Trip to Ireland

Hello,
My name as stated above is Leo Tapanes, and I am a Homicide Detective with the City of Miami Police Dept.
I'm interested in taking my wife to Ireland next year as a surprise, don't worry, she never comes on this board. To tell you the truth, I rarely do either.
I'd very much appreciate if anyone in Ireland could provide any information regarding where to go, what to do, etc.
I was planning on possibly taking a guided tour out of Dublin, but remain open to the idea of driving ourselves. I'm still in the inital planning stages.
I'm planning on taking the trip next spring or early summer of 2009.
I know it's a bit of a ways off, but I'm trying to make sure I save up and pay for it without her knowledge. Wouldn't be much of a surprise otherwise, now would it????
If possible, please contact me at the following e-mail:
leonel.tapanes@miami-police.org
Thank you in advance for any and all assistance.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.all4humor.com/images/files/Giving%2520The%2520Finger.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.all4humor.com/picture/funny-animal-pictures/giving-the-finger.html&h=550&w=460&sz=61&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=Z0iRbNmuwiLsqM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcat%2Bgiving%2Bfinger%2Bin%2Bcar%26gb v%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy

check with scepreireland travel (may not have spelled it right) and also dan dooley travel. wife and i went in 02 used scetreireland. we were very pleased. unlike the rest of europe public transit is not good outside of the big cities. you'll have to take a guided bus tour, or rent a car and drive. we rented a car and it went fine. you adjust to driving on the right pretty quickly. good luck

Hi Folks ! Anyone interested to trade patches from South Florida for Irish Police?

[JSB103]

Also try myguideireland for your travel plans. My wife and I went over in May -09 and used them. Everything went as planned. We rented a car and drove once we got out of Dublin. Don't try to drive in Dublin. No parking and its about as wild as it gets.

I would recommend planning your trip around certain areas if you do drive though. Many poeple from the U.S. look at Ireland on a map and think they can plan a driving trip and see the whole Island on one trip. It won't happen unless you're gonna be there for a month or so. The roads are different there and just don't support covering alot of area fast.

You would do yourself in injustice by not taking your time and really checking out the most beautiful country in the world!

Also as for the patch trading, I tried that too. The Gardia don't really have a shoulder patch or atleast I didn't see any. You may be able to find other branches of LE or Northern Ireland LE may have them to trade. Good Luck!

JSB103 you are correct Gardia does not have shoulder patches like here in the USA however if you can hook up with a Gardia you may be able to get a great keychain with a replica of their hat badge on it.I was given one on a Saint Patrick's Day vacation with a bunch of co-workers.The Gardia we met were outstanding and helpfulAs for shoulder patches take a bunch with you as many of the pubs throughout Ireland proudly display them.We passed out 81 of them throughout the country and don't forget to autograph the back so the next generation can see who beat them to the punch,hiccup,,SILANTE