re being waken with coffee, tea and a transfat-laden donut. My adrenaline kicks in and I’m ready to hit the ground running from that point on. In fact, our luggage was waiting for us as we went through Customs, a mere minutes in line and one or two quick questions, grab the luggage and on we were.

Dan Dooley had a larger car for us than expected, a Ford Mondeo which is the size of a Volkswagon Passat back at home – much larger than my MINI Cooper that I’m accustomed to driving. I adjust to the left too quickly and we were exiting the airport within minutes.

I brought the GPS just to see how it works and make recommendations for clients. It has its good and bad points so it’s still going to be individual decision on whether or not to rent one but on future trips, I’ll leave mine at home and stick with the car rental map. It helped us navigate out of Shannon Airport without a problem but it did not tell us to take our usual exit for Doolin by way of Ennistimon. Instead we went another 4 miles before exiting the highway and backtracking through Ennis from the north – slightly out of the way but staying on the N85 would have made more sense. At that point I turned off the GPS and navigated by towns again. I suppose it’s a good feature for clients who have no clue that they’re a bit out of their way.

Within the hour we were in the centre of Doolin, checking in to Tir Gan Ean, our favorite hotel within walking distance to everything in the village including O’Connor’s pub near the docks and McGann’s in the village. With gorgeous weather (sunny and not a cloud in the sky!) we decided to head toward the dock but only made it just past O’Connor’s Pub and decided to call it quits, grabbing a small bite to eat and sit outside in the sun before heading back to Tir Gan Ean.

We napped from noon until 5pm to try and get rid of the jet-lag but not sure if it hurt or helped. I typically stay up the entire first day to help with the jet-lag so this is new for me. We went to McDermott’s for dinner, pub grub being the most economical meal when dining out. Afterward we sat outside just as the sun was setting, chatting with two married Canadian women who were staying in Lisdoonvarna during the Matchmaking Festival, a location they advised against due to the non-stop partying from 11:00am to the wee hours of the morning.

Back to the hotel we had a cup of tea, Banoffie Pie and went right to bed afterward.