OK, so it’s now the end of day 8 and I’m only writing about this now, even though it’s about yesterday.

Because it took up a good chunk of the day yesterday, and I’m pretty excited about it, I figured it warranted a post.

(Plus, I haven’t thrown in the towel yet on hitting 50 posts from my last birthday till my next – which is this weekend. It’s now Thursday night and I only have 5 to go after this one!!)

Anywayyyyyyy……

I didn’t book things for the back end of this trip beforehand because I wasn’t really sure exactly when I was going to head to Killarney or back to Dublin. I didn’t know if I’d want to give myself 2 days in Killarney or 2 in Dublin so I left it.

A few days ago, I decided to give the extra 2 days to Killarney. As I mentioned before, I really want to go to Killarney National Park. I would rather do that than tool around Dublin for 2 days.

Nothing against Dublin. It’s just not where I want to spend a chunk of time this go round.

So I got on the Google box yesterday and started hunting down hotels.

I figured in Killarney I’d stay at the same place where I was last week. But the prices this are a lot higher than the rate I got for last week and I’m being a good girl and sticking within my budget.

So, the search continued and my patience paid off!

Remember the place where I had the big club sandwich in Killarney? It was at the Café du Parc, which is part of the Killarney Plaza Hotel and Spa.

Oddly, it seems a lot nicer than the first hotel but the price fits quite comfortably into my budget, so who am I to argue?

It’s also easy walking distance from the bus station and to the train station, and super close to where I’ll take the National Park tour and shopping.

Dublin was a little harder.

I wanted to find somewhere easily accessible from the train station and to the airport, as well as easy walking to something interesting.

I’ll only have the afternoon and evening as I have to go to the airport in the morning, so I wanted to get the biggest bang for my buck.

After spending some serious quality time with Google maps and Chrome, I decided on the Hilton Garden Inn Dublin Custom House and booked a nice room with a river view.

I was originally looking for something closer to Trinity College. I love old college buildings. But none of the hotels (that I would have liked) near there fit closely enough to my budget, so I kept looking and that’s how I found the Custom House.

While it’s on the other side of the river and a bit away from the “thick of things”, it is next to the EPIC Irish Emigration Museum and I’m pretty excited about that.

I do some genealogy, so I’m looking forward to what I might learn there about Irish emigration to Newfoundland.

I know…it’s not everybody’s first thought of fun things to do in Dublin, but I’m pretty excited about it. 🙂

I also booked the train from Killarney to Dublin. That was easy once I figured out everything else.

I’m glad to have that done. It was on my mind that I needed to do it and now I can push it to the side and enjoy the present without that distraction or reminder of the end.

I mean, obviously I know it will end. I just don’t want to think about it. 🙂

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