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Last Updated
03/10/2005
Update
History
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TRAVEL TIPS
This has become a valuable tool so we decided to make it its own
page. For a printable version click
here.
Driving/Getting Around
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Big change...Ireland
went metric with all their road signs! So unless you can convert
the 1.609344 km/mi in your head, you should make sure that the car you
rent has km/hr on the speedometer.
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Go Slow!!! The
hardest part about driving in Ireland is not driving on the left, it
is the very narrow roads...so be careful!
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Unless you are a
manual drive expert, do not get a manual drive car...the automatic is
very worth the extra expense.
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Some of the rental
car places charge for a full tank of gas (petrol) when you first rent
the car which can be pretty hefty. For examples, we had to pay �54
($70) for our tank when we went a couple of weeks ago. So keep
this in mind when you are renting a car. If you are only going
to be there for a couple of days, you might want to consider going
with a place which requires you to bring it back full. But if
you are going to do at least 300 miles of driving, this is definitely
the way to go. Just for point of reference, we drove to and from
the airport, to and from Tinakilly, and to and from Dublin four times
and we put just over 300 miles on the car. Traveling to the west
and back will put about 400 miles on the car.
Customs/Immigration Issues
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Make sure to obtain your passport at
least 3 months before you travel....the sooner the better and it is
coming up soon!
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You
should carry your passport with you at all times while in
Ireland. You never know when you may need to be identified.
Paying for Things/Currency
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Ireland is on the Euro currency which
is trading at $1.34/1 �
or �0.73/1
$ as of Mar. 10, 2005. On
currency exchange, rule #1 is to NEVER CONVERT AT THE AIRPORT.
These places are RIPOFFS! They typically charge a surcharge of
like $2 per transction AND add a commission of as much as 10%!
We have never seen the commission less than 5%. And if you
overestimate your money need for the trip and have to convert the
money back, you will also be paying the commission and surgcharge
again! The best route to go is ATM which gives you the best
daily rate, no surcharge, and a commission less than 2%..
There are plenty of ATM's in Dublin, Bray, and the other major towns
of Ireland. And they accept most ATM networks such as Cirrus,
Star, etc. Or if you have a Debit Card with Visa or Mastercard,
then you are pretty much guaranteed to operate at the ATM. As
an alternative, you can associate a PIN with your credit card to
obtain a cash advance via the ATM machine.
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As
often as possible, we pay for items there with credit card as you
don't to worry as much about obtaining the right amount of
currency. Major credit cards are more and more widely becoming
accepted. Visa and Mastercard are pretty much the standard
with American Express and Diners Club accepted sparingly. Forget
Discover! The credit cards also give you the best rate of the
day with a less than 2% commission (1% typical) and no
surcharge.
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As an
American, you do not need to pay the Irish sales tax, which is
pretty hefty at 21% on most goods. They have this very convenient
way of collecting the tax back through a company called Global
Refund. Anywhere you see a "Tax Free Shopping" logo
in the store, you can ask them for a special form to specify the tax
that you paid. Just gather up all of your forms and
bring them with you to the airport on your departure. At your
final departure airport from the Euro Zone, go to the Global Refund
booth and you will get back all the tax you paid either in cash as $
or as a credit on your credit card. Pretty cool huh? If
Dublin is your final Euro Zone departure airport, then be sure to
get to the airport at least an hour earlier than you typically would
as the line is usually very long. Remember this includes any
items you may have bought in duty free as they still include the
duty in your payment for some stupid reason.
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Almost
all of the prices listed in stores already include applicable taxes
so what you see is what you pay! Now doesn't that make sense?
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In
Ireland, tipping is not expected. A tip of 5% is a good tip
and 10% is an excellent tip but your really should pay based on the
level of service you get. Service is typically not so good so
expect to not pay so much in the tip often!
Communications
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If
you have T-Mobile, Cingular, or ATT GSM cell phone service, then you
can get cell phone service in Ireland. Actually the reception
is far better there than it is in the US! You should check
with your carrier as International Roaming is typically turned off
by default and you need to request it. Roaming is typically at
$1-2 per minute so be careful! A good alterative is to use SMS/Text
Messaging which costs about $0.25 per message. The best part
is that your loved ones who may not have made the trip can call you
on your cell phone and it is still a local call. As you are
paying roaming already, there are no other charges for long distance
so calling a US number is the same cost as calling Iraq. If
you have Nextel, Sprint, Verizon, or Cellular One then what the heck
are you doing?!?! Just kidding! They all offer International
Roaming but you have to rent a GSM phone from them which means you
will have a different number and their prices are ridiculous.
You might as well rent a prepaid cell phone while you are in
Ireland. The airport has a few places. Prepaid is
typically around $0.30 per minute for outgoing calls but incoming
calls are free while Text messages are about $0.13 per
message. But you will have a Irish phone number.
Unfortunately, they get you on the free incoming calls by charging
the person calling you instead. Calling an Irish cell phone is
between 5-10 times a more expensive rate than calling a
landline.
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A
great place to obtain very cheap calling cards is Nobelcom.
The rates from Ireland to the US using an Irish toll free number are
around $0.07/minute while the same calling card can be used by your
loved one to call you for about $0.03/min on a landline or about
$0.20/min for a Irish cell phone.
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