This spring, for sure

Marie · Guru

This spring, for sure

CowboyCraic · Guru

Marie!!

How are you keeping?

I would suggest early to mid May, as that is when everything starts to bloom out, usually. Note that I said usually. when I went over last year in the early part of May, the weather imps decided that it was to be the coldest and wettest early May they'd had for a while.

That fare seems a bit high for an east coast flight. Especially booking this early, I would expect something lower. Sign up for the airline emails and keep an eye out for the discounted sales.

I will be over there in June of next year. I am leading a ten-day tour and then staying an extra ten days.

Slan Beo,

Bit

Marie · Guru

Hello Bit!

I am well. Planning a return to Ireland makes me better than usual, for sure. When I was there with my daughters in 2007, I went to Ballyshannon but did not actually get to hook up with my mother's family members (whom I have never met, as they are descendants) nor did I get to visit her homeplace, a whitewashed farmhouse just as we see in calendar pics of Ireland!

I DID, however, get a phone number from a local store-keeper who knew of a PJ Flanagan, but we were not sure if he was a relative or not. Turns out he is my cousin indeed, and he stayed up until 1AM their time to call me after receiving my letter stating my desire to come back and visit for real. I am VERY excited. This means a lot to me.

The family farm is in Upper Creevy, Ballyshannon, with a strip of farmland between the house and the sea. OMG! I was surprised when I was in the area last time, because the ocean was not in my memory bank from my visits at ages 2 and 3, although other things were, such as the Border Collie, Dawn, and Fanny the mule.

Then I realized that as a 2 or 3 year old, I would not have been able to see over the stone wall (fence).

Anyhow, I will have to pick the date based on the circumstances at work, as well. I am not at complete liberty to choose. But I will get as close to mid May as I can. We were there in May 2007 and it was gorgeous and wonderful.

You trip sounds wonderful and long. I will only be able to do 2 weeks, max.

Stay well,

Marie

CowboyCraic · Guru

I sent you a private message.

One of the reasons we are staying over extra time is so that my Sweetie can hook up with his family in Clare. He is a Flanagan. John Francis Flanagan, you can't get much for Irish than that! Most of his family was around Doolin and Lisdoonvarna.

Slan Beo,

Bit

Michele Erdvig · Host

Marie,

Welcome back to the forum! Glad to hear all is well and you are going to Ireland in the spring. That airfare sounds high to me too. Keep looking and when it dips down in price grab it.

Will you be flying into Dublin and seeing your friend? How great that you will visit with cousins in Ballyshannon. If you get the time pop across the border to Belleek for the Belleek Pottery tour.

Now the fun begins with the planning.

MIchele

DeborahAnn · Veteran Member

Marie, I'd agree with Michele about waiting for better airfares to Ireland out of Philly. My husband and I are flying USAir from Baltimore to Dublin through Philly and got a really good price, I think, of 607 including all taxes and fees.

We bought our tickets in February for Sept. but I remember seeing good prices beginning in December. A trip to Ireland wasn't even in the plans for us until one day just for fun I went on Kayak.com to see where in Europe we could go for the best airfare and behold there was Dublin!! biggrin

You might just have to drive to Baltimore to get the best price--those airfares don't make sense sometimes. You might pay more to fly out of Philly because for you it would be a non-stop where we get a discount because we are flying out of BWI thru Philly Good luck with airfare prices, Deborah

Monty · Senior Member

Hi Bit:

Always enjoy your postings on this site, as it seems like you have plenty of good things to share with others. Noted that you are doing a tour later on. Have you hosted a tour before, or is this the maiden voyage as a tour leader?

I'll be interested in how that goes. We always have friends asking us to "take them to Ireland," and putting something quite small together like this is something we have considered. I know it would be a great deal of preparation and some challenge.

Let us know if your experience with this is something you enjoy.

Monty

CowboyCraic · Guru

Thanks Monty,

Though I have put together a few tours for local organizations, this will be my maiden tour. Unless, you count the three performance/lecture tours in which I wrangled six - eight other people, scheduled the lodgings, booked the rental van, scheduled in all the sight-seeing stops and located all of the venues. biggrin

I am working with CIE tours so they provide the driver and the bus. I am capping my tour at 22 people. I have three booked in so far. Unlike most tours, I am doing two nights in each location so that my clients can truly experience Dublin, Donegal, Galway and Killarney. I was already told that the drivers are keen on this tour because I am not doing the Disney stops.

If you work with CIE tours, they will build you a good tour for a small group. It does get pricey with smaller groups though. On my last performance/lecture tour, I had eight people. I booked a People Mover, restricted them to one midsize duffle, handed my brother detailed maps and off we went. The trick in taking a small group of friends over is in making sure they are truly compatible souls. That is the tricky part. The rest: booking the van rental, selecting lodgings, even winnowing down everyone's "must-see" list to a workable, mutually agreed upon list, will fall into place.

If you would like to take a look, here is the link.

Deborah Ann,

For me, here in Tucson, it is "on-paper" cheaper to fly out of Phoenix most of the time. I say "on-paper" because, as my sweetie pointed out, you have to factor in gas for up/back, lodging if its an early flight the next day and a meal up/back. Still, sometimes it is more cost effective to fly out of the major travel hub.

Slan Beo,

Bit

Marie · Guru

Bit: I have replied with a message. Thanks.

I am looking for a better price, but, let me tell you, I am going, no matter what it costs!

-- Edited by Marie on Monday 30th of August 2010 08:57:02 PM

CowboyCraic · Guru

To give you an idea of cost difference:

I am putting together a travel itinerary for a friend who will be traveling to NI in Mid October. I told her that I would handle everything but the airfare. She had to book that.

She was looking at flights out of Tucson. She could find nothing under $1200 dollars RT. She called me and said she was thinking of not going because of the flight expense. I convinced her to let me check into a Phoenix flight. I would drive her up and pick her up on the return. She had spent two and a half hours trying to find a cheaper fare. Within a half hour, I had her booked on a flight out of Phoenix for under $800 RT total.

Now she is happly looking forward to her trip. I am happily looking forward to my two meals at Cracker Barrel and all is right with the world. biggrin

wckc · Guru

Marie -

I've found it cheaper for us to fly from one of the big citties AerLingus flies from than to try and get a direct flight from Albuquerque. For this trip we are flying Southwest to Chicago and then Aer Lingus from there to Dublin. We will have to pay for the shuttle from Midway airport to O'Hare, but the total cost is still cheaper than booking from Albuquerque to Dublin with the same airline. Of course for us it also helps that I get Rapid Rewards free tickets on Southwest, do Keith's flight (roundtrip) Albuquerque to Chicago was only $5!

-wc

Marie · Guru

WC:

Thanks for the input. Aer Lingus flies out of NYC non-stop, but that is a 5 hour drive for me, not to mention the parking problem. In Philly, I can leave my car with a friend.
So, the difference in cost is worth it. I HAVE to fly non-stop. I cannot abide spending an entire day traveling -

what a waste of precious "Ireland time."

Marie

I will keep watching the fares through the fall.