Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Ireland - Blarney Stone, Beaches and Brexit with Lynne Nieman
eDreaming of Ireland but not sure where to start? We sit down with Lynne Nieman from Wander Your Way to map a smarter route: skip the bottlenecks, use Shannon as your launchpad, and find the coastal corners where the country’s character runs deepest. We talk through the big calls travelers face—Dublin for a day or two, or straight to the west; Ring of Kerry by bus, or quieter peninsulas that pack more into fewer miles; Blarney Stone bragging rights, or ancient stone circles without the lines.
Lynne helps us build an itinerary that actually breathes. Kenmare replaces Killarney as a balanced base for lakes and high peaks in Ireland’s oldest national park. West Cork adds softer shorelines, Mizen Head’s lighthouse walks, and food that proves Ireland’s kitchen is thriving. We spotlight Kinsale’s Charles Fort, colorful small towns, and the kind of pub nights where fiddles trade leads while your Guinness settles. Then we head north to Donegal—wild, remote, and wildly underrated—for dune-backed beaches, cliffy headlands, and hikes in Glenveagh’s stark beauty.
We also keep it practical: weather you can count on changing, layers you’ll be glad you packed, and honest advice on driving the left side or hiring a driver-guide for stories and peace of mind. We touch on border realities post-Brexit, easy crossings into Northern Ireland, and where to chase waves, from beginner-friendly Lahinch to Sligo’s surf scene. Along the way, we dismantle the “bad food” myth with fresh seafood, local lamb, and dairy that tastes like the fields it came from.
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You can also find Lynne at her website Wander Your Way.
Her podcast is Wander Your Way.
You can also find her on Instagram @wanderyourway.
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Hosts
Carol Springer: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
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Hi, welcome to our podcast, Where Next. Travel with Kristen and Carol. I am Kristen and I am Carol. And we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure.
SPEAKER_03:Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. Hello, everyone. In today's episode, we are meeting again with Lynn Neiman from the Wander Your Way podcast. Back in our episode number 82, we talked with Lynn about Scotland. And today we talk about what she loves about Ireland. We cover whether Dublin deserves a spot on your itinerary, if kissing the Blarney Stone is actually worth it, where to find Ireland's most surprising beaches, and what Brexit really means for travelers today. Enjoy. All right. Well, welcome back, Lynn Neiman. And you've been on our podcast before talking about Scotland. And so now we're going to dive into Ireland, but let's just first uh kind of catch up on your travel plans. What have you been, what have you been up to?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So I was in England. I led my first small group tour in the Dolomites of Italy in September. And so it was great. It was wonderful. I had a small group, but a wonderful small group. Everybody got along great. We had a great guide. It was lots of fun. It snowed a little bit. Even in the mountains. So it was great. And then I spent some time in parts of France that I've never been into. Um, because really I've only been mostly in Paris. So I got to spend some time in Normandy and the Loire Valley, which I fell in love with both. So so I just keep, you know, exploring more of Europe or exploring deeper in parts that I've been to before.
SPEAKER_04:So that sounds fantastic. I actually um this is funny, uh hit cycle workout and it's um 45 minutes and it's climbing the dolomites.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, really? Yeah, I think I've heard some other people say that they they've got some things that take place in the dolomites. I'm like, well, you need to go over and actually like be there. So yeah.
SPEAKER_04:So that's that is the plan. That is the plan. But in the meantime, it gets me good workout uh between my day.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, awesome.
SPEAKER_04:So uh so Ireland, and I'm kind of excited about talking be about this because I'm flying out tomorrow morning to see my folks, and my stepmom is Irish, goes to Ireland, loves Ireland. Um yeah, it's so cute. I just uh came from the store and uh got her a Christmas gift, which this will come out after, so it's not like a spoiling or anything, but I got her she's a baker and a in the kitchen, and so I got these dish towels, and one of them says um something like coffee, you're on the bench, alcohol sued up.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:That's stereotype real. Yep. She's a she I remember growing up uh and in college, um, she was a big uh she loved making margaritas, and that's still like my go-to drink is a margarita. And so um, and then there's a sign, you know, that's it's 5 p.m. somewhere or whatever, you know, drinking size. So neither one of you have been.
SPEAKER_03:Um, not yet. Okay. Where should we go? Dublin or Dublin?
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's so what I always tell people is that while I think Dublin's a nice city, it's like I would pick there would be other cities. I'm not as much of a city person anyway. I mean, full disclosure, I love the small towns and the villages. Yeah, you know, it like to me, it's like I feel I mean, it's kind of the same when you come to the States, right? It's like, you know, you get outside of the the big cities and you get out into like where you actually are meeting like the real people. I mean, I'm not saying that people aren't real, but you know what I mean. You know, it's like you kind of feel like you kind of connect more with the with sort of like the typical people. So, you know, for me, it's like, yes, I mean, you know, you can go into Dublin and and that's gonna be like one of your main gateways, but a lot of people like to go out like to the west coast because that's where kind of like the scenery is like, you know, kind of turned up a notch. The nice thing is that now there are more flights that fly into Shannon. So, and that's kind of along the River Shannon. And I'm I'm always like confused. Like I can never remember if it's in County Clare or County Limerick, because everything's broken down into counties when it comes to Ireland. But there are regular flights to Shannon. So it's SNN is the is the airport code. Okay. And I actually flew, I think on the I think on my last trip, that's what I did. I flew into Shannon. It's a much smaller airport. Uh-huh. Um, so it's kind of easier to navigate. And if you just want to do the West Coast, that's a good gateway. And that way you don't have to kind of drive across the country. Now, some people want to because they want to spend some time in Dublin. And, you know, I wouldn't say don't do it, but because like for first-timers, they might want to do Dublin. But, you know, if it's maybe a second time, you're like, okay, well, I've done Dublin, I've seen it, spent a couple days there. You know, it's probably only worth really a couple days, you know, maybe doing something like, you know, going to the Guinness storehouse or seeing Trinity College and the Book of Kells, which is really kind of a unique kind of thing to see. It's like this old kind of manuscript from what is it? I don't even know about this. The the Book of Kells, K-E-L-L-S. It's in Trinity College and it's like this old um kind of monk written manuscript, but it's like really beautiful and everything. I mean, you can bear you, they only like display like, you know, so many pages, or they they change kind of the book and and that. And it's definitely worth going to see. But if you're kind of after a little bit more what I might call that quintessential kind of Irish kind of experience, like the small towns and the pubs and the traditional music with like the fiddle, then you know, you're better off being outside of Dublin. And that's where I think, you know, a lot of people then kind of go out to the West Coast. Although there are some places along even like outside of Dublin that are worthy of some time.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So you can fly into Shannon. So that's kind of just something that I would like to point out to people because there are now regular flights. I don't know if they fly, like I don't know if they do it more seasonally. So that's kind of something that you might have to check. But um but usually like more in the season, they will definitely have flights between, you know, a lot of your East Coast cities and Shannon.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, so I have to ask, what are the why why would I want to go and see the Book of Kells and look at these um monk written uh manuscripts? What's in them?
SPEAKER_01:You know, it's historic. They're really beautiful, you know, so they're like illustrated and everything. So it would be for people that like that part of history and like to see maybe some really beautiful old manuscripts. I mean, like anytime if I'm in um in a museum, it's like anything that's like handwritten. I mean, it's like going to the National Archives in the States. It's like you go and you look and you see like the Declaration of Independence, you're like, wow. You know, okay. Well, this stuff's like even older. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh, that's really cool. I mean, it just depends. And then like Trinity College is actually really pretty. And actually, like you also get to see what they call the long library, and there's like old wood and all these books and everything. I mean, you can't go up and touch everything, but you can see it. And it's really looking at it, it looks very Harry Potter-ish. Yes, yes, very much so. Um, so if you like that kind of thing, um, and I mean Dublin does have kind of a nice buzz about it, um, with like Grafton Street with all the buskers and things like that. And I mean, there's there's fun things to do. But like I said, I mean, I feel like there's so much more beyond that. And I feel like you get kind of more an idea of what Ireland's truly like when you get outside of Dublin.
SPEAKER_03:So I have a question about that their accent. So is it easier to understand and more British in like Dublin? Or is and then it gets more, I don't know, Gaelic.
SPEAKER_01:No, I no, it it's just it's all Irish. And the thing of it is is like counties will have varying things. So one of the places that I would bring up that a lot of people like to go to is County Cary. And a lot of people are familiar with the Ring of Cary and then Killarney National Park. Now, I think the Ring of Carrie, there's there's, if you look at the at a map of like the southwestern part of Ireland, there's like these five peninsulas that stick out there. The most northern one is the Dingle Peninsula, then you have the Ring of Carrie, then you have the Sheep's Head, then you have, wait a minute, did it? No, then you have Barra, then you have Sheep's Head, and then you have Mizin. So the Ring of Carey is the most famous. So the motor coach tours will will leave Killarney town and they'll go around like in a day. And it's a pretty long drive.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I personally don't think it's the most beautiful out of the peninsulas, at least not the coastal drive. Inland, I think, is prettier. But you know, something like the Dingle Peninsula is shorter. It probably packs a little bit more bang for your buck. Um, so that's kind of a nice one to do. Is an is kind of doesn't get as many people. Sheep's Head, a lot of locals like Sheep's Head the best because nobody goes there. I like Mizenhead, the most southern one. Um, I think that one's the best. But County Carey is is like that sort of like one of the areas. So you have the Ring of Carrie and you have Kalarney National Park. That accent, talking about accents, is the hardest to understand. Oh okay. So just beware when you're there when it comes to that.
SPEAKER_03:So even like can you write it down for me, please? Right.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I I had a conversation. I was in the the the town of Kenmare, uh, which is one of my favorite places to stay. I love this little town. And it and it's convenient to to go to Killarney National Park, which is Ireland's oldest national park. It's really beautiful. There's like a this old manor home you can you can tour. Uh, there's a castle there you can tour. There's some lakes you can walk around. There's kind of a little bit of there's a little something for everyone. What's the town that you like so much? Ken Mare. K-E-N-M-A-R-E. Okay, Ken Mayor.
SPEAKER_05:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:And I had a conversation. I was I was in this pub slash restaurant, slash, they had they have rooms above too. And this older gentleman said something to me, and I said, I just, and finally I just shook my head because I have no idea what he said. He told me the same thing like five or six times, and I just, and then I just sort of like, uh-huh. I did one of those because I have no idea what he said. And I have a friend who uh lives in Dublin. Uh, she grew up county called County Roscom, and not one of the places most people go to. And she's like, I can't understand the Kerry accents. So I'm like, if she's Irish and she can't understand it, then yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Like exactly. I'm looking at the cute little town and the it pictures are great, and the town looks very um uh uh Dutch or what is it? Like just all these different colored buildings and yeah, that's something else.
SPEAKER_01:That's typical in Ireland. You see a lot of a lot of colorful things just because yeah, I think people do that because it tends to be gray there, you know, they don't see the sun as much. So so I so I feel like a lot of the towns you go into, um, the buildings are very colorful.
SPEAKER_04:Um smart.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. So yeah, Kenmere is a great, a great little town. Um, I always say, like a lot of people who want to explore County Cary, a lot of people want to stay in Killarney town, which is also like it's the national park, is there? Like, I think the town might actually technically be within the park boundaries or just on the outskirts. And I think that is like the worst town. I just feel like it's too touristy. There's tons of motor coaches, there's so many group tours that come through there. It's just a little, it's too much. And I always feel like Ken Mayor is a nice alternative because it's just kind of through Killarney National Park, kind of over this pass. And even though it still has a fair amount of tourism, and you will see plenty of tourists, it's just this, I feel like it's this perfect blend of tourists and locals. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, and how far is it from that Shannon airport?
SPEAKER_01:Pretty far. I mean, I in fact, the last time I was there, it's like I landed and that's where I drove, and it was a bit of a drive. So it would be higher.
SPEAKER_03:It's still probably better than driving across the whole country.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, it would be better than coming from Dublin, that is for sure.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, because it's up by Limerick, right? Limerick is the big town up north, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. What about this Cork? Is that pretty interesting? Cork. Okay, so yes. So count so I haven't been into the city, but the whole county, and that's or and that county is that's the southwestern piece of Ireland, and that's kind of one of the bigger, bigger counties. And I actually just uh had somebody on my podcast talking about, we were talking about West Cork, so kind of the western part of the county. It's one of my favorite places. It's got first of all, yeah. So there's all kinds of like there's a lot of craggy coasts. Well, I'd say there's a lot of craggy coastline in general throughout Ireland, but there's definitely a lot here. I'd say that um the coastline, like on that southern part, is a little softer than what you would see, like along Carey or kind of up the coast of like Clare and in Galway as you get further north. But it's got like this beautiful kind of rolling green hills in the interior. You've got Cork City, supposed to be great. It's the second, it's the second largest city in um in Ireland. I've not been, but it's supposed to be really nice. Kinsale is really popular. It's a nice little harbor town that kind of sits just south of Cork. I think it's maybe only maybe like a 30-minute drive or something south of Cork City. It's got a really great fort there called Charles Fort. Um, that's it's a great tour for history lovers. The Irish people would say, yeah, Cork's got some of the best food. There's some beautiful beaches, there's some islands off there. That's where Mizenhead Peninsula is, which is kind of one of my favorite places. You walk, you drive, you can drive like all the way out to this thing they call the Mizenhead experience, and you can walk along these trails and you walk out to this old lighthouse, and you're like, there's cliffs all around, and it's just beautiful. It's got this sort of like end of the world sort of feel to it. Uh, there's a little town called Skull where I stayed, um, which you can, which is part way out, kind of going out the Mizenhead Peninsula. It's just beautiful. I mean, there's so many, there's so many great places uh in Cork. I I really like Cork. It's got a little bit of of something for everyone.
SPEAKER_03:And what about this uh Blarney Castle and Gardens? Touristy, or is it like it's definitely worth it? It's very touristy, and I've never been to one.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, okay. As a result, it's kind of one of those things I've heard because everybody goes and that's where you're like kiss the Blarney stone, and then you're supposed to get the gift of gab. Oh now, who would want to kiss something that all these other lips have been on, first of all?
SPEAKER_04:I guess people who want to the gift of gab. I guess it's that's the uh yeah, I won't say anything else.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, now I've heard I've heard some people say, but the castle, like in the gardens and the grounds are are all very nice. There's probably some other castles that you could go to that would be just as nice.
SPEAKER_04:So that's every every uh county or whatever city, whatever that you've told me that I've looked up, I've seen one. Yeah. Some sort of church castle looking thing. Yeah, they're everywhere, which they're beautiful.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah. There would be. I really like stone circles. So I uh there's one in Cork called Drombeg, D-R-O-M-B-E-G. Yeah, it's really cool, kind of sits up. You can kind of like see the C and everything. It's it's a pretty cool uh site for people that that like stone circles, you know, or those ancient sites. I love those ancient sites. Cork and Carrie are great. And, you know, I would say too for people that maybe have limited time. Sometimes it's good to maybe just like try to hit like a couple of the counties if you will. Like, like in like maybe like a nine or 10-day trip, you could hit those two places and you would see uh you would be able to see a lot, you'd have some variety, you know, you'd be able to see some ancient sites, you'd be, and then some maybe just other sort of historical sites that maybe aren't as ancient, that are more, you know, 1700s or whatever, and then be able to be in some great little towns along the sea, inland mountains, you know, like Klarney National Park, County Carey, that's where the highest peaks in in Ireland are. So that's kind of a a good place to be for that kind of scenery. So those are kind of two really super popular spots.
SPEAKER_04:When did you go and what was the weather like?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so I've been to both multiple times. So, um, and in different times of the year. So I think the last time I was in Cork was 2018, and I was there in the latter part of April, maybe into early May. Okay. It's Ireland, it's never warm. The British Isles just, you know, it's a rare thing for it to get to, you know, like 80 degrees. It does happen every now and again, um, especially now. But I would say that, you know, it's you always are prepared for rain and wind because you're along the coast and you're along the west coast, so it's definitely very windy there. So be prepared for that. And, you know, be prepared for 50 degrees, 60 degree weather outside of winter. I mean, like if you're in there in winter, it's gonna be colder.
SPEAKER_03:And what if you're like at that national park where it's inland a little bit, still windy or always?
SPEAKER_01:Um, yeah, you know, I kind of feel like it's just you know, certainly it gets maybe less windy when you get away from the coast, but it's still it's still pretty windy. Okay, yeah. Um, you know, it's part of it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So I was just thinking, because we just went to California and it's like, oh my gosh, the days were so short, you know. So like going places where you're gonna be outside exploring a lot, no, going in the summer, not, you know, even if the weather is not great, do you just get so much more daylight? I feel like even spring when you went April, it's much bright lighter in the evening than Thanksgiving time, for example.
SPEAKER_01:Right, right. And that's something that you want to consider, like, depending on what you want to do, is like the time of year, you know, obviously in summer, like I think I was in my parents went with me back in 2010. And we were there in summer. In fact, we were there the longest over the longest day. And it was like, you know, it was staying light until like, you know, 11 30 at night, and then it was like getting it was getting light again at like 3 30 or 4. And I was like, oh my God. So they must be the same. Yeah. No, no. That's further like a sweetened beef, much further north. I mean, it would be worse. You know, that was, I think, when we were kind of at the furthest northern point that we were, which was up in County Mayo, which is further up the West Coast. Another place I would recommend going. But yeah, it it was just, I was like, oh my God, that's right. I didn't even think about like how light it would be. And I found it hard to go to sleep.
SPEAKER_04:And then like I'm waking up early because the the roosters were like, And I'm like, I was in Sweden and that that's uh I'm Swedish, I'm first generation, and so I went to go stay with family. And I ended up reading a book, and I I was so into it, it was 3 a.m. and it was light outside again. And I was like, oh no, wait, did I read all night? And then realize it's 3 a.m. I'm like, okay, I'm going to bed.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my goodness. Graduated college.
SPEAKER_04:But yeah, and their seasons are they're the same as uh our seasons.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. And they do, and they do have they do have distinct seasons, even though I would say, like, in some ways, I feel like, you know, for me in the Midwest, I have four distinct seasons. There's absolutely no doubt about it. There's snow on the ground out there right now as we're recording this. Oh gosh. But I feel like sometimes they're they're a little bit subtle, like spring going into summer. Sometimes, you know, yes, it's you know, it's summer, but it may not necessarily be that much warmer than it is in sp in spring. Definitely have have the same seasons and and that as us.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And lots of rain. And are there rain during all those four seasons, even the summertime?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, it you I say you always prepare for rain. And I feel like that they, you know, it's so hard to say anymore because of of the whole climate change thing that sometimes I feel like they they have had dry times. Like actually, I was just talking about being there in 2010 with my parents, and we were there in the summer, and they had kind of had a little bit of a dry season. And I and I noticed it right away because I because some of the places that I went to, I've been to a couple of times before. And I, and I remember kind of saying something to to my friend. I'm like, okay, you guys haven't had rain, have you? She's like, no, because I could tell like some of the lakes and things were down a little bit. And I remember like it was bright blue, sunshine skies. And I kept going to my parents, it's not gonna stay like this. Yes, we are gonna get rain. And we did eventually. I mean, and they needed it. So um, but yeah, it's you know, it it could, it could be rainy. You know, I remember the first year that I went over, and I was living in Colorado at the time, and my friends like they had a beautiful spring, and then, you know, all of a sudden, I think the the summer got really rainy, and I was going in September. She goes, Oh my God, we've had a horrible, horrible summer. It's been raining after a great spring. And I was living in Colorado at the time when we were having like drought times where it was like so hot, and I'm like, I don't care. I don't care if it's cool and rainy, I will take it because I was so tired of the heat. So I always say you just have to be prepared for anything when you go to that part of the world.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, totally. Isn't it sad? You can't just be like, hey, Cloud, go over here.
SPEAKER_01:I know.
SPEAKER_04:We need it over there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:That's what it is. So what kind of foods? What was the um, you know, I always think just potatoes and um I'd like meats and things. Yeah, sausage.
SPEAKER_01:Um, actually, so I would say if you go in certain seasons, and I would say probably this sounds terrible, but probably more towards maybe like June, July, the lamb would be fresh. Uh-huh. Um, so they definitely do lamb and beef. And I would say both of those are really good, you know, because it's like everything's kind of, you know, farmed to table a little bit more, you know, a little bit more sort of organic. The gamey, is it gamey? I don't eat meat, but I do eat the fish. Now there's a lot of fresh fish and seafood. You can get, you can get things like mussels and scallops and all kinds of really good white fish. Um, so a lot of my, you know, mild fish. So it's all really good if that's your thing. Yes, they definitely do potatoes. You'll you will get potatoes with all of your meals. You'll get a lot of cabbage as well. I always feel like so, but like you get like a, you know, sides, you know, with your with your meal. You'll you can get those. I feel like that they do cabbage actually really well. They just, you know, it's it's sort of married. They every place kind of does something a little bit different and maybe sort sort of some of the the herbs and spices that they might put it and how they cook it and everything. But I've had some some good uh cabbage and again, potatoes, you can get those a lot of different ways. It's it's kind of something that I don't necessarily eat, but yeah, I mean, it's it it is definitely something. I mean, fish and chips, just like over over in, you know, England and Scotland, you can get some because they get good fresh fish. So a lot of times the fish and chips are really can be really good. Um, so you'll see a lot of that. So I love getting good fish and chips when I'm in Ireland.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, and a lot of good cheeses as well, because because they do have their areas where, you know, they've got cows grazing. So a lot of their dairy products. Like, have you ever seen carry gold butter?
SPEAKER_03:Goodness. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we have that at Costco here. You know, we're gonna go back to the box.
SPEAKER_04:That's Irish that makes sense because it's carry right at Carrie Gary. It's counted there. Um my my stepmom is she, I just laugh because she goes to Costco and bulks buys, and she has a whole freezer filled with carry butter in the garage, and it cracked me up because we went to go in it to like get some. And I was like, Oh, I think there's so much butter, yeah. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:So you'll get good dairy, you know. That means you know, your yogurts and your cheese and and and things like your milk. So um, that stuff's all good. In fact, you know, definitely try some of the local, local cheeses.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, that's what's a traditional um well, I won't, I won't steal the breakfast one until because Carol talked about desserts and things and like fruits or vegetables, like, you know, just because it's so different there. I don't know if they import like we import also here in the US.
SPEAKER_01:You know, they do. I would say, um trying to think. They might have if they do berries the way because of just where they are. I think you would probably still get some some local berries and maybe apples and that too, but probably a little bit less there. They might import some of that stuff from the UK. Their their food's better than you think it's gonna be. Let's just put it on. Okay, yeah. And you know, it like uh, you know, I feel like all of the British Isles have such a bad reputation for bad food. Right. And the food is far better than you think. And it's just it's I think it's progressively gotten better as maybe they bring in chefs or their their young people maybe even go over to like France or Italy and they kind of study a little bit of culinary, they then bring it back, but then they put their twists on it using kind of local ingredients. So um I would say that there's there's definitely been a good, I'd say probably over the last 20 years. I mean, because I've been going to Ireland since 2007. So, you know, close to 20 years, like the food, like that's kind of been a progression as the food is has gotten better and they are really kind of embracing that that sort of using their local ingredients and really making the most of it. I mean, sure, there's still gonna be stuff that they have to import, but yeah, food's better than you think.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And then I I was curious, like I know I'm I got uh hooked um on persimmons. Those are pretty hardy and um uh pomegranate, I wondered, but probably maybe not there. I don't know. No, no, yeah, that's all stuff that they would import.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, exactly.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And Lynn, do you like you said you do some tours, just so our audience knows, like, where would we find like what tours you got coming up next? What's your website again or Instagram?
SPEAKER_01:Or what's the best way to so the the Wonder Your Way, W-A-N-D-E-R, Wonder Your Way is the kind of the home website. Um, but then Wonder Your Way Adventures is where the small group tours live. Now you can get back and forth. There are links between the two websites. Um so the small group tours would be under Wonder Your Way Adventures. So that's where if you would want to join a small group tour, that's where you go. If you just want travel planning, you can go to Wonder Your Way. So yeah. Do you plan to do anything in Ireland anytime soon? Right now, no, but that is always subject to change. Um, I because as we're recording this at the end of 2025, I have to start thinking about 2027. All right. And I'm giving some thought because there's a really good company that I'm working with that's doing the two Scotland tours for 2026.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:And they do Ireland as well. They do Ireland, they do England, well, they do all of the British Isles. Uh, so they do Wales. You know, I'm kind of like, oh, maybe I should do an Ireland one. So so it's possible that there could be one for 2027. So all I'd say is stay tuned. I haven't decided yet.
SPEAKER_03:So how many do you typically do in a year?
SPEAKER_01:Well, this is something new. So the the goal is to keep building. So I was hoping to do about three of them in 2025, but only had one get enough people to go. Um, so I have three for uh out there for booking for 2026. And so I'm hoping that all three of those will happen, uh, fingers crossed. And um, then the idea is to keep maybe a building. I mean, I'd like to be able to do, you know, I'd probably do six or eight of them a year.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. And so the like what is a ballpark for a trip like that? I mean, do most people have to like book their own flights? And then once they get there, then they they pay for the tour, or is it all inclusive flights including?
SPEAKER_01:So when it comes to the small group tours, that's the the package pricing is is on the website and and it'll tell you what it includes. It never includes flights because of the fact that people are coming from different places and and all that, and some people want to come in early, stay, you know, stay longer, whatever. So all of that is there, but all the things that are included, and usually you're getting, you know, two meals a day and all the transportation and your accommodation and tubers and experiences and all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we'll have to think of anything. Right, right, right. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, I wanted to bring up another place in Ireland just really quick. Um because it's a place that that I feel like it gets overlooked, and that's County Donegal. And that's way, way up in the northwest corner of Ireland. It kind of connects, like if you look to the east from there, it would be where then the country of Northern Ireland is. And this is an area. If people are looking for something like truly different, go to Donegal. It's a smell it, I can't find it. C-O-N-E-G-A-L. So there is a Donegal town, but then the whole county is kind of that northwestern piece. And it is beautiful. It's wild, remote, rugged, all kinds of coastline, cute little towns. Glen Bay National Park is there. The most northerly peak on the island of Ireland is there. I was there in 2017, so it's been a while since I've been there, spent a couple weeks there, and I just loved it. It's high on my list to go back. So for people that maybe have been to Ireland before, but are looking for something maybe that they haven't done. I think just because it's a little further away, it takes a little bit more effort maybe to get there. I think a lot of people don't go there. But gosh, I've walked on some beautiful beaches there. I look beautiful. They look tropical. Yeah, there's some stunning beaches there. There's one outside of town called uh Dunfanahi, and the beach is called Tremor, which T-R-A with an accent is beach in Irish Gaelic. So it and that it literally means big beach. And the and you have to like walk through like some sand dunes to get to it. So you can't like pull up to a parking lot and just be there. So you kind of you can park in an area and then you kind of walk through some sand dunes, which is really kind of fun. And then you come to this crescent beach that's about three miles, no, two miles long, three kilometers, two miles long, and it is a beautiful beach, and it's just protected. So, you know, because it takes a little bit more effort to get there. It's near a town called Dun Fanahi, which is D-U-N-F-A-N-A-G-H-Y. I had to think about that. How to spell it? And Dunfanahee is a little village way up in the northern part of Donegal. There's Fanned Head Lighthouse, there's the Maylin Head, which is the most northerly point on the Ineshowan Peninsula, way up there. It's a beautiful, beautiful area. If you really kind of if you want to go somewhere that's a little different and where you can really like be immersed to in nature, you know, and both like Mount Aragal is there and Muckish Mountain. There's, you know, some nice peaks there. If you want to kind of do some some hiking, beautiful beaches, towns that are just little dots of villages. It's it's a great spot to go. I I would recommend. I went to a one of my favorite stone circles is kind of down near a little village called Rafa, R-A-P-H-O-E. It's called Beltani, B-E-L-T-A-N-Y. Nobody goes to this stone circle. I was there all by myself. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Up on this like hill, the sheep are grazing around. Oh.
SPEAKER_03:And and what's the deal with Northern Ireland? Is that not part of the UK?
SPEAKER_01:That's still like totally different. No, it's part of the UK. So it's it's part of the United Kingdom. And there's just those six counties that are there. So I mean, it's it's a weird thing because Northern Ireland, you know, a lot of people still consider themselves Irish, but it it's just, it's always going to be a weird thing. And who knows if it will, if Ireland would ever fully unite with the whole Brexit thing that happened, there was kind of, you know, they people were sort of talking like maybe it would, but there's still there's still those divisions. But I mean, you can cross over like very easily. Oh, okay. It's not like a lot of animosity.
SPEAKER_03:So no Ireland. Okay. So normal Ireland is not part of the UK, only Northern Ireland is. Correct. Okay. And is Ireland part of the European Union? Yes. Oh, they are. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And and and it would be the Republic of Ireland. I mean, like it if you see Republic of Ireland, that's the Ireland that we kind of think of. And Northern Ireland is those six counties that belong to the UK technically under the government. But I assume you still have to like show your passport and stuff to get over because it is a different country than the Northern Ireland, or well, I don't know because like since Brexit, I mean, technically you should, but there are there are literally roads that like cross over, could go back and forth between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. And that's why the whole like the whole Brexit thing was such a mess, because the Northern Ireland people are going, hey, we can't do what you're doing because we have we literally have roads that go back and forth. And if there's gonna have to be some sort of like border check all the time, that'd be so expensive.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:How how do how do you do that? And well, is it even possible? And and I think that they also it's like, you know, we finally don't have all this fighting between us anymore. We don't want to rock the boat. When I was there in 2017, it was right when Brexit happened, or when they voted on it, um, or right after they voted for it, excuse me. And so nothing had been in place yet. So I actually did go to Northern Ireland when I was up in County Donegal. Then I went over to Northern Ireland and spent a few days. But I don't know what it's like now. From what I understand, I think that they still have things pretty open because that was part of it. That that that Northern Ireland, you know, said, you know, we need to not have this be difficult because, you know, it it's it's a land border. Whereas really the rest of, you know, you look at the the island of Great Britain, which is, you know, Scotland, England, and Wales, that's all like, you know, the UK as well. And it's all surrounded by water. So like, you know, they don't have to worry about a land border that's that's a problem, whereas Northern Ireland does. You know, so all their like their, you know, when it comes to like commerce and all that kind of stuff, all that stuff's coming in, like, you know, via planes or or boats, and you know, so yeah. So anyway. Right, it's total madness. All right.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, well, we're coming up on our time here. I'd love to go into the rapid fire questions. Yes. So, what is uh a popular holiday tradition there?
SPEAKER_01:Oh.
SPEAKER_03:Do they actually celebrate?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, they celebrate all this very I mean, it used to be a very Catholic country, um probably less so now. Um, so we'll still still celebrate all that stuff. You know, I would say you may not know this, but Halloween has its origins in Ireland. What? Oh I'm shocked. Shaman or salmon, S-A-M-H-A-I-N, or something like that is how it's pronounced. So it was kind of the idea of like this is where the the the veil is the thinnest between the the living and the non-living. Oh, that's awesome. I love it. It's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. So I so I would say that they do some celebrations like around that Halloween, the salmon.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, very, very nice.
SPEAKER_01:However it's pronounced.
SPEAKER_03:So if you're gonna have one meal, uh, what would be your favorite meal in Ireland? Oh, fish and chips and a pint of Guinness.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Or a weed ram of one of the good whiskies. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03:Very good. Uh all right. And then how about breakfast? What's a typical breakfast there?
SPEAKER_01:They would call it porridge. I mean, they do like a full kind of Irish breakfast, which is kind of similar to the full English breakfast. Uh, but they're always big on porridge as well, which is oatmeal. Oh, is it oh, is it actually oats?
SPEAKER_03:Porridge? Yeah, yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:So it's it's basically what we call oatmeal.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, okay. Interesting. Cool. Um and the music we kind of talked about a little bit. Is there any favorite musicians or type of music that you enjoy listening to out there?
SPEAKER_01:No, I just I like to listen to good traditional Irish music. It's nice to see the younger people kind of like embracing it and playing it and in the pubs and everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And do you see like the Irish dancers? I I feel like that's very popular here. Like a lot of girls do Irish dancing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, interestingly, uh, when I was in Westport and County Mayo in 2024, there were two guys playing some stuff, and some girl got up and started doing Irish dancing. I have a video of her. It was great. She just got up and started doing it in the middle of the pub. I love it.
SPEAKER_03:That's Ireland. Yeah, like I don't need a partner. Yeah, for sure. Okay, one thing we did talk about is that the best way to get around um driving, hiring trains.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I would say the the train system is not extensive in Ireland. So I would not rely on trains. They do have buses. I would say the buses probably are not, you know, they're okay. I would drive, or if you're not comfortable, because it is driving on the other side of the road from what we do, so it'd be driving on the left side of the road. You may want to hire a driver. And and, you know, that's kind of one thing as a travel advisor. You know, I I've got some companies that I've worked with, and they your driver is your is your guide, and they have the Irish gift of gabs. So you're not only like getting a driver, you're getting a lot of stories and all that kind of stuff. So if you're not comfortable, it's yes, it may cost you a little bit more, but it might be worth it. Peace of mind, plus you're getting like that extra level of of guiding and stories. And, you know, the people that do that for a living, they they love to talk about Ireland.
SPEAKER_03:So Oh, yeah, that's awesome. Right. Versus yourself, you know, yelling at your friends because you're getting lost and exactly screaming at each other. Yeah. All right. And then how about the money? Is I assume it's is it the euro then? It is the euro. They are in the euro. Yep. So the closest place to surf is their surfing culture. And I watched 100% weave and there are that.
SPEAKER_01:I would say County Sligo is probably one of the big places that that you would want to go. Um, and I think just not far out of Sligo town, that's kind of one of the areas I know because I know that because my friend who lives over there, she actually tried it once. Um, but I think like her brother-in-law and his wife, I think they used to do it a lot too.
SPEAKER_03:So is that S-L-I-G-O? Correct. Okay. Oh, and it's a little sheltered, so it's not like probably crazy big waves. Okay.
unknown:Nice.
SPEAKER_04:They have some really big crazy waves because there was that documentary of the um the largest waves in the world in Portugal that they're like a hundred feet. And one of the guys on the documentary is, I thought he's from Ireland.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, he's Irish. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I think, I think for like smaller, like for beginners, if you go down in County Clare, like around La Hinch, there's a really nice beach there. And that's just kind of south of where the cliff, the famous cliffs of Moore are. That's maybe a good like beginner place for people that maybe just want to get into it. Um, I think Sligo gets it gets a little bit more. There, I'm sure there's other places too, but I just know that that's kind of one of the more popular some big, thick wetsuits out.
SPEAKER_00:There. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:He had uh like booties and everything. Yeah. I think everything. Um but it's interesting. Sla Sligo is pronounced differently than it's spelled S-L-I-G-O, it says. Yeah, that's why I said Sligo. Oh, okay, yeah. Sligo. Sligo I'm sorry. And I kept tapping tapping S-L-A-G-O, but it wasn't Sligo.
SPEAKER_01:It might be my Midwestern accent.
SPEAKER_04:No, no, I think you're right. Who knows? It's all good. Yeah. So what would you say if if you uh had one thing um that was your like just stood out as like a wow? Like, you know, I remember being in Costa Rica and seeing the volcano erupt and hearing the sound of the volcano sounding like it was breathing. And then when it was erupting, it sounded like it was gurgling, like it was so whole uh valley lit up with fireflies. And it's just this vivid picture. I have several like that, but was there anything when you were in Ireland that was just like a wow, like it's cemented in mind?
SPEAKER_01:Wow, I've been there seven times, so it's really wonderful. Maybe it's a big pick one. You know, you know, probably probably my first beach, and that was in the southern part of County Mayo. And I remember, so I was with my friend. This is the so the first time I was there, and we were driving along these, you know, rural roads, and she's like, Oh, there's a beach down here, there's a beach down here. And she kept going, no, no, and I saw one off of this, no, no, no, that's not the one. And you know, the sun was starting to kind of sink a little bit low. This is September, and we're kind of going along this road, this like a little roller coaster ride, it's like one lane ride. And and we come down to the end, and the road kind of ends in this parking lot. There was a couple walking in off the beach, and they left there was like one set of footprints. And so we walk out on this beach, and I'm like looking at this beach, thinking, This is Ireland, you know, because it was my first time there. And I always refer to it as Adeen's Beach. Um, it's actually called Silver Strand, but but but I always refer to that. I have like a picture of her like walking down the beach, the sun is kind of sinking low because you know, we're on the West Coast. And it was just, it was definitely one of those moments. And of course, it's it's a moment with a friend, you know, she was a new friend at that point. You know, it was just, I think it was that realization. There's mountains kind of all around. So it kind of to me epitomizes like I think what what Ireland is like is like you can have these beautiful beaches, you know, you can have, you know, off kind of like up the coast was just a little bit more like the more craggy coastline, and then you have like these mountains. Like there was this one mountain, I think it's called Milria or something like it's got some strange name. This kind of right there. And it's just beautiful. You know what? This beautiful sandy beach. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you for sharing. No, no problem. I love Ireland.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, you're very passionate about it. Okay. Absolutely. Well, thank you. Okay, maybe I'll have you on again to the dolomites.
SPEAKER_01:I was oh boy, I'd love to talk about the dolomites. Awesome. One of my favorite.
SPEAKER_03:Thanks, Lynn. All right. Take care, you guys. Happy holidays. Bye. Same to you. Bye. Thanks. Bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast, can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app. And if you have a minute, we would really appreciate a review. Following and rating is the best way to support us. If you're on Instagram, let's connect. We're at Where Next Podcast.
SPEAKER_02:Thanks again.
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