The Empty Nesters in Southern Ireland – Escapes by Globus

We travelled using Globus Tours on an Escapes by Globus Southern Ireland tour. Both our guide and driver were both fabulous. Our guide was able to tell us Irish history and stories and just had a wide array of information for us, while Our driver maneuvered a huge Globus tour bus through places I probably would be nervous to drive my mini van.

Between all the airline travel and transfers and all the walking during site seeing, we walked over 35 miles! Make sure if you’re going to Ireland, pack comfortable waterproof shoes!

Our tour got off to a bumpy start with a delayed flight leaving us to miss our connecting flight in London. We were supposed to get to Shannon about 11:30 a.m. but didn’t make it until 5:30 p.m., so we lost out on the daylight for exploring in Limerick, but explored instead at night. This was the most unpredictable part of the trip. Although it was unpredictable, we contacted Globus and they adjusted for our new flight and everything else was seamless.

Our flight finally landed in Shannon, Ireland. Our tour guide picked us up at the airport and transported us to our hotel in Limerick. We had a welcome dinner with our tour group and then explored Limerick on our own.

On Day 2, we travelled from Limerick on a West Coast excursion. We stopped at The Dunguaire Castle and the on to Cliffs of Moher. Next we headed to Galway; we had lunch and visited the Christmas Market. In the evening we had an extra excursion to a Medieval Banquet at Bunratty castle.

To start day 3, we travelled from Limerick to Killorgin and to Adare, through the Ring of Kerry to stop for the day in Killarney. Once we arrived to our hotel, we had an extra excursion to The Shanty for an authentic Irish Pub experience. After the pub, we came back to eat dinner and check out the beautiful Christmas decorations.

Killarney to Blarney to Kinsale was the route for Day 4. We had free time to explore Killarney after breakfast and then headed to Blarney, where we visited the Blarney Castle and gardens. When we arrived in Kinsale, our hotel was right on the harbor. We had a scheduled dinner at the hotel with our tour group. This was the best meal and hotel of the trip.

Day 5 was Thanksgiving; we left Kinsale to travel to Kilkenny where we explored the Kilkenny Castle and had lunch on our own. Next up was Dublin and an orientation drive there. We also had an extra excursion there at Taylor’s Irish Night for dinner, drinks, and a show.

Most people left the morning of day 6, but we paid to extend our trip. We spent the day exploring on our own. We explored Trinity College and the Long Room, the Dublin Castle, and the Guinness Storehouse. Next up was lunch; we found a Michelin Star restaurant, so we completely indulged at Glovers Alley. Be sure to see our post about Awe-inspiring – 1 Michelin Star Restaurant in Dublin.  After lunch we explored Grafton Street and Anne’s Lane. We checked out the spire and the bridges along the Liffey River.

Day 7 was an early wake-up and we had an airport transfer scheduled for 5:00 am to head home.

10 Reasons to tour with Globus Journeys

Hotels are booked by Globus, no need to hunt for accommodations. No need to even wait in line to check in or check out!

You don’t even have to carry your suitcase. You bag is unloaded and carried to your room; the morning when you leave that hotel, your bag is carried back to the bus.

All breakfasts are planned by Globus; these aren’t like a typical US continental breakfast either; these breakfasts are top notch. Some other meals are included with your tour. This helps you manage your travel budget easier since the cost is built into your tour price.

Once we were there, Globus had arranged all hotels and tours and some meals were included. When we arrived at each hotel, our keys were handed to us (no waiting or checking in) and our bags were carried to our rooms. Every hotel was nicely appointed, clean and everyone was very friendly. A full Irish breakfast was offered every morning at each hotel before our touring as well.

You get to meet new people and make friends from around the world or maybe even from your own back yard.

Our tour had a total of 44 people including me and my husband. We actually met people that even live about 45 minutes from us. People ranged from age 8 to probably in the 60s-70s.

Globus travels on a very tight schedule. You don’t have to worry about the schedule though. You just show up at given time, hop on the bus and off you go for a packed full day of exploration and adventure. It’s very fast paced, but there is sufficient time to see everything at each location. The variety of sites you see is astonishing; something for everyone!

Globus tours require great punctuality. Everyone was on time, except when a few younger travelers accidentally went down the fire escape stairs and got stuck…so we had to wait a few extra minutes for hotel staff to get them out. And yes we all gave them a hard time, all egged on by their mom and dad who also were traveling with us.

Globus has a fair seating policy. You won’t get stuck in one seat for the entire tour.

The first day of touring we started in Limerick and hubby and I were lucky to get there front seats as we were early to hop on the bus. Globus though, has a fair seating policy, so they rotate your seats every day to ensure no one gets stuck in the back for the whole trip…good for everyone, bad for me who gets motion sickness in buses when I can’t see where I’m going.

Driving the Ring of Kerry, was very curvy! I eventually found a pharmacy and got some motion sickness pills, but they don’t have Dramamine in Ireland, so if you get motion sick, I recommend you bring some non-drowsy Dramamine, so you don’t miss out on a single bit of everything you see as they are driving.

Optional excursions are offered to pack in even more fun! Or if you choose to, you can explore on your own during that time.

There were also option excursions three of the evenings. You could have prepaid before, but a lot of folks just waited to until the day of. Either way, all three were very enjoyable. There was a medieval castle banquet, Country Irish pub and a night at Taylor’s for an Irish night of dinner, music and dancing.

With Globus, you can book extra day(s) at the beginning or end of your tour which allows more flexibility for you to explore some on your own.

We also added an additional day on to the end of our tour, so our last day in Dublin was on our own. It was a bit overwhelming as there was so much to see. But we squeezed in almost ten miles of site seeing in one day.

The weather in Ireland is unpredictable. You can see four seasons in one day. Everyday during our trip was between 8 and 13 degrees Celsius. I actually only wore a long sleeve shirt/sweatshirt and a rain jacket for the majority of the trip. I had brought thicker jackets, wore the first day, but was too warm. I did however wear gloves and a hat most days as well. An umbrella is an absolute necessity as well as waterproof shoes.

We checked the weather everyday, but most days the weatherman failed us. Some days were foggy, some rained, some just drizzled and we actually had two mostly clear days as well.

This trip was absolutely amazing and we saw a ton more than we could have traveling on our own. With the personal driver, we were free to drink wine or Guinness and have no worries of having a designated driver!

Free to indulge on wine, beer and cocktails, as you have a designated driver for the entire trip

We will definitely be using Globus again in the future. It really took a lot of stress that you can experience with travel logistics, because they handled it all. Another bonus is…DRUMROLL

Globus offers off season tours at excellent price points! These tours are called Globus Escapes.

I honestly don’t know how they manage to make a profit with the land + air specials they offer! Be sure to check out Globus Escapes and watch for their specials. Maybe we will see you on a Globus Tour! Message us if you book a tour!

-S&E