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Featured Replies

Raise the tourist tax, fees for visas, etc

You can thank the rise of low cost transatlantic flights. I just booked RT Chicago to Dublin for $600 in August - and that includes bags and assigned seats. 

5 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

You can thank the rise of low cost transatlantic flights. I just booked RT Chicago to Dublin for $600 in August - and that includes bags and assigned seats. 

Hell you can get a week in Ireland including car, flights, and hotels for less than $900 right now if you know where to go. Cheap oil, gas prices projected to be $2.00 or less this Summer.

Why would anyone go to Europe in the summer.

1 hour ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Hell you can get a week in Ireland including car, flights, and hotels for less than $900 right now if you know where to go. Cheap oil, gas prices projected to be $2.00 or less this Summer.

Please 'splain. 

Or if too much to 'splain, then sum up. 

Edited by ztejas

2 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Please 'splain. 

Or if too much to 'splain, then sum up. 

Travelzoo.com Scotland and Ireland for $899 with the ability to upgrade 

 

Travelzoo
 
 
Ireland & Scotland B&B Trip: $899 with DC Flights 
By Annemarie Kropf
tzoo.14715.0.852976.Eilean-Donan-Castle_

 

In a new sale, Great Value Vacations has dropped the price of its 6-night Ireland and Scotland trip in fall to $899 per person, including roundtrip flights from Washington, D.C. 

You'll save up to $470 versus booking on your own, and we love that you can take your pick from bed-and-breakfasts throughout each country and explore at your own pace.

This trip includes:

  • Flights: D.C. to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Dublin and Dublin to D.C.
  • 6 nights' accommodations, including bed-and-breakfasts in Scotland and Ireland plus hotels in Edinburgh and Kilkenny
  • Car rental in both countries

When: November, January-February; surrounding months +$50-$100

Optional upgrades and extensions are available:

This sale ends June 14.

 

The son and I are contemplating a second Ireland trip on this deal.

25 minutes ago, DaysOff said:

Why would anyone go to Europe in the summer.

Agree. Spring or Fall for me unless it's somewhere like Nice or other med coast destinations.

Summer's a great time to hit northern Europe.  We'll be going to Berlin, then Norway and Denmark.  Pleasant temperatures, fruit at the peak of season (seriously, we eat a lot of fruit when we visit northern Europe, it's fantastic), etc.

That said, we were in Paris in early July a couple of summers ago.  It was crowded, including the Louvre, but it wasn't awful.  Lotta Russian chicks taking selfies in front of the Mona Lisa, but otherwise, quite manageable.  

29 minutes ago, DaysOff said:

Why would anyone go to Europe in the summer.

Work schedule 

25 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Travelzoo.com Scotland and Ireland for $899 with the ability to upgrade 

 

Travelzoo
 
 
Ireland & Scotland B&B Trip: $899 with DC Flights 
By Annemarie Kropf
tzoo.14715.0.852976.Eilean-Donan-Castle_

 

In a new sale, Great Value Vacations has dropped the price of its 6-night Ireland and Scotland trip in fall to $899 per person, including roundtrip flights from Washington, D.C. 

You'll save up to $470 versus booking on your own, and we love that you can take your pick from bed-and-breakfasts throughout each country and explore at your own pace.

This trip includes:

  • Flights: D.C. to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Dublin and Dublin to D.C.
  • 6 nights' accommodations, including bed-and-breakfasts in Scotland and Ireland plus hotels in Edinburgh and Kilkenny
  • Car rental in both countries

When: November, January-February; surrounding months +$50-$100

Optional upgrades and extensions are available:

This sale ends June 14.

 

The son and I are contemplating a second Ireland trip on this deal.

This looks cool. Thanks. 

They do a trip that's just Dublin for 4 or 5 nights - assuming you have been there, how much is there to do in Dublin and is it easy to daytrip from there if you wanted to? 

 

On 6/10/2019 at 3:50 PM, ztejas said:

This looks cool. Thanks. 

They do a trip that's just Dublin for 4 or 5 nights - assuming you have been there, how much is there to do in Dublin and is it easy to daytrip from there if you wanted to? 

 

4-5 days in Dublin is probably doable. There's so much history there all easy driving distances from town. We did a 9 day 1/2 lap of the country from Dublin south west and then north west to Galway in 16 starting in Dublin.  Of course the pubs are great, but visit the national museum for its collection of bog mummies, midevial gold, and Viking exhibits. The Knowth paleo site about 2 hours north of Dublin is cool as shit.  Huge stone mound where chances are if you're relatives are from Ireland may have had ancestors living in this village somewhere back in the late BC and early AD days.

We spent a day just hanging in the Dublin pubs, getting the locals vibe. The son spent an evening at an old-timers Dublin poker club for a night. He said all the regulars saw fresh, American fodder, and he walked out with $1,200 Euro. We lived high on the hog after that night.  That trip was $2,400 all in for both of us for 9 nights.   Fall is a great time to be there IMO.

I fell in love with Ireland, we also did Cork, Killarney and Gallway.  Cliffs of Mohr, Blarney castle.  I'd add extra days if you can to see the southern and southwestern Irish cities to the Travelzoo trip

Edited by Onboard 2.0

17 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

4-5 days in Dublin is probably doable. There's so much history there all easy driving distances from town. We did a 9 day lap of the country in 16 starting in Dublin.  Of course the pubs, but the national museum for its collection of bog mummies, gold, and Viking exhibits. The Knowth paleo site about 2 hours north of Dublin is cool as shit.  Huge stone mound where chances are if you're ancestors are from Ireland may have had ancestors living in this village.

We spent a day just hanging in the Dublin pubs, getting the locals vibe, and the son hooked up at an old-timers  poker club for a night. He said all the regulars saw fresh, American fodder, and he walked out with $1,200 Euro. We lived high on the hog after that night.  That trip was $2,400 all in for both of us for 9 nights.   Fall is a great time to be there IMO.

I fell in love with Ireland, we also did Cork, Killarney and Gallway.  Cliffs of Mohr, Blarney castle.  I'd add extra days if you can to see the southern and southwestern Irish cities.

My hang up would be driving anywhere. Not really keen on renting a car in a foreign country that drives on the left - especially if I'm going to be drinking. Are there like buses or trains that make it easy to get outside of Dublin? 

And I realize I've totally hijacked this thread, sorry. Fuck you, Europe - more tourists on the way. 

live in a cool city where everyone wants to visit, or live in a shithole like college station where everyone wants to avoid.  seems like a pretty damn easy decision to me.

12 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

 

 

 

I am waiting for... VIZZINI

17 minutes ago, ztejas said:

My hang up would be driving anywhere. Not really keen on renting a car in a foreign country that drives on the left - especially if I'm going to be drinking. Are there like buses or trains that make it easy to get outside of Dublin? 

And I realize I've totally hijacked this thread, sorry. Fuck you, Europe - more tourists on the way. 

Driving there is really easy, and the left hand thing is no issue at all. The back roads are small, but so are the cars.  Driving on their highways is cake compared to here.  Drivers there are the most courteous I've ever seen anywhere in the world. You do not wanna drink, and drive there. They're pretty tough on drunk drivers... the Irish and all...

 

You'll only need to drive to see the tourist/ history things. Being in the city you can cab it everywhere

Edited by Onboard 2.0

2 hours ago, 6th Street said:

You can thank the rise of low cost transatlantic flights. I just booked RT Chicago to Dublin for $600 in August - and that includes bags and assigned seats. 

That's cause Ireland has the opposite tourism problem. They need the money the Europe in this article doesn't 

2 hours ago, 6th Street said:

You can thank the rise of low cost transatlantic flights. I just booked RT Chicago to Dublin for $600 in August - and that includes bags and assigned seats. 

And the increase in budget cruise lines like Carnival establishing cruises to the popular ports in Italy, France, and Spain for one.   

7 minutes ago, immamac said:

Lolwut? 

Ireland has higher than normal unemployment I believe. When we were there no matter where in the country you were companies adding positions or opening plants was huge news on the radium a d lots of talk about employment and new business opportunities were like gold.  

They have pretty stringent clean air acts so heavy industry is not really big there, according to a tour guide who seemed pretty knowledgeable.

Edited by Onboard 2.0

Anyone made the drive from Dublin to Belfast? Northern Ireland has always fascinated me.

20 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

Anyone made the drive from Dublin to Belfast? Northern Ireland has always fascinated me.

you like potatoes?  you like famine?

2 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

you like potatoes?  you like famine?

Don't forget sectarian violence.

4-5 days in Dublin is probably doable. There's so much history there all easy driving distances from town. We did a 9 day lap of the country in 16 starting in Dublin.  Of course the pubs, but the national museum for its collection of bog mummies, gold, and Viking exhibits. The Knowth paleo site about 2 hours north of Dublin is cool as shit.  Huge stone mound where chances are if you're ancestors are from Ireland may have had ancestors living in this village.
We spent a day just hanging in the Dublin pubs, getting the locals vibe, and the son hooked up at an old-timers  poker club for a night. He said all the regulars saw fresh, American fodder, and he walked out with $1,200 Euro. We lived high on the hog after that night.  That trip was $2,400 all in for both of us for 9 nights.   Fall is a great time to be there IMO.
I fell in love with Ireland, we also did Cork, Killarney and Gallway.  Cliffs of Mohr, Blarney castle.  I'd add extra days if you can to see the southern and southwestern Irish cities.


No Guinness Factory. Negged
Just now, Dbeasy said:

 


No Guinness Factory. Negged

 

Sacriledge maybe, but I don't like the Guiness over there. After being used to the carbonation over here it tasted kinda flat to me. There were lots of other local beers and ales I liked better.  

We were gonna hit it, but made the decision to see historical things instead. We spent enough time in pubs drinking to make up for that lapse  IMO.

41 minutes ago, immamac said:

Lolwut? 

the irish economy consists of a bank of mailboxes which represent the irish subsidiaries of actual companies, which enable the actual companies to push all their profit into the irish subs, which then lend the profits out to their parents at easy rates, which the parents then write off their taxes in their actual jurisdiction.

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Summer's a great time to hit northern Europe.  fruit at the peak of season (seriously, we eat a lot of fruit when we visit northern Europe, it's fantastic), etc.

 

first ive heard of that as an incentive.  bananas for everybody!

7 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

first ive heard of that as an incentive.  bananas for everybody!

You know, it seems silly.  But the first time you sit on a cool lawn with your family/friends, share a half kilo of incredible German strawberries, and realize that you've never really had a strawberry before, it's a pretty damned awesome moment.  The simple things are often the coolest.

Yeah, strawberries are the number one  tourist attraction in Germany.

21 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

Yeah, strawberries are the number one  tourist attraction in Germany.

This guy thinks so...

1bnhrm.jpg

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

You know, it seems silly.  But the first time you sit on a cool lawn with your family/friends, share a half kilo of incredible German strawberries, and realize that you've never really had a strawberry before, it's a pretty damned awesome moment.  The simple things are often the coolest.

Yeah well have you ever been down to the Southern part of the Gulf when the Bonita fish run? It's gorgeous. 

The Louvre is one of the worst.  I think they should just cap the numbner of people they allow in.  Make people reserve in advance to go in. New people cannot go in until more come out.  Also, DO NOT ALLOW TOUR GROUPS.  

A couple more for places like Venice and Dubrovnik, tax the shit out of day trippers.  Not staying in the place overnight.  $100.  Eliminate cruise ships in these places.  

BAN FUCKING SELFIE STICKS.  

 

1 hour ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

A couple more for places like Venice and Dubrovnik, tax the shit out of day trippers.  Not staying in the place overnight.  $100.  Eliminate cruise ships in these places.  

BAN FUCKING SELFIE STICKS.  

 

Punishable by death by artillery shell.

Edited by Thetexashammer

8 hours ago, Michael Knight said:

That's cause Ireland has the opposite tourism problem. They need the money the Europe in this article doesn't 

 

7 hours ago, elfenix said:

the irish economy consists of a bank of mailboxes which represent the irish subsidiaries of actual companies, which enable the actual companies to push all their profit into the irish subs, which then lend the profits out to their parents at easy rates, which the parents then write off their taxes in their actual jurisdiction.

Ireland is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe.  https://finance.yahoo.com/news/these-will-be-europes-fastestgrowing-economies-in-2019-153026674.html

And I'm not sure what your point had to do with Michael Knight's patently false claim that Ireland has the "opposite tourism problem" (i.e., too few tourists).  Ireland had 9.6 million tourists in 2018.  The country's population is 4.8 million. https://www.tourismireland.com/Research/Overseas-Tourism-and-Tourism-Ireland-Key-Facts.  Tourism is absolutely huge in Ireland.

14 hours ago, 52-80 said:

Raise the tourist tax, fees for visas, etc

this 

Y’all haven’t mentioned the actual cause of Europe having too many tourists lately. It’s not because travel has gotten cheaper.

6 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

this 

Making it too expensive for some folks to go ??  Not agreeing with that exclusionary tactic.

Seems like it is just another symptom of overpopulation of this little planet, similar to climate change, pollution, 3rd world starvation and loss of the rain forests.

The solution is a plague, world war, or aliens coming to steal Earths resources and kill the indingenous population (it's all documented in movies - see The Day the Earth Stood Still, Independence Day, War of the Worlds, Battle Los Angeles, Battleship, etc)

Edited by Wally Fairway

15 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

And the increase in budget cruise lines like Carnival establishing cruises to the popular ports in Italy, France, and Spain for one.   

Fucking cruise lines are the worst.  Cattle call for morons..  I'd like to "travel" in my own American consumer bubble and have "unique" manufactured experiences.  I don't want to learn the language or walk too much.  Can you have a big air conditioned bus wheel my fat ass from one tourist trap to another?  Awesome!  When's the buffet?  Wall-E

Sounds like your mom and Europe have something in common.  

41 minutes ago, XYZ said:

Y’all haven’t mentioned the actual cause of Europe having too many tourists lately. It’s not because travel has gotten cheaper.

It is a multiple pronged problem.  Cheaper travel, but also an larger population on the earth, with the largest countries by population (China and India) having a growing Middle Class with disposable income.  

19 minutes ago, Loco said:

Fucking cruise lines are the worst.  Cattle call for morons..  I'd like to "travel" in my own American consumer bubble and have "unique" manufactured experiences.  I don't want to learn the language or walk too much.  Can you have a big air conditioned bus wheel my fat ass from one tourist trap to another?  Awesome!  When's the buffet?  Wall-E

Mother? 

Hey all you people travelling to Europe! Stop travelling to Europe because travelling to Europe is for meeeeeeeeeeeee!

25 minutes ago, Loco said:

Fucking cruise lines are the worst.  Cattle call for morons..  I'd like to "travel" in my own American consumer bubble and have "unique" manufactured experiences.  I don't want to learn the language or walk too much.  Can you have a big air conditioned bus wheel my fat ass from one tourist trap to another?  Awesome!  When's the buffet?  Wall-E

To a point you are correct.   But it depends on the cruise line as well.   I've pretty much sworn off wanting to ever do another cruise on one of these companies (like Carnival) which are basically floating amusement parks on the water and with that,  clientele who act like  they are spending a day at one of those amusement parks.    But here in the future when my wife and I start doing our empty nest travel plans in few years from now ,  I wouldn't mind doing a few on some of the smaller cruise lines which cater to what will be our age group and are intended for cultural experiences vs the stop at Señor Frogs or Margarita Ville at a Caribbean tourist trap.   Something like Ponant , Seaborne,  or Viking where they can take you to places that are easier to get my boat vs land or air and might stay up to two days in port.   And because they try to maximize port time, the less time you have a sea.    So I can see us doing a few in Asia, maybe in Europe (Scandnavia) and maybe South America.  

 

https://us.ponant.com

It is a multiple pronged problem.  Cheaper travel, but also an larger population on the earth, with the largest countries by population (China and India) having a growing Middle Class with disposable income.  

This.

On the Yosemite Valley floor a few years ago...must have been 10k Chinese tourists in various buses. 20 years ago, not that many Chinese could afford to travel. Now...they are fully involved in the conspicuous consumption phase of early capitalism. Hell, we were in a “First Nations” shop in Montreal, and a group of probably 40-50 Chinese tourists were grabbing literal armloads of furs, and jamming them I to wooden crates to ship home.

And in Europe, newly “wealthy” Russians are part of the mix. Seeing more and more of them.

When more of the world can afford to travel, more of the world travels. And it doesn’t take a lot to overwhelm some places.

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