overwhelmed

rdrunner · Newbie

overwhelmed

Itallian Chauffeur · Moderator

Welcome to Michele's Forum. You came to the right place!

In 1998, after years of promising that, "One Day", we HAD to go to Ireland, my wife gave me an ULTIMATUM -- Make It So, before she turned 50! So, diligent, occasionally Good Husband that I am -- I did. We spent 8 days there, in April of 1999. Other than airfare, I did all the planning for what turned out to be six of us. That was back in the days of Dial Up Modems and before I discovered Michele's Form.

THAT was Daunting! confuse confuse

Your dilemma, by comparison, is only mildly difficult . . . biggrin biggrin

We were smitten and have returned, once (Or TWICE!) a year, ever since. With our nearly 20 visits, I have now accumulated a weath of experience and 'Time On The Ground' -- that roughly equals 1/10th of what Michele has! So -- I say, again, You have certainly come to the right place!

Some initial observations:

Open-jaw, Multi-City tickets -- Into Shannon, Dublin to Spain and then Spain to Home -- are QUITE common and shouldn't be particularly difficult, or outrageously expensive. The only caveat will be the extra luggage costs on the DUB-Spain leg.

I always Self-Drive, so I'll leave Chauffeur recommendations/info to Michele and others. It is definitely an option, though. Galway offers numerous 'Day Tours', so you could opt to only hire a driver for certain days.

As to planning -- Michele offers a Customized Planning Service, as well as the more Generalized, Forum-Centric info.

One of our Resident Gurus -- Tony2Phones -- has an EXCELLENT set of suggestions for touring Connemara and West Galway -- http://ireland.activeboard.com/t50055177/n59-galway-route/ That can provide you with a starting point for deciding what you wish to see, or not. Another good source of information is to peruse some of the Trip Reports.

Likewise, many of the General Information postings on the website "Home" page are addressed in Michele's Guide Book, too. For example,

FAQ: http://www.irelandyes.com/questions.html

Getting Started: http://www.irelandyes.com/planning.html

There are PLENTY more. Go to: http://www.irelandyes.com/ and scroll all the way down to the bottom and then 'Click' on the Link that interests you -- "Money", Tips and Tricks", "B&B Etiquette" -- etcetera ...

Bob

rdrunner · Newbie

I indeed came to the right place with so many great tips already! Thank you for your thoughtful guidance. And yes, I imagine it was quite daunting back in the day!

yesiree · Guru

Leave it to Bob to get things started right!

One question... do you plan to have 8 days in Ireland or 8 days with Ireland and Spain combined? I wouldn't recommend the latter... just not enough time.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Thanks Bob. I appreciate your jumping in while I was traveling, etc.

Several of my clients have used this chauffeur and raved about the service: http://www.corkcoachhire.com/ Jerry info@corkcoachhire.com

I've also heard favorable feedback on this one: http://www.pat-keogh.com/

A chauffeur and limo is not inexpensive but splitting it 5 or 6 ways will bring the costs per person down.

In addition to the links from Bob you might want to look at the following blogs:

http://irelandyes.wordpress.com/

http://irishfireside.com/

http://www.irelandtravelkit.com/

Let us know how else we can help as your trip proceeds.

rdrunner · Newbie

Hi CoreyWe would be spending 8 days in Ireland and an additional 8 days in Spain. No, eight days for both places would be a bit crazyeven for us!

rdrunner · Newbie

Thanks Michele, I will look into those chauffuer options. Now with all this talk about the car rental worries, would we still have to be on alert using this service?

Michele Erdvig · Host

The quote from the chauffeur service should be all inclusive except for optional tip to the driver. Ask questions in advance if you are concerned.

tony2phones · Guru

Car rental worries are blown right out of proportion... There are 1000's of cars rented out every week in peak season and very few are problematic.. of the ones which are complained about on Irish Travel Forums, 95% are from people who have cut corners trying to save a couple of cents using Agencies rather than going direct to the rental companies themselves.