tmmccloud

I am trying to plan a first time trip to Europe. It will be myself and my gf, we are both in our mid 20's and active. We are used to taking vacations at maybe a bit faster pace then most, however having said that I dont like being on the move the entire time. What do you guys think? April 9th - April 22nd fly in/out of Dublin. I already purchased those tickets. We really would like to see Dublin, Edinburgh & Isle of Skye, and Normandy area in France. I do not know if this is really possible with all of the transfer times? I was thinking:
9th Fly out arrive on 10th:
10th: Dublin
11th: Dublin / Daytrip
12th: Fly to edinburgh
13th: Edinburgh
14th: Train to Isle of Skye / Mallaig
15th: Skye
16th: Train back to Edinburgh
17th: Fly to CDG / Paris stay overnight
18th: Train to Bayeux, France
19th: Bayeux / Normandy area
20th: Bayeux
21st: Train back to CDG / Paris and Fly to Dublin
22nd: Fly out..

Lexma90

Yes, it's possible. Even for people who like to travel quickly, it seems like a lot to fit in, given the travel times. And I'm assuming that you do not want to spend any time in Paris or Edinburgh, because you don't really have any time in those locations. Which is perfectly ok, if that's where you want to spend (or not spend) your time on this vacation.

I would really, really suggest that you check into changing your return airport; you will use up a lot of your limited vacation/trip time in getting back to Dublin.

My biggest suggestion: plot out all of your destinations, and use train and airline websites to come up with estimated travel times and departure and arrival times. Then you and your gf can decide if these particular destinations are worth the time you will spend getting to and from. For example, it looks like a trip of about 9 hours on the train getting to and from the Isle of Skye (via Mallaig, so maybe the ferry time is included?), PLUS the time you will spend getting from your lodging to the train station, picking up or buying your ticket, and boarding, then getting off on the other end, getting to your lodging, and checking in. And there's only one train a day, looks like. Personally, I would rather spend my limited vacation time at places that are located closer to each other, but you can make your own decisions based on a better idea of the travel times involved.

tmmccloud

I am really struggling with that portion. I love the look of Isle of Skye, but do not know if that will be something that we can push for on this trip. You know how these things go. It started at a Ireland / Scotland Trip, and then WWII sites in normandy included. Wanting to see everything in one trip is really the issue. Since I already purchased the tickets through Delta I wonder what there change fees ect. will be.

StCirq

Check out what the change fees will be. Really, it's too bad you bought RT tickets to begin with, as they force you to backtrack (and consider the expense to backtrack when you talk to Delta - the fee to change may be less than the fees you'll pay to go all the way back to Dublin).

I'm no expert on travel to that part of the world, but it seems the Isle of Skye might be expendable on this trip.

janisj

"<i>You know how these things go. It started at a Ireland / Scotland Trip, and then WWII sites in normandy included</i>"

Your problem is you kept adding destinations w/o adding days. that generally doesn't work so hot . . .

My idea is different than the others . . you only have 11.5 days on the ground (not counting arrival/departure days)

I'd skip Normandy/Paris this trip. Save them for another trip when you can actually spend some time (OR <u>just</u> do Dublin/Paris/Normandy and skip Scotland).

your 11-ish days is <i>barely</i> enough time for a tiny bit of Ireland and a tiny bit of Scotland. Dublin 3 days + 2 days maybe in Glendalough/Wicklow area + Fly Dublin to Edinburgh 3 days + train to Skye 2 days/3 nights + train to either Edinburgh or Glasgow/fly back to Dublin.

In fact what I'd <i>really</i> do is fly on to Edinburgh immediately after landing in DUB and do the Scotland bits first. Then fly back to Dublin and finish up w/ Ireland. I personally HATE having to dash back to catch a flight home from another city/country.

bilboburgler

I used to do this sort of timetable when I was flying around the states on business. "If it was breakfast it must by Dallas".

I'd drop back to any two. Dublin and Normandy for me, but hey up to you. Have a look at the Skyscanner website and ryanair (spit)

tmmccloud

Alright, so I decided on doing the Ireland / Scotland Itinerary. So now we are flying directly from Dublin to Edinburgh immediatly after arriving in Dublin. So we will have the 10th through around the 16th in scotland, and then I was wondering, which airport should we fly to in Ireland? We will have from the 16th - 22nd (fly out 23rd) and just have to end in Dublin. Any Ideas of a good itinerary those days?

janisj

You have several choices depending on where you want to tour in Ireland.

From GLA you could fly into Cork or Dublin and from EDI into Cork, Shannon or Dublin,

janisj

meant to add - there are probably other options - those are just the ones I know about.

tmmccloud

Well I figure since I'm flying out of Dublin on the 22nd, I will end there. So given lets say April 19th or 20th til the 22nd in Dublin. So I will fly into either Cork / Shannon and do what from the 16th til the 19th/20th. I just want to see the most scenery and stay in some of the smaller town areas to check out that. Ideas? What about Kilarney?

BigRuss

Fly into Shannon and drive the Ring of Kerry before ending up in Dublin on the 20th. Three nights in Dublin will be sufficient. Three nights in Edinburgh likely won't.

Assuming you arrive Edinburgh on the 10th, you have this:

10 - arrive Edinburgh, get car and trip to ____ to see ____, check in to accommodation, rest, wander
11 - ______ (destination from previous night), get acclimated to time change, see ______
12 - trip to _____,
13 - return to Edinburgh, lose the car
14 - Edinburgh
15 - Edinburgh
16 - go to Ireland (a.m.)
17- Ireland somewhere
18 - Ireland somewhere else
19 - Ireland elsewhere
20 - to Dublin, lose the car
21-22 - Dublin (book of Kells, Jameson's, Tart with the Cart, rain)
23 - To USA

I'd guess Aberdeen or Inverness for 10 and 11 evenings so you can see the area, then go back to Perth/Stirling for a night (or Glasgow) before returning to Edinburgh. If you've only PLANNED the trip to Edinburgh from Dublin and not purchased tickets, you can probably fly to Aberdeen or Inverness - stay outside the city and explore the countryside, then go south to someplace interesting short of Edinburgh on the 12th and into Edinburgh on the 13th. The way this is structured, in each country you bop about a bit, then reside in the same place before moving on.