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Tips for Seeing Ireland on a Budget, Surgery and Online Classes
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A week ago we got back from a nine day trip to Ireland. Visiting Ireland has been a life-long dream for me since some of my ancestry on my dad’s side (and my last name) is Irish. It was an amazing trip and tons of fun and we managed to do it on very little money. Here are tricks to seeing Ireland inexpensively.
1. We flew on Aerlingus between Lyon and Dublin at 107 euros each plus 30 euros for one luggage in cargo roundtrip. That’s about $300 total for both people.
2. We stayed at a B&B in the center of Dublin and paid for it in advance, giving us a discount. The cost was 60 euros per night with a big breakfast.
3. We rented a car for a week for 150 euros with extra comprehensive/liability insurance, and unlimited mileage. We shopped several sites to get that deal.
4. We used www.airbnb.com to find people in the small towns on the west peninsulas who rent rooms in their homes. Our favorite was a sheep farm where we stayed that had gorgeous landscapes surrounding the home and lots of sheep to pet. It cost 60 euros per night for two people with a huge breakfast. The even invited us for an evening of chat and TV and I bottle fed the baby lambs every morning.
5. We also did extensive Google searches to find the B&Bs that were not listed on the big search engine sites. We got great deals at 50-60 euros a night with breakfast for two.
6. We kept food costs way down (30 euros per day for two people) by eating the big breakfasts that were served at all the accommodations for free, snacking on fruit for lunch, and eating at Pubs for dinner. The Pubs even had free music in the evenings which we took advantage of.
We did the entire nine days for less than 1,200 euros for two people ($1,550). It’s our big trip for the summer (or year), and it was well worth the time we spent researching for budget traveling. Ireland and the Irish people are truly special. Their warmth, approachability, and humor are their best qualities. I will have videos of our trip coming soon.
Now we’re back to reality with my husband’s hand surgery a couple of days ago with several weeks of recovery time, my online classes’ assignments (TEFL and Business English TEFL) due next week, and my French Alps Tours preparation looming over my head. The tour starts in two weeks and I have lots to do.
I can feel the longing for Ireland returning, but alas, it’s not to be. Not this summer anyway.
May 17th, 2012 at 12:34 pm
Sounds like a wonderful trip and Ireland has always been a favorite of min. The price you paid for 2 people was unbelievably low and of course coming from the west coast of the USA would be a lot higher. All your research into the other areas really paid off! Good for you and the time you spent with your ‘ancestry’.