Michele, hope you are recovering from jet lag nicely. Can't wait to hear about your latest discoveries.

Thanks for your input about flying out of L.A. What do you mean, I love those cute little airplane toilet stalls, munchkin size, I'm always getting back in line for another turn! Have you ever tried to use the teeny tiny sink in there? Oh, bad idea unless you're desperate. I bring little individually wrapped hand wipies instead.

Hi IrishEyes, you are fortunate, I just had lunch with a friend who flies to Ireland a lot and she said July is more crowded than June. So you are able to go at a less crowded time, that's great. It is looking like July is better for us, though I had originally hoped to go in June.

I am planning to purchase tickets this month for July 2006. However I should mention I'm not an expert on this by any means, but for trips to other countries, I like to book my tickets in October, November, or December for June/July travel. I am NOT one to wait for those possible last-minute sales, because I am a nervous flyer, and need the comfort of knowing I've booked my aisle seat long in advance, and that my family will be sitting together.

I gather info about flying from other travellers on-line. Then, I either book the flights myself on-line, or else, if it seems complicated, I use my AAA travel agent. Before I visit my AAA travel agent, I have already checked prices on-line so I know what is the going rate. I trust her completely, but sometimes there might be sales that an agent can't take advantage of which I might find on my own...especially if they are temporary prices only available for a few hours in the middle of the night!

When I book flights on-line, I follow the prices for several weeks, in the day-time and late at night, before booking. I check on more than one web-site and for more than one airline. Sometimes prices are lower if you book on-line at odd times...for example I had been following prices for flying San Diego to Costa Rica for weeks (months), when on New Year's eve, right before New Year's, the prices went down, so I snatched the tickets up before the clock stroke midnight!

When we went to Italy, I believe I booked earlier, as Italy is more popular...I think I booked in October or maybe in November for our June trip to Italy.

When I say pre-booking, I only mean that I need to have specific seat reservations. Hubby has booked us in the past on airlines that don't assign you a specific seat in advance, so you don't know where you are sitting until you check into the airport. I won't fly like that anymore, it makes me too nervous! (I get claustrophobic if I can't have my aisle seat.)

That is why I like this particular AAA travel agent who I occasionally use. she is very patient and understanding with me, and understands my fears. She is willing to work with me. She'll tell me if she thinks something won't suit me. She will even check for me how big the plane is and what the seating chart is like. She also knows things like if certain airlines have been cancelling a lot of flights, for example.

But sometimes it's fine to book tickets myself on-line. Depends on how complicated your flight arrangements are going to be.

Good luck to you, hope we both have great trips!

Melissa,

I typed you up a whole long post and now it's gone!!! Thank you so much for all the helpful info. I'll try to recreate it.

Michelle, Was the forum DOWN this am, or was it jjust me???

irisheyes

Irisheyes, I think I "lost" a post today too but it was only a short one. I thought I was just losing my mind but maybe the internet burped this morning. Looking forward to chatting with you. (NOW that Michele has settled my mind on where to stay near Dublin, I can sleep easier tonight. Instead of choosing between Slane, Trim, Skerries, Swords, Malahide, and Slane, I have narrowed it down to just Malahide and Dublin! Thanks, Michele!)

Michele, I am only in my son's Nerdy Beginner's Computer class, so I am not sure where you mean you can highlight and paste your text to someplace in case the internet loses your reply? I just learned this week how to bookmark sites! My son is teaching me but he is threatening to quit because he thinks I'm becoming too dangerous...