Planning a short (10 days?) first solo travel in Ireland
Hello everyone,
I was taking a break from studying today and it dawned on me: I have to go to Ireland this summer. I, for various reasons, will be certainly be travelling alone.
My plan was to get started in Cork and staying 2 nights there, looking for Rory Gallagher related places, having a tasty beamish, walking around the city and finding a cheap chippy with formica tables.
Afterwards, I'm torn between Kilkenny and Galway. Call me a hipster but I don't really care that much about Dublin, so apart from travelling reasons going there definitely isn't a pre-requisite. What would you suggest? Again, 2 nights in either Kilkenny or Galway seems reasonable.
That brings us to 6 days.
If I go to Galway, maybe that'd be a good idea to check out the nearby islands (Aran?). However I'm on a budget and I'm a bit wary of price-gouging in scenic, remote areas...
If I wind up in Kilkenny, where to go next? Dublin seems unavoidable at this point but then again, my friends who went to Ireland specifically said Dublin was a letdown compared to other places. What towns are there between Kilkenny and Dublin that might be worth a visit?
As you can see, that's kind of where my plans fall apart and become a series of 'maybes'.
I thought about going for a completely different approach to it and starting in Dublin, northbound to Belfast and exploring Northern Ireland instead. But I have even less knowledge of these areas...
Anyway. As far as accommodation go, I want to stick to hostels and/or non-stuffy B&Bs, basically places with a modicum of a social life. My mate told me about hostels specifically targetted at solo travellers so I might try that. Do you have any experience with hostels in Ireland?
I'm not against driving but have no experience driving on the left-hand side of the road apart from Euro Truck Simulator 2 lol. Unsure how it'll turn out. Also I suppose renting a car is fairly expensive...
I know it's a lot of questions, explicit and implied, so feel free to only partly reply! Thanks and happy trails!