Karen's place is very close to the local rail service which was helpful because we didn't have a vehicle. It was a fine place for the night before heading to the airport. She has her home number big and clear on her front door which was very helpful and the bedroom doors labeled so you know exactly which one is yours. The home was very quite and even though we had a shared bathroom, it was always available when myself or my husband needed it. We walked about 15 minutes away from Karen's place to get food for the evening. Once you know what your doing, getting to downtown is a breeze if using the local rail service from Coolmine station to Connolly station (FYI the Connolly train station is up above which for some reason took us a while to figure out). To save money, learn from our mistake...my husband and I bought one way tickets from downtown to Coolmine station for only about 6.60 euro (total for 2 tickets). The next morning we needed tickets to get back to Connolly station to catch the 747 bus back to the airport (we already had return tickets for that bus from when we purchased tickets from the airport). We wanted only single way back tickets, but unfortunately, there are only kiosks for purchasing the tickets at Coolmine that sold return tickets for about 12.50 euro (total for 2 tickets). All that to say, know your itinerary so you don't end up spending more than you need to for transport. ;-)