While I thought it was remarkable to have one former member of OTT (Kevin) leading our tour, to run into a second alum in the form of guide Aidan in Galway really put the trip over the top! Great Craic. Kevin's knowledge and love of Irish History and Culture was off the charts and made the trip really enjoyable. Also had a very good command of all County accents in Ireland and accompanying male:female ratios (which is apparently very important to know)....sad news about Edward's fall on stage but the show must go on -- JEDWARD!!7 Day All Ireland Rocker is a great crash course in all things Irish. Really have a better feel for the country and now have good ideas about where I'd like to spend more time and continue exploring. Highly recommended! Thanks.
Thanks to Shamrocker and all the crew for making my Ireland trip such a memorable one! Absolutely loved Killarney for the 3:1 ratio of men to women :-) Not only was the nightlife in Ireland great, but to actually learn so much of Ireland's history was great! Couldn't have asked for a better group of people to tour with.... definitely will be back again!
I did a great 7 day of Ireland with a great group of folks. Our tour guide's name was Sean and we was a great guide and an enthusiastic history teacher to boot. I'm going to have to look over the notes from my Itinerary to give a good recollection of what happened on these 7 days but basically the highlights are as follows. - Went out in Killarney to find out that it was a bit like going out in good ol' McGraw except that they had a club in Killarney and a stoplight too, if I recall. Anyway, it was bizarrely wonderful and hilarious. We listened to a man named Pa? Pa I'm going with Pa anyway he told some stories and was very Irish for our entertainment, it was lovely, I have a video of he and our tour guide Sean singing a little duet that I'll upload if I can. I might be confusing this with our night in Ennis I can't remember. -We kissed the Blarney Stone -Saw the Cliffs of Moher -=awesome -We biked around the island of Inis Mor -Visited Derry and learned about it's history, really depressing but very interesting. -Visited Dunluce Castle and Giant Causeway, walked across the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. -Took the black cab tour in Belfast and learned how much the conflict in Norther Ireland is still very much a part of life there. (There are 40 walls throughout the city to separate the Protestants from the Catholics and at night the police have to close the gates between the two sides of town so that they won't attack each other. The last wall was built as early as 2003). -Had oysters and Guinness for lunch and made our way back to Dublin.
This tour was brilliant. It was a great way to see the whole of Ireland and have a native tour guide as well. Some of the highlights of the tour are seeing the Cliffs of Moher, Visiting and cycling around Inishmor, Slieve League, The Giants Causeway and Belfast. If you are someone who wants to see the sights and hear the legends behind the sights from a native Irish person then this is a great trip. It also includes Northern Ireland and a really clear and unbiased explanation of the troubles and one of the best parts of the trip for me was the black cab tour of Belfast where we were escorted around the protestant and catholic areas and told the story from both sides. The only thing to be warned about is the huge amount of time spent on the bus everyday (on average about 5 hrs per day!) but you are given some entertainment during this time and it is a great time to get to know the other people on tour better!!!
This was an 8 day tour of Northern and Southern Island. Easily the best tour I have ever done. The Group: Even though I did this during the school holidays, the average age of people was mid-twenties which was great for me and was a huge range of Kiwi's, Aussies, Dutch, American, English. My birthday was during the trip and the guide made a big deal of it and made it extra special. Highlight of the trip: Tour of Derry. The history of Derry is brutal and harrowing but the murals are heartrenching and some hopeful. It makes the conflict very real when you see the old surveillance towers that are still in place. The guide and driver were the best ever and the group got on as a whole rather than breaking into smaller cliques which happens a lot on tours.