My partner and I have planned a 12 hour layover in Dublin on 27 November on the way to Manchester (UK) from Boston (US). This is our first try at a layover like this in Dublin and it has been a decade since we last travelled there for a longer visit. Based on other “Layover Day Trips” we have taken in other places we are anticipating actually having around 9 hours of the 12 for walking about Dublin. However, we want to make sure that is accurate, especially taking in to account the time it will likely take to go through all required checks to get to the gate for our connecting flight to Manchester.
Here are the basic details:
08:25 GMT - Flight from Boston arrives in Dublin
20:10 GMT - Flight to Manchester leaves Dublin
I am a US citizen with no current EU citizenship.
My partner has US and Swiss citizenship.
We have no checked baggage.
We expect the travel time from the arrival gate to the Kildare St stop of the Aircoach bus (including dropping off our bags at Left Luggage) to be around 90 minutes.
We have initially allotted 120 minutes from the Kildare stop of the Aircoach bus to the departure gate, with 90 minutes for going through all customs/security checks, getting us there with at least 25 minutes prior to departure.
With all of that said, our questions are:
1) What are the exit and re-entry requirements at the Dublin Airport for this sort of day trip (please note that we do not plan to purchase any goods while out and about on the day)?
2) Is the 90 minute travel time to Dublin City Centre reasonable (given bag drop off and Aircoach travel)? Is this an over- or underestimation?
3) Is the 120 minute travel time to Dublin Airport reasonable (given the re-entry requirements for this sort of layover day trip)? Is this an over- or underestimation?
4) Anything else we should be considering travel time wise?
Thank you in advance for your help—it is very much appreciated!