Traveling with Michelle: The Ring of Baera

Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Here we are, setting out for the train station! Our big bags are on our backs, our "personal" bags in front.

Our first two stages of our trip went successfully on Tuesday: closing the house, walking to the train station, and taking the train to the airport, then our flight to Philadelphia. At the Lindbergh terminal, they now have a tram that takes you from the train station at the airport to the terminal—much more convenient. I’m not sure how long they’ve had that, we usually fly in and out of the Humphrey terminal.

Our American-Japanese food. Eaten with chopsticks by most of us!

Here we are, waiting to take off from Philadelphia!

In Philiadelphia, we had an almost 4 hour layover which we spent walking to our terminal (they are very spread out) and eating (American-version) Japanese food. I used chopsticks, but for the fried rice I gave up and used a fork after awhile (I would have been there for another hour otherwise!). Played a few games, then spent almost an hour loading the plane. Then another 45 minutes waiting in line to take-off. The pilot on our overseas plane made some funny jokes (such as saying they had to turn the lights down to make the flight attendants look more attractive, and when they were slowing the plane when we landed he opened the PA and said only “Whoa Nellie!” ). The flight attendants also were friendly and had a sense of humor. The plane was smaller than on all of the other overseas flights we’ve taken. Just one aisle with three seats on each side of the aisle (instead of the center section of 5 or so seats between two aisles and three more on each side of the plane. There were also only 22 rows. We were served dinner and a literally flattened muffin for breakfast. We couldn’t watch the movie because you had to turn up the volume so high due to the noise from the plane that it hurt your ears. We slept a little off and on for our only 5 ½ hour flight.

In Shannon, we picked up our rental car and declined the many layers of optional insurance and the extra fees for a second driver, but paid slightly more to get a slightly larger car for our family of 5. We decided that Randy would be our driver for this leg of our trip so he is still trying to get used to the car—where everything is, the weird eco thing (it shuts off at stop signs and you have to restart it by pushing in the clutch), the touchy clutch, and, of course, driving on the left side of the road and shifting with your left hand in a different gear pattern and with a six speed.

our car

I navigated, following the maps Randy had taken screen shots of on his iPad before we left. We only had to backtrack once for a missed turnoff (because the sign was on white instead of green). We made our way through Limerick and Killarney to Kenmare. We had one problem: there was a toll booth (there was no mention of toll booths on the maps or in the guide book). We had neglected to get cash at the airport and they only took cash. So, we received an unpaid toll booth voucher we need to call and pay for with our credit card. In Kenmare, we had to make contact with the manager of the hostel. She was supposed to meet us there at 1:00. Instead there was a general sign on the door to call a phone number or walk down the street to use the pay phone to call her. Not having a cell phone, we walked down to the public phone booth, but lacked the 2 euros in change for the phone (we had stopped and had bills but less than a euro in change). We tried our credit card, but the number wouldn’t go through. So we went back to the hostel and found the back door unlocked. We went in, found the reception desk, then used the wifi password on the desk to skype her. 15 minutes later, we were in our rooms. Off went my hiking boots and jeans, and the bed felt so good! We took naps, then went to the car (which Randy had had to move twice since all of the streets have only 2 hour parking and the carpark the hostel mentioned was full).

We drove an abbreviated version of the Ring of Baera drive around the perimeter of the Baera peninsula. We took a pass through the mountains. There were many sheep grazing, some right on the edge of the road, including a very cute baby lamb! In places, the road was only one car wide without any shoulder (cars approaching from the other direction were a headache, trying to squeeze by eachother) so stopping to get photos was out of the question most of the time. On the pass, we found a pull-out and stopped to hike a bit and take photos. The scenery was gorgeous—magnificent black rocks jutting out of green grass and moss with the occasional lake. And all of the sheep! J