Ireland and Scotland--2012

Mary Waddle

Jim and I, in a group of 20 friends, left for our Ireland and Scotland tour on June 8th, 2012 via Chicago, Toronto, and Dublin. It turned out to be the most wonderful experience we have ever had traveling. We joined up in Dublin with 30 other people from around the world and with the most learned and entertaining tour director that anyone could ask for. It is very hard to put our trip in just a few words; it was exciting; we did not have an overly demanding schedule, and we loved every minute. Our hotels were great, and we had good food. We became good friends with three Australian citizens (frankly, the 50 of us were enjoying each other greatly; we did not have one person that was a problem in any way), the Aussies’ enthusiasm and humor were fun and gave our Irish tour director material to play off of. (The Aussies could down 5 pints of Guinness in one sitting and not appear to be intoxicated.)

The fantastic deserted castles in Ireland dotted the beautiful green country sides. The sights were breath-taking. We have seen beautiful green landscapes before, but never the greens of Ireland. The cliffs and the ocean views were spectacular. At one location, I was told that if a person began to sail straight out to sea from that spot, the ship would arrive in America. Our trip was for 2 weeks, and we would have liked to stay longer.

The Irish guide, Jim Monahans, kept us in stitches, taught us history, discussed well known movies and 'ruled our roost' well. He had a great background in Ireland, England and Scotland history and must have studied all the entertaining happenings in every country in the world. Our great bus driver was not talkative but an excellent driver.

From Dublin, Ireland, through Northern Ireland, to Edinburgh we saw beautiful sights and met fantastic people. We learned much about the Irish potato famine, the Irish civil disruptions and saw many old, empty rock castles across the country side. The green landscape was extremely beautiful with many shades of green. Of course, it rained. We knew to expect a lot of rain, and we did get it. It seemed to me that most of the rain was while we were traveling, and the sun would come out when we got out of the bus. I am told by others that we were in the rain more than I remembered. We all had enthusiasm for each of the many places that we saw. We all also fell in love with Scones and coffee or tea and with fresh baked oat breads. Haggis, we found out later, was just “interesting”.

Jim and I were entertained by the three people in our group from Australia. We loved their dialect and enthusiasm. This fun between the guide and the rest of us could have gotten out of hand, but the skill of director Jim Monahans kept good control of our merriment and nothing was over done. So, reflective and quiet times were had. We were able to accomplish everything that was planned and were always on time.

We saw wonderful and amazing rock formations at the Oceanside cliffs and shores- (the Giant’s Causeway and the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, etc). We visited Galway Bay, Cork, Kildare, Waterford, Loch Ness and Blarney and in the Pubs we listened to the Irish singers. (No, we did not kiss the Blarney Stone.) In Northern Ireland the Euro changed to Gr. Britain’s pound, and we visited Belfast and Londonderry. In the Belfast area were many signs of unrest, politically, and we heard on our way home of an uprising there.

In Belfast our bus then carried us onto a giant ferry filled with cars, buses and trucks. It was an amazing 2-hour journey to Glasgow, Scotland. We traveled theScottish Highlands and saw the beautiful landscapes there and spent the night on the Isle of Skye. For the first time we stayed in an old fashioned hotel, and we loved it. We saw in the Highlands lots of sheep and a few 'Heddie Coos'. We watched beautiful Border Collies in a demonstration of rounding up sheep and got to see 6-week-old puppies attempting to round up little lambs. The hills were full of Heather just ready to bloom, but we were not there for the blooming. We did find a company producing beautiful jewelry made from dried, dyed and “plastic??- blocked” dead, heather root. Scotland seemed busier and was wonderful also. My biggest thrill was standing in the heavy rain just to the side of the 18th green at St. Andrews golf course and having my picture taken for proof to my brothers.

I must try to stop this report; you will have to cut a lot I’m sure. There is just too much to share; I liked sharing with you. We loved our entire group from Wales, New Zealand, Toronto, Australia, etc. We saw more in traveling both countries than we could describe. Jim and I would recommend a tour like this to anyone. We had a dear friend at the age of 93 with us. His family name is Ennis and we visited Ennis, Ireland. The tour was not too overwhelming for him; he was able to do a lot of sightseeing. My point:it could be handled by most ages.

I must tell you that going through customs coming back was quite thorough. When we waited to go through customs in Newark, a precious beagle came across the room to me and sat and looked at me. I was quite pleased. His owner asked to see my purse. An Australian had given me an apple before we took off from Edinburgh. I had put it in my purse and had forgotten it. So, the apple was taken and the rest of my luggage was investigated.

At that point, we were tiring and eager to get home where we make our own rules. Of course you know what was going on back home. [fires]