Update

So there have been questions on the budget, timeline, etc. The timeline is basically as follows:

25-arrive Dublin

26-Dublin

27-Dublin-Berlin

28-Road Trip

29-Road Trip

30-Road Trip

31-Road Trip

1-Road Trip

2-Road Trip

3-Paris

4-Paris

5-Paris

6-Paris

7-Paris

8-Paris-Dublin

9-Dublin-USA

 

As for the budget, a rough estimate of:

Hotels: $150 USD a night per couple

Food: $100 USD a day per couple

 

Transportation will already be taken care of, so there are a few misc things like airport transfers, metro passes, etc that will be added on. As for activities, the nor cal contingent is planning $100 USD per couple per day on average. That being said, when Amber wants to buy a 500e chandelier in Paris and have it shipped for another 100e, we will need to use 8 days of activity money to offset this wonderful purchase... not that we would EVER do something like that.

KLu

Schedule / Dates

25-arrive Dublin, overnight

26-Dublin, overnight

27-Dublin-Berlin, overnight

28-Berlin

29-Berlin-Rothenberg/Romantic Road

, overnight (4 hr drive)

30-RR-Rhine River, overnight (2 hr drive)

31-Rhine River/Colmar/Baden Baden/Black Forest, overnight (2:30 hr drive)

1-Rhine River/Colmar/Baden Baden/Black Forest, overnight

2-Colmar-Paris, overnight (4 hr drive)

3-Paris, overnight

4-Paris, overnight

5-Paris, overnight

6-Paris, overnight

7-Paris, overnight

8-Paris-Dublin, overnight

9-Dublin-USA

A little closer yet...

$799 -- Spring in Ireland: Ritz-Carlton 6-Night Trip w/Air

By Candace Hilbert
Travelzoo Staff, New York

A six-night stay at a Ritz-Carlton for under $1000 is a hot deal. Now throw in roundtrip air to Ireland, a rental car and spring travel dates -- all for $799 per person -- and it’s a jaw dropper.
Depart Mondays or Tuesdays, March 12 - April 30 to get:

• Roundtrip airfare to Dublin from New York City; +$20 Boston; Chicago +$70
• Six nights at the Ritz-Carlton Powerscourt in spacious Deluxe rooms
• Rental car with unlimited mileage
• Upgrade an automatic car with GPS and get a suite at the Ritz for $75 per person
• 20% discount on all treatments at the on-site ESPA Spa

Located 16 miles outside of Dublin, the Ritz provides both countryside serenity and easy access to the city. Play a round at one of the two on-site golf courses or hop in the rental car to take a day trip to Kilkenny, Waterford or Belfast.
KLu

One Way Flights: IAD to DUB and CDG to JFK

Today on Aer Lingus:
June 2nd, One Way Flights, from Dulles IAD to Dublin DUB = $800 per person
June 7th, One Way Flights, from Dulles to Dublin = $800 per personJune 9th, One Way Flights, from Dulles to Dublin = $830 per person

Aer Lingus doesn't fly Paris back to Dulles, so we'd have to do Paris CDG to New York JFK. It also looks like its not a direct flight, that we'd fly Paris to Dublin to JFK.

Today on Aer Lingus:
June 16th, One Way Flights, from Paris CDG to JFK = $550 per person
June 21st, One Way Flights, from Paris CDG to JFK = $620 per person

So doing the One Way flights, this way it would cost about $1,350-$1,450 per person.

The other option is that a One Way flight from Paris to Dublin = $90.00 per person and takes 45 minutes, so we could buy Round Trip flights IAD to DUB and also a One Way from CDG to DUB for a total of $1,090-$1,140 per person.

Savings of $260-$310 per person.

How FUN is all this coordination?!
KDiego

Flights DUB to SXF

Sticking to the days/travel in KLu's "a baby guinness shot" post, on Day 5 we would fly Dublin to Berlin, Germany.

Today on Aer Lingus: Flights from DUB to SXF are $58.00 $78.00 per person on Monday June 13th (Day 5 if Day 1 is June 9th). Funny because the flight is actually only half of that but the taxes and fee charges make up the other half. FYI that's 2 bags per person on this flight.

You know what...I just realized those are probably all in Euros not Dollars...oops. I need to re-calculate that.
Today 1 Dollar = 0.741053 Euros / 1 Euro = 1.34943 Dollars.

And I also just realized that we need 1 way to DUB and then 1 way Paris back to USA. So I'll need to re-calculate that too. ugh

KDiego

Flights JFK to DUB

So I'm doing a little flight research, just to get a better idea of total trip cost (and mostly to make sure my budgeted $4k is going to actually be enough).

Today on Aer Lingus: Roundtrip Flights from New York to Dublin are roughly $775 $1,050 per person (That's leaving on June 2 and returning on June 23, which is a 21 day trip and I think a bit longer than what we're looking for, but you get the idea). I'm not sure if that's a sale, it doesn't seem like it, but it sounds like a really great decent price nevertheless.

Leaving Thursday, May 26th and returning June 9th (15 days) is roughly $745 $1,000 per person.
Leaving Thursday, June 9th and returning June 23rd (15 days) is roughly $775 $1,050 per person. (This timeframe is kinda my preference right now).
Basically what I'm getting at is that dates and number of days are flexible, all giving us $800 $1,050 per person to get to Dublin.

Looks like the cheapest days to travel are Monday through Thursday. So we probably need to decide if we want to do that, to save some cash, or if we want to travel on the weekends, to save some vacation days. And its looking like the savings is only about $30 $40 round trip/per person, so I don't care either way (cash vs vacation days).

OH WOW - It's actually much cheaper to fly out of Dulles IAD! June 9th through June 23rd from IAD to DUB is only $685 $925. And IAD is actually much better for The Diegos because we're planning to use my free SWA flights to get from west coast to east coast, and SWA flies to IAD but not to JFK or Chicago O'Hare (they do LaGuardia and Midway though, so we could make it work if we had to).

KDiego

Closer... This can be good through June 15.

$599 -- Ireland in Spring: 3-Bedroom House, Car & Air

Spring vacation to Ireland for $599 per person, including a six-night stay in a three-bedroom cottage and more.
Depart March 27 - May 31 on the following days:

• New York City-Shannon on Wednesday or Sunday ... $599 
• New York City-Dublin on Monday or Tuesday ... $599
• Boston-Shannon on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday ... $629
• Boston-Dublin on Monday or Tuesday ... $629

This package, based on four travelers, features:

• Roundtrip airfare to Ireland
• Six nights in a three-bedroom private cottage at the Bunratty Castle Gardens
• Manual car rental with unlimited mileage (+$50 per person for automatic with GPS)
• One authentic Irish coffee at Durty Nelly's
• Travel June 1-15 for $100 more per person

The cottages of Bunratty Castle Gardens are set in a medieval village in County Clare. Visit the 15th century Bunratty Castle, historic Limerick, Galway, the awe-inspiring Cliffs of Moher or drive the Ring of Kerry. County Clare is also home to some of Ireland's top golf courses.

Blackout dates:  April 6, 13, 17, 27; May 4 (packages available at a higher price)
Book by Dec. 31.

KLu

interesting...

"U.S. intelligence officials believe Osama bin Laden is behind the plan to attack several European cities. If true, this would be the most operational role that bin Laden has played in plotting attacks since Sept. 11, 2001."

KLu

A baby guiness shot in the dark...

So, as I contemplate my future hours before the first Whitman/Brown debate, I wonder what kind of funding we will have next year, otherwise known as the year of the "new house, Amber's check engine light will be on for the remainder of the 'yota's life, hawaii, europe, no campaign cash cow". But then again, who gives a crap, its europe and we get to warm up in Maui!

Here's the shot and it's delicioso: the cities listed are where our lovely heads hit the pillow...
July 5: Fly CA to Ireland
July 6: land in Ireland, Dublin
July 7: Village living Ireland style
July 8: Village living Ireland style
July 9: Fly Ire to Berlin, Berlin
July 10: Berlin
July 11: Drive to Rhine River
July 12: Drive, Rhine River
July 13: Drive, Alsace/Colmar
July 14: Drive, Alsace/Colmar
July 15: Drive, Chablis, Burgandy Wine Region OR Reims, Champagne Wine Region
July 16: Paris
July 17: Paris
July 18: Paris
July 19: Paris
July 20: Fly Paris to CA

I think this is a realistic itinerary as related to travel vs leisure time, cost, accessibility and locations. It sticks on the original proposals, but is a few days shorter. If we determine we need more time, we can add to this before booking. I would be down for adding a day in the drive from Berlin to Paris depending on the WW2/wine tours we want to attend. Regardless, you will be introduced to baby guinness next month.

KLu

If you're curious, Colmar looks like this and is a place I have always wanted to go:

Assignments: To The Diegos

This is what ALu notated in my book after our decision conversation.

P Diego (Germany road trip):
Historical references
Historical locations
May 1 - Booking
June 1 - Draft daily itinerary
June 1-13 - Public comment
July 1 - Final schedule

K Diego (Paris):
Hotel neighborhoods
Learn to love Guinness
Language skills
Flask
April 24 - Budget
May 1 - Booking
June 1 - Draft daily itinerary
June 1-13 - Public comment
July 1 - Final schedule

xoxo
KDiego

First Post

All business on this one.

The email associated with the blog is dublin181@hotmail.com

The name of the blog is EuropeTrip2011, somehow that wasn't already taken. The economy I guess.

The address of this blog is ... well, you got here, so maybe that was too much. I would encourage you to bookmark it.

The password for both the email and the blogger sign in is: paris123

If you're not a Luiz or a Diegan, and somehow you've stumbled on this, be cool.



Thank you and I look forward to seeing updates. Maybe someone can regurgitate all the assignments we had. I remember I had WW2/historical duties from the Ber to Paris, is that still so? Is Amsterdam still in play?

Feel free to make any cosmetic changes to this as you see fit.