Hi, folks. Teaching for 6 weeks in Aix this summer - June & July. We will spend two weeks before traveling around with our 2 year old daughter. We live in San Diego, but LAX seems to have far better fares than out of San Diego.
Anyway, most fares from LAX to Paris or Barcelona are about $1500 right now. But I can get in and out of Dublin for under 1K. We could get a cottage in Ireland for a week and head down to the continent. Does this sound about right? Any other thoughts?
Ireland is very very expensive . Look into your cottage rates first bef you assume it is a good deal.
Air to Germany also is usually alot less than CDG. Try Fra or Muc then take a cheap airlines to South France from ie. Cologne to Nice. This is what I did in Aug 2007. worked very well I stayed a week on Rhine and Mosel areas which are beautiful and reasonable for car rent and zimmers.
Pancho, look into flying to Seattle and taking Northwest to Amsterdam. They code share with KLM and from Amsterdam there are frequent KLM Cityhopper flights to Marseille. That puts you about 30 minutes by car from Aix. While there be sure not to miss the pizza at La Malta, on the Place du Tanneurs. even some Italian places I have eaten cannot come close to this place.
Pancho - ive heard from many they love to trvel in to the back-door of europe via AirLingus Shannon or Dublin (Shannons easier too I hear). Then take a discount local airline to the continent. Check it out. You may need to spend one nite there which may cost the same as going on your 1500 flight - but then maybe the extra day in Dublin may be fun! Just factor in the hotel stay if needed or if you can leave for AIX the same day!
I'm not sure why Tom said you might need to spend a night in Ireland en route, unless he meant because flight times didn't make it possible, but it sounds like a good plan to me. I did essentially the same thing last year, flying Chicago to London, switching airports, and taking Ryanair to Spain that afternoon. If you do plan to spend a week or so in Ireland, Shannon is the easier airport -- and personally, I prefer the west coast to the Dublin area. There is lots to see and do within a relatively short drive.
