Finances. Contrary to what many other folks have posted on TA, I did not find Ireland to be all that expensive. We came in under budget for food and drink (which was nice, as I came in over budget on shopping. Can’t accuse me of not helping to stimulate the economy…), and the prices in stores seemed quite reasonable. One thing that did help me was I estimated how much things would cost in euros, and as soon as I got to Ireland, I basically forgot that dollars even existed – I knew how much I had budgeted (in euros), and that’s all I really worried about. It worked well – I didn’t concern myself w/how much a pint cost or any other such.
Food. I am a vegetarian, and am highly allergic to fish. Prior to our trip, my mother was worried that I wouldn’t find anything to eat. Au contraire. I ate better in Ireland than I often do at home. There were always options for me on the menus – often more than one, and all delicious. We didn’t have any bad meals the entire trip (a few “just fine” ones, but nothing to complain about). Everything was fresh, often grown locally, and very flavorful. And, as stated above, priced quite reasonably.
Driving. If you’re at all nervous about driving in Ireland, get the automatic. I’m not a great “standard” driver, and refused to even try. It was well worth paying the extra for the automatic, and DEFINITELY worth paying for Super CDW. The number of times I had to go diving into the hedgerows on some of the very small roads... in fact, when we picked up the car, the gent at the counter said "it's a few months old, so it's got a few small scratches on it". When we looked, there were very minor scratches on the passenger side - encounters w/the hedgerows, I'm sure! There was one tight squeeze where the oncoming van and I took about 3 min. to inch past each other...
I rented the car with Hertz, and booked it (pre-paid) through the Aer Lingus website (got a bit of a discount that way). The price I paid included everything but the SuperCDW and personal accident. When we arrived at Dublin airport to pick it up, that was exactly what was offered. Location fee was already included, as were taxes, CDW, theft. No suprises on fees, either upon pick-up or drop-off. I also purchased the fuel option (i.e., I returned the car with an empty tank), as the price per litre they were offering was MUCH better than what you could find on the road. I managed to return the car w/just under 1/8 tank of petrol left, and since they only charged .89 euro/litre for a complete tank, I consider it a pretty good deal.
Weather/rain/rain gear and clothes. We were incredibly lucky, in that out of our 14 days on the ground, only one of those did it rain enough to be a nuisance. All the other days it either rained while we were in the car or inside, and then let up while we were outside. We did, however, both have good raincoats, and I had taken my waterproof hiking shoes. I hate having cold, wet feet, and was very glad to have those along. Also, we made sure to dress in layers, which was critical – when it was cloudy and windy it could be pretty chilly, and then the sun would come out and it could get fairly warm. It did not get warm enough to want shorts, though, nor did we ever really feel like we should have gotten air conditioning in the car. I took a couple light sweaters and was glad to have them – both for tramping around outside, and occasionally at dinner. Otherwise, I had t-shirts (both long- and short-sleeve), polo shirts, a couple pairs of chinos and a couple pairs of light courderoys. It was just the right amount, with one laundry run in the middle of the trip.
Random other things. Interestingly, there don’t seem to be outlets in the bathrooms in Ireland (turns out its not legal). If you wanted to use a hair dryer, electric toothbrush, garment steamer, etc., the outlets were all in the bedroom. They are also usually low to the ground, and often behind the bed or nightstand. I recommend taking an extension cord (making sure, of course, that it is compatible with Ireland’s electrical layout). I did have a power converter with me so that I could use my steamer, and had no troubles using it.
Most B&Bs do not supply irons. I’m pretty fussy about wrinkles, so I took a garment steamer with me. Apart from the no-outlets-in-bathrooms (which also made hanging the clothes for steaming a bit of a challenge), it worked like a charm. Also, while there are always a number of hangers in the closets and wardrobes, there are very rarely the type with little clips, to hang pants lengthwise. You will, however, almost always find a decent hairdryer – so don’t bother bringing one.
Some B&Bs do not supply washcloths. We purchased a pack of the super-cheap ones from walmart, took 2 or 3 each, and when we used them, just tossed them. Worked out very well.
The walls between rooms at some (if not most) B&Bs tend to be fairly thin – primarily, I think, because often there are more rooms than were originally designed in the house, and the walls are not original. If you’re a light sleeper (like myself), you might consider earplugs or something else to help block out your neighbors. We could often hear the people in the room next to us, above us, or below us
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