Ireland and Isle of Man

Ireland and Isle of Man

Aug 30-Sep 7, 2024
AC800 YYZ-DUB, EI3212 DUB-IOM, EI3217 IOM-DUB, AC801 DUB-YYZ

At about the same time last year, we had planned a trip to the Isle of Man (IOM) from London. Unfortunately, our flight from London was canceled, so we decided to cut our losses and defer the IOM for another time. This year, when I found business class award seats to Ireland around the Labour Day weekend, we ultimately decided to combine some time in Ireland with the IOM. September is already shoulder season for the Isle, so ferry service was no longer an option, but there were a few flight options from Dublin or Belfast. To keep it simple, we planned one day in Dublin and then two nights in the IOM, before returning for four more nights in Ireland. With a blank slate on Ireland. we decided to focus on the southwest, and stayed in Dingle and covered the Ring of Kerry.

Aug 31

Before heading to the IOM, after our overnight flight to Dublin, we were at our downtown hotel by early morning and had time for a quick nap, before spending the day in Dublin.

With a full day around Dublin, and over 20,000 steps, we were ready for dinner. We found a nice Indian restaurant near the hotel. After a great meal, we were ready to get some sleep.

Sep 1

To catch our morning flight to Isle of Man, we caught the first bus to the airport. After check-in, we had some time in the lounge before we needed to board the plane. Everything was on schedule, and after our second attempt, we finally arrived in the Isle of Man, picked up our rental car, and headed out across the island to Peel.

We had a great first day in the Isle of Man, and although the weather wasn’t perfect, we were grateful that we only had a few sprinkles. We made our way to Douglas, checked into our hotel, and grabbed some dinner nearby.

Sep 2

For our next day on the Isle, we continued to have some cloud cover and a few intermittent showers, but they didn’t really impact our plans. We started the day at the Manx Museum in Douglas.

Safely back at the hotel after a full day of touring and avoiding the rain showers, we found dinner at a fish and chip shop next to the hotel and turned in for the evening.

Sep 3

We actually had a clear forecast for a good part of the last day we had on the isle. To make the most of it, we got an early start and headed to the mountains. Unfortunately, the blue skies didn’t last all day, but we managed to see some beautiful scenery and some more history regardless.

After a good walk around the castle grounds, we looked for dinner in the town, and continuing our very Irish diet, found a nice Indian restaurant for dinner.

Sep 4

We started our next day in Ireland with more time to explore Trim, before heading south east towards Dingle. We didn’t have a firm itinerary when we set out, but first headed to Kilkenny.

After a long day of driving, we enjoyed some very fresh and local Fish and Chips near the harbour before turning in for the evening.

Sep 5

The Ring of Kerry around the Iveragh Peninsula is one of the premium drives in Ireland. It is very popular with both the tour bus crowd and self drivers, and we needed to get an early start. Dingle, although a very nice location to stay at, was unfortunately almost 2 hours from the traditional start of the Ring of Kerry. We arrived at Kenmare a little after 10:00am and started our clockwise trip.

With a very full day of driving behind us, we had a brief rest before heading into Dingle for an early dinner, at a lovely wine bar and pizza restaurant with some amazing salads. We managed to get some good rest, as we had another full day of driving ahead for our last day in Ireland.

Sep 6

One of the main reasons to visit Dingle is to drive the Slea Head Loop Drive, which is similar to the Ring of Kerry, but a much shorter 45km/30 miles. Although the scale is smaller, it was very worth the drive, and was our last major attraction before heading back to Dublin for our flight home the next day. Again, as a popular destination, and with a long journey ahead, we got out on the road right after breakfast to start the Slea Head Loop Drive.

From Limerick, we made our way to Dublin. Google Maps ended up avoiding some road closured and slowdowns, creating a creative, but not completely direct, way to our hotel in the Dublin suburbs. Tom was able to safely navigate the oncoming traffic in the two-way one-lane road that made part of the route, and we were happy to be parked for the night. Our hotel was a near a shopping mall with lots of food options, so we were set for our last evening.

Sep 7

With a relatively early flight and a lounge waiting for us in the airport, we were up quite early and headed directly to the airport. We safely returned the rental car, and were checked in and in the lounge pretty quickly, and our flight got us home to Toronto more or less on time. We were very happy to be home midday Saturday with a full day to recover from the trip before work on Monday.

New York City

New York City