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There's No Blarney in Killarney


Although everyone thinks of Western Ireland as the location of the famous Blarney Stone in County Cork, just next door in County Kerry is Killarney, a lovely town retaining its timeless charm and epitomizing Ireland. It reminded me of a cross between Monterey, with its dramatic coastlines, misty fog, and Boston, with its Irish roots. Pubs on every corner, and merchants selling every kind of wool clothing imaginable, not to mention a plethora of whiskeys and a new trend of artisan distilled spirits. I was surprised at the number of restaurants and BNBs available for a city of this size. I was attending a TBEX Travel Bloggers conference (i. e., digital travel writers conference), and since my family name is Buckley, I had to rediscover my family roots.

Arriving in County Kerry Airport, also know as Farranfore was a step back in time. First, the experience of RyanAir was quite unique, especially with it's glaring yellow interior that reminded me of McDonalds! On arrival at the airport, a 2-runway airport that reminded me of Vieques in Puerto Rico, I loved the personal attention that nobody seems to offer any more. Even at customs, the officer hand initialed my arrival into Ireland, not lost on me, a 4th-generation Irish emigrant!

I also learned that County Kerry Airport is working hard to attract Americans who typically fly into Dublin. I think they should focus on the personal attention that no longer exists in busy airports. And some of the newer airlines are capitalizing on this very point. For example, Aer Lingus is now flying from County Kerry to Boston, New York, Chicago, Orlando and San Francisco, to attract Americans coming to Ireland. Norwegian Airlines is also increasing its flights in Ireland, including flights from County Cork or Shannon Airport. This quaint airport proudly touted a full-service restaurant/bar and a gift shop. Compared to Luton London Airport, the choices were considerably less, but somehow added to the charm. Even so, wireless services were available throughout the airport, although for Americans with US plugs, a few electricity conversion options would have been much appreciated!

On arrival, as I was a Killarney tourist virgin, I had to experience renting a car, which I had heard was a bit unique. First, there was no possible way to refuse your car insurance coverage. In the US, and even in some parts of Europe, your personal car insurance coverage includes rental cars, but not in Ireland. Actually, you can refuse the coverage, but they will hold a $1500 deposit from your bank account for the duration of your rental car, so how's that for an incentive to take their coverage? However, it's just a deposit, as I was credited it back a week after my trip.

The next adventure was driving on the left, so I have to give comments from my personal driver, Pierre, as he was the principal driver during the trip. First, you're sitting on the right, and your rear view mirror is on your left, so that's a new experience! And so is the gear shift--we had just gotten used to our Renault Zoe electric car, which drives like an automatic shift, so not only did Pierre have to maneuver on the opposite of the road, but remember to shift at the right moment!

Then there were the narrow roads with rocky walls built literally on the non-existent shoulder of the road! I sat on the edge of my seat, waiting for that wonderful scraping sound of our car along the rocky walls, as Pierre preferred to drive way to the left to avoid the oncoming traffic. We had a few tense moments until Pierre simply slowed down and we revealed our virgin tourist status to the drivers behind us. I was ready for an Irish Whiskey at this point! Or at least an Irish coffee!

The next adventure was dialing a phone number in Ireland. I soon understood that each county has its own number of digits for its telephone numbers! They vary in length by county from 5, 6 or 7 digits long. Here's a GREAT website to call any international phone number and what's required. And by the way, your iPhone must be fairly recent for your data plan to work. My iPhone 6 worked fine, but not Pierre's iPhone SE (older).

I finally gave up on trying to call our AirBNB hosts, Audrey & Patrick, and thanks to my data plan still working, he texted me and generously came to find us. Another thing to know about Ireland, is that they list the county as well as the city in Google Maps, so don't confuse the two. We arrived at tea time, so were offered tea and cakes, much appreciated after a long day of traveling. Actually, the flights weren't long, but we had to deal with EasyJet and RyanAir not coordinating their schedules--so spent a day a London Luton Airport waiting for our connection.

Patrick and Audrey were delightful, including their two children. We had an ensuite room with private bath and easy parking, not so easy to find in larger cities. They had lived in Australia and knew what living as an expat was like. We dropped our bags and drove into Killarney town center to discover the local area and find a place for dinner. Pierre chose a restaurant that was packed on a Monday night. Cronin's turned out to be a great choice, a local favorite, open since 1957. The seafood was incredibly fresh and the chowder amazing. I was longing for New England clam chowder so this was a close second, but theirs included smoked salmon, an unusual and delicious touch. And the shrimp--they reminded me of the Monterey Bay Prawns, tasting much more like lobster than shrimp.

The next day was the first day of the conference, so I planned to be inundated with information. We meandered again through the town center, stopping at Lir Cafe for an intense hot chocolate, complete with marshmellows, a long-lost American touch! That night we were invited to the Opening Night at the Killarney Racecourse, so we chose a light lunch. We were told to meet at the INEC Conference Center, where we would be bussed to the Opening Night. I was relieved as the thought of too much whiskey and driving on the left was not a reassuring combination. Actually, we had picked up a hitchhiker on the way into town who had been hit head on by an Italian driving on the wrong side of the road at 80 km/hour. So now I understood the reason for the extra local insurance!

We excitedly arrived early for the bus and were transported to the Killarney Racecourse. We were greeted by a gorgeous blond wearing an Irish jockey uniform. She insisted that we start at the horse stalls, so we immediately assume we were going to see the horses. Instead, each of the stalls had been cleaned out and housed a local specialty food or drink merchant! And of course--whiskey and distilled spirits were the most popular choice. We sampled so many great products:

  • Dingle Distillery - another baby born from the financial crisis, Oliver Hughes; Liam LaHart and Peter Mosley were the pioneers creating artisanal style spirits, starting as recently as 2015. The result is amazing, and I still remember the lingering taste of juniper berries in their gin.

The next two days were completely filled with TBEX Conference Seminars, networking and meeting other local properties and brands. I'm still sifting through all the information. Bravo to TBEX for organizing a great conference, with information for all levels of bloggers. Way too much information for just one blogpost. I did learn on my last day, that Killarney has been ranked in the top 10 places to retire in the world, according to Oyster’s 2016 list. Thanks to hiking trails, a walkable town center, restaurants and golf courses helped in the process.“Killarney is very attractive for retirees. . . And in the last 12 months we have seen an increase in retired people buying or wanting to buy,” local property auctioneer Michael Coghlan told the Irish Times. Blame it on Brexit, or the increase of Americans moving abroad, or simply the fact the Irish speak English, and are so very friendly. Whatever the reason, I can certainly see the reason for moving there. Now I know where to go to celebrate the 4th of July!

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