Ireland is almost completely planned. Eeep! Belfast hotel acquired, and a day tour – “Game of Thrones – Winterfell Trek from Belfast,” which will take me to Inch Abby, Castle Ward, and most importantly, two hours in Tollymore Forest (the easiest way I could get there since I’m not renting a car).
Some terms I’m having trouble wrapping my head around, though. Brains are dumb. A “double” room is not a room with two queen beds. A double is a room with one double bed. There are no rooms with just a single twin bed. There are a lot of rooms with two twin beds. If I’m staying by myself, why would I need two twin beds? I should reserve a “double” room. Even though that makes my American brain think I’m getting a room with two double beds.
What is the difference between reserving a room at a hotel “with breakfast” or just “the room”? A lot of the hotels say you can do either. But they also have restaurants downstairs that they say are open, even to the general public, for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner). So, if you just get the room, are you …. not allowed to eat breakfast there? Or, you can, but you have to pay for breakfast separately, like you would in the States? Or are they saying that breakfast is included? I guess I’ll find out soon, because things that I am opting for are breakfast included (I’m not usually a breakfast person but if I’m going to be out and about most days, I’d best get something in me first) and for free cancellation (just in case, thank you, Anxiety Brain).
Other ways I am organizing this trip because of Anxiety Brain (TM), is booking through the actual websites of all the hotels and tours, because I’ve never booked through Viator before and have read mixed reviews. Basically folks say it’s great unless it isn’t, and if it isn’t, it’s because something has gone wrong, and if so, good luck getting your money back or your reservation moved. What I’m finding is that the rates on the actual websites are the same, if not even better (“save 15% for booking directly through our website!”) than the prices quoted on Tripadvisor. Of course I’ve been reading the reviews and whatnot on Tripadvisor, I’m just… not booking through them. Kind of like how I look up books on Amazon and then order through my local independent book store.
I’ve also chosen both the Galway and Belfast hotels based on my tours – their departure and drop-off points. Since I don’t know the cities, and tours leave first thing in the morning and I’m not really a fully functional morning person, I thought that might be best.
The only thing I have left to do is find a tattoo artist in any of the cities I’ll be in so that I can pre-book an appointment (I have two really, really fun ideas for tattoos, which I suppose I should narrow down to one), and book a hotel in Dublin for the night before my flight leaves.
OMG I’M GOING TO IRELAND!
The morning person thing. If your body clock stays on our time, when it’s 8am here it is 1pm in Belfast. Maybe it doesn’t really matter, that you’ll adjust to their time when you get there. But it won’t be morning if it’s 1pm. So 8am there is what you’d be used to as 3am. This makes me want a nap and I never take naps. https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/united-kingdom-n-ireland-belfast-to-est