Five years ago, Georgia Tech started the season off playing Boston College in Ireland. This year, Georgia Tech will be returning to start the season playing Florida State in Dublin. We are going, a few of you are as well and a few more are thinking of going. For the last game, we attended and toured a number of local haunts. We have stayed in the Waterford Castle at the south and toured Northern Ireland in the past. our plan this year is to include a couple of extra stops along the way.
Due to the weather, we are thinking of starting off the trip in Iceland and Scotland. Our plan is to start with checking out Iceland and perhaps a round of golf. Originally, we thought 4 days for the Golden Loop, are now thinking more like 6-7 to travel the entire Ring Road covering most of the different geography’s. If someone is interested in joining for a few days
From there, we plan to visit northern Scotland to play the Spey Bay Golf Course where we are members. The Cullen Club is a classic and cheap and another. Then, on to Dublin for the game. As well, we hope to stay at Powerscourt, tour the grounds and play another round of golf at Powerscourt as well as The K Club, and perhaps another in the area.
The football game will be held on Saturday August 24th in Dublin. I happened to be in Dublin this past year when Notre Dame was playing Navy. Similar to a few years ago when GT played Boston College, the city comes to life for the American Football. It is reported as the largest collection of US residents in one place outside of the US.
Depending on your tolerance for museums and bars, 4 days will cover Dublin with all the Guinness and Fish ‘n Chips you can handle. Day or overnight trips to Belfast, the Great Causeway or Waterford for Crystal or the west coast are all add on options.
The duration is still up in the air. We are planning to stop in Iceland for a 5-7 nights, then on to Scotland to play golf at the Spey Bay Club, https://www.links.golf/speybay. The Cullen club is on our list and another TBD. We may fly into EDI and out if Aberdeen to avoid connection flights.
From there, we should arrive in Dublin by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest and hope to be staying at Powerscourt, https://powerscourt.com, https://powerscourt.com/attractions/powerscourt-hotel/, which is a Marriott property outside of Dublin. Our general plans are to play golf on Friday and attend the game on Saturday. We hope to play golf again on Sunday, leaving Monday or Tuesday.
Game tickets as well as rooms appear to be tied up with packages sold by the Air Lingus Travel group for now as before. We will continue to keep an eye out.
For now, check the weather, think about some or all of the activities. We have Dublin somewhat figured out and working on the other locations. The Spey Bay Club is a definite stop along the way for us as well we figured we would see Iceland while in route.