Hello, it's Terry and Nancy again with Ireland vacation plan questions. We plan on spending 3/4 days in Dublin. Any suggestions on hotels? Then we plan on picking up a car at the Dublin airport and driving for several days ending at Shannon airport. Do you suggest B&B's or hotels along the way? B&B's will offer more local flavor but what about the bathroom privacy? Anybody have experience with CIE self drive vacations? Thank you

<BR>I always stay at B&B's and there are many, many wonderful B&B's with ensuite bathrooms. I would highly recommend them. I think you would be very pleased. I don't know about the tours. In Ireland I don't think it's necessary. Just rent a car and go as you please. The Irish Tourist Board puts out a very good book on B&B's. It really isn't necessary to book ahead unless you are going in the peak season. Perhaps just book your first and last night. <BR>Good luck. <BR>Lee

I used CIE Tours self drive vacations when I went to England and Wales last year. I thought the prices were very good. For the most part we were happy with the quality of the B&B's on their list. They gave us a large listing of B&B's and small hotels and a book of vouchers and we got to choose. We often paid the private bath supplement. In fact, many places we stayed we either paid the "quality" supplement or the "en-suite" supplement. I didn't mind because I wasn't on a strict budget. But we often didn't know, or had no choice about paying a few extra pounds. My only complaint about the package was almost all of the B&B's were out of the way. A place that said it was in Caernarvon could actually be 20-30 minutes away. We learned to look at the maps and read the directions more carefully before we booked. There were three of us travelling, and we always got two rooms. In a lot of the B&B's they were so small, or not fully booked, that often we were sharing the bath only with each other. Privacy was really never an issue.

Hi Terry and Nancy. I am sending you a web site that may help with some of your accommodation questions in Ireland. <BR> <BR>www.latebreaks.com/ireland <BR>also <BR>http://travel.yahoo.com (you can find Ireland there eventually) <BR> <BR>As for B&B's, Ireland has a wonderful selection, varying in price and quality (as they do anywhere else in the world). Nowadays, the majority of them, will have ensuite facilities and privacy will not be much of a problem. With regard to booking in advance, obviously that will depend on the time of year you travel, but in certain areas, it might be adviseable to book anyway, just to be sure you get what you want!!

I have used CIE tours for both of my trips to Ireland. Yes you can go it on your own, but I like to have some of the costs out of the way. The cars (one car and one mini-van) were fine. The B&B lists was very extensive. We always tried t oget the "en suite" option which is the private bathroom for a couple of extra pounds (paid to the B&B owner). The vouchers worked fine. We even did a manor home upgrade on our first trip. The Irish Toursit Board will make reservations for you for a couple of pounds. Every few days we would make our reservations for the next several nights. They do the calling, get the directions, and print a confirmation for you. Nice folks. <BR> <BR>Your trip sounds like the one we just did in Sept. Dublin was ok....we did Powerscourt and I got some great shoots. A cab will be very costly, but you can use a combination of the DART and Buses to get there. Hotels were expensive in Dubin..or at least in my opinion. We had a tough time getting reservations (Tall Ships were in town) and ended up in a Best Western for about $200 a night. <BR> <BR>Let me know if you have any questions and have a wonderful trip. <BR> <BR>