Gaeltacht Vacation - the Gaeilgeior Strikes Back

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After spending six straight summers in the Donegal Gaeltacht, I have been on a hiatus due to a pregnant wife and/or two small children.  Our children turned five and two in the spring and we have decided to take the plunge.  We have a few trips under our belts now (Toronto, Lancaster PA, The Outer Banks, The Eastern Shore, New York City, Princeton, Tampa) and are feeling more confident in our travel skills with our children.  Our main concerns are:
1) Our smallest (Fionnuala), doesn't love long car rides
2) Expense
3) Child related meltdowns
4) Keeping the children occupied/happy on the trip

As I began planning for our trip, I found that for the Irish speaker/learner there really isn't that much help out there on the internet.  Hopefully, this blog can help others with planning their own trips.

Sarah packing the night before our trip

The first decision we had to make was which Gaeltacht would we to visit.  The factors we considered were weather, proximity to shops and medical care, and how relaxing it would be.  Our short list included Connemara, Kerry and Donegal (the three main Gaeltachts).  Connemara is the likely the best choice if the decision is purely Irish-based as the language is used more on a day to day basis by the communities there, but we felt like that was the area with which we were least familiar.  The Dingle Peninsula in Kerry was a strong candidate as well.  We spent a couple of days there in the past and stayed with a wonderful Irish speaker.  The weather and scenery were the main draws here, but alas that didn't win out.  And the winner is...   Donegal.  My wife and I decided the Glencolmcille vicinity would be a good choice.  Though not a particularly strong Gaeltacht (only about 33% of the people are daily Irish speakers), I am very familiar with the area and the locals tend to switch into Irish mode in the summer for language learners.  So, with step one accomplished we move on to the tougher stuff.

With a family of four, we know that this is likely to be fairly expensive.  Our goal is to keep the spending at a reasonable level.  The bulk of the expense for us will be airfare.  We live in the Washington/Baltimore metro area, so there are daily flights to Ireland.

Decision #1 - Nonstop flight or a connection: 

While we spent a few months determined to go nonstop, ultimately saving $1000 swayed us.  We booked on Aer Lingus with a short lay over in Boston.  The other preference I have is flying into Shannon Airport.  The drive to Donegal is a little longer (4 hours from Dublin, a little over 4 1/2 hours from Shannon), but it is so much easier and quicker doing everything at Shannon that total amount of time ends up being about the same with less stress.

Decision #2 - Accommodation:

We are planning on spending almost all of our time in a self-catering house in Teelin.  We were hoping for Glencolmcille, but we couldn't book anywhere without committing to a calendar week.  In Teelin, we were able to book from Monday evening through Tuesday morning (eight days).
Our first day, we decided to go straight to our house.  We weren't sure whether the children would do better with a brief car ride or by going straight to our destination.  We ultimately decided that they were likely to sleep on the drive and that we could stop along the way if we needed a break from driving, so we'd try driving up to Donegal on the first day.  On the last day, we booked a B&B near Shannon Airport in order to avoid a long, early departure.

The upcoming entries will be the report on our trip!

Here is the packing check list that Sarah made for our trip:

Ireland Trip 2014 – Packing List

Crucial – Carry On

___	Passports
___	Boarding Passes
___	Wallets (with Euro and $)
___	Rental Car confirmation
___	An Scrin confirmation and contact info
___	Camera
___	Change of clothes (L, F)
___	Diapers – Nuala (5)
___	Pull-up – Liam (2)
___	Night clothes – L, N
___	Toothbrushes and toothpaste
___	Wipes
___	iPod, and car charger
___	Phone numbers and emails: Eamonn, Liam O’C,
___	Kids thermometer, advil, first aid kit
___	Batteries

Important

___	Waterproof shoes (K, S, L, F)
___	Comfortable shoes for walking (sneakers)  (K, S, L, F)
___	Socks – 5 pairs each
___	Short sleeve shirts – 3 each
___	Long sleeve shirts – 2 each
___	Shorts – 1 each
___	Long pants – 2 each
___	Underpants – 5 each
___	Floss, mini tooth paste, deodorant
___	Books – Travel
___	Books – Leisure

Buy in Ireland

___	Laundry detergent
___	Toiletries (big toothpaste, Hair)
___	Food
___	Diapers, Wipes

Important Phone Numbers

Tania

Eamonn

MaryBeth

Doctor/Hospital

To do before leaving

Pay bills (kevin)

Pay Condo Fee (sarah)

Charge iPod

Charge Irish phone

Charge camera battery

Water Plants