Suzy,

Where in the US are you flying from? Your airfare will be quite a bit less from the East Coast or even the midwest vrs. the West Coast!

All  expenses will depend on the value of the Euro in relationship to our dollar.  Airfare, car rental, and some lodging can be prepaid to lock in the price in today's dollar. 

For our last 2 trips, I budgeted $100/day/couple for B&B type of lodging. For our next trip in March of 2011, since we are doing a week of self catering ( sharing with another couple), our lodging bill looks like $650/couple for 2 weeks.  We scored a $75/night/couple rate at the Mont Clare in Dublin for 2 nights.  We will save about $500 total using a week of self cater and sharing that expense with another couple. 

We will have a some additional  meal expense for breakfast during the week of self-cater.    A huge B&B breakfast meal, a light lunch of fruit and cheese bread/crackers for approx 5 Euro, and an evening meal that can run 12-15 Euro/person for pub grub, and 25-30 Euro/person for fine dining, you could spend anywhere from $50 to $100/couple a day for food.

We have budgeted another $200 for car gas (it may not take that much if you have an economy car).

The last time I checked airfare from the West Coast for July and Aug, it was in the neighborhood of $1100-1300 depending on stops and connections. Our airfare for March was $810.

Our midsize standard transmission rental car for 12 days in March with full inclusive insurance will be $730.

For a summer trip, $5,000 could be doable, but may be a little conservative, unless you are flying from an east Coast major hub.  Your ability to  really find a good airfare between now and then, will make a big difference, since I believe air fare to be the biggest single expense of a European trip.

We expect to spend about $100-$150/couple for airport-hotel-airport transfers, HOHO Bus, taxi-home-from-pubs, and heritage passes during that 2 weeks, though we plan to do a lot of walking, weather depending. 

Of course, how much you spend on admissions, beer/wine, entertainment, and gift items etc. will depend on your traveling style. Hope this helps! Dan

-- Edited by murphy on Friday 10th of December 2010 09:35:44 PM

http://www.irelandyes.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/how-much-does-a-trip-to-ireland-cost/

Thank you all for your replies.
Michele - I will read the article that you wrote about the "Estimate of Costs"
If I should have any more questions, I will post them.
Suzy