By: Teresa Chilton, Senior Travel Consultant

Having dreamed of traveling to Ireland since I was a child, my mother and I recently made the journey to visit the land of our fathers. When the time came to start planning we noticed airfares had increased significantly from the previous year so we wanted to get the most bang for our airline buck, so to speak. We chose Trafalgar’s 24-day Grand Tour of Britain & Ireland since this was one of the few tours that included all 5 countries (England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland.) I know that seems like a long time on the calendar, but in reality, the time went very quickly while we traveled about in our motorcoach.

Since most Americans don’t get as much vacation time as those in other countries around the world, I was curious as to where my tour companions would hail from. I was delighted at the fun mix of people, primarily from Australia, and a few each from US, Canada and New Zealand. I guess that makes sense since they focus their advertising in English speaking countries. I made it a personal goal to meet everyone and to learn and remember all their names by the end of the tour, which I am happy to say I accomplished. Trafalgar makes that easy with their daily seat rotation, so each day we sat across from new people. Of course, at breakfast and dinner it’s always interesting to sit with different people.

Our tour, purchased from US, included 2 nights in London with a half day sightseeing tour, although did not include complimentary hotel transfers as they do in most other cities. I had elected to purchase the airport-hotel transfer from Trafalgar, thinking that would be most convenient.  Unfortunately, I was not pleased with this scenario at all. We were met in the arrivals hall and escorted to a bench just inside the exit and told our transfer would arrive in about 20 minutes. Well, an hour later many more had accumulated near us and we were all escorted outside to wait for our shuttle which would be arriving shortly. Evidently “shortly” in London means 40 minutes. UGH! Once onboard we continued our journey into London, stopping at several hotels along the way, ours being the last on the line. I was surprised we were not all at the same hotel, but later  found out from our tour mates from the southern hemisphere that their tour did not include the same 2-days in London, instead just started on day 3 as we were leaving London. Lesson learned: when arriving in London arrange a private transfer. It may be a little more expensive, but my vacation time is easily worth the extra cost.

Over the years my family and friends have always asked me about the food in all the “weird places I travel” so it has become an adventure (way outside my comfort zone) to try all (ok, almost all) the local cuisines I encounter. This trip was no exception. I had done a little bit a food research on the regions we would visit and was rather nervous about some of them. Why should I even bother? Even the weird stuff turned out to be ok and quite edible. Others were a surprising delight. Some of my favorites: Cornish Pasties in St. Ives and the Irish Stew at Cliffs of Moher. I also discovered a passion for Walkers Crisps, the most perfect potato chips I’ve ever eaten, and they offered some very tasty flavors I’ve never seen in the States. Other memorable dishes: Steak & Kidney Pie in England, Welch Lamb in Wales, Black Pudding in Ireland and Haggis in Scotland. Yes, I tried them all, including the Haggis. It’s hard not to get caught up in the pageantry of the Haggis presentations, complete with the reciting of the Robert Burns poem, bagpipes on parade and Scotch Whiskey toast. We actually experienced two different presentations of the Haggis while we were in Scotland and the way they prepared it was worlds apart. Personally, I enjoyed the Haggis with Neeps n’ Tatties (creamed potatoes and turnips) the best. Mom didn’t really like either of them.

Along with the experimental food were the absolutely enchanting evenings we had. While the tour included a few dinners, most were on our own, or we could participate in optional dining excursions, which of course mom and I chose to do. Some of those highlights included storytelling by Sir Peter, a local guide in Dartmoor who joined us at our pub for dinner. The harpist who played for us at the Blue Anchor in Wales, the Irish folk music and storytelling,  then a sing-along with the entire restaurant one night in Cork, the dinner and cabaret show in Dublin, and a dinner show in Edinburgh with a variety of dances, one of which did expose what the men don’t wear under their kilts.

An odd side note to the trip: we encountered a different method of turning on the showers in the first 12 hotels we stayed at. Sounds simple enough, but NOT. Who knew it would be possible to confuse people in so many different ways. And, hey, we were not the only ones. It became quite the topic of conversation each morning. By the time we reached Scotland we started to see some repeats, so all was good.

What would a trip to this corner of the world be without talking about the countryside? There is a reason it’s all green. It rains…a lot! And, we were traveling in Aug/Sep during the “rainy season” (Jul-Aug). It’s kind of funny really. Every day we were on English soil it rained at some point. In Bath it rained side-ways for about 30 minutes then drizzled until we left. By the time we arrived in Ireland the rains stopped and we enjoyed perfect short-sleeve weather, which stayed with us until we arrived in Edinburgh. Not bad, not bad at all.

Back to the countryside… As we traveled along we snapped pictures of everything, including the sheep and the hedgerows and the towns and on and on. What I discovered later is that the only way to tell the difference in the pictures from one country to the next was the hedgerows. In England they are a combination of fences and brambles. In Ireland they are mostly uneven rocks placed in such a perfect way, without cement to hold them, that they do not fall down, creating a farm-type patch-work quilted beauty of its own. In Scotland they were a combination of prettier rocks with moss or brambles inter-twined.

I think I had a romantic picture in my head of what Ireland would look like, probably from movies, expecting to see those pretty thatched-roof cottages all over the place. The architecture was disappointingly modern, mostly what they call two-up/two-down types of housing, with each “house” being painted a different color. Here in the States we would call them duplexes or something similar. In Ireland many of them were painted in bright colors, while in England and others they were more muted colors. We did see a few cottages in Adare, as well as a stunning award-winning public park in the middle of town. We began to see more individual homes and cottages by the time we got to northern England and Scotland, which was unexpected. We learned later that the cost to keep those thatch-roofs is terribly expensive so that could explain the diminishing amount.

 Contact a Trafalgar Tours Specialist at 800-300-4567!