Greetings! Let me preface this by saying I've never traveled overseas and I'd love any help you'd be willing to offer. My husband and are traveling from Minneapolis, MN, to south-east England for a wedding mid-July, 2013, for just over a week. I want to visit Ireland, too, since we will be so close. I'm looking for the most cost and time efficient way to visit Ireland and England in a week. I pondered this: fly into Dublin and stay for a few days, then fly to London and head to the country for the Wednesday wedding. Then back up to London for the last day so we can play tourist there. Two questions: 1. Does this timeline look feasible? 2. Will it be quite a bit more costly to fly in to one location and home from another? 3. Suggestions for how this could be done differently?
Thanks so much!
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
Yes, that could work, and you might even find better prices on airfare to Dublin than to London. But you will want to book it as a "multi-city" flight, so that you go into Dublin and out of London. It will be about the same as a roundtrip from one city or the other, or just slightly different. You can see Dublin and some of the surrounding area in a couple of days. You can take a hop-on, hop-off bus on your first day to get an overview of the city, with narration. It takes about 90 minutes and you can get off wherever you want to look around. There are a variety of daytrip options from the city - Glendalough and the Wicklow Mountains, and Newgrange and the Boyne River valley are the two "basic" ones. You could also zip up to Belfast on the train for a day trip, if you wanted.
Posted by
2081 posts
hi, you could do it, but imo, its a waste of time since you will only be able to spend 1 day in London? there is soooooo much to see in London and imo/ime 1 day is a crime. if at all possible, i would look at more time - SOMEWHERE! afa flights, you will have to do your own homework on flights unless someone has done your flight before. also, dont forget you loose a day getting over there. you will arrive the next day! you may want to rethink your plan and just settle for London/UK since your commitments are there. thats jmo tho. Happy trails.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17435 posts
You will lose a day on your flight over, and you would lose another half day (at least) flying from Dublin to London. I took a look at flights and it seems to add several hundred dollars to the mix if you go MSP---Dublin---London---MSP (over just flying to London and back). With 6 or 7 days "on the ground", and one of them devoted to the wedding, plus the half day you lose transferring between Dublin and London, I would say you don't have time to do justice to either Ireland or England if you try to do both. There is so much more to Ireland than Dublin, and so much to see in just the south of England that is so worthwhile. You can fly directly between Minneapolis-St. Paul and London on KLM/Delta, although they want you to pay an arm and a leg to take the direct flight in both directions. Add a quick stop in Amsterdam to change planes on the way over, and the price drops to around $1300-$1400, depending on which days in July you fly. Arrive in London, head to Salisbury (for Stonehenge), or see Oxford or Cambridge if you are interested; Highclere if you are a Downton Abbey fan, maybe visit the Cotswolds, and then go to the wedding. Save at least a couple of days to explore London before flying home.