A friend of mine is excited but terrified about her upcoming trip to Ireland. Last year, as I planned a trip to Ireland with my 14-year-old son, I too was anxious and apprehensive about the trip.

Digging online about the family name (we pronounce it Do-RAN, in Ireland it’s DOR-an), I determined it was likely his paternal side of the family came from County Wexford in southeast Ireland, just north of Waterford. Since we would first be in Dublin, then explore the west side of Ireland and wind our way south and east to County Wexford, I really couldn’t imagine how else to accomplish all of this in a week but by car--so it seemed worth it to drive on the wrong side of the road for all of the right reasons!

When I mentioned driving in Ireland, some people who had been there (perhaps 20 years ago!)  rushed to tell me about the difficult, narrow roads in Ireland and how hard it is to drive there.  But being of a mindset that generally figures I can do anything I put my mind to, I ignored all of these warnings and went for the car.  I was relying on my son for a little passenger-side navigation but he hasn’t yet forsaken his iPod to fall in love with map-reading. I knew I’d be pretty much on my own on this excursion. 

If you have a week or more to spend in Ireland and you enjoy the freedom of independent travel, renting a car and getting to know the country from the road is a treasured experience I highly recommend. I did sign up for my International Driving Permit from AAA and rented from Hertz, who is a trusted partner of AAA, so I was prepared.

My plan was to pick the car up at the Dublin airport after our first two days touring that city by foot and public transportation and then hit the roads to the west of Ireland from there.  I was hoping to find a little practice track where I could spend some time getting used to the “backwards” car and “wrong side” roads but it was not to be. The lovely lads at the Hertz counter provided a map, a little cheery Irish send-off (“Driving to Galway then? Good you!”), and then I just spilled out onto the freeway. Nothing like a little “trial by fire” for my first few minutes of driving in Ireland—trying to keep up with the traffic at 120 km per hour!

It was a little scary the first day, I’ll admit.  I had a tendency to hug the left berm, trying to frame up the road from my familiar position on that side of the car.  I may have run over a few curbs turning left but managed to spare all Irish signs and pedestrians from my cockeyed path. It really didn’t take that long to acclimate to the controls and navigation of the small car I rented and as long as I didn’t have to drive as fast as the Irish on those winding roads, I handled it just fine.

And Ireland is filled with very quality two-,four-, six- and eight-lane highways just as you would find in the U.S.  Sure, there are some narrower roads in the more scenic, off-the-beaten path locales but that’s what makes the trip an adventure.
     
My memories from exploring all over the western side of the country are fantastic. We anticipated seeing the most lovely Irish rainbows appear in our path after the daily rain showers.  Ireland is much more mountainous on the west coast than I had realized and driving across the Dingle Peninsula and through Killarney National Park was challenging yet spectacular. Seeing the waves crashing into the Atlantic coastline, laughing at the sheep who trotted alongside our car one day and finding checkerboard green fields and the remnants of centuries-old castles at every turn, you can really feel a part of Ireland when exploring by car.

Of course, few journeys in other countries are without at least one mishap.  Our last day in Ireland, we visited Blarney Castle near Cork, then headed on to County Wexford before heading back to Dublin.  Stopping in a small town called Carlow for dinner, I failed to read a sign posted in the parking garage I chose noting it would be locked at 8 p.m.  We returned from dinner to find our car behind a chained gate!

Thankfully we had kissed that Blarney Stone earlier in the day.  I sought help from the nearest pub (there were three on that block so I entered the most cheerful-looking one) and one of the patrons was kind enough to call the garage manager on his mobile phone.  We were soon rescued and back on our way, thanks to the luck of the Irish and modern telecommunications.

Does anyone have a international driving experience to share?