Destinations for the first timer

Hi. I am middle aged and we are planning on our first ever trip to Ireland. My father was Irish but I never knew him, so there is some of me that has an emotional connection. I would like to experience the best of rural Ireland as well as a visit to Dublin. I suppose this is typical of many posts on this forum, but is there such a thing as destination routes that would give the feel of Ireland, not just the scenery but the people as well? We intend on taking our car by ferry and moving round the country stopping at B&Bs. Maybe this is a bit of a generalised question but its a start.
Thanks
Chris

I should have stated in the original post that we intend to stay in Ireland for two weeks so thought perhaps we would do the East side in one week and the west coast in the second week.
Chris

Hello Chris, 

That sounds like a wonderful idea for a first trip to Ireland! Have you decided where you would like to start your road trip around the island yet? You can find all of the available ferry routes here. 

Exploring the east and west coast is a great way to experience Irish scenery, culture and the people. I have collected a few itineraries and ideas for you in this personal scrapbook. These are some suggestions for both the east and the west coast, and you can mix and match them until you have created your own perfect route. 

Staying in B&B's is the perfect way to see and capture daily life in Ireland, and your hosts will be able to show you to the best sightseeing spots in the area. You can find a complete list of all tourist board approved B&B's here. Simply select the name of the town, city or village, and all of the available options will pop up. 

• First time trip to Ireland
• First trip to Ireland
• First time in Ireland

Hi
Brilliant reply! Many thanks for your help. I will read the links you have given me and get back to you. I guess you get requests like this all the time, and you must get bored by the repetitive nature of the question, but I am assuming that each questioner has a genuine heart-felt intention behind the question and are looking for the answer to the romanticised image they hold. People say you should never meet your heroes, as their reality will fall short of your expectations, and you could argue that your previously unknown ancestry will too. However, I have a feeling that mine will be more comforting than that I have found in the UK. By that I mean the nature of the culture of the people rather than individuals. (Sorry a rather good bottle of Australian Cab Sav has greased the axle to this reply). I am really looking forward to visiting Ireland. I doubt I will ever find anything about my family, but that is secondary to experiencing the country and the people that I suspect will be warm and have an advanced sense of humour.
Chris Garvey

Hi Chris,

We are always happy to help and if you have any further questions about our wonderful green isle please do not hesitate to ask!

Many people say that when they have been over to see us that they leave a bit of their heart behind, we are sure that you will feel the same and this is the first of many visits back to see us. 

Have you started to look into the place where your father was from on the island of Ireland? We have several community posts about Irish Ancestry with excellent resource information to get you started.

Speak soon,

Martin

Hi
I know very little about my father. It was one of those episodes of man meets girl, they have a brief fling, she gets pregnant and they don't see each other again. All I know is his surname was either Keanan or Keane and he either owned or managed stables in Enfield in north London. The family were involved in some way with horses and had moved to England after WWII. Its complicated, I was adopted and my birth mother (that I discovered a few years ago), either can't or wont talk more about it. I have no expectations of finding any relatives, just maybe visit the area of Ireland where they came from.
The fact that half of me comes from Ireland (as I discovered only a few years ago) is good enough reason for me to visit and experience some of my roots. In truth I always wanted to visit Ireland in the past quite apart from realising my ancestry was Irish, but just never got round to doing it. Oddly my adopted parents had an Irish surname (Garvey), which I am told means "Rough Rude Man" :) no idea whether that is an accurate translation. My adopted father had strong Irish ancestry and came from Lancashire, although he was never interested in ancestry. I became interested many years ago for a short while about ancestry and discovered that people with an ancient Celtic name of Girvae were prominent in the East Anglian fens prior to the Saxons turning up. There is some link with Garvey and Girvae as I discovered. Its all good fun to discover this stuff but we are all made up of genes from all over the place so its usually nothing more than an exercise in romantic dreaming. However, my immediate ancestry is Irish so I am coming to Ireland for a couple of weeks to experience what I experience.

Chris Garvey

Thank you for sharing your story, and I am happy you get to experience and explore Ireland for yourself, Chris. :) 
If you do ever have any questions about genealogy or ancestry, please feel free to post it on the Genealogy forum, and if there is anything else I can help you with, don't hesitate to ask! 

Seeing and the misses and I will be going to Irland for our first time this year, I found this very helpful. Just wanted to say thank you. I bookmarked those other threads as well.

Hello, Chris.

Did you manage to visit our Emerald Isle or are you still planning this trip? I really look forward to hearing about your visit here.

Have a great day,

Francesco