Polly:

Congratulations for getting off chemo. I know it's tough to go through having had multiplr family members and a few close friends endure it.

Paid assistance isn't entirely necessary, though if you do pay for it, there are none better than Michele. A great advantage with Michele is that she doesn't require the dreaded B&B vouchers. Your reservations won't be made for you, but your days will be well planned by an expert who has visited many many times.

The free advice is from people like me, who have been a number of times, stayed at a few places (I think I'm up to 50) and have wandered around aimlessly gathering some good experiences. With a couple of good guide books (again, Michele has a very good one) some time invested and info online, you should be able to plan a nice trip on your own. Still, help from Michele may be the insurance necessary for a "dream trip".

Of course, you can always do a combo and get help from her and then use rest of us lunatics as side info.

Bill

Polly,

Welcome to the forum. What a lot to look forward to...getting off chemo and a trip to Ireland. You must be very excited. My thanks to Bill for his endorsement. I do plan custom itineraries for people and you can read more about it on this page: http://www.irelandyes.com/itinerary.html It is not for someone who wants to plan every aspect of their trip themselves (which is what most on the forum want) but for those who need a bit of help and some handholding along the way. Take a look and see if it is something of interest to you.

If you want to take a stab at an itinerary yourself, feel free to post it and I will be happy to comment on it (as will everyone else here).

The voucher issue is always a sticky topic. They limit where you can stay and unless you are getting an excellent price on a fly/drive/voucher package they generally cost more than paying yourself as you go. Since you say you already have your airfare I would recommend not getting the vouchers. They become more difficult to use as the season progresses. Sort of like using frequent flyer miles; some B&Bs will only give out a certain number of rooms to those using vouchers. If they know they will be full with cash paying customers they will turn away those with vouchers. They are almost impossible to use in Dublin unless you upgrade to hotels. In some circumstances they can be a good buy but in yours probably not.

Whatever you decide to do we are here to help. I'm glad you found my forum.

Michele