Last year I went with my sister, Greer, on a circle trip from London to Paris via Italy.  Greer is currently serving in Togo, West Africa in the Peace Corps so she was not able to go with me this year.  Rather than a trip on my own, this year I decided to take a Europe Through the Back Door tour.  [I've been a big fan of the Rick Steves books and TV shows for many years.]  It was a 14-day "Best of Ireland" bus tour, starting and ending in Dublin.  I wasn't sure I would like a bus tour after backpacking and hostelling on my own but I signed up anyway.  And it was great!

I stayed at Trinity College for 2 nights before joining the tour.  During those two days I walked to Phoenix Park, went to Howth and Dun Laoghaire on the DART, went to my first Anglican service at St. Ann's, bought a lot of food at Grafton Street's Marks and Spencer food hall, toured Number 29 Georgian House, and (mostly) just recovered from jet lag.  Then I joined the tour at the Harding Hotel and we were off.

Words of advice to travelers: I had only three negative experiences on my trip (plus one word of advice).
(1) The first was a general fatigue of being around people drinking alcohol.  When taking a group or bus tour, prepare yourself for this fact [I have never been around drinkers and I do not drink; it got old quite quickly.]
(2)  The second one was being gouged for a taxi ride from Dublin city center to the airport [Take the bus!  If I could again, I would: 6-8 euros for the bus (which I took on the way in) versus 26 euros for the taxi.]
(3) Never make a credit card phone call!!  Buy the cheap international phone cards and use them.  You'll never know how important this is until you make a mistake like I did and end up paying $75 for a quick call to the States.
(4) Take a sewing kit!!  This is the third Europe trip in a row that I've had to buy one on the road.  Every year my day pack decides to come unstitched (usually in the worst spot--one year it was a Paris train station and all my stuff was strewn on the floor).

So now, join me through my pictures and comments on my wonderful Irish adventure : )