Page 2 says eat potatoes

8/25/2010 10:47:12 AM

How long does it take to drive the ring of kerry???

8/25/2010 11:15:25 AM

Sober? One Day

If you're doing it right? Two

[Edited on August 25, 2010 at 11:23 AM. Reason : x]

8/25/2010 11:22:13 AM

go to Scotland.

8/25/2010 2:44:13 PM

amazing trip.

had perfect weather. will post a few pics here in a couple days.

9/7/2010 11:45:43 AM

bump

3/29/2011 10:18:32 AM

Thanks for the bump.

Has anyone gotten any tickets from NC/SC area to Ireland lately? We are looking to go sometime July-early September and started looking for tickets, however they were a little higher than I had expected looking ~4-5 months out. That might just be the case these days but I figured I would check here for any tips. I have had from several people to look 3-4 months out which is why I just started paying a little more attention to prices. Trying to snag some under $800/person.

Also, any recommendations on stuff to do beyond what has already been mentioned is welcome. We are more the travel around to different bed&breakfasts type than stay in one or two really nice hotels if that helps.

[Edited on March 29, 2011 at 10:40 AM. Reason : .]

3/29/2011 10:27:57 AM

In just a quick search on Kayak, I found flights from Raleigh - Shannon for $758/person. 8/16-8/30.

3/29/2011 11:04:14 AM

Thanks I was using Kayak but was mainly looking at CLT, SC airports, and ATL. I definitely should add RDU to my list though since it's only 3.5 hours from us.

I still don't get a lot of the airline pricing. We are in Greenville, SC and so CLT would be my preference though for price we would definitely drive to RDU like I said. I found an 8/16 to 8/24 flight for like $725 out of RDU to Dublin and it stops in CLT as the connecting flight both ways. So, I go to look at the cost to just pick that same flight up in CLT instead of RDU and it is $1428.

[Edited on March 29, 2011 at 11:15 AM. Reason : .]

3/29/2011 11:05:47 AM

In general, it looks like RDU is cheaper than CLT but I did find a fare for CLT-DUB for $773/person. 8/8-8/26. Although 19days may be too long of a trip.

3/29/2011 11:14:35 AM

We went late august/early september last year and flew from CLT>ATL>DUB and I think we paid around $750. We bought ours right about the 3 month mark before the trip and it was only a few days later the flights spiked to 1000+. We flew Delta the entire way.

The fourth guy in our group booked late and flew out of CLT to Gatwick(London) to DUB and then DUB to Frankfurt to CLT and paid about 100 more. His flight and layover times were longer too.

3/29/2011 11:16:06 AM

^ Yeah I remember you saying that, thanks

Also, I did edit my post and noticed that RDU definitely seems cheaper than CLT...even when RDU connects in CLT before flying to Dublin. I definitely do not understand how these tickets work sometimes. I assume there is no getting around that by calling the airline and asking to board at CLT.

^^ And unfortunately that is a little long, if only because paying for a roof over our heads for that long would get pricey.

[Edited on March 29, 2011 at 11:19 AM. Reason : .]

3/29/2011 11:18:34 AM

^where are you staying throughout? We hosteled and got private ensuites and paid about $15 bucks per person per night. There are cheaper hotel alternatives, but we wanted the hostel experience and had no issues with space or amenities.

3/29/2011 11:21:06 AM

Ah I just read your edit. I too, do not really understand how airline pricing works. However, I do know from experience that airlines won't just let you board in CLT.

3/29/2011 11:24:30 AM

^^We haven't planned it entirely yet. Had so much stuff going on and I was thinking it might be easier to book accommodations after we saw what flight dates were in our price range instead of before (assuming that ~3-4 months is enough lead time to do that).

Neither of us have ever done hostels but we are certainly open to them or private ensuites like you mentioned. We had been looking at some B&Bs for now instead of hotels. Also, we are really open as to where we go in Ireland as well so if you have any suggestions, contact info, websites or whatever for places you stayed that would be great.

^ That's pretty much what I figured. RDU is close enough that the price difference would most definitely be worth it.

[Edited on March 29, 2011 at 11:28 AM. Reason : .]

3/29/2011 11:27:13 AM

B&Bs are everywhere. I told the guys I went with that if I ever went back the only thing I would plan is my arrival and departure and spend the rest of the trip free roaming and staying at local B&Bs. They are everywhere. The only places you might not want to do that would be Dublin and Limerick (don't go to Limerick) just because they are true "cities".

When I go back I plan to spend more time in Kilkenny, Killarney, and Dingle and either cut out completely or make a quick stop in Cork. Kilkenny was an amazing small medieval city built around a castle complete with cobblestone streets and tons of activity. Also the home of the Smithwicks brewery. I don't truely know what it was about this city but it was my favorite of all.

Killarney I would want to add an extra day to my trip to spend back in the national park. We did a day in town and a day in the park/forest and it still wasn't enough. Just amazing.

Dingle...everyone says Ring of Kerry, and I say yes do it. But if you can squeeze Dingle Bay in it's a must. It's a tiny warf town (only like 2 active streets), tons of fishing boats and some of the freshest seafood I've ever had. We only spent an afternoon there but I could see some really cool experiences there at night when it becomes locals only.


EDIT* It's not that Cork was bad, we had a good time there it just wasn't very lively. It's considered somewhat a younger town where a lot of kids go to attend university and it may have been that the fall semester hadn't quite started and we were there in the middle of the week. While in Cork make the quick drive to Cobh which is another warf town and final port of call for the Titanic. I'll post more later

3/29/2011 11:42:49 AM

I'll again say Sligo and Enniskillen for me were my favorite off the beaten path places.

3/29/2011 7:13:42 PM

^^ thanks.

Having never stayed in hostels before, I always assumed that if you are going some place and planning to stay in hostels you pretty much only have 1 bag/backpack with you for the entire trip so that you aren't leaving stuff in the hostel during the day when you aren't there. Is this correct? That's the only reason I was thinking of looking at B&B there vs trying hostels. Then again it would probably be worth it to buy travel backpacks that we could just use as the carry-ons I guess.

PS, the only reason I would really consider visiting Cork is that a pharmaceutical manuf. plant that I helped design was built there and I thought it would be cool to swing by a place that I helped design that was actually built and operated in another country I've never been to



[Edited on April 5, 2011 at 10:36 AM. Reason : .]

4/5/2011 10:14:07 AM

if you have a private ensuite you'll have a keycard or physical key to your room so you can lock your stuff away. most all of the hostels have luggage storage rooms too within eye sight of the desk clerks in case you get in early or are departing late and need to stowe your luggage for a few hours. We never once worried about theft or tampering. If you're staying in the larger 10+ bed rooms i'd use the public storage room. I carried a daypack and a larger backpacking sack. I actually checked the bigger bag as luggage on the flight and when on the ground just packed what i would need in the daypack and left the big bag locked away.


If you do go to Cork stay at the Bru Bar Hostel and check out Crane Lane bar.

4/5/2011 10:41:25 AM

^great to know. That seems like the perfect route for us even though we haven't done it before. Thanks for the heads up on the hostel in Cork. Did you run across any good comprehensive sites for hostels with ratings etc? I was planning to check out Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor already, I just didn't know if you ran across anything else good specific to Ireland when planning your trip.

Thanks again.

4/5/2011 11:46:13 AM

honestly we booked each one through hostels.com and it worked out great. Each place had our reservation without any hiccups. You book online and put down a small down payment, it was like $10-$15 per hostel. The only that was annoying was that you couldn't "add to cart" and pay for all of them in one lump sum so we had 5-6 hostels and just had to book each one seperately. My friend volunteered to put the down payments on his credit card, then when we got to each one they deducted that from his total and the rest of us paid seperately in full. So it ended up working great not having to pool money or keep tabs on who owed who.

When you know cities you're going to i'll let you know which hostels to check out or avoid.

4/5/2011 11:59:36 AM

thanks. will do.

4/6/2011 2:11:37 PM

Hostels can be fun if you get lucky, but I'd recommend staying in 1 or 2 nice hotels for several nights a piece as your "base of operations" and just do day trips from there. You don't have to worry about lugging your stuff around and can actually meet some cool people that you can hang out with a few times instead of just meeting and leaving single serving friends like you would at a hostel. Different strokes, and I'm sure both are fine, but I'd rather be a settler than a nomad.

[Edited on April 6, 2011 at 2:25 PM. Reason : Now I see I basically contradicted your first post. Disregard if you wish.]

4/6/2011 2:24:26 PM

No I can definitely understand that viewpoint. That is exactly what we did in Costa Rica, but we know a family who lives there and they let us use their house (they were out of the country) for free as a home base. We left most of our stuff at their house and just took 1-3 day trips out to other places bringing only what we needed for those short legs and it was fun and very convenient.

For this trip we were just looking to be a little more nomadic I guess.

4/6/2011 2:28:38 PM

gingers

4/6/2011 2:40:57 PM

Going this summer. Dates to be determined.

Can't wait.

1/18/2014 12:15:51 PM

I went last march. Nice country, had an AMAZING time! The Gap of Dunloe is awesome. Did that because the Ring of Kerry was too touristy. If you're going to do Dublin, at least do a musical pub crawl. That keeps you from having to wait for your drinks and you get good live music and historical facts with a tour guide. If you can, check out a hurling match. Those are pretty epic. There's lots of cool stuff off the beaten path, so if you have a GPS, get lost for a bit and find a nice small town to hang out at. Drive safe and get a small(ish) car if you can, the roads are definitely different there.

Have fun!

1/21/2014 3:11:21 PM

I'll be there in January, so bump.

2/18/2016 8:58:05 PM

I realize afripino's post is two years old, but can we all stop and appreciate how in one breath he went from saying the Ring of Kerry is too touristy to saying YOU SHOULD TOTES DO A MUSICAL PUB CRAWL IN DUBLIN IT HAS A TOUR GUIDE

2/19/2016 8:09:39 AM

lol. that was the last day of my trip in Ireland and it was fun too. flew out of dublin and I did so many off-the-beaten-path things that it was actually nice to hang out with civilization for one night. also, there were no lines for drinks, you're in an intimate setting of like 20 people and you actually get to meet the pub owners and hear some history of the places you go to. you're not only barhopping. I didn't want to count out touristy stuff altogether in my suggestions in case someone was interested. If I really wanted to be a tourist i'd be all "ermahgerd! go to the Guinness brewery in Dublin!"

oh wells.



[Edited on February 19, 2016 at 8:25 AM. Reason : ]

2/19/2016 8:22:24 AM

I actually plan on doing A) a Dublin pub crawl, B) visiting both the Guinness and Jameson tours, and C) renting a car and driving the Ring of Kerry. If I've got time, I might even make more touristy and visit the Blarney Stone.

I honestly don't care that much if the stuff I see is touristy or not in Ireland- I'll be a tourist either way. I'll be meeting up with two other friends and we aren't college kids on Spring Break and are really just looking to have a good time. "Authenticity" isn't a big priority for this leg of the trip- we just want it to be fun. Right now, I'm looking at 6 days and five nights, starting off in Dublin. I'm thinking we will spend the first two nights in Dublin, and then rent a car and drive around and see cool shit. What I can't seem to decide is whether to fly out of Shannon to AMS, or to go back to Dublin the night before and fly out of DUB.

2/19/2016 3:34:28 PM

Going in September. Different type of trip this time from what I'm used to because I'll have a 18 month old.

Looking at Dublin, Galway, Kilarrney (or Dingle) and Inistioge as our bases (two week trip).

Working on an itinerary but after four days in Dublin at the start we will have a car.

12/15/2016 6:44:55 PM

My wife and I are planning to possibly go here sometime this year or at least we have talked about it so I may revisit this thread.

Also taking an overseas trip with an 18 month old sounds like a complete nightmare and waste of money but thats just me unless its to like see family or something haha. Good luck to you if you do though!

12/16/2016 8:23:07 AM

I always advise a stop in Kilkenny. I think it's a great place for travelling with young kids. Picnic on the castle grounds, stroll through the quiet residential streets.

12/16/2016 9:47:42 AM

almost forgot...drink some Kilkenny beer! it's impossible to find here and it's REALLY good! Also, get yourself a Hot Powers if it's cold out.

12/16/2016 9:55:25 AM

I havent had a Kilkenny in so long I dont even remember what continent I was on. Its so creamy and good I never understood why an exporter hasnt picked it up. Soooo good!

12/16/2016 12:57:02 PM

Thanks for bumping this. I leave for Dublin on Jan 2 from Iceland. So stoked!

12/16/2016 4:09:13 PM

I think I may plan another Ireland trip soon.

12/19/2016 8:56:27 AM

roll out to bantry son

12/19/2016 7:02:38 PM