Have Kids, Will Travel

Summer vacations weren’t really a thing in my house growing up. We’d take a road trip to see my grandparents, but that was it. I’ve always loved the idea of doing a family summer vacation, and now that Will is 5, the timing feels right for us to start taking more adventurous vacations with the kids.

First stop: Ireland!

When planning our end of summer vacation, we had a short list. We wanted to go somewhere that:

• wouldn’t be too hot
• would have access to hiking
• would have a nice mix of activities to hold the attention of both kids
• we could get to relatively easily from New York

We narrowed it down to Ireland or Iceland, with Ireland as my top choice.

As luck would have it, airfare to Ireland was surprisingly affordable, so Ireland it is for our first “real” family vacation post-kids.

The logistics

We kicked off planning with a ChatGPT query, asking the chatbot to create a 7 night itinerary. We shared some of our interests and the interests and ages of our kids. We then used the results from that query as our starting off place to plan our trip.

We decided to start in Dublin and then head west for several days before looping back around to end our trip back near Dublin. We figured we could plan to drive about 4 hours between hotels so that we’d have time for stops, and we also wanted to have a couple hotels where we stay multiple nights so that we wouldn’t have to move every day.

Our itinerary

When I showed our itinerary to friends who were familiar with Ireland, some of them expressed concerns that we were packing in too much, but having done a lot of these types of trips without the kids, we had a good feel for what was possible for us and our family.

• Day 1: Arrival and Dublin
• Day 2: Kilkenny
• Day 3: Blarney Castle -> County Kerry (2 nights in hotel)
• Day 4: Gap of Dunloe & Kilarney
• Day 5: Dingle Loop -> stay in Limmerick
• Day 6: Burren National Park -> Birr Castle -> County Kildare (2 nights in hotel)
• Day 7: Newgrange
• Day 8: Fly home

Lessons learned during our planning

1. Book hotels as soon as possible

Hotels are limited, especially if you want to book suites or larger rooms, which, while more expensive, is our preference when traveling with the kids. We planned our trip about 7 weeks out, so a lot of the hotels we initially looked at were already booked.

2. Check your credit card car insurance policies

A lot of car insurance providers won’t cover car rentals in Ireland. We were able to avoid a hefty insurance add-on by using our Chase credit card to book the rental, which includes rental car insurance coverage. And no, I don’t get any sort of commission for mentioning their card.

3. Use a good map app when planning your itinerary

Speeds vary depending on the roads. When deciding how far you can drive each day, don’t just look at the miles—look at the eta and the types of roads as well.

There are 4 main types of roads in Ireland:

• M (motorway) roads. Think of these like highways with an average speed of around 120 km/h.
• N (national) roads. These are major roadways with an average speed of around 100 km/h.
• R (regional) roads. These connection the N roads, but aren’t major roadways. They tend to be more scenic and narrow, with slower speeds, typically 80 km/h or less.
• L (local) roads. While they can vary in size, they are often very narrow (think 1 lane, total), with speed limits of 60 km/h or less. If you get stuck behind a slow vehicle, these roads can significantly increase your travel time.

4. Avoid Limmerick if you can

Because we planned a bit late, we were limited in our stop over spot for day 5. While Limmerick served our purpose, other towns with arguably more charm may be a better option.

Packing for Ireland

Rain gear is a MUST. Think rubber ankle boots or water resistant sneakers, raincoats, and a good travel umbrella. Also pack layers. A good fleece, light-weight sweaters, and short sleeved shirts will give you some variety. I packed jeans and slacks for the kids and me, and also threw in one skirt for myself, just in case we had a warmer day.

For the kids, I also loaded their backpacks up with a variety of quiet activities, their travel yoto players, a travel pillow, a stuffy, and their kindle fires.

Quiet travel activies included:

• a couple of books
• Highlights hidden picture sticker fun
• Paint by Sticker book
• Mad Libs
• sketch books
• markers
• crayaons
• fidgets
• travel game

And we’re off…

Because we packed a lot into each day, I’ll be breaking up the trip into several posts. Stay tuned for Dublin, Day 1.