Traveling tips for teenagers to Great Britain/Ireland summer 2010?

You might want to check flying to Charlotte, NC then to London. US Air sometimes runs specials-- we have gotten as cheap as $400 round trip from Charlotte sometimes in the past. Also try other East Coast sites to London. Here is a link about day trips from London (an article i wrote) if it asks for your zip code use 28208 http://www.aaacarolinas.com/Magazine/2008/Jan-Feb/britain.htm?zip=28201&stateprov=nc&city=charlotte

My first suggestion would be to get a copy of "Europe Through the Back Door". It's full of good basic travel information -- all of the how-tos and hints that will make your trip easier. Then look at a variety of travel guides from the library to see which kind might suit your intended travel style best. A good guidebook will answer many of your questions.

Start watching the various travel websites and sign up for their email alerts to find good deals on airfare. While looking for good fares, be flexible about travel dates and what city you will fly into. For example, two years ago I wanted to fly to Spain but could never find a fare that I thought was reasonable. While watching the websites, though, I came across an unbelieveable deal to London. So I took the roundtrip to London, and took a budget airline to Spain from there. Going through London saved me about $500 on airfare, and I ended up right in the small northern Spain city where I wanted to be instead of flying to Madrid and then having to take a bus to get where I was going. Even if you're not ready to book yet, you will get an idea of the usual cost of tickets, so that you will recognize a good deal when one comes along.

Once you get an idea of where you want to go we can help fine tune your itinerary.

You are doing the right thing by starting now. Frist- start saving $$$. Second, start researching... as mentioned, get ETTBD as well as watching Ricks' TV show and others. Then start listing things you want to see and do-- right now don't worry about "over doing it". Just list- and put a priority next to everything (1- must do, 5 maybe). Then start compairing lists. Personally, England, Scotland and Wales are my favorite places in the world. When you get a little more specifics in mind, post and we'll give you feedback. What are is the timeline- 2 weeks, 2 months,??? If you can aim for 3 or 4 weeks, or more.

We want to stay between 2-4 weeks- more time would be great, but money is tight. I've researched flights and found that San Francisco to Dublin is cheapest so far (we live in California), but I'll have to look at other options. Thanks for the tip about London to Spain. It's a bit early to book, but I want to research as much as I can before purchasing tickets. Are there any airlines/airports that we should be wary of?

Emily
It depends if you plan on staying in 2 or 3 cities... or roaming all over UK and Ireland. I just got back from Dublin and used that city as my home base for 10 days.

In Dublin, you can get the 3 day freedom pass for 25 euros which includes getting you from the airport to the city center, it includes the hop on / hop off bus to the major attractions, and all the local busses. The hop on bus alone is 15 euros for one day.. and you're getting 3 days, plus airport transport (a 6 euro value).

Getting an apartment is more economical because you can all pitch in and cook at home to save money. If you want to eat out, its about 4-7 euros for breakfast, 9-15 euros for lunch (pub grub), and 10-25 euros for dinner.

Eating a big lunch and a small dinner will help you save money, and many places give you big portions so you can split the plate.

Aer Lingus has great deals into Dublin (some with breakfast packages!), and Ryan Air has rock bottom prices out of Dublin into London, Newcastle, Cork, and all over the UK and Irish cities. You DO Have to be patient in finding the ultra cheap fares... like I got Dublin to Newcastle for 4 euros per person. Ryan Air has hidden fees, and you do need to print your boarding pass at home (15 days prior to departure), and they allow you 1 carry on bag... but they are rock bottom prices! There's other airlines like Easyjet, Flybe, and others who give great deals as well.

All major airlines have email lists you can join that alert you to fare specials. Sign up for all of the airlines that fly nonstop from LAX or SFO into either Dublin or London. Many will let you keep watch over certain routes and will alert you to major changes in airfare.

With airfares as crazy as they are, it might actually be cheaper to fly on United out of Santa Maria to London changing planes in Los Angeles, or United out of San Luis Obispo to London changing planes in either LA or SF, than it is to fly from SF to Dublin on Aer Lingus. Remember, you have to think about getting to those major gateways as well.

Lastly, there are some airlines that fly into Ireland and the UK but may not do so non-stop. You would need to change planes somewhere in the U.S. These are okay but will add lots of time to your flight and you usually won't save that much money. Remember, if someone says you can get great deals from their city...you still have to get to their city.

Once you're over there...flying between Great Britain and Ireland is easy. There are many airlines. Ryanair, Aer LIngus, BMI are three that come to mind. (BTW, when flying from Dublin to London, I found BMI to actually be cheaper in the long run that flying Ryanair. BMI flies out of Heathrow. Ryanair from a further airport. By the time I included ground transport costs as well as the nickel and diming by Ryanair, BMI was cheaper.)

You can fly Virgin Atlantic nonstop from LA or San Francisco to London. Sign up on their web site for email notifications of specials. They have been having them frequently lately due to the fall-off in traffic. Who knows what will be the case for next year? Everyone is right.....sign-up for email notifications from all possible airlines.

There are some very interesting hostels in out of the way places in Scotland. Check out this link http://www.scotland.org.uk/hostels/highland_hostels.htm for a list of names. I I've always wanted to go to Rua Reidh Lighthouse. A google search might find you some better links. You might want to check out Jackie's Blog on her visit to Barcelona this summer. You can access from the home page of this site.

Pam