She isn't the "gung ho" American sort at all, though I don't know how "American touristy" one can acceptably be--is the issue being a tourist, an American, or a combination of the two, Leadfingers? :)

She has a (former) Irish boyfriend here in the States who connected her up with his sister and a friend of theirs to meet her & her travel companion at the Dublin airport & take them around, which is wonderful. I also told her I couldn't really imagine them having any problems in Ireland, as so many Irish go back and forth to America nowadays themselves, or have family who do, or who live here. I can only think of a couple of instances in all my years of travel in Ireland that I encountered any problems as an American, and they were from people who ran B & Bs, who have pretty stereotyped views of people of certain nationalities, because they so often see the bad side of tourists (ie when they are tired, cranky, having difficulty with culture shock, etc) regardless of what the nationality of the person might be

I wasn't so sure about Scotland, though...they will only be in Edinburgh for two days. But it's like she said to me on Thursday before she left--hey! This is my first trip to Europe and I want to get AWAY FROM THE WAR!!!

Glad to hear you think things will go fine for them. I don't know how much music they will get to hear, but I'm quite certain they will be in proximity of many a pint!