A Truly Madly Ordinary Little Vacation.

Published on by ortensia

Last minute we decided to make the most out of the school holidays and take a little family vacation in Ireland.On Easter Sunday we packed the car and headed toward County Kerry.Dingle peninsula,Ring of Kerry , Blasket and Skellig Island,that was out itinerary.
Unfortunately the weather was not quite an alliance. The first day never stopped raining.Not much of a bother as most of the day was spent in the car driving down.

The hotel I booked was supposed to be amazing:big rooms with canopy beds and huge en suits with vintage bath tub.Old style recreational rooms with library included and ,all this,inside a sub tropical garden.
By the time we arrived it was nearly dark and slashing rain.The road to get to the hotel was remote, secluded and narrow.Only one car at the time could pass.All around there was a forest of trees and bushes whose branches kept slamming on the car.The traveling husband became Brad and I was Janet.With great disappointment, my mental (rocky horror)picture(show)was broken by the hotel owner:very nice but very ordinary,not resembling Frank’n Furter at all!
That was not the only disappointment.As soon we checked in we discovered that those luxurious rooms I saw on the website were reserved for kids less people.Yep,the happy parents of under 14 and their precious ones were instead confined in apartments outside the hotel ‘s main building.Nice accommodation indeed,nothing to complain about but, still no canopy bed and no huge luxurious vintage style bathroom.Our chance for a glimpse of the luxurious part of the hotel,it was when down in the morning for breakfast.The subtropical gardens,on the other hand,were better then expected:Palms,wood sculptures,a cord bridge over a river and a spectacular view with the mountains at the back and the ocean in the front.

The forecasts for the week were depressing:rain rain rain but,we were determined to do whatever was in our agenda anyway. Our commitment and good will has been rewarded and the weather ended up to be not that bad.If from the second day the rain spared us,unfortunately the wind persisted paralyzing all the ferries to the islands.No Blasket Island,no Star Wars Skellig Island and no tour to see Fungie,the oldest dolphin in Ireland. Fungie is supposed to be around and entertaining the tourists for thirty five years.I might be cynical but,I am not that convinced it is always and only him.What makes me doubt it even more, is that you pay for the boat tour only on your return and only if you see him.Now,that is a quite an hazard for business I say.My idea is that they have a multitude of Fungie out there,trained to dance around the tourists and,if we want to go more sci fi,they might have a mechanical Fungie,operated by a remote control. Obviously this is my devious mind talking…..the true is sure Fungie is there for thirty five years and of course is not fed by the tour operators that ,if he doesn’t show up,don’t mind to bring people around for two hours for free.

Having to exclude the tours of the islands we had more driving to do :the traveling husband never stopped traveling ,not even on holidays. True to be told he was not bothered at all as the Wild Atlantic way we drove through was absolutely spectacular.

On our way down to Dingle we stopped in a couple of beaches.Last one was crowded with surfer.Myself and daughter number two were dying to try but the husband and daughter number one highlighted the fact that even if we were given a wet suit we needed swimming suit underneath or we were going to stay for the rest of the day with wet panties.While that made daughter number two change her mind, I am still convinced that we could have done it and then we could have put our underwear to dry on the dashboard.Unfortunately,being three against one,I had to give up the idea of surfing…for the day.

The days flew by and we were thrown from a breathtaking landscape to an other.In the evenings ,when eventually back to the hotel,we were exhausted but with our souls and hearts filled of images of how beautiful and mesmerizing nature can be.

If none of us was bothered by the mileage covered in a such short time,the car was.On the morning of the third day “she” expressed “her” tiredness and started to do a quite alarming noise.We drove for fifteen minutes open windows trying to understand where the noise was coming from.Having had no success on detecting its source, we pulled over and checked the engine,under the car ,the tires and everything we could think of that could be connected to the noise. No luck,the noise seemed to come out of nowhere.We went back to the road with the intention to stop at the nearest garage.”Garage”,the magic word,just like “doctor”:apparently,daughter number one is not the only hypochondriac in the family,the car is hypochondriac too.As soon we approach the garage,in fact, the car stopped doing the noise.Placebo effect?Who knows but,as the noise was not there anymore,it seemed just a waste of time to stop.In perfect line with the family approach to car’s trouble,we decided to ignore the one there noise and keep going.The mystery stays(even if nobody really gave it a second thought)but the car safely brought us around for an other couple of days and back home.

P.S
Little note for my regulars and not.Now you know why I haven’t been checking posts in the last few days.Nothing personal folks.😍

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114 thoughts on “A Truly Madly Ordinary Little Vacation.”

  1. This post was a hoot to read. I liked your description about the hypochondriac car. I’d have voted with you to go surfing. Wet panties are a small price to pay. I assume you have a spare in your bag and could have slipped into those if necessary.

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  9. Goodness…I just can’t get how is it possible to book the room with a vintage bath and get something else instead? The owner should be punished lol
    About the husband – too kind fella…I mean traveling everywhere and still ok to drive car all day long.
    Hypochondriac car? – no doubt bcz car just wanted vacation too 🤪

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    1. I know,the room was a disappointment but the owner if the hotel was nice and our accommodation quite good too.well about the husband I say driving was a change of the usual flying😉plus he had his girls with him…..😜probably driving was the less annoying thing of all the holiday😂😂😂😂

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  12. Why do hotels always have the best rooms for couples without kids? I don’t understand. They make having kids a travel nightmare. 😀♥️
    I hope you’re enjoying your trip.

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  13. Sounds like a fantastic time!
    oh my gosh, your description of arriving at the hotel was perfect, i was starting to feel alarmed for you haha
    that garden sounds beautiful too.
    I agree that time and money spent travelling is never wasted!
    great post 😁

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  19. Well, what else can you expect from Ireland but rain 😉
    I hate it when they post polished pictures of hotels and the reality is crap. It’s my worst fear now that I am planning a vacation!

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  27. You’re the only person I know who could possibly have a hypochondriac car 🚗, Ortensia. LOL ! 😂

    The Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula. ❤️💗 💕

    Beautiful country.

    Hard to believe it’s been 25 years since I was last there when I visited with my dad.

    Did you get to see the Cliffs of Moher at all?

    In a Hitchcockian frame of mind, I always thought the Cliffs of Moher would be an ideal place to push someone off.

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    Peace ✌and Love ❤

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  30. You are a champion vacationer. Nothing will keep away your enjoyment. I will remember this lesson the next time I attempt such a daring feat. 😁

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  31. Thrilled you are not controlled by your blog, but instead dip in and out when you wish to and still enjoy it so. Time out for your family is essential and bar the weather, I’m so happy to had a great time together. x

    Liked by 1 person

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