Ireland & UK 2019

We travelled around Ireland, North Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales from 15 August - 17 December 2019. Again, we did not take advantage of "Space A" where we can fly for free aboard a military flight. I found one-way air fare from New York to Dublin for $154 and one-way fare from London to Boston for $215. This is only $369 per round-trip ticket from the United States to Europe! To be honest, we have to buy an Amtrak ticket from Ohio to New York ($67), and we are flying from Boston to Cleveland ($76). This makes the total travel cost per person $512.

On 1 August we left Florida to drive up to Tim's mom's house in Collins, Ohio then took Amtrak from Sandusky, Ohio to Poughkseepsie, New York where we spent 2 nights hanging with my old childhood friend Cathy and her husband Tim. We then fly out of Stewart International Airport on 15 August and arrived in Dublin on 16 August.

Here are some of our thoughts and considerations while planning this trip:

TIME DURATION: We will be traveling for 4 months. This will give us enough time to see everything we want to in the area.
NEW SKILLS: Gerri, who drives all international travel (two drivers cost too much), will learn to drive on the "wrong" side of the road.
LANGUAGE: Although we've have few issues with the language barrier in the past, conversation in our native tongue should be easy.
WEATHER: Not too cold, not too warm, but very damp - our usual clothing should work, we just have to get accustomed to many rainy days.
EXPECTATIONS: Warm/flat beer, but good; bland food - there's always pizza; can we operate a canal boat for two weeks?; diverse history