am I crazy

matt109 · Veteran Member

am I crazy

yesiree · Guru

You'll have no problem finding a place to stay...especially since your brother will be more than happy to drive a little ways out of town to find a bed.

I frequently travel that way...even in high season. Accommodation standards are high in Ireland, so there are very few places that would be worse than sleeping in your car. The part that will be more hit or miss, will be finding those hosts who add a little magic to your visit.

I'd recommend having your B&B secured before 6pm. Many times I've stopped in the tourist office and had them reserve a room in the next town over. Sure it's site unseen, but I've been pretty lucky...sure, once I had to sleep in a short bed, another time I had a room with no heat and one other time I had a hostess who hadn't mastered the breakfast part of bed & breakfast...all those were tolerable for one night.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Matt,

A Bank Holiday falls right in the middle of your trip. The dates of May 4, 5 & 6 will be quite busy in popular and seaside areas. The 7th is the actual holiday, making for a long weekend. In some places you may find that B&Bs will only take 2 or 3 night bookings. If you are planning on staying in places like Galway, Killarney, Kenmare, Dingle, Kilkenny, Kinsale, Glendalough, etc. it would be best to either plan ahead or find a place to stay early in the day.

Otherwise, you can wing it.

Michele

CowboyCraic · Guru

Matt,

Crazy, no, adventurous, yes! I would recommend that you book lodgings over the May 5th weekend, as it is a Bank Holiday weekend. Otherwise, with the help of Tourist Information centers in most towns, you should be able to find decent accommodations without booking ahead. I do agree that it will be hit and miss for hosts & hostesses, and the magic that some of them seem to emanate.

How lucky you are that your brother loves to drive. Still, Ireland is best experienced without a windshield in the way. Take time to settle in one place to enjoy Ireland and all she has to offer.

Nollaig Shona Duit,

Bit Devine

Cowboy Craic

matt109 · Veteran Member

Thanks for all the great advice. One thing that I am planning to do is find three or four places i want to stay in in a certain area and print those off. I will take those with with me when I go and when i am at a bed and breakfast call ahead to the next place I want to stay. If something better comes along when I am in Ireland then I can go there cause I have no reservations. I am not planning on driving all of the country. I plan on spending at least two days and maybe three in most areas. I am taking Michele's book, the information i print off from the web and the B&B guide. I have a good idea what I want to see and do. I just do not want to be tied to down to a certain place when the owner may know of a better place to visit or stay.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Matt,

It sounds like a good plan. Now that you know the realities of your time period you will be prepared to deal with anything along the way. Check back with my Lodgings page at the beginning of next year. I will have some new suggestions there for places to stay.

Michele

matt109 · Veteran Member

I was looking at the Holiday schedule and the bank Holiday falls on May 1st not May 7th. Is this right or did i misread something. They said it was the first Monday in May which is the first.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Matt,

Are you looking at the 2007 calendar? May 1 is Tuesday. That means May 7 is the first Monday of the month.

Michele

matt109 · Veteran Member

Michele, yes i did look at the wrong year. No wonder i am always a day late

Michele Erdvig · Host

Matt,

We won't penalize you for looking at the wrong year! Just turn the page on your calendar.

Michele

yesiree · Guru

Matt,

Just came accross this email in my Budget Travel e-newsletter. It'll give you some insight into spontaneous travel in Ireland. The author used vouchers, but they are not required for this kind of trip. Read the article at http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111001249.html

For more articles from the Budget Travel e-newsletter, click here http://budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/email/2005/06/09/EM2005060901202.html and check out the stories under the "SECRET HOTELS" section. Hopefully, they keep their articles "live" indefinitely.

stannseniors · Veteran Member

Matt, I spent a lot of time looking up places to stay in the towns we were headed....after we got there we only stayed in the first and last night (only ones reserved)....once we stayed at the first place (and liked it) the owner suggested a place in the town we were headed to and called for us to make a reservation.. Then that lady suggested the next and so on. We never had to worry and stayed in great places.

optimist · Newbie

No your not crazy

Jerilyn Mc · Veteran Member

Hi Matt

NO, you're not crazy!! My best trips have been the unplanned ones. We did a month-long trip thru the west (USA) with our kids without any reservations. At night we took out the map and asked the kids where to next. We even stayed in a Grand Canyon cabin last minute thanks to my smart hubby who knew there'd have to be extra cabins available. He and I also did the no reservations anywhere trip to England a couple of years ago and it was by far the best vacation I've ever had! Go for it!