Trip Report,based in Dublin,March,Railtours,Cassidys,Over The Top Tours
Apr 15th, 2010, 07:23 PM
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Trip Report,based in Dublin,March,Railtours,Cassidys,Over The Top Tours
I returned from Ireland about 3 weeks ago. I have been very busy these days, however, I am so thankful for all the great info I got here, I want to write some sort of report to hopefully help others plan their trips too. I apologize in advance typos and sentences that are missing words, etc.
Here goes....
My husband and I had 7 nights in Ireland. We were definately on a budget and I tried to plan everything to use public transportation. I decided to try Cassidy's because it had fairly good reviews, it was cheap, and close to the Airlink dropoff/pickup. The first 2 nights we stayed at Best Western Premiere Plaza due to Cassidy's being full on Fri and Sat. nights. It was just a couple of blocks away from Cassidy's so it wasn't too bad to move. It was kind of a pain, but we saved about $200.
We started in STL and had a layover in Chicago. Our flight left ORD at 7:30pm March 18 and arrived at DUB at 7:40am March 19 , which was 2:40am St Louis time. We got through customs quickly and got cash out at the ATM in the airport. We waited in line at the counter to buy a 3 day Rambler pass which includes Airlink and bus service. After going outside to catch the Ailrink, we saw a machine that we could have purchased the same ticket from without waiting in line. We caught the bus labeled Airlink 747 and it was about a 20 minute ride to Upper O'Connell Street. We actually passed the Best Western on our way to the stop. The stop was just around the corner. Very convenient!! We were able to check in right away and in our room by about 9:20 am. We were exhausted so we took a short nap and headed out to explore the city by about 11:00. We did a tour of Dublin Castle. I wasn't all that impressed with the caslte. I could have skipped it. We then headed up to Christ Church Catherdral. We got the combo pass for the Church and Dublinia. I could have Dublinia, but Dublinia included being able to walk up St. Micheals Tower, which was a nice view of the city. I am not sure if you had to buy a Dublinia ticket to go up there or not. By then, we had done a lot of walking and we were ready to get some dinner and kick back at the room. St. Patricks Catherdral was just a short walk away, but my husband was too tired to do it. We were giong to do it on Sunday, but they don't allow visitors on Sundays. We got some quick fast food dinner and crashed for the night.
I was worried about the Upper O'Connell area as many posters here say it is a bad area. I didn't think it was bad. We had no problem going out at any hour of the night.
The Best Western was nice. Our only problem with it was that the room was about the size of a cruiseship cabin. It was tiny! Otherwise the room was nicely updated, the lobby had a computer for internet use free of charge, and was conveniently located right off O'Connell Street.
That's all for now,
Coming up,
Day 2: Railtours Ireland - Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland
If anyone is interested
Here goes....
My husband and I had 7 nights in Ireland. We were definately on a budget and I tried to plan everything to use public transportation. I decided to try Cassidy's because it had fairly good reviews, it was cheap, and close to the Airlink dropoff/pickup. The first 2 nights we stayed at Best Western Premiere Plaza due to Cassidy's being full on Fri and Sat. nights. It was just a couple of blocks away from Cassidy's so it wasn't too bad to move. It was kind of a pain, but we saved about $200.
We started in STL and had a layover in Chicago. Our flight left ORD at 7:30pm March 18 and arrived at DUB at 7:40am March 19 , which was 2:40am St Louis time. We got through customs quickly and got cash out at the ATM in the airport. We waited in line at the counter to buy a 3 day Rambler pass which includes Airlink and bus service. After going outside to catch the Ailrink, we saw a machine that we could have purchased the same ticket from without waiting in line. We caught the bus labeled Airlink 747 and it was about a 20 minute ride to Upper O'Connell Street. We actually passed the Best Western on our way to the stop. The stop was just around the corner. Very convenient!! We were able to check in right away and in our room by about 9:20 am. We were exhausted so we took a short nap and headed out to explore the city by about 11:00. We did a tour of Dublin Castle. I wasn't all that impressed with the caslte. I could have skipped it. We then headed up to Christ Church Catherdral. We got the combo pass for the Church and Dublinia. I could have Dublinia, but Dublinia included being able to walk up St. Micheals Tower, which was a nice view of the city. I am not sure if you had to buy a Dublinia ticket to go up there or not. By then, we had done a lot of walking and we were ready to get some dinner and kick back at the room. St. Patricks Catherdral was just a short walk away, but my husband was too tired to do it. We were giong to do it on Sunday, but they don't allow visitors on Sundays. We got some quick fast food dinner and crashed for the night.
I was worried about the Upper O'Connell area as many posters here say it is a bad area. I didn't think it was bad. We had no problem going out at any hour of the night.
The Best Western was nice. Our only problem with it was that the room was about the size of a cruiseship cabin. It was tiny! Otherwise the room was nicely updated, the lobby had a computer for internet use free of charge, and was conveniently located right off O'Connell Street.
That's all for now,
Coming up,
Day 2: Railtours Ireland - Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland
If anyone is interested
Apr 16th, 2010, 09:39 PM
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Okay,
Day 2 Sat. March 20 Railtours Ireland: The Giant's Causeway, Glens of Antrim and Wild Atlantic Coast
I added this tour to my itenerary after doing research for the Cliffs of Moher and Aran Island tours with Railtours. I found that alot of people who were posting reviews for Railtours were giving this particular tour very high reviews. I started checking into what this tour included and decided that it looked like something we would like to do. I am so glad that we added this at the last minute. For me, it turned out to be my favorite day of our trip. I will say, it was a monster day, but worth it.
Check-in for the tour was 7:10 am at Connelly Station. We decided to walk to the station from our hotel (BW). It was about a twenty minute walk. I think we left about 6:30 and got there about 6:50. We just took O'Connell Street down to the Spire (Talbot Street), made a left and ran right into the train station. The Railtours guide showed up about 7. He gave us our packet with train tickets, cc receipt , and a flyer explaining what we would be seeing on our tour. I was pleasantly surprised to find that our tour group was only about 14 people. I was expecting a large group. About an hour into our train ride, the train stopped at Dundalk station, (which is the last stop before the Northern Ireland border) and somebody told us everyone had to get off train and take a bus across the border and get back on another train at Newry. Apparently there was some kind of bomb threat on the train tracks at the border. This delayed our arrival into Belfast by about 30 min. We were suppose to be there about 9:45 and we got there about 10:15. When we finally arrived in Belfast, our Railtours guide escorted us to a coach bus that had a Northern Ireland tour guide. So our Railtours guide didn't really do much but hang out with us for the day. The coach guide was informative, not really that exciting, but good. He told us that the bomb scare was probably not much more than a tactic to disrupt train service due to a big Rugby match going on that Saturday. He said that most of that kind of stuff had went away for a while, but in the recent months it has picked back up again. As we traveled up the coast we made about a 15 min photo stop at Carrickfergus Castle. There was also a public restroom to use there before the long drive up to Giant's Causeway. It was a long trip up the coast, but it was so beautiful, it didn't seem that long. I think it was a couple of hours. We arrived at The Giant's Causeway about 1:00. This is where we had lunch. I remember 1:00 because I was starving. Be sure to take some snacks. We had 2 hrs to eat lunch and explore the Causeway. Lunch there was OK. We actually ordered in advance and it was nearly ready when we arrived. I had a burger and fries and my husband got some kind of beef pie thing. It was about 16 pounds for lunch which was about $26 on my cc charge. Northern Ireland uses the Sterling for currency, not the Euro, like the Republic of Ireland. It is a very long walk down to the causeway, but an even longer walk back up. They do have a bus that will take you down and back up. The bus costs one pound each way and they will not take a Euro. If that was all you were doing for the day, it would be nice excercise walking back up. On a 14 hour tour day, not so good. Point is, make sure you have a pound to get back up. I didn't. I think they will accept paper Euro in the shop and give you change back in sterling. That may be an easy way to get some quick change. I know they did that at our next stop. Anyway, IMO the Giant's Causeway was amazing. We left there around 3:00.
Our next stop was at The Bushmills Whiskey Distillery. We had about 30 min. there, which was just enough time get to some way overpriced shot samples or spend money in the shop. I think some of the shots were like 4 plus Euros. We didn't quite get that stop, but other people on our tour seemed to enjoy it.
We then made our way over to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. This was a very beautiful area. Again, it was a very long walk to the bridge. It was a cold day. With the wind, I had to use the hood on my coat, here and on the walk down to the causeway earlier in the day. However, I did see other people, including kids, in short sleeves shirts. I couldn't believe it, there in my coat, hood and gloves
. I can't remember how long we had at the rope bridge area, but that was our last stop before heading back to Belfast. I think everyone slept all the back to Belfast. We got back into town around 6:15 or so. Our driver said that time permitting, they usually make a stop at the Titanic Exhibit in town, but on our particular day something else was going on and we couldn't go to it. Instead, we drove down Falls Road and he explained some of the history of their "troubles" in Belfast. He then dropped us off at the train station around 7. We were able to get some sandwiches at the train station deli before our 8:10 return train to Connelly. Our train was scheduled to be back at Connelly around 10:15 but with the bus transfer at the border, we did not get back until 11:00pm. We walked back to our hotel and got back to the room about 11:30. We were completely exhausted.
Overall, like I said before, this was my favorite day. It was a long day, it was a cold day and an exhausting day, but beautiful scenery.
That's it for now.
Day 2 Sat. March 20 Railtours Ireland: The Giant's Causeway, Glens of Antrim and Wild Atlantic Coast
I added this tour to my itenerary after doing research for the Cliffs of Moher and Aran Island tours with Railtours. I found that alot of people who were posting reviews for Railtours were giving this particular tour very high reviews. I started checking into what this tour included and decided that it looked like something we would like to do. I am so glad that we added this at the last minute. For me, it turned out to be my favorite day of our trip. I will say, it was a monster day, but worth it.
Check-in for the tour was 7:10 am at Connelly Station. We decided to walk to the station from our hotel (BW). It was about a twenty minute walk. I think we left about 6:30 and got there about 6:50. We just took O'Connell Street down to the Spire (Talbot Street), made a left and ran right into the train station. The Railtours guide showed up about 7. He gave us our packet with train tickets, cc receipt , and a flyer explaining what we would be seeing on our tour. I was pleasantly surprised to find that our tour group was only about 14 people. I was expecting a large group. About an hour into our train ride, the train stopped at Dundalk station, (which is the last stop before the Northern Ireland border) and somebody told us everyone had to get off train and take a bus across the border and get back on another train at Newry. Apparently there was some kind of bomb threat on the train tracks at the border. This delayed our arrival into Belfast by about 30 min. We were suppose to be there about 9:45 and we got there about 10:15. When we finally arrived in Belfast, our Railtours guide escorted us to a coach bus that had a Northern Ireland tour guide. So our Railtours guide didn't really do much but hang out with us for the day. The coach guide was informative, not really that exciting, but good. He told us that the bomb scare was probably not much more than a tactic to disrupt train service due to a big Rugby match going on that Saturday. He said that most of that kind of stuff had went away for a while, but in the recent months it has picked back up again. As we traveled up the coast we made about a 15 min photo stop at Carrickfergus Castle. There was also a public restroom to use there before the long drive up to Giant's Causeway. It was a long trip up the coast, but it was so beautiful, it didn't seem that long. I think it was a couple of hours. We arrived at The Giant's Causeway about 1:00. This is where we had lunch. I remember 1:00 because I was starving. Be sure to take some snacks. We had 2 hrs to eat lunch and explore the Causeway. Lunch there was OK. We actually ordered in advance and it was nearly ready when we arrived. I had a burger and fries and my husband got some kind of beef pie thing. It was about 16 pounds for lunch which was about $26 on my cc charge. Northern Ireland uses the Sterling for currency, not the Euro, like the Republic of Ireland. It is a very long walk down to the causeway, but an even longer walk back up. They do have a bus that will take you down and back up. The bus costs one pound each way and they will not take a Euro. If that was all you were doing for the day, it would be nice excercise walking back up. On a 14 hour tour day, not so good. Point is, make sure you have a pound to get back up. I didn't. I think they will accept paper Euro in the shop and give you change back in sterling. That may be an easy way to get some quick change. I know they did that at our next stop. Anyway, IMO the Giant's Causeway was amazing. We left there around 3:00.
Our next stop was at The Bushmills Whiskey Distillery. We had about 30 min. there, which was just enough time get to some way overpriced shot samples or spend money in the shop. I think some of the shots were like 4 plus Euros. We didn't quite get that stop, but other people on our tour seemed to enjoy it.
We then made our way over to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. This was a very beautiful area. Again, it was a very long walk to the bridge. It was a cold day. With the wind, I had to use the hood on my coat, here and on the walk down to the causeway earlier in the day. However, I did see other people, including kids, in short sleeves shirts. I couldn't believe it, there in my coat, hood and gloves
. I can't remember how long we had at the rope bridge area, but that was our last stop before heading back to Belfast. I think everyone slept all the back to Belfast. We got back into town around 6:15 or so. Our driver said that time permitting, they usually make a stop at the Titanic Exhibit in town, but on our particular day something else was going on and we couldn't go to it. Instead, we drove down Falls Road and he explained some of the history of their "troubles" in Belfast. He then dropped us off at the train station around 7. We were able to get some sandwiches at the train station deli before our 8:10 return train to Connelly. Our train was scheduled to be back at Connelly around 10:15 but with the bus transfer at the border, we did not get back until 11:00pm. We walked back to our hotel and got back to the room about 11:30. We were completely exhausted.Overall, like I said before, this was my favorite day. It was a long day, it was a cold day and an exhausting day, but beautiful scenery.
That's it for now.
Apr 20th, 2010, 06:46 PM
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Kilroy --
Details HERE: http://www.railtoursireland.com/tours/dc10.asp
Posted price is 109 Euro and a 'Local Fee' of 1.85 GBP Sterling if you want to CROSS the bridge at Carrick-a-rede.
Note that you NEED to have STERLING for incidental expenses (like snacks, meals and the tram/bus at Giant's Causeway). There SHOULD be an ATM in the Belfast Central Train Station...
Bob
Details HERE: http://www.railtoursireland.com/tours/dc10.asp
Posted price is 109 Euro and a 'Local Fee' of 1.85 GBP Sterling if you want to CROSS the bridge at Carrick-a-rede.
Note that you NEED to have STERLING for incidental expenses (like snacks, meals and the tram/bus at Giant's Causeway). There SHOULD be an ATM in the Belfast Central Train Station...
Bob
Apr 24th, 2010, 02:53 PM
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Kilroy, if you’re asking about the total cost of the trip, I think including airfare, tours, meals, hotels, souvenirs, etc. we spent about $4300 for seven nights. I ever finish writing this up, you will find that we paid for a night at our Dublin hotel while we stayed a night in Galway just so that we didn’t have transfer all our luggage with us on the tour. The two things we did to limit our spending would have been the Dublin hotel and meals. We had few fast food dinners. As far as activities, if we wanted to do it, we did it.
Day 3-- Sunday March 21 Dublin City
I planned to spend the day in the city. We had to switch hotels this day also. When I went to bed sat. night I figured I would sleep till about 8 since that would give us a good 8 hours sleep. Well, we didn't wake up until about 9:30, at which time we scrambled around to pack up and check into Cassidy's. When we arrived at Cassidy's about 10:45, they didn't have any rooms available yet but they locked our bags up so that we could go explore the city. We received a free Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour with our booking of the Railtour to Giant's Causeway tour. We caught the HO/HO bus at its first stop 2 blocks down from Cassidy's. I was a little disappointed with the HO/HO at first because it seemed like it would go for about 60 seconds then stop for about 20min. At the stops where there was a bus parked, those were the locations where a salesperson was on the street trying to sell more tickets and you would sit there about 15 -20min waiting for them to draw more people on. After about stop number 9 the pace picked up bit and it got better, but that first 50 min. or so was mostly just sitting at stops waiting for them to sell more tickets.
The first stop we got off at was #15 Kilmainhan Gaol. We wanted to tour St. Patrick's Cathedral but since it was Sunday it was closed to visitors. We did the Kilmainham Gaol tour which I thought was the most interesting thing we did in Dublin. I enjoyed it very much. I don’t know if it was the time day or what, but it was a very large tour group. After the gaol tour we finished the HO-HO loop where we started near Cassidy's.
By then we were then able to check in to our hotel. We had five nights booked here. Comparing it to the Best Western, the room was much larger. They gave us a triple, which was really nice. It wasn't quite as nice or as updated as the BW, but it was decent. It did have separate hot and cold water faucets for the bathroom and no way to adjust the temperature in the room. I felt the savings in cost versus the quality of the hotel was worth the inconvenience of switching. Like I mentioned before, we saved about $200 over the five nights.
After settling in the room, we walked down to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. This happened to be the best day of weather for us. I actually got to take my coat off and just use a jacket. When we arrived at the entrance to Trinity College there were signs posted for a tour of the campus for 10 euro which included entry to the Book of Kells. I did see these tours on the website www.bookofkells.ie/tour-attractions/ , but since they have limited availability outside of their May to Sept schedule, I wasn’t expecting the tour to be offered while we were there. Anyway, we got there about 2:45 and the next tour was at 3:00. There was a person at a podium outside selling tickets. The tour was about 30 min. and it took us about 20 min. to walk through the Kells exhibit.
By this time, it was dinner time. We just had snacks for lunch so we were getting pretty hungry. We decided to go to The Brazen Head for dinner. It was a several blocks away. We got on the HO/HO bus to get us closer to it. The Brazen Head has live music on Sunday afternoons and they were still playing when we arrived. The inside was packed with people. There was plenty of seating outside, but it was starting to get cold and we didn’t want to sit in the cold. We decided to walk back to O’Donohue’s which is near Trinity College (where we started). When were looking for a place to sit at O’Donohue’s, the lady told us they quit serving food at 5pm on Sundays(it was 4:55). We had another failed attempt to eat at another pub in the Temple Bar area before we decided to say “Screw the pub dinner, were going to Pizza Hut”. This Pizza Hut dinner cost us nearly $50 after tip. However, after the ordeal we went through, we were thrilled with $50 pizza (the dinner did include a starter and a dessert). After dinner, we did some souvenir shopping at Carroll’s. If your one who likes to take a little gift back to friends and family, there are several Carroll’s shops throughout Dublin. We did find that the gift shop at the airport had many of the same things at the same price, except for shirts. It seemed like shirts were a little more expensive at the airport.
Up next, Day 4 Railtours Ireland Bunratty Castle, Cliffs of Moher, Galway
Day 3-- Sunday March 21 Dublin City
I planned to spend the day in the city. We had to switch hotels this day also. When I went to bed sat. night I figured I would sleep till about 8 since that would give us a good 8 hours sleep. Well, we didn't wake up until about 9:30, at which time we scrambled around to pack up and check into Cassidy's. When we arrived at Cassidy's about 10:45, they didn't have any rooms available yet but they locked our bags up so that we could go explore the city. We received a free Hop-on/Hop-off bus tour with our booking of the Railtour to Giant's Causeway tour. We caught the HO/HO bus at its first stop 2 blocks down from Cassidy's. I was a little disappointed with the HO/HO at first because it seemed like it would go for about 60 seconds then stop for about 20min. At the stops where there was a bus parked, those were the locations where a salesperson was on the street trying to sell more tickets and you would sit there about 15 -20min waiting for them to draw more people on. After about stop number 9 the pace picked up bit and it got better, but that first 50 min. or so was mostly just sitting at stops waiting for them to sell more tickets.
The first stop we got off at was #15 Kilmainhan Gaol. We wanted to tour St. Patrick's Cathedral but since it was Sunday it was closed to visitors. We did the Kilmainham Gaol tour which I thought was the most interesting thing we did in Dublin. I enjoyed it very much. I don’t know if it was the time day or what, but it was a very large tour group. After the gaol tour we finished the HO-HO loop where we started near Cassidy's.
By then we were then able to check in to our hotel. We had five nights booked here. Comparing it to the Best Western, the room was much larger. They gave us a triple, which was really nice. It wasn't quite as nice or as updated as the BW, but it was decent. It did have separate hot and cold water faucets for the bathroom and no way to adjust the temperature in the room. I felt the savings in cost versus the quality of the hotel was worth the inconvenience of switching. Like I mentioned before, we saved about $200 over the five nights.
After settling in the room, we walked down to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. This happened to be the best day of weather for us. I actually got to take my coat off and just use a jacket. When we arrived at the entrance to Trinity College there were signs posted for a tour of the campus for 10 euro which included entry to the Book of Kells. I did see these tours on the website www.bookofkells.ie/tour-attractions/ , but since they have limited availability outside of their May to Sept schedule, I wasn’t expecting the tour to be offered while we were there. Anyway, we got there about 2:45 and the next tour was at 3:00. There was a person at a podium outside selling tickets. The tour was about 30 min. and it took us about 20 min. to walk through the Kells exhibit.
By this time, it was dinner time. We just had snacks for lunch so we were getting pretty hungry. We decided to go to The Brazen Head for dinner. It was a several blocks away. We got on the HO/HO bus to get us closer to it. The Brazen Head has live music on Sunday afternoons and they were still playing when we arrived. The inside was packed with people. There was plenty of seating outside, but it was starting to get cold and we didn’t want to sit in the cold. We decided to walk back to O’Donohue’s which is near Trinity College (where we started). When were looking for a place to sit at O’Donohue’s, the lady told us they quit serving food at 5pm on Sundays(it was 4:55). We had another failed attempt to eat at another pub in the Temple Bar area before we decided to say “Screw the pub dinner, were going to Pizza Hut”. This Pizza Hut dinner cost us nearly $50 after tip. However, after the ordeal we went through, we were thrilled with $50 pizza (the dinner did include a starter and a dessert). After dinner, we did some souvenir shopping at Carroll’s. If your one who likes to take a little gift back to friends and family, there are several Carroll’s shops throughout Dublin. We did find that the gift shop at the airport had many of the same things at the same price, except for shirts. It seemed like shirts were a little more expensive at the airport.
Up next, Day 4 Railtours Ireland Bunratty Castle, Cliffs of Moher, Galway
Apr 26th, 2010, 05:43 PM
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Sandy,
Both hotels did include tea and coffee in the room. I booked them both through hotels.com and the price did not include breakfast. However, I know when we checked in to the Best Western, we were offered to add breakfast for both mornings of our stay. I believe it was 9.95 euro. I think Cassidy's offered breakfast too. We didn't eat at either place, but we did get a couple of drinks at the bar at Cassidy's. The bar was about the same price for a drink as any other bar in town. I think a pint of Guinness was 4.65 euro. The Best Western also had a hairdryer mounted on the wall in the bathroom. At first, I didn't think Cassidy's had a hairdryer but I found one in the furniture drawer.
Let me know if have any more questions.
Both hotels did include tea and coffee in the room. I booked them both through hotels.com and the price did not include breakfast. However, I know when we checked in to the Best Western, we were offered to add breakfast for both mornings of our stay. I believe it was 9.95 euro. I think Cassidy's offered breakfast too. We didn't eat at either place, but we did get a couple of drinks at the bar at Cassidy's. The bar was about the same price for a drink as any other bar in town. I think a pint of Guinness was 4.65 euro. The Best Western also had a hairdryer mounted on the wall in the bathroom. At first, I didn't think Cassidy's had a hairdryer but I found one in the furniture drawer.
Let me know if have any more questions.
