So I wanted to take a trip in late summer or early fall 2026, but I couldn't decide where I wanted to go. China? Australia? Maybe Antarctica? I dunno, they seemed like big trips and I was thinking I want something less ambitious this time. But where? I've been almost all over Europe and at my age I'm running out of time to waste on repeating myself. Spain, maybe? I've never been there but after viewing some pictures from a Road Scholar tour I had to cancel over a year ago, I've pretty much lost my enthusiasm for that. I think. Anyway, I was feeling stuck when I remembered that even though I've seen Scotland, Wales and England up close -- I've driven through them, in fact -- I'd never been to Ireland. Bingo! Ireland it is.

It would have to be a Road Scholar tour, of course. Since my first Road Scholar trip in 2017 I've learned there's no reason for me to consider any other tour company. Road Scholar tours are always impeccably planned with excellent food, accommodations, itinerary and transportation arranged in advance, but the selling point for me is the educational aspect. I love having time on the agenda set aside for lectures by local experts from universities and museums and so forth. Road Scholar almost always arranges fascinating presentations throughout its tours. (Let's try to forget that presentation on Smetana in Prague that droned on with not a note of music whatsoever while the actual River Moldau flowed by outside the music studio windows.) Seriously, the best part of these trips for me isn't just seeing beautiful sights; it's learning new things. So which Road Scholar tour do I sign up for? This one looks pretty good.

So off I went to the Emerald Isle to spend two and a half weeks seeing all the sights a tourist is supposed to see in Ireland and truly learning a lot of things about the place I'd had no idea about before. Why do the Irish Catholics and Protestants seem to dislike each other so? Well I came to understand that the reasons are much more complicated than an outsider might think. Is there such a thing as "the luck of the Irish?" Well they sure don't think so, and for good reason as I came to understand. Does the sun ever shine in Ireland? Well that's an easy one -- in my experience the Irish sun can be glimpsed for brief periods on rare occasions. And are there pots of gold at the end of Irish rainbows? Of course there are!

I had a great time on this trip. Our Road Scholar group was full of delightful and interesting people, and our guide, Brendan Doherty, did an absolutely outstanding job. I've put together this website to help me remember it all if I ever get old and forgetful, and I'm happy for anybody else to have a look at my pictures and enjoy them with me. So come along and let's tour Ireland!
 

I know, this isn't exactly our route, but it's pretty close to accurate, somewhat mostly..

billanderson601@yahoo.com