Late May 2011 trip - I'm bringing a newbie to Ireland! West and northwest.

Roy · Guru

RE: Late May 2011 trip - I'm bringing a newbie to Ireland! West and northwest.

Green Dragon · Guru

Michele:

I've tried emailing Ann at The Meadows several times (annatmeadows@hotmail.com) as well as through her website message center, and have gotten no response. I also tried to send a message through your link on the website, but got an error saying 'invalid email address'. Any ideas? I will try to call her this weekend (I prefer email so I have written proof of communication). Thanks!

All other reservations are done, yay! Now just waiting for airfare to climb down...

Roy · Guru

Good luck with the airfare!

Green Dragon · Guru

I've checked it each day since December. It dipped down briefly at the beginning of January, and has been holding almost exactly at one spot ever since... unusual...

Michele Erdvig · Host

Christy,

New website: http://www.themeadowscushendall.com/

New email: stay@themeadowscushendall.com

Michele

Green Dragon · Guru

Michele, I tried both of those first, back in the beginning of February. :(

Michele Erdvig · Host

Christy,

Sorry, that's all I know.

Michele

Green Dragon · Guru

I'll let you know if I can get hold of her via phone this weekend. if not, I'll have to figure out another place - that one looked so nice :)

CowboyCraic · Guru

Christy, if you are not too set on Cushendall for your lodgings, I might suggest Carnlough, which is a little farther down the coast. Carnlough is one of my favorite little towns. The Londonderry Arms is a great place to stay in Carnlough.

As to Cushendall, the Village B&B is the only B&B in which I have stayed there. It was an overnight only but I found it to be a lovely place to stay. This trip, we are staying overnight at Ardtrabane House, which is the closest B&B to teh Causeway. We shall see how that works out.

Slan agus Barrogs,

Bit

-- Edited by CowboyCraic on Monday 28th of February 2011 12:35:28 PM

Green Dragon · Guru

I did call yesterday, and left a message. No word yet. The Village B&B was one of the others on our short list, so I'll likely try there next. Go raibh maith agat, mo chara!

Michele Erdvig · Host

Christy,

It makes me wonder if they are away or had a family emergency?

Michele

Green Dragon · Guru

It's possible, Michele - but my first email was back at the beginning of February - a month is a long time to be out of touch. Either they're not getting their emails (and I'm trying in three different contact options) or something else is going on :(

Michele Erdvig · Host

Christy,

That is a long time. Sounds like something is up with them. Hope they haven't closed. But then why would they have a new website? It is possible the emails are not getting through. It has happened to several of my favorite B&Bs before. However, you phoned them. Surely they should have received that message if they are at home.

Let us know what you find out.

Michele

Green Dragon · Guru

Will do. This is why I start reserving in Feb for a May trip, in case problems come up :)

Green Dragon · Guru

No contact still from Meadows - I have now got a reservation at Riverside B&B instead.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Christy,

Riverside looks nice. You will have to let us know how you liked it. Maybe they can tell you what the problem is with the Meadows. You have been officially appointed the IrelandYes Sleuth.

Michele

Green Dragon · Guru

Yes ma'am! Will this message self-destruct? :) I will do my best to find out -

Michele Erdvig · Host

Christy,

If you care to accept this assignment the forum will not blow up. You will be its savior! It is incredible the amount of info you can find out in Ireland with a few simple questions in local areas.

Michele

Green Dragon · Guru

Yes, I'm very interested in what has happened, as well - I hope nothing bad. And I will, of course, give reviews of the places I stay :)

Green Dragon · Guru

I just got a call from Ann at The Meadows - all is fine, they were out of town and then had some phone problems, but they are doing great. Thought I'd pass on the news....

Michele Erdvig · Host

Christy,

Mystery solved! And you didn't even have to go to Ireland. Thanks for the update.

Michele

Green Dragon · Guru

Glad to help!

Green Dragon · Guru

Got airfare last night at $936 per ticket. $400 of that is fuel surcharge... but the tickets went up to $1072 today, so I think we did good. I'll get my Dan Dooley rental next, now that I know when we are arriving/leaving. The only down part - an 11 hour layover in Newark on the outbound trip (only 5 on the return). However, I have friends that can take us out on the town for the day while we wait. :)

Roy · Guru

We have had those lengthy layovers at JFK before. This year we are being routed through Logan and have more managable times between flights. Hopefully JetBlue won't screw up again and will be able to figure out how to check our luggage all the way through.

Good luck on the car rental. Those prices are always a crap shoot too!

Green Dragon · Guru

Got the car rental with Dan Dooley - no problems. In fact, it went down $3 since yesterday due to the Euro :P

I'd much rather have an 11 hour layover and time on my hands than a 2 hour layover and worry about late flights/missed flights/mad dashes through the airport. This way we can enjoy the city a bit, relax, have a couple drinks, and get on our way.

Roy · Guru

When we had the lengthy layover at JFK we went into Queens for the day. The only frustration was paying to store our luggage because JetBlue screwed up on checking our luggage all the way through Shannon.

Green Dragon · Guru

No checked luggage for us - all carry-on :) My friend Scott lives in Jersey city and will likely be able to take us around. And Scott will have a car, so we can just throw them in the trunk and go explore with him. If Scott can't, I have about a half dozen friends to ask in his stead.

I'm very excited! To me, the trip isn't 'set' until I get the airfare taken care of. That's when the real money starts being paid, and therefore the trip will actually happen in my mind. So we've got the B&Bs, car rental, airfare, trip insurance. All that's left is to pack and go! Oh, and to remind the husband to download Ireland maps for our GPS.

EngagingKate · Senior Member

Christy,

We have also gone the "no checked luggage" route, even though for most international flights you can check one or two bags for free. We'd have to pay to get them from Boise to wherever our international flight takes off (and we're generally using a different airline to get from Boise to the East Coast than we do to fly over to Ireland).

Plus, I really love being able to just hop off the plane and start my vacation, rather than waiting at the carousel for bags. And this year we're riding the train from Dublin to Belfast. Much easier to not have any extra crap... :)

One more plus with very little luggage: you can fit it all in the boot of the car and no will see all your stuff in the back seat and be tempted to break in while you're stopped to do some touristy stuff.

We still need to sort out the car rental. I need to do that this week...

Green Dragon · Guru

Considering the airlines have lost 50% of my checked bags on my last 6 trips, I'm not gambling this time :) In Scotland, my bag was delayed 5 days.

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

In April of '01, we left Florida in 85+ degree weather, thinking that we were SO VERY SMART to have packed our coats in our checked luggage! evileye

We flew Delta to Boston and then Aer Lingus to Shannon.

And, yes. Our bags got a free ride to SOMEWHERE else! furious

They WOULD have arrived the very next morning, BUT ...

Aer Lingus had a SCHEDULED 'Labor Action' that day -- so our bags were delivered to our location on Day THREE of our trip. doh

Spare underwear and socks in the Carry Ons, but we had to buy a couple of Fleece jackets, just to get by. It was rainy and 40 degrees in Ireland, that April.

Or, at least it WAS ...

For the first four days .... biggrin

We still do ONE checked bag, unfortunately ... cry

MY Carry On just BARELY holds all my gadgets, cords and camera stuff (plus some socks and underwear! biggrin

).

If they would let us do TWO C/O, we would be all set! biggrin

Bob