Ireland
Arrival Plan
Two arrival plans:
- Aer Lingus has an 11:45pm-1:45am on 6/28 from Alicante (ALC) to Dublin (DUB). Will likely require an airport hotel in DUB upon arrival. This does set us up for a day in Galway and/or Dublin and then either the 13:00→14:16 (Canal Bridge) bus or the 18:15→19:53 (directly to Roundstone) bus from Galway.
- Iberia has a 6:05am VLC→MAD + 8:05am-9:35am MAD→DUB which should doable. Will likely require an airport hotel in VLC. We'd then need to make our way to Galway.
Other details:
- Trains from Dublin Heuston at 11:25 and 13:25 to Galway Ceannt and take about 2h20m-2h30m.
- Dublin Heuston seems to be about 30m away from Heuston on Dublin Express which are €7;
- Buses from the airport to Galway also exist with Citylink ([https://www.citylink.ie/uploads/documents/GeneralDocuments/Galway_-_Dublin_City_-_Dublin_Airport_Express_-_Route_660_&_761_02-06-22.pdf PDF schedule). The best ones are at 14:15 which is direct from the airport to Galway. The direct one takes only 2h30m which seems better.
I think my preference is to do the Alicante→Dublin one. Stay in an airport hotel, and then take the 14:15 direct bus. But we can also do the train if that's preferable for whatever reason.
Once we get to Galway, we need to get to Alan's Place in Connemara from there. This will involve a bus and then a bike rides. There are several busses a day
- Best bus stop is Roundstone (House Hotel) but its a rare stop
- Canal Bridge is bikeable (11km)
- Clifden is doable (18.5km)
Departure Plan
Leaving on July 3 (Sunday schedule) means being on the bus from Roundstone (House Hotel) at 16:52. Arrives in Galway (Bus Station) at 18:20. We'll then need to find our way to Dublin and likely an airport hotel.
There seem to be a number of decent (although very early) flights from DUB AMS although we likely don't get to be too picky.
