Ireland- 5 year anniversary

Hello All!

My husband and I are planning our 5 year anniversary trip for next July (Our anniversary is the 23). It's kind of our "last hoorah" vacation, so we wanted to do something special. I found online this escorted "Taste of Ireland" deal that sounds like something we would enjoy, and it includes pretty much everything except for airfare and a couple of meals. In my mind it makes sense, but I wanted to get some advice first... I'm a little hesitant because we'll be on a bus with people we don't know, and we might not have the opportunity to do the things that we want to do (we want to check out the guiness storehouse and the jail next door, which aren't included on the tour). Any advice? There probably is downtime, and we could always book an extra day if needed to do the things that we want to do. We're currently looking at a week trip. He's a teacher, but I work in banking and only get a couple of weeks off a year.

And, we will be flying out of either Dayton or Cincinnati, but we are within range of Indy and Columbus also. It might be a 2 hour drive for those two, but for a cheaper fare, it may be worth it. I've been watching flights, and right now the cost is about 1100/each for flight tickets, which is a little more than the tour itself. Would anyone have an idea when the best time would be to book our flights to Ireland? it looks like we would fly into Dublin and out of Shannon.

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griz_fan on Oct 22, 09 at 01:58 PM

Hi,

take a look at this thread:
http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/guided-tours-and-1st-time-trips-to-europe.cfm

As you can see, lots of opinions here, but some great insight as to the benefits of a tour vs. planning your own. I was originally considering a tour myself, but I'm now firmly in the "plan your own" camp.

Also, a week isn't much time. Remember, subtract two days for the flight over and back. If you can grab a few more days, that would help.

Also, it is way too soon to get a good feel for airfares for next summer. what you see right now is placeholder pricing, the airlines certainly won't lose money at that price Seriously, this past summer, with some careful shopping, you could come close to getting two tickets for that price. From what I've heard, about 6 months out, you will start to see some more realistic airfares, but for now, it is way too early.

But, plenty of time to research on this forum, pick up some guidebooks, a good map of Ireland (check out Michelin maps, they're quite good) and start planning what YOU would like to do, not what some tour offers. With this much time to plan, you should have no problems building your own trip (and that way, you won't be herded around like cattle on a tour bus). Remember, Ireland is known for friendly people, a great place to be out on your own....

GreenDragon on Oct 22, 09 at 03:22 PM

Ireland is a fantastic place -I'm planning my fourth trip just before you're going, this summer. You'll love it!

I have done all self-planning trips, and prefer them personally over tours, but we each have our own levels of comfort for travel planning. I love the planning aspect, but I'm sure others prefer to have it done for them

As far as airfares, I would check out both kayak.com and yapta.com. Kayak has consistently given me a good feel for the fares out there. Yapta will allow you to track specific flights, and email you any changes. I'd look now so you know what the prices are looking like, set a price that you will buy (say, $700 each?) and then look for deals like that in late January, February. That's when the discounts for June start coming out, sometimes July as well. Then, when that amount comes up BUY RIGHT AWAY, as they can sometimes be gone in less than an hour. Then don't look again, to see if they get less!

If you are on a set tour, then I shan't regale you with tales of all the lovely things to see. But do take a trip over to www.irelandyes.com, Michele has lots of great info on Ireland and a great forum. If you want to see my own trip reports, they are here:

http://www.greendragonartist.com/BI/BIireland.htm

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