Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Who wants to come to Ireland?

I have two return flights as part of my amazing ‘trip to Ireland’ prize package [thank you so much Tourism Ireland NZ!!].   So a flying companion needed to be chosen.  Of course I had offers a plenty from family & friends, willing to carry my bags for me.  In the end, I’ve picked Donna who was planning to go with me anyway... one day.   I do hope she knows how lucky she is [I know she does, as do I]
We’ve settled for a 6 week holiday in the Northern Hemisphere, spending 4 weeks of it travelling the length & breadth of Ireland.  It is with much relief that our respective bosses have allowed us to take leave for that extended period of time.  New Zealand & Ireland are about as far away from each other as any two countries in the world could be, so it’s hardly likely you’d ever travel all that way for a week’s holiday, would you?
I’ve tried to work out the size of Ireland in comparison to New Zealand & have decided it’s about as long as the North Island & slightly wider.  I’m figuring 4 weeks should be ample time to ‘circumnavigate’ our way up, down & across the Island of Ireland.
The bag of  travel brochures Irish Mary gave me when we met in Auckland a couple of weeks ago, have been poured over many times.  There are so many wonderful places to go & sights to see in Ireland and I want to see them all. 
Is it too soon to start packing?