Ireland Trip Report 2015

[Cousin Orville]

Now that the kids are back in school and work has slowed down a bit as it typically does this time of year, my DW (Kate) and I are off to Ireland! It's an adults only ABD, which will be our first. The evening before our flight, our plane had been changed and downsized for some unknown reason. Our seat numbers were eliminated and we were left finding new flight arrangements. Thankfully everything worked out ok. We flew through London rather than Newark, and we arrived a few hours later than initially planned.

Prenight 1 - Dublin

We arrived the morning before our ABD was to begin. Our room wasn't quite ready upon checking in, so we walked about Dublin for a bit. The Westin is wonderfully situated. I can't think of a better location. Temple Bar area, O'Connell St, and Grafton St all triangulate out from the Westin. Trinity College is essentially next door. It's an ideal location. We walked into the Temple Bar area to look around and we also had a lunch reservation at Boxty - recommended by Kevin Klose. Awesome place to eat. I had the Irish Stew with lamb - highly recommended. Temple Bar is an area with lots of typical pubs and cobblestone streets. Its fun to walk around during the day, but is a bit too much like Bourbon St at night for us.

After lunch we walked down Grafton St - a pedestrian only shopping district with the Disney Store among many others. By that time our room was ready so we headed back to the hotel to get settled in.

We had prearranged a Historic Walking Tour of Dublin. It was a group walking tour with a historian who earned her PhD at Trinity College. She took us all around Dublin, including Trinity College, Temple Bar area, Dublin Castle, and other locations. She covered all areas of Ireland's history. It was fascinating, but once it was finished we were exhausted. It was back to the hotel to get a much needed nap.

We had reservations at a restaurant that evening called Chapter One - Michelin starred and focusing on Irish cuisine. The food was outstanding. It was a tasting menu with rabbit, baked lobster, pig's tale stuffed with bacon (which sounds odd but was delicious). The service was ok, but it was difficult finding our server towards the end to pay and get out. We love having a nice meal, but when we're finished, full, and tired, we're ready to just go home.

All in all, a great first day in Ireland! More to come…

 

[Cousin Orville]

In the Temple Bar area of Dublin

For lunch in Temple Bar…

A walk down Dublin’s pedestrian Grafton Street

The Disney Store on Grafton Street

Our hotel for the next few nights, perfectly located.

On our walking tour we started off at Trinity College

Bank of Ireland… home to the old House of Lords from when under British control.

Temple Bar again

Dublin Castle

The tour ended at St Stephens Green where we walked about on our own.

 

[sayhello]

Sounds like the start of a great trip! Looking forward to more!

What airline made a mess of your flights? That's always a good thing to know about an airline. I know Delta has done that sort of thing to me multiple times, and I try never to fly them any more!

Sayhello

 

[kaseyC]

Excellent start. Brings back great memories of our recent Ireland trip. By the way I absolutely adore your wife's trench coat. Gorgeous!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Sounds like the start of a great trip! Looking forward to more!

What airline made a mess of your flights? That's always a good thing to know about an airline. I know Delta has done that sort of thing to me multiple times, and I try never to fly them any more!

Sayhello

United. We were supposed to connect in Newark and then fly to Dublin. We ended up taking a later flight to London and then Air Lingus to Dublin. I was just worried we wouldn't get there at all that day.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Excellent start. Brings back great memories of our recent Ireland trip. By the way I absolutely adore your wife's trench coat. Gorgeous!

Yes, Ireland so far has been wonderful. And thanks, I'll let her know!

 

[christannj]

It sounded like Kevin and John had a similar flight problem with us airways/American. Do you think that the problem is flights to Dublin or is this now the future since two airlines have now downsized the planes? This makes me nervous for any future international flight, especially since it sounds like you were left high and dry to make your own arrangements for alternate flights.

On a happier note, keep the report and pictures coming, even though you had a rocky start you both look happy to be there.

 

[Rapunzellover]

Great start to your report!

 

[sayhello]

United. We were supposed to connect in Newark and then fly to Dublin. We ended up taking a later flight to London and then Air Lingus to Dublin. I was just worried we wouldn't get there at all that day.

I can only imagine! Sounds awful! Did they literally downsize you out of a place on the plane, or did you choose to make alternate arrangements because of the changes they made?? Did you still end up flying United?

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

It sounded like Kevin and John had a similar flight problem with us airways/American. Do you think that the problem is flights to Dublin or is this now the future since two airlines have now downsized the planes? This makes me nervous for any future international flight, especially since it sounds like you were left high and dry to make your own arrangements for alternate flights.

On a happier note, keep the report and pictures coming, even though you had a rocky start you both look happy to be there.

FWIW, my problem was with a domestic United flight. I will say we had a nice, helpful United employee at the airport who searched all the other available flights and found us a Houston-London-Dublin flight to get us in within a few hours of the Houston-Newark-Dublin flight. Without her, we possibly would have been screwed. I also submitted a complaint to United. We'll see how they handle it. It's hard to be too mad when nothing was terribly impacted. The best and worst of it is, the green coat Kate is sporting in the pics was purchased at Heathrow while waiting for our Dublin flight. She loves it, but I may have to submit the cost to United for reimbursement (totally kidding!)

My situation really ended up fine so it's hard to complain. Kevin and John on the other hand got screwed. If I purchased and confirmed lie flat seats and the airline delivered non lie flat seats, I would be livid. (I'm going to edit my long soap box of a paragraph on this subject. Suffice it to say that's unacceptable, and I probably won't book business class seats or any seats if I can help it on US Airways/American.)

 

[Cousin Orville]

I can only imagine! Sounds awful! Did they literally downsize you out of a place on the plane, or did you choose to make alternate arrangements because of the changes they made?? Did you still end up flying United?

Sayhello

They literally downsized it. No explanation given. I can't remember the specific aircraft, but there were significantly fewer seats on the maps. And there was instantly no availability. Both Business Class and Economy Class passengers would have been affected (or at least a select number of them). What's more disconcerting is that Kate got her boarding pass earlier the day before and it had a seat assignment. I then got mine an hour later with no seat assignment. We then rechecked hers and her seat assignment disappeared. This was how late in the game this happened. We called the night before and there was no availability at all to get reassigned a seat, and the lady on the phone was helpless and pretty much clueless. Kate thankfully kept us both calm enough until we got to the airport the next day and found someone more helpful.

Yes we flew United to London, but then Air Lingus to Dublin. Previously we were booked on United all the way through.

 

[sayhello]

They literally downsized it. No explanation given. I can't remember the specific aircraft, but there were significantly fewer seats on the maps. And there was instantly no availability. Both Business Class and Economy Class passengers would have been affected (or at least a select number of them). What's more disconcerting is that Kate got her boarding pass earlier the day before and it had a seat assignment. I then got mine an hour later with no seat assignment. We then rechecked hers and her seat assignment disappeared. This was how late in the game this happened. We called the night before and there was no availability at all to get reassigned a seat, and the lady on the phone was helpless and pretty much clueless. Kate thankfully kept us both calm enough until we got to the airport the next day and found someone more helpful.

Yes we flew United to London, but then Air Lingus to Dublin. Previously we were booked on United all the way through.

OMG, what a nightmare!! I don't know how your wife managed to keep it together under those circumstances!! So they didn't even inform you, you just noticed from your boarding pass? Someone needs to be made to pay for that!!! I've been pretty done with United domestically (their "slimline" seats are HORRIBLE) but now it looks like they're out internationally, too!

So sorry you had to go through that, but so glad you managed to work it out!

Sayhello

ETA: OK, so I read your post above that said the issue was with the domestic portion of your flight. Still think I'm going to stay far, far away from United if at all possible!

 

[BadPinkTink]

waving hello, Dublin person here, so weird seeing my home city streets in a trip report, lol. So sorry you had a bad time getting to Ireland, but I hope your trip made up for it. Looking forward to the rest of the report and photos

 

[tgeorge]

Another 'like' for Kate's coat...very cute!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

OMG, what a nightmare!! I don't know how your wife managed to keep it together under those circumstances!! So they didn't even inform you, you just noticed from your boarding pass? Someone needs to be made to pay for that!!! I've been pretty done with United domestically (their "slimline" seats are HORRIBLE) but now it looks like they're out internationally, too!

So sorry you had to go through that, but so glad you managed to work it out!

Sayhello

ETA: OK, so I read your post above that said the issue was with the domestic portion of your flight. Still think I'm going to stay far, far away from United if at all possible!

Aircraft swaps happen all the time on all airlines who have several types of planes. Avoiding one airline won't solve a thing and "no one" is going to pay for this. It's possible the OP will get a few miles or a small e-certificate, but may get nothing. Almost all US airlines are installing those horrible slimline seats on planes, even Southwest, so in many cases you cannot avoid them. This incident was hardly a "nightmare," rather it was an annoying inconvenience.

I would have been upset if I had lie flat business seats on an international flight and an aircraft swap was made to a flight with non-lie flat seats. I would have asked for a change to another flight, if there were availability and I could get to my destination in a reasonable time. For a domestic flight; no big deal.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

What a shocking start to your trip. I'm glad it was handled well by the girl at the counter.

When we were boarding one of our domestic flights in the summer (we were booked in row 12 -- we paid extra for 'premium economy'), we saw that there was NO ROW 12 on the plane. They had changed the plane at the last minute and we essentially had no seats! Luckily the plane was not fully booked and we ended up in row 22 or some other such row at the back, but still. What are the airlines thinking these days? We could've been stuck in Atlanta as it was an early evening flight out. But I digress.

I am really looking forward to your trip report on this journey!

 

[Cousin Orville]

waving hello, Dublin person here, so weird seeing my home city streets in a trip report, lol. So sorry you had a bad time getting to Ireland, but I hope your trip made up for it. Looking forward to the rest of the report and photos

Your city is wonderful! Thanks for having us! More fun and familiar pictures to come!

 

[Rapunzellover]

Who are your guides?

 

[Woodview]

Now tell us what Aer Lingus was like from Heathrow to Dublin ?

 

[Cousin Orville]

Who are your guides?

Jackie and Kelley are guiding us.