I’ve spent a lot of time reminiscing about our honeymoon in the last few weeks. Little things in daily life remind me of amazing experiences from our time in Ireland and Scotland. I wanted to write about our itinerary and what we did on our trip both as a way for us to remember it and also for others to learn from our successes and failures in planning! You can also find our tips for traveling to Ireland and Scotland here.

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Monday, August 7: Day 1

We made our way from Chattanooga, where we had stayed for 2 days after the wedding, to Atlanta before our 7 pm flight. My amazing cousin let us leave our car at her apartment, so we Ubered to the airport (our first Uber experience). Our flight ended up being delayed, but we still left within a few hours of the originally scheduled time.

Activities: Lots of waiting

Food: Airport food.

Lodging: Slept on the plane.

Tuesday, August 8: Day 2

We arrived in Dublin at about 9 am and were able to stay awake through the whole day so we could handle the time change a little better. We caught a cab from the airport and dropped our bags off at our hotel. We then walked down the street for a little while hoping to find an international sim card and some coffee. We stopped back home and used MyTaxi to get us to Phoenix Park, where we walked around for a few hours and saw some wildlife. From the park, we took a double-decker bus into Dublin’s city center and got dinner before walking around a little more. (Did you know TJ Maxx is TK Maxx in Europe?!)

Activities: Phoenix Park,  Downtown Dublin

Food: Insomnia Coffee, Flanagan’s Restaurant

Lodging: Dublin Skylon Hotel

Wednesday, August 9: Day 3

We enjoyed a morning in Dublin that included more Insomnia tea, and sandwiches from a local bakery. We took a cab with a lively and warm driver (so nice after having some silent drives previously) and arrived at the Dublin Heuston train station. We took the train to Killarney and talked American politics (apparently every Irish person’s favorite topic) with our tablemates. We arrived and took another cab to pick up our rental car at the local airport. We were QUICKLY thrown into the terrifying world of driving on the wrong side of the road… John handled it like a (slightly anxious) champ, and we made it to our B&B and also back into town to walk around and get dinner. We even found a little grocery store to load up on snacks for the next day’s journey.

Activities: Train ride to Killarney, Downtown Killarney

Food: Thunder’s Home Bakery and Deli, Apache Pizza (would not recommend), Murphy’s Ice Cream (strongly recommend)

Lodging: Salmon Leap Farm B&B

Thursday, August 10: Day 4

This day will forever go down in history as one of the most amazing days in our lives. We drove 2 hours to Portmagee where we gathered in the Skellig Experience museum and awaited our trip to Skellig Michael. First was the 1-hour boat trip to the island, and then about 4 hours to explore the island and hike to the top, where monks lived starting in the 6th century. The hike back down was easily scarier, but we made it to the bottom, and then were given a boat tour around both Skellig Michael and Little Skellig (the home to the worlds 2nd largest gannet population). We were so exhausted from this trip that we had to pull over on the side of the road to nap on the way home. We talked about the amazing experience over an American style dinner.

Activities: Skellig Michael, Downtown Killarney

Food: Eddie Rocket’s City Diner, Murphy’s Ice Cream (yes, again)

Lodging: Salmon Leap Farm B&B

Friday, August 11: Day 5

On Friday morning we drove to Shannon, stopping at Quin Abbey and the Bunratty Castle on the way. We loved getting to walk through the ruins of Quin Abbey. We ate at the Original Durty Nelly’s which was the bar for prison guards at the Bunratty Castle and is still made to look classic on the inside. We had a relaxing night at the hotel and watched a movie after our two busy days.

Activities: Bunratty Castle, Quin Abbey

Food: The Original Durty Nelly’s, Insomnia Cafe

Lodging: Oak Wood Hotel (Shannon)

Saturday, August 12: Day 6

We had another incredible day in Ireland on Saturday when we drove to the coast and spent hours walking up and down the Cliffs of Moher. The views were amazing, just like all of the photos you’ve seen on Pinterest. We even spent a few hours in downtown Lehinch, the beach town nearby. We ate coal fired pizzas and homemade ice cream and walked down to the bouldery beaches. It was a dreamy night.

Activities: Cliffs of Moher, Downtown Lehinch

Food: Green’s Lahinch

Lodging: Oak Wood Hotel (Shannon)

Sunday, August 13: Day 7

We woke up early to drive back to Dublin in our rental car and we then flew to Edinburgh, Scotland. We switched my phone over to a UK data card and took an expensive cab to our hotel which was outside the city. We took it easy that night and ate in the hotel restaurant. We relaxed in the most perfect bridal suite I’ve ever seen.

Activities: Flight to Edinburgh,

Food: Airport food, Hotel restaurant

Lodging: Bankton House Hotel (Livingston)

Monday, August 14: Day 8

John had been to Edinburgh several years ago and was extremely excited to show me around. We had forgotten we would be there during the Fringe Festival and we loved getting to see street performers and even an amazing comedy show about board games, to John’s delight. We walked up to Calton Hill for a great view of the whole city, and we spent some time in the National Museum of Scotland. We indulged in some ultra-American dining at Starbucks and Subway. We walked thousands of steps and loved every minute!

Activities: Calton Hill, Explored Edinburgh, Fringe Festival, National Museum of Scotland

Food: Starbucks, Subway (such Americans)

Lodging: Bankton House Hotel (Livingston)

Tuesday, August 15: Day 9

We spent one more day exploring Edinburgh and seeing what we had missed the day before! We stopped in little shops, watched more street performances, and toured the beautiful Edinburgh Castle. We ended the last night of our honeymoon with a nice dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (my first time)!

 

Activities: Edinburgh Castle

Food: Hard Rock Cafe Edinburgh

Lodging: Bankton House Hotel (Livingston)

Wednesday, August 16: Day 10

Our nightmare travel day. I won’t go much into this but to remind you not to use RyanAir as a connecting flight and ultimately just go read our post on travel tips to get an idea of how the airports work flying from Dublin to America! You can find it here. At the end of the day, we made it home safely and began to settle into this little home of ours.

The itinerary we created for our trip worked extremely well for letting us see a lot of Ireland in a short period of time (and even a little bit of Scotland). It was action-packed and filled with lots of travel, but it was wonderful.

Let me know if you have any questions about our trip! We love to talk about it as often as possible.

<3 Haley