- Route plan

Ireland travel
    At the end of September we agree with some friends on going to visit one country together on Easter. We started to manage it immediately as this time we haven’t got the advantage of date flexibility. We must fly on Good Friday and coming back on Monday as these are the holidays all 5 couples will be free of work.

   We got the dates, but didn’t got the destination and we were checking the chances of going to a long list of countries until we received the suggestion of Ireland, which was not on the list, and could verify it matches our expectations of budget and beauty.

   The idea, then, was being in Dublin the two entire days and the two half days we were going to spend in Ireland, but after a small investigation about the country we decided to spend, at least, one of the entire days to go to Cliffs of Moher, on the other side of the island. As we’re a big group with a tight agenda I look for a tour which could get us to there.

   The budget is set to 500€ per couple and, as you can see below, is not reached.

   

- Flights


   Ireland is the cradle of low cost airlines and the name “Ryanair” comes to mind at the moment. Somehow, the conditions and scheduled times of Air Lingus flights match more our wills and is finally the chosen one.

   The price for those flights appears at website as 84€ per person, but after including taxes and baggage the total is finally 247.58€ per couple.

   The final flights for this travel are the following :

21/03/2008   BCN 11:20    DUB  13:00
24/03/2008   DUB 17:50    BCN  21:15


- Hotel

   The search for hotel should be quick too, but the first results showed high rates for Dublin allocation. It seems rooms in Dublin are, as its neighbor capital London, small and expensive.

   This point required a deeper level of search and we finally found out some travelers diaries and chronicles pointed to a specific one as the best value for money option Opinions label Clarion Hotel Liffey Valley as a hidden jewel and its only handicap is, as usual, location. It is far from city downtown but a bus line covers that distance regularly and has a stop close to the hotel entrance. So we go for it.

   We booked from hotels.com website as I can get some discount on that website due to my job. Three nights are 159€ per room.



-Other expenses


   The only fixed expenses for this travel are due to the Cliffs of Moher tour, which we finally book and pay in advance to Healy tours the 16€ per person. They will pick u up on Galway train station and will deliver to it after visiting some spots of the area known as “The Burren”: Ailwee caves, Dolmen Poulnabrone, Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, Black head Lighthouse and Dunguaire Castle.

   The other expense is the train trip we’re going to need to go to Galway. One week before leaving to Ireland we book the ticket through Irish rail web site: www.irishrail.ie by 31,50€ per person:

   Dublin (Heuston station) 7:10 Galway 9:55 and Galway 18:05 Dublin (Heuston station) 20:54

   Detailed plan, then, is like this :


MARCH
Day Night Morning Afternoon
21 Dublin Flight to Dublin Dublin
22 Dublin West Coast tour West Coast tour
23 Dublin Dublin
Dublin
24 Home Dublin Flight back to Barcelona