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[ashleyrenee]

So I am very excited right now, my boyfriend and I have just booked our tickets to Europe and found the cheapest to be (since we live on the West coast) going from Portland, Oregon to Dublin Ireland. I know little about the city as does my boyfriend who is actually a very experienced traveler.

We leave September 16 and get it early Sept 17th, we plan on spending 5 days in or around Dublin, then 5 days in or around London before heading to Amsterdam.

any suggestions on routes to take, places to see, cities to pass through?
is it better to jump Dublin to London via plane or take a ferry to Liverpool then London....
We are both very outdoor loving people so any hikes or bike routes would be great!

Thanks guys!!

[sianeth]

Brilliant news on the tickets!

As for Dublin, I'm sure Kathryn (kathryn77) will be able to tell you more than I can... all I know is that its super expensive!

It will be way cheaper to fly to Britain from Dublin than to get a ferry - plus when I last got a boat over those waters there was a lot of turbulence! Try ryanair.com or easyjet.com for cheapflights between Dublin and UK cities.

And if you enjoy hikes and bikes and things then maybe you don't want to fly into London? I would recommend flying into Manchester from Dublin maybe, and then heading to either the Peak District or the Lake District for a few days - those places are beautiful and there's heaps of walking to be done.

Then if you need to travel to London from another UK City, try either booking the trains (nationalrail.co.uk) well in advance (super expensive otherwise), or using the megabus (megabus.com).

[ashleyrenee]

thanks so much! that was helpful.

[rbisset]

Dublin - London is the second busiest flying route in the world, after HK - Taipei, and there are countless flights per day. You could probably get a 1 way flight for $10.

[starlagurl]

You definitely have to meet up with Kathryn (kathryn77) and Louise (lou82) while you're there!

[ashleyrenee]

I have sent a note to Kathryn but she has yet to get back to me! I would love to meet her!

[starlagurl]

She's in Thailand ATM! She'll probably get back to you when she gets back.

[ashleyrenee]

wow you know everything... ha! thanks alot

[starlagurl]

Haha, I only know because she's been mentioning it in every single forum post for the past two weeks...

[kathryn77]

LOL! I just noticed this thread, sorry - brain is still in Thailand, ha ha

Louise - I have no idea what you mean? Mwah, mentioning my trip to Thailand in every forum post before I went?

Sian - thanks for the link

Ashley, Dublin is expensive, but by the time you get here in September, hopefully it'll be better as the recession has hit bad here I have noticed it getting cheaper though, in terms of there are more deals if you look for them but I still find the UK cheaper when I go there - even London, and I never thought I'd found London 'cheap' but compared to Dublin, yeah it is! Like I say, hopefully changing now in the current climate.

I think you are probably the same person who sent me a PM while I was away from what you've said here, and I replied on that now, so hopefully that's been useful? In terms of other stuff you've asked about below:

Flights from Dublin: You probably saw in my Ryanair forum comments, that that is the main budget airline from here to most main UK airports. I travel with them all the time, as they're usually cheapest, but if you check the skyscanner website, you can check for all airlines and the dates you want to go.

Aer Lingus is the second cheapest airline, but depending on the price difference, they do usually fly into more convenient airports.

It depends what you want to do in the UK. I saw Sian mentioned flying into Manchester for hiking etc, which is a great idea, but you might find it cheaper to fly to Liverpool and take the citylink bus (it's not far), depending on the flight deals. Also, Blackpool is a small airport link to Dublin, and you can get a cheap train ticket from there to Manchester too. It actually might be easier to get to the Peak District or Lake District from Blackpool or Liverpool? Perhaps someone else can chip in on that to help?

You have loads of time to get a good flight deal though, so just look up the prices now, compare them to this time next week...then the 'gambling' starts - sometimes it gets cheaper, others more expensive For the dates you say though, there are no bank holidays in either country that time, so that's good!

And of course I'll meet up with you in Dublin if you want to when you get here I am more than happy to play tourist too

[starlagurl]

Is there another TP meetup in the works? Awesome!

[railtravel]

Your best option is to buy a BritRail pass that will enable the both of you to explore the nine distinct regions including London and catch all of the major attractions. Check out http://www.acprail.com/rail-passes/united-...il-england-pass for discounts.