The big thing I want to talk about is how i got to Ireland and the details of both booking the trip and once i got there. While i would definitely recommend using a site like LIvingSocial or Groupon, I would also suggest doing your research. Some trips sound too good to be true, which is exactly why they are. Please check out some of the reviews to the hotels in which you’d be staying and that will definitely serve as a good resource to help you determine which trip to choose. I’d also recommend a travel agent if you want to make sure that you’re getting a great trip that is stress free.
So now on to my trip in particular. I found the trip I booked through LivingSocial. It was a 7 day trip to 4 cities in Ireland.- Kilkenny, Cork, Limerick, and Dublin. It was genuinely a great trip that I would love to do again but I should have paid more attention to some of the details. Some of those things I probably should have known but it was my first international trip and there were quite a few firsts in booking the trip.
The first thing i should have caught was all of the details in renting a car. At 23, I was legally able to rent a car but I was not immune from extra charges in doing so. It was a not so pleasant surprise to have to deal with roughly $200 extra that had to be paid once I arrived at the rental office in the airport. I also didn’t know that it would cost more to have a second driver so my friend was the one to drive. It was definitely something we should have researched more. That would be exactly why i’m saying you should do your research before you book anything.
The second part I should mention is that you should check the reviews on the hotels you’re going to be using. My friend and I didn’t and needless to say we should have. They were all great in what they offered. One was even a resort and was so beautiful. Our last hotel was really nice in what it was but the area of town left something to be desired. I thought everything was fine until i got in a cab to come back to the hotel. As a lone female I can be a bit of a moron in that i assist on going out by myself at least once on a trip. That is definitely not something everyone should do and you should be aware of your surroundings. Ireland is a very safe country but I have skill in finding myself in bad areas. I did it in San Francisco too all because i figured we could just take this one road and it was the right path but it went directly through the Civic Center which is not exactly a touristy area. Our hotel in Dublin was also not in a great area and was well known for drug users.
Now for the fun part, how I found out I was staying in a bad area. I went out by myself nearly all day and did some shopping and took a cab back to the hotel. I had never hailed a cab by myself and had never been in one prior to the trip so even that was incredibly nerve wracking! Then I get in the cab and tell the driver where I’m going. He tells me that it’s in a bad area of town where drug addicts tend to settle. He told me that a young woman shouldn’t be out at night where i was staying but as it was already late it didn’t do anything to instill confidence in me. It was advice that would have been helpful prior to booking my stay. Lesson learned. You might be thinking “Oh it couldn’t be that bad. Ireland is a very safe country.” That’s what I thought anyway. While we didn’t end up hurt my friend and I did end up with a pretty big scare.
It was our last night on the trip so we had to pack our bags. Since we decided to bring home some liquids we decided we would head to the store for Ziploc bags so if they containers leaked or broke they’d at least be in something and hopefully not ruin anything. It was probably 11 p.m. or midnight at this point so we looked on our phones for the closest open store. It was just around the corner, maybe a mile away so we decide to go. We no more than rounded the corner before a man was behind us. He followed behind for a moment before he started yelling at us and telling us he was going to kill us. We nearly ran into the nearest open store, which was not where we meant to go but at least it had what we needed. We hid in there for a bit while we made sure he was gone. Luckily everything was fine and he was probably just out of his mind a bit but it could have been a very different story. So please take a look at where you’re staying.
You should also make sure to pay attention to where you’re going because GPS won’t always work and sometimes you’ll wander for awhile before you end up where you need to be. My friend and i got lost twice trying to get back to the hotel from where we parked the car. It led to a very confused cab driver wondering how we ended up a mile away from the hotel and some very startled policemen when we knocked on their patrol car window to ask for directions at 1 a.m.
The moral of the story is pleas be aware of where you are, check your hotels for reviews, and make sure to read the fine print for any extra fees. Hopefully some of you will learn from my mistakes but please leave a comment and let me know of some of your wild traveling stories!
Sincerely Yours,
Pocket Elf Travels
