I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting increasingly excited about our upcoming Ireland tour. Guide books have started appearing around the house, and I've been making plans about things I'd like to see and do.

To help get a handle on what our upcoming adventure, I've applied a little Web 2.0 magic. Click "read more" below to play with what I've been up to.

One of the fun toys on the Internet is Google Maps. Not only does it give everybody a street-level map of pretty much the entire planet, you can add stuff to it. So, I've made a map that shows where our tour will be taking us. It's really helping me see what we're planning. You can view it by clicking this link: FinTan Ireland Tour Map (right click the link so you can open this link in a new window) You'll get something that looks like this:

If you click on an item in the left column, the location will highlight on the right side map. And since it's Google, all sorts of nifty Googly tools are available; for example you can double-click to zoom in or use the map menu option to view pictures taken and posted by other travelers or see the satellite view of the ground.

Have fun!

Disclaimers (There had to be disclaimers, right?)

• The items on this map are based on our current itinerary. Travel plans may change due to circumstances beyond anybody's control.
• The marker locations are my best guess, based on information from guidebooks, tourism websites and my Google-fu. Locations may be off by meters (or kilometers). Hey, I've never been to Ireland.
• Markers may move as I get updates. I may also add markers and information as our plans firm up. Be sure to check back occasionally.
• The numbers on each itinerary item are just there for sorting purposes.