Hi Kerry, Great to hear that you are going to make the trip 'back home' ! You will love it, guaranteed. To answer at least a few of your questions: first and foremost - apply for your passports. Due to the backlog of requests, it is taking longer than normal for them to process, especially first-time applicants. Next, check with your health insurance to see what kind of health coverage (if any) that you will have when traveling in a foreign country; if not, they may be able to sell you a special policy of some sort to cover you while in Ireland or advise you on what to do. Check with your doctor for any special restrictions, etc regarding the flight and trip and get his or her signature on any medical forms that may be necessary if you need to carry any type of medical supplies aboard the plane (oxygen, syringe, inhalator, that type of thing) and get duplicate copies of all prescriptions in case you will need them. Also remember that you are only allowed to carry aboard one 1 qt sized clear bag that will hold any liquids (shampoos, lotions, liquid medicine, etc) in 3 oz maximum sizes. The rest need to put in your checked luggage - and I would suggest putting those on plastic bags also. I strongly suggest that you look at the Tourism Ireland site and see if there are any travel agents in your area that are Shamrock Club members. These are agents that have taken a specially designed course given by the Irish Tourist Board (or Tourism Ireland as it now known) to learn all the important aspects of travel to and from Ireland and touring within; and have traveled to Ireland themselves. The personalized help that a travel agent can give you is worth the small fee to pay for their services. Since you mentioned existing health problems, please take out travel insurance. A very inexpensive policy is available through your travel agent that would cover you in case you needed to cancel or cut the trip short. At the very least, the rental car company I would strongly recommend is Dan Dooley car rental (ph# 800-331-9301). They also have a package tour company called Dooley Ireland Vacations. Shannon Airport is much easier to fly in and out of and driving to and from is also much easier. However, if you decide to go to Dublin at all, I would either start or finish there and most definitely do without a car during that time. Driving in Dublin is nightmarish, take my word for it- and parking is a whole other set of problems. You can fly into one airport and out of the other; you don't have to go in and out of the same airport. If you decide to stay in Kerry the whole time, you may want to rent a self-catering cottage and use it as a base, then can head out to sightsee during the day and not worry about where to stay each night. There's plenty to see in Kerry alone, that's for sure! There's also a car ferry that goes across the Shannon River from Tarbert in Kerry to Co Clare and you can drive up along the coast to the Cliffs of Moher. That saves a few hours of driving time. Goodness, I could go on and on! Hopefully that will give you a few starting points anyway. Beth Kerry <genbug@agapeinternet.com> wrote: Hi y'all, I have found out I have some very serious health issues and my sweet daughter wants us to take the trip I've always wanted to take. It didn't seem possible, but since I was named Kerry for my great-grandmother's birthplace I have always wanted to go and see Kerry. We know next to nothing except that we want to go to Dingle and that we need a passport. I guess I should have paid attention when others have discussed it, but it seemed so unlikely we'd make the trip, I haven't paid attention to details, I've only longed for the same thing as others have discussed their trips and loved hearing about them. So, where do I begin? Where would it be best for us to fly into? What should we do besides rent a car and hope we can remember which side of the road we are on? And I can remember advice to be sure to rent from someone but be sure not to rent from someone else, but I don't remember who. : ) Is there a good guide for finding B & Bs? Or is that the best place to stay? About 10 years ago I remember knowing about a website that showed pictures and gave information about places to stay. Does anyone know about something like this? If we have only about 10 to 14 days from the time we leave home till we return, what would you suggest we do? (I suppose it would mean flying out of Dallas or Houston to somewhere.) Are there other counties nearby we really "should" see? (I'll admit, I'd be plenty happy to just stay in Kerry the whole time.) What advice can you give? And what suggestions do you have? Blessings, Kerry ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-KERRY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi y'all, Thank you so much for your detailed information. I am really hoping this trip "back home" will happen. One never knows in life what is before us. I am 61 (or rather will be next week) and my dd is 31, and I don't have particular health restrictions at this point except that I tire easily. I am newly diagnosed with cancer, so no oxygen or anything like that. We'd definitely be interested in flying in and out of Shannon (thanks for that information) since we are not interested in Dublin at all. We are definitely more inclined toward the rural. And I love photography, so that will be one of my main "focuses" (no pun intended) while we are there. : ) Beth, you mentioned a "self-catering cottage" sounds fascinating. Does that mean that you have your own cottage and provide your own meals? Is that easy to do? We don't want to do a lot of cooking. Is it customary to eat at pubs or restaurants or what? Trish, you said to leisurely enjoy "all you have in mind," but that is just it, we don't have anything but Kerry in mind. Flying into and out of Shannon sounds just right, and I like the suggestion of going to Berea Peninsula that Noreen mentioned. Also Noreen mentioned something about summertime. That is another question we have. What is the best time of year to go? It would be easier for us to go late spring or fall, as far as my daughter getting off work is concerned. Is summer better for traveling there? What is the weather likely to be when? And thank you, David, I'd be happy to have any information off-list that you would care to share. Also, we have a cousin in Castleisland. Her brother is somewhere else, but I can't remember where, at this point. I have it written down in my address book. I guess it is time to start getting maps and information sent to us. This has just come up, so we haven't gotten far yet at all. We got passport applications yesterday, so we'll start moving forward on that right away. I guess that might be an issue for when we can travel. This may not happen, but we are going to move ahead hoping it will. : ) All suggestions are welcome. I love this group, and my favorite postings (besides someone saying they have found family connections) have always been hearing about plans for trips and then the trips themselves. I guess hearing about the trips has always kept my dream alive that someday . . . . And a cousin of ours found church records in Dingle for all of us when she was in Kerry years ago. I'd like to go there, maybe even contact someone ahead of time, but she has died, so I can't get information from her. Is that going to be difficult to track down? Are there many churches there? Blessings, Kerry

Beth Great advise. We flew out of Baltimore to Shannon. And the longest wait we had in the whole trip was getting through customs in Ireland. There are "emergency" methods to get a passport quicker -- when health is a problem. Clifford -----Original Message----- From: irl-kerry-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:irl-kerry-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Beth Walsh Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 1:16 AM To: Kerry; IRL-KERRY-L@rootsweb. Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] Trip to Kerry Hi Kerry, Great to hear that you are going to make the trip 'back home' ! You will love it, guaranteed. To answer at least a few of your questions: first and foremost - apply for your passports. Due to the backlog of requests, it is taking longer than normal for them to process, especially first-time applicants. Next, check with your health insurance to see what kind of health coverage (if any) that you will have when traveling in a foreign country; if not, they may be able to sell you a special policy of some sort to cover you while in Ireland or advise you on what to do. Check with your doctor for any special restrictions, etc regarding the flight and trip and get his or her signature on any medical forms that may be necessary if you need to carry any type of medical supplies aboard the plane (oxygen, syringe, inhalator, that type of thing) and get duplicate copies of all prescriptions in case you will need them. Also remember that you are only allowed to carry aboard one 1 qt sized clear bag that will hold any liquids (shampoos, lotions, liquid medicine, etc) in 3 oz maximum sizes. The rest need to put in your checked luggage - and I would suggest putting those on plastic bags also. I strongly suggest that you look at the Tourism Ireland site and see if there are any travel agents in your area that are Shamrock Club members. These are agents that have taken a specially designed course given by the Irish Tourist Board (or Tourism Ireland as it now known) to learn all the important aspects of travel to and from Ireland and touring within; and have traveled to Ireland themselves. The personalized help that a travel agent can give you is worth the small fee to pay for their services. Since you mentioned existing health problems, please take out travel insurance. A very inexpensive policy is available through your travel agent that would cover you in case you needed to cancel or cut the trip short. At the very least, the rental car company I would strongly recommend is Dan Dooley car rental (ph# 800-331-9301). They also have a package tour company called Dooley Ireland Vacations. Shannon Airport is much easier to fly in and out of and driving to and from is also much easier. However, if you decide to go to Dublin at all, I would either start or finish there and most definitely do without a car during that time. Driving in Dublin is nightmarish, take my word for it- and parking is a whole other set of problems. You can fly into one airport and out of the other; you don't have to go in and out of the same airport. If you decide to stay in Kerry the whole time, you may want to rent a self-catering cottage and use it as a base, then can head out to sightsee during the day and not worry about where to stay each night. There's plenty to see in Kerry alone, that's for sure! There's also a car ferry that goes across the Shannon River from Tarbert in Kerry to Co Clare and you can drive up along the coast to the Cliffs of Moher. That saves a few hours of driving time. Goodness, I could go on and on! Hopefully that will give you a few starting points anyway. Beth Kerry <genbug@agapeinternet.com> wrote: Hi y'all, I have found out I have some very serious health issues and my sweet daughter wants us to take the trip I've always wanted to take. It didn't seem possible, but since I was named Kerry for my great-grandmother's birthplace I have always wanted to go and see Kerry. We know next to nothing except that we want to go to Dingle and that we need a passport. I guess I should have paid attention when others have discussed it, but it seemed so unlikely we'd make the trip, I haven't paid attention to details, I've only longed for the same thing as others have discussed their trips and loved hearing about them. So, where do I begin? Where would it be best for us to fly into? What should we do besides rent a car and hope we can remember which side of the road we are on? And I can remember advice to be sure to rent from someone but be sure not to rent from someone else, but I don't remember who. : ) Is there a good guide for finding B & Bs? Or is that the best place to stay? About 10 years ago I remember knowing about a website that showed pictures and gave information about places to stay. Does anyone know about something like this? If we have only about 10 to 14 days from the time we leave home till we return, what would you suggest we do? (I suppose it would mean flying out of Dallas or Houston to somewhere.) Are there other counties nearby we really "should" see? (I'll admit, I'd be plenty happy to just stay in Kerry the whole time.) What advice can you give? And what suggestions do you have? Blessings, Kerry ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-KERRY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-KERRY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message