I have been to Ireland twice. But I NEED to go one more time. On my first trip my best friend and I rented a car and had the most amazing visit. But even then we knew that we weren’t seeing the “real” Ireland. By the time we got to the Blarney Castle, we didn’t even want to go in – and we didn’t. There were so many tourists and it just didn’t appeal to us. By then we had been several days into our visit and we found that what we really enjoyed were the things like the jaunting car ride in Killarney. We enjoyed hearing our driver tell us his stories and about his land and seeing the McGillicuddy Reeks. We loved driving around Doolin and Galway. We were sensing that there was so much more to Ireland that what we had seen in the early part of our week in the eastern area. We knew we wanted to return and so we researched and googled and devoured everything we could find because we figured that since we have hit the wonderful age of 60, we wouldn’t have too many chances to go back so this trip had to count. Then we saw the website for Wild West Irish Tours. 6-8 people at a time? That was great, like a private tour. But it was in the western part of Ireland, we weren’t sure about spending all of our time there. We reached the conclusion that this was our only choice if we wanted to get up close and personal with this wonderful country. So we nervously booked and excitedly anticipated our tour. It turned out to be one of the best decisions we have ever made. My review on TripAdvisor as NCGrandma says it all. We discovered that the western part of Ireland is true, is exciting, is authentic, is historical – almost magical. Oh, what a fantastic time we had! But I need to go back again. I am living with the regret of not climbing Knocknarea. I need to take care of that unfinished business. I am a Wild Westie but I want to be a proud Wild Westie with a picture of me on Knocknarea as my profile picture! Plus, I live with grandsons during the week so I can help care for them (ages 5 and 8) so I need a break to look forward to! Send this NC Grandma back to Ireland to conquer Knocknarea!

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