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born2teachuga


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Planning our one year anniversary for March 2014 and need some help
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First off let me say, this is the most organized forum I have ever visited for travel tips.

I've been trying to methodically plan out a trip for my husband and I to celebrate our one year anniversary for a while now and I feel like I could name just about every city because I've looked at so many different trips. I can now understand why my husband took the easy route and just paid an arm and a leg for a cruise when we went on our honeymoon, but I know there's got to be a way to do this without losing your mind.

My husband and I met at a St. Patrick's Day festival 5 years ago in South Carolina and so this holiday holds special meaning for us. We would like to plan a trip so that we can enjoy this holiday in the country that was responsible for originating it. Luckily my spring break (I'm a teacher) is around the same time that this would be possible to do. We're planning on leaving Charlotte on the 7th of March and departing from Dublin early in the morning on the 18th. That gives us 10 nights roughly which isn't much I know.

My husband is your typical country guy. Likes lots of war/weapon/military/police kind of stuff. When we originally started planning for this trip he said that he would like to see if it was possible to spend some time in London. When I started asking him about what he wanted to see in London, I felt like a day trip there would be way more of an expense just in traveling that it didn't seem worth the hassle. I'm remaining open to hearing him out on that though. I checked out www.viator.com and saw where they had some real nice day trip excursions in both London and Scotland (of course one or the other).

My questions are whether what I was thinking of doing regarding our itinerary is plausible and there's just so many gaps and nothing concretely decided that I need help with?

  • If we know that we want to fly out of Dublin because we are primarily going for the St. Patrick's Day festival there, would it be possible to fly into either London or Edinburgh?
  • Would it be plausible to maybe spend 2 nights (if we went to London that's how many I would think) or 3 nights in Edinburgh first, then start looking into Ireland? I priced plane tickets (because train tickets aren't available for March) from there to various airports in Ireland and the price is within our range. We were thinking of renting a car when we got to Ireland and then when we made it to Dublin we would no longer need a car.
  • If we're departing from London or Edinburgh and traveling to Ireland, what is the best city to start from if we're wanting to end up in Dublin?
  • Will it end up being cheaper in the long run taking public transportation or will we lose too much time because of it?

When I wrote out all the sites I would like to visit in Ireland just from looking at pictures, I would have to go to about 9 cities to see them all, haha. I don't want to go to the overhyped tourist spots. I need to fill up 5 nights because the last 2 nights we were going to be in Dublin for the festival on the 17th.

How would you lay this trip out? By the way, if you look at the file I attached, I didn't include anything from Dublin because I knew there was going to be enough with just the festival.

 



-- Edited by born2teachuga on Friday 6th of September 2013 08:12:12 PM

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Michele Erdvig


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Welcome to the forum. I'm glad to hear you like it.

If you only want to see Dublin and not the rest of Ireland, then you could split your time but I would only do one other destination. Either London or Scotland. Travel days generally turn out to be wasted days. So the more travel days you add in flying around the less time you have on the ground.

Given your "wish list", I suggest you just concentrate on Ireland this time. Plan another trip for England and perhaps Scotland. I know they all seem in close proximity but when you figure in getting to airports, checking in, flying, getting luggage, renting a car or getting public transport, getting to your next lodging...it all adds time.

Discuss it with your husband and see what he thinks.

And for St. Patrick's Day, make your hotel reservations early. Dublin books up very fast for the big event.



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tony2phones


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I would suggest staying outside Dublin for St Pat's somewhere on the commuter Route.. Dublin gets silly after the parade so unless you want to witnesses Irish youth emulating the drunken typecast see the Parade and move on. We have stayed in Bray but there are many alternatives on the rail links.
Have you considered Galway or Limerick as the alternatives which I generally suggest.

You can fly to London and Scotland from any Irish airport so even if you fly in and/or out of Dublin you are not restricted for the Short Haul.. Your baggage weight and size will be though so make note of that.

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Geno


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Would certainly agree that unless you wish to see a ridiculous -- and quite young -- display of drunken behavior, Dublin is not the place to experience St. Patrick's Day.  To each his own, but it is a markedly different celebration in most other places in the country,



-- Edited by Geno on Monday 9th of September 2013 08:54:25 AM

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Michele Erdvig


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If it "must" be Dublin for St. Patrick's Day another alternative place to stay is Malahide, which is just north of Dublin. You can get DART into the city or take a bus.

Many cities and towns in Ireland will be partying. Where you stay for St. Patrick's Day depends on the vibe you are looking for.



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"Ireland Expert"  Michele Erdvig

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tony2phones


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Tis a terrible thing to say and I really don't want to deter you from coming over, but if you want to see Dublin at it best, any time after 1pm on St Patricks day is not the time to do it. Most of the Bigger parades like Limerick and Galway start the parades in the afternoon with pubs showing the Dublin parade on live feed Large screen TV..from 11am



-- Edited by tony2phones on Tuesday 10th of September 2013 03:50:45 AM

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