We landed at the Shannon airport around 10:00 AM local time, breezed through customs, and had only a minor hiccup with the rental car, while also successfully declining all of the offered upgrades.
We knew the car would be an adventure: stick shift (which both Benton and Tim were comfortable with), the driver on the right (think about it: that means the shifting of gears occurs with the left hand; luckily, the clutch and gas pedal are not reversed!), and a country where traffic runs in the left lane. Tim drove first and did fine, and Benton drove later and did fine, too. Both agreed it was weird, but that the real challenge is how narrow the roads are.
We had a few hours to kill before checking in to our AirBnB, so we wound up at Bunratty Castle. We didn’t do a tour, but we did grab food at a nearby cafe while the rain drizzled around us.
Then, it was on to Tesco to pick up sunscreen and SIM cards.
And, finally, we headed to Kilbane Glamping to check in to our “glamping pod.” It was pretty much everything we’d expected, and the host was friendly and helpful. It’s one of two barrel-shaped structures on a working farm out in the country, so we’re in close proximity to a couple of donkeys, a pig, and a handful of sheep, which is pretty cool.
We both showered and got situated and then headed to Killaloe (and the sister town across the Shannon River, Ballina). They are quaint little towns that had various plaques noting things that had happened up to 1,000 years ago. We walked around quite a bit, including walking out to Brian Boru’s “ring-fort” remnants.
Then, it was dinner at Flanagan’s in Ballina (because, first night in Ireland…that just seemed appropriate) and back to the glamping pod for the night.
Most interesting/memorable experience of the day:
Benton: the long walk in Killaloe and Ballina. And the kid throwing rocks over the side of the hill…when there was a walkway much lower down (and his mother not commenting on the activity one way or the other).
Tim: the fact that it rained on us probably 15 times…all for less than 5 minutes and not hard; this led to speculation that it’s no wonder the greenery is sooo vibrant—it’s basically sipping water throughout the day
