We celebrated Eric’s 50th birthday in northern Spain and I also wanted to enter into a new decade overseas. From the beginning we knew that most of Europe would be too hot and busy in August (and it’s been even worse than we had feared) so we focused on Northern Europe. Back in 1996, I had toured Ireland for three weeks on a school trip, and that tipped the scales for a return to northwestern Ireland 30 years later.
Flights
We based ourselves in western Ireland, so flying in and out of Shannon made the most sense. From Raleigh that meant routing through Heathrow, flying American across the pond, then connecting onto Aer Lingus. On the way out, AA managed to issue us boarding passes for both flights, but on the return Aer Lingus only gave us passes for the first leg to London, and AA wouldn’t check us in through their app since the flight originated with Aer Lingus, even though we’d booked the whole itinerary through American. So! We had to track down a desk at LHR for the last boaridng pass. A minor inconvenience in the end, but not exactly a great look for a partner airline. Aer Lingus also has some confusing rules about who’s allowed a carry-on when flying on a partner ticket – thankfully our boarding passes clearly listed an included carry-on and personal item. And can we talk about the Aer Lingus app? Pretty much useless; we ended up pulling up boarding passes through the website on my phone’s browser instead.
Our in-airport experiences were generally fine. On our way to Ireland, we got into the No.1 lounge in Heathrow’s Terminal 2 for a quick breakfast sandwich and coffee (for me).
The Ború Lounge in the Shannon airport was nice as well. They had some packaged snacks, cold cheeses, fruit, and yogurt, plus a coffee machine. We had it mostly to ourselves until about 20 minutes before boarding started.
We had a three hour layover in Heathrow which gave us plenty of time to transfer from T2 to T3. Somehow, even though we followed signs for connections from T2 to T3, we got off track and entered the UK. Whoops. Thankfully, we had an active ETA! So we just used the underground tunnels to walk to T3. Once through security, we stopped at duty free to check prices and wound up getting a bottle of the peated Connamara whiskey for £25. The main No.1 lounge was full, so we settled for the smaller MyLounge instead. Luckily I found us a spot right by the window with views of planes taking off and taxiing. We were there for both breakfast and lunch, and there were several hot options available. All alcohol had to be acquired via a waiter at the bar.
Rental Car
Our rental car was ready for us at noon through Budget. We were given a white Yaris hybrid – nice and small and plenty of room in the trunk for our two carry-ons and backpacks. It also had a few scratches and dents already – perfect for the narrow Ireland roads! The car was zippy and as a hybrid, had great gas mileage. We drove a ton and only spent about $60 on gas. While pick up was easy, the return was a bit confusing. We followed signs to the external Budget office but there was no one there. So, we drove a bit further toward the terminal parking but backtracked after we stopped seeing car return signs. Shortly after pulling back into the empty lot, a shuttle bus showed up. An employee checked out the car, gave us the okay, then shuttled us the short distance to the terminal so we had a shorter walk to the Park Inn hotel.
Ours is the white one in the middle
Where we Stayed
Hillside B&B, Clifden
Stewart, one of the owners, checked us in just before 4pm. We had room #6 at the end of the hallway. Apparently he used to be the guitar tech for Adam Clayton – the lead bassist for U2 – and the whole hallway was full of musical memorabilia for various bands like all access passes, set lists, even a harmonica with “DESIRE” written on it in masking tape. Wow!
Our room was spacious with a seating area and windows we could prop open for air flow (not in the evening though because midges!) We had no trouble with the large parking lot out front and made do with the five minute drive into town as we found a free parking lot. Walking is possible but it would have taken about 30 minutes each way. Our only issue was the shower pressure, it was very weak, hard to get the shampoo out of my hair.
Breakfast at the B&B was great. For both mornings, we picked from a printed sheet the night before. The first morning, Eric had the breakfast bap (sandwich) and the I had the Full Irish Breakfast with both black and white pudding. The buffet was a nice addition with yogurt, fruit, muesli and juices. Our second breakfast was pancakes with berries and fresh whipped cream for Eric and the Irish porridge and eggs and toast for me. Plenty of food for us!
Quiet city center apartment, Sligo
The only self-catering place we stayed at on this trip, our Sligo apartment was easy to find and had the promised parking spot right in front. Vincent met us on arrival and showed us all the apartment quirks. He was very friendly and talkative. The apartment itself is pretty basic but it had a full sized fridge and washing machine which is one of the main reasons we choose to stay here. The shower is small but had good water pressure and the mattress and bedding were comfortable. The area was quiet at night despite being within a short walking distance of the river and tons of restaurants. We appreciated the dehumidifier to help dry our clothes faster but a drying rack would have been helpful. Vincent also met us at checkout for more chatting. Would recommend this place for a short stay in Sligo.
Linderhof B&B, Galway
Brid (and her adorable Yorkie, Rudy) were our hosts for three days in Galway. We had booked everything direct over email so we handled payment in cash on departure. 185€/night. Our room was comfortable but the extra twin bed took up a lot of floor space. I would have preferred a sitting area and table instead. We had the room at the front of the property and it was very quiet at night even though we were close to a lot of the East End nightlife. There is room for about three cars out front but we were the only guests with a vehicle, so we were able to just leave our car parked in one spot for our stay.
Breakfast was great! We got a full Irish breakfast each morning, along with cereal, brown bread, jam, coffee and juice. We loved the flexibility with the timing, Brid even prepared us breakfast before 8am one morning so we could make our ferry. And sandwiches to take with us, two of the days! Plenty of good conversation and dog pets. We really had a good experience here.
Park Inn by Radisson, Shannon Airport
We had a really early flight out on Friday, so staying near the airport was the easiest option on our last night. Check in was straightforward and while there was no AC, there was an oscillating fan we could use. We had a room with a double and single bed, plenty of space and good shower amenities and water pressure. Everything we needed for a one night stay. Nice touch to have coffee and pastries in the lobby before 6am.
