Planning My Dream Trip to Ireland - part 1

Ireland has been on my list of places to see for years and I decided last year, that 2011 would be the time to do it.

I must admit, it's always easier saying you're going to do something a year from now than actually doing it.  This trip is one of them -- because so far it hasn’t been easy. Money, time and coordination have all come into play.

THE IRELAND PLAN

So what's the plan?  Well, my dream Going Solo Ireland trip seems simple enough - to me at least. I fly to Ireland, spend a few days cycling across the country and then maybe one or two day in Dublin checking out stuff and relaxing in a nice hotel that looks like a castle. I'm assuming one exists. I don't actually have one in mind.

In my little dream world, I was thinking I would cycle through the Irish countryside through a bunch of little villages and maybe past some sheep (I love sheep). If I had time, taking in a whiskey tasting might be nice (I have a problem digesting beer) and maybe I would check out one very Irish tourist attraction.

Doesn't that sound simple? Turns out this was easier said than done.

When researching the cycling part of the trip last week, I realized Ireland must be bigger than I thought. First of all, the cycling tours I found are generally 6 to 8 days long and even cycling all that time, they didn’t cover the whole country – only a small portion.

Then there was the money part.

Not including the airfare, the cycling trips I came acrosss costed around $4,000 to $6,500 per person – but single travelers like me would have to pay an additional $700 to $1000 depending on the trip. Don’t even get me going on this additional fee thing. It drives me nuts when solo travelers have to pay more. It's not like they are going to give me two breakfasts or two massages at the end of the day. But whatever.

It was then I knew I was going to have to get creative with this trip if I wanted it to work out.

Not only do I not have that much money to spend (my budget – including airfare is $2,000 to $2,500), but I don't have 8 vacation days to spend in Ireland.

With my job, I only get 10 days a year and was planning to spend 5 of them in Ireland. I had already used one of them for my NPC competition in June and am using another two for the Fort Lauderdale Cup competition in October.

I also didn’t want to cycle for 6 to 8 days straight. I know this sounds lame, but I’m on vacation. I want to come back feeling refreshed. So my dream trip included biking for 3 or 4 days and then spending a day sight-seeing, shopping or relaxing.

SLEEP ON IT

So now I’m frustrated and going to bed in hopes that a solution will hit me in the morning.

I’m still shocked at how expensive the tours are. I could get a vacation getaway to Hawaii for a lot less, but that would mean I'm giving up on the dream -- and you know I'm not a quitter when it comes to making my dreams come true.

Hoping to feel more positive about this in the morning.