We had such a great time on both our 10 day London Show Tour in 2017 and our two week tour of Scotland in 2018 with Senior Discovery Tours, that we had no hesitation in booking with them again for their 15-day “All Around Ireland” itinerary this spring (and Morocco in October!)

But first, as always, there’s the issue of what to pack. Our tour runs from May 25th through June 8th, which is technically “spring”, although in our original home province of Ontario May 24th marks the unofficial start to the summer (“cottage”) season, and here in British Columbia it’s been spring-like weather for months already.

Researching Irish weather on the internet resulted in interesting “facts” like “Spring in Ireland starts on March 1st and ends on May 31st. Summer in Ireland starts on June 1st and ends on August 31st.” (theiririshroadtrip) So much for equinox and solstice dates. Or, from the same website: “Any Ireland weather by month guide that tells you it’ll be dry and sunny one month and cold and wet the next is misleading you. The weather in Ireland is notoriously unpredictable.” Not a huge help.

https://weatherspark.com/countries/IE was a little more useful, choosing as it does 3 Irish cities (east, west, north) and tracking historic temperature averages from 1973 to 2022.

So, from our perspective: cool to cold, and rainy or grey close to half the time. That’s not “summery” by our standards!

Our packing list? Identical for each of us: 3 pairs of pants and eight tops, plus 2 pair of shoes (runners plus waterproof Vessi runners for Ted, waterproofed cowboy boots for me), 4 sets of quick-dry underwear and socks (washable in a hotel sink), a lightweight jacket, and a raincoat. Add vitamins, meds, jewellery (me), gloves, and a hat (Ted) and we’re good to go. Fortunately, there will be no dressy occasions for which to pack, and one of the additional things that helps eliminate laundry is merino wool tops, which naturally resist body odour; hang them up to air out and they’re good to go for multiple wearings.

Raincoats, though, have been a real problem for us over the years. Nice looking jackets that are “rain resistant” end up soaked through in anything beyond a drizzle (my latest Columbia jacket was a limp rag after being caught in a downpour during an excursion in Greece last year). I loved the Quik-Pac Trespass brand rain jackets we bought back in 2012/13, but the seam tape on mine finally gave out after all the stress of rolling it into and out of its pouch, and Ted always found his “too sweaty” despite all the vents intended to make it breathable. Plus, it was awkward to pull his camera inside it – and keeping his camera dry is frankly more important to him than keeping himself dry.

So…. despite an unusually dry forecast for our 2 weeks, new rain gear. We saw “real” raincoats at the Hudson’s Bay store in Toronto last month, but had no spare suitcase room for them. Luckily they were also available online (final sale, no returns) so I ordered a new bright yellow rain slicker for me and a navy blue rain poncho for Ted that will cover his camera and allow lots of airflow. Free delivery should have taken 5-7 days, but … on a par for my experiences with grocery deliveries this month, the items were lost at the distribution centre. By the time I was able to verify that and receive a refund, my only option was re-ordering and paying for express 2-day delivery. We expected the package on Sunday. By Tuesday, still nothing, and I insisted on (and received) a refund of the shipping fee. On Wednesday, notice from Canada Post that the items will be delivered about 4 hours after we leave the country on Thursday. With no one here to sign for the package, it will end up waiting for us at the post office on our return.

Oh well. Bring on the Irish mist!! (Just hopefully no downpours)

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I’d love to make the trip with just 2 carryons, but there won’t be an opportunity to do “real” laundry, so I’m going to add our small duffel bag to the mix for bulky stuff like our second pair of shoes, and jam my purse into it too.

Beyond my weather research, I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t know a lot about Ireland beyond what I’ve learned watching 3 seasons of Derry Girls on Netflix, so a truly grand adventure awaits!