The Republic of Ireland (ROI) with Kendra's parents - A prelude

Two days after the Goodosiers left us (sniff), my parents were due to arrive for two months in ROI/NI and Scotland. Jubin went to Enterprise and debated the merits of the mini-MPV, the full-size MPV and the full-size van. He was quite sure that all of my parents luggage, our luggage, and our bodies would not fit in a mini- or full-MPV. So, even though it was huge, he signed on the dotted line for the full-size van.

Early Friday morning, we set out from Belfast to pick up Mom and Dad from the Dublin airport. We were prepared for them to be zombies, never having experience a trans-Atlantic flight before and having not slept all night. In addition, based on our recent shorter jaunts to the Antrim Coast, we were prepared for a lot of sighing, crying, and complaining from the boys about the length of the ride. We need not have prepared for either of these issues (many others, perhaps, but not these!). M&D were tired but doing ok when we picked them up at the airport and having more people in the car to interact with seemed to help both of the boys deal with the car ride. However, the van was an issue. We certainly would NOT have fit everyone and the luggage in either of the MPVs. However, the van was too high off the ground for my Mother to get into. After about 20 min of trying all sorts of configurations, she finally got into the van by stepping on the widest piece of luggage! But, imagine driving the rest of the day and into the night with an exhausted elderly person who needs to use the loo quite often, but cannot get into the van without having to unpack the boot! Lovely... But, we all persevered (and, obviously, bought a stool as soon as we could locate one in the first town we stayed in!). We also took a wrong turn near Dublin (it is very hard to be the navigator from the very back seat of a very big van) and couldn't find a decent place to eat lunch at 3pm (the Cheruvelils need to eat lunch no later than 130 pm or else they get very grumpy!). Steep learning curve anyone?

That day we drove from Belfast to the Dublin airport, stopped in Cashel to eat and do a tour of the Rock of Cashel so that the Cheruvelils could stretch their legs, stopped in Kenmare for a late dinner (Davitt's - solid but not exceptional), and then finally arrived at our first holiday let (rental cottage) called Knockatee House at about 10pm. It is about 12 miles west of Kenmare on the Beara Penninsula. Here's a map: http://goo.gl/maps/SAih4. To be honest, I am not sure how we even made it there - the way to the house from Kenmare was very dark, narrow, and twisty. We took a wrong turn just out of town (no GPS/sat nav and navigation from the back seat of the van in the dark NOT a good idea) and went about 30 min out of our way before we realized it...then, the local road down to the cottage was so very steep and narrow. The next day when we drove out in the daylight, I marveled that Jubin got us in there at night after such a long day! Unfortunately, the stress of the day really took a toll on me - I was sicker than a dog that night...sicker than I've been in years. Didn't feel myself again until Sunday!

The large rental van parked at our first holiday let - Knockatee House.
We stayed here for 8 nights so that M&D could recover from their trip. 

The boys in Mom's chair that she took everywhere...

Our mid-way stop (between Dublin and Kenmare) was at The Rock of Cashel (Carraig Phadriag, Caisel). This site was very historical and picturesque - it is a castle built on this huge mound of rock overlooking green fields and ruins (e.g., great views of a monastery in the farm fields below the Rock). Check it out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_of_Cashel and our pix below.

The monastery that you can see in the distance in the pic above this one.

Nothing better than a little hill-rolling to get out energy, right?

The next few blog posts will be all about our 2 weeks touring SW ROI with my folks. Generally, M&D took every other day off from touring, staying in while the Cheruvelils went off exploring. We ate most meals in, with me and Jubin cooking the dinners (M&D provided the food!), and we packed lots of picnic lunches for eating at beautiful road-side spots. Over the course of the 15 nights and 17 days, we stayed at a total of 3 holiday lets and Jubin drove about 1500 miles. He only scratched that huge van in one small spot near the rear wheel (still waiting to hear how much Enterprise is going to charge for that)! My Mom continued to have troubles with the van, but we figured out that the middle row of seats was better for her than the passenger seat. We all listened to a lot of Rachel Coleman's Baby Signing Time coming from the back of the van. And, most importantly, we saw amazing, amazing historical and archaeological sites, we were awed with natural (and man-made) Irish beauty, and, while there were some tense moments, we did not kill each other!