Living in USA, but with Irish (and English) roots, I've often dreamed of making a long trip over the Atlantic to see the wonderful country of Ireland. I was never sure if I would make the trip with the whole family, but in the end realised that it was as much about family as anything else.
So we decided to combine a trip to several countries in northern Europe, but in particular, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland. And you know what? We LOVED it. I never realised this, but you can hop over the Irish sea, back and forth, probably all day long, on some of the best car and passenger ferries in the world. honestly, there are just so many routes, we decide that's just how we wanted our trip to be. Hopping over the sea, from one country to another. So this little blog is as much about the other countries as it is Ireland, but Ireland was our may place that we toured and stayed in the longest. Apparently there are a lot more visitors from North America going to Ireland these days (see the figures here). Maybe it's to do with the President's visit a few years back, who knows.
Everybody wants to enjoy a good vacation. But planning, as boring and dull as it sounds, is often the key to a good trip like ours. We knew we needed to check out distinctive items that are offered on a getaway. Many people may well like to check out taking a flight to one destination and styaing there. But for a family vacation such as our, we knew that the "ferry hopping" idea was a great opportunity. It was a romantic going from one place to another, across the high seas, and on to our next destination. And all the while enjoying some of modern life's luxuries onboard some of these super ships. So plan we must, and we had some general idea of the places we wanted to see and ferries we would take.
Firstly we knew it would be easier and cheaper to fly to London, since it is such an international hub for air travel. But from there, we wanted to take the ferry to Ireland from Pembroke to Rosslare in southern Ireland. Originally we thought about the ferry from Swansea in Wales to Cork, but sadly this was no longer running at the time we visited. So Pembroke to Rosslare with Irish Ferries it was.
From Rosslare we toured a bit about Ireland (more about that later) and truly enjoyed it. we loved the friendly people, the amazing green landscapes, the pubs and the music. But we were trying to fit a lot in to our trip and we couldn't hang around too long, as much as we'd like to. No, we had to get the ferry back to Wales (Rosslare to Pembroke) to visit a few relatives in North Wales. Anglesey to be precise. In fact, this turned out to be to our advantage. Anglesey is actually an island, a small one at that, just off the north coast of Wales. It sticks out a bit, into the Irish Sea, and thus is a great crossing point for ships and ferries between Wales and Ireland. We found that there were several daily ferry crossings from Holyhead to Dublin according to this site. So lots of choice. We could even look into a ferry to the other Dublin port a bit further south from Dublin, called Dún Laoghaire. Try and say that, then! No, nowhere near. It's actually pronounced Dun Lairy, or thereabouts. Anyway, we opted for a nice Irish Ferries ship from Holyhead to Dublin, since we could pronounce the word Dublin much better :-)
Dublin is one fantastic place, and I can highly recommend you go there for at least a few days. There's so much history, (see this Wiki article) a great atmosphere, some wonderful architecture and really cool people. Plus there are plenty of pubs and live music - enough to keep you happy every night of the week.
We of course enjoyed Dublin but again needed to then head off, yet again across the sea, this time to Liverpool, England. Imagine, 2 amazing cities, brimming with culture and history, all within a short ferry journey of each other. We stayed in Liverpool a while (long enough to take in some history The Beatles, and also to see a soccer game (Liverpool against Newcastle - what an experience!).
From Liverpool, it was off to Ireland again, but this time to Northern Ireland and Belfast. Quite a few family members from way back hail from this area, and it was lovely to experience the genuine warmth and kindness of the people of Belfast. We toured around Northern Ireland a little, making sure we saw the Giant's Causeway, then headed to the ferry port at Larne, to hop on a Stenaline ferry across the Irish sea (again!) this time to take us into Scotland, at the ferry port of Troon (famous for golf too!).
Having landed in Scotland, we again toured around (more about that later) and enjoyed a few whiskies! We headed up the west coast (stunning) through the Highlands, then down to Edinburgh where, sadly, we had to board a train (not ferry this time) to London in order to get our flight home to USA. Phew!
So this little blog is all about our British and Irish ferry hopping trip. Lots more to come hopefully, and if I can find time I will write about some of the things we saw along the way. Thanks for reading.
So we decided to combine a trip to several countries in northern Europe, but in particular, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland. And you know what? We LOVED it. I never realised this, but you can hop over the Irish sea, back and forth, probably all day long, on some of the best car and passenger ferries in the world. honestly, there are just so many routes, we decide that's just how we wanted our trip to be. Hopping over the sea, from one country to another. So this little blog is as much about the other countries as it is Ireland, but Ireland was our may place that we toured and stayed in the longest. Apparently there are a lot more visitors from North America going to Ireland these days (see the figures here). Maybe it's to do with the President's visit a few years back, who knows.
Everybody wants to enjoy a good vacation. But planning, as boring and dull as it sounds, is often the key to a good trip like ours. We knew we needed to check out distinctive items that are offered on a getaway. Many people may well like to check out taking a flight to one destination and styaing there. But for a family vacation such as our, we knew that the "ferry hopping" idea was a great opportunity. It was a romantic going from one place to another, across the high seas, and on to our next destination. And all the while enjoying some of modern life's luxuries onboard some of these super ships. So plan we must, and we had some general idea of the places we wanted to see and ferries we would take.
Firstly we knew it would be easier and cheaper to fly to London, since it is such an international hub for air travel. But from there, we wanted to take the ferry to Ireland from Pembroke to Rosslare in southern Ireland. Originally we thought about the ferry from Swansea in Wales to Cork, but sadly this was no longer running at the time we visited. So Pembroke to Rosslare with Irish Ferries it was.
From Rosslare we toured a bit about Ireland (more about that later) and truly enjoyed it. we loved the friendly people, the amazing green landscapes, the pubs and the music. But we were trying to fit a lot in to our trip and we couldn't hang around too long, as much as we'd like to. No, we had to get the ferry back to Wales (Rosslare to Pembroke) to visit a few relatives in North Wales. Anglesey to be precise. In fact, this turned out to be to our advantage. Anglesey is actually an island, a small one at that, just off the north coast of Wales. It sticks out a bit, into the Irish Sea, and thus is a great crossing point for ships and ferries between Wales and Ireland. We found that there were several daily ferry crossings from Holyhead to Dublin according to this site. So lots of choice. We could even look into a ferry to the other Dublin port a bit further south from Dublin, called Dún Laoghaire. Try and say that, then! No, nowhere near. It's actually pronounced Dun Lairy, or thereabouts. Anyway, we opted for a nice Irish Ferries ship from Holyhead to Dublin, since we could pronounce the word Dublin much better :-)
Dublin is one fantastic place, and I can highly recommend you go there for at least a few days. There's so much history, (see this Wiki article) a great atmosphere, some wonderful architecture and really cool people. Plus there are plenty of pubs and live music - enough to keep you happy every night of the week.
We of course enjoyed Dublin but again needed to then head off, yet again across the sea, this time to Liverpool, England. Imagine, 2 amazing cities, brimming with culture and history, all within a short ferry journey of each other. We stayed in Liverpool a while (long enough to take in some history The Beatles, and also to see a soccer game (Liverpool against Newcastle - what an experience!).
From Liverpool, it was off to Ireland again, but this time to Northern Ireland and Belfast. Quite a few family members from way back hail from this area, and it was lovely to experience the genuine warmth and kindness of the people of Belfast. We toured around Northern Ireland a little, making sure we saw the Giant's Causeway, then headed to the ferry port at Larne, to hop on a Stenaline ferry across the Irish sea (again!) this time to take us into Scotland, at the ferry port of Troon (famous for golf too!).
Having landed in Scotland, we again toured around (more about that later) and enjoyed a few whiskies! We headed up the west coast (stunning) through the Highlands, then down to Edinburgh where, sadly, we had to board a train (not ferry this time) to London in order to get our flight home to USA. Phew!
So this little blog is all about our British and Irish ferry hopping trip. Lots more to come hopefully, and if I can find time I will write about some of the things we saw along the way. Thanks for reading.