Traveling to Ireland

[josh0099]

Originally posted by: yovonbishop

Originally posted by: tontod
Get money from ATMs there. I've been to Europe a few times, and the transaction fee is very minimal, it wasnt bad at all. Its going to be better than taking a bunch of cash and exchanging it for euros there.

I was afraid the fee would be ridiculous, but if it's not that bad, I suppose I'll give it a shot considering most of my other options seem crappy. Thanks!

That is your best bet... You are going to get your best rates through ATM/Debit/Credit Cards usually there was no fee's from their atm's. (Or if there was it showed up in my amount withdrawed) I only got charged by my bank for accessing my account from an outside network which it was like a $1.50 each time i got money out...The rates are the best you can get through these networks I usually beat outside vendors by atleast a nickel not counting their fee for exchanging money.

I will also say someone said to take travelers checks....DON'T too much of a hassle...Credit/Debit FTW

 

[imported_yovonbishop]

Originally posted by: josh0099

Originally posted by: yovonbishop

Originally posted by: tontod
Get money from ATMs there. I've been to Europe a few times, and the transaction fee is very minimal, it wasnt bad at all. Its going to be better than taking a bunch of cash and exchanging it for euros there.

I was afraid the fee would be ridiculous, but if it's not that bad, I suppose I'll give it a shot considering most of my other options seem crappy. Thanks!

That is your best bet... You are going to get your best rates through ATM/Debit/Credit Cards usually there was no fee's from their atm's. (Or if there was it showed up in my amount withdrawed) I only got charged by my bank for accessing my account from an outside network which it was like a $1.50 each time i got money out...The rates are the best you can get through these networks I usually beat outside vendors by atleast a nickel not counting their fee for exchanging money.

I will also say someone said to take travelers checks....DON'T too much of a hassle...Credit/Debit FTW

Yeah, I agree about Traveler's Cheques. We took some to Canada and they just ended up being a pain in the dupa.

 

[josh0099]

Originally posted by: yovonbishop

Originally posted by: josh0099

Originally posted by: yovonbishop

Originally posted by: tontod
Get money from ATMs there. I've been to Europe a few times, and the transaction fee is very minimal, it wasnt bad at all. Its going to be better than taking a bunch of cash and exchanging it for euros there.

I was afraid the fee would be ridiculous, but if it's not that bad, I suppose I'll give it a shot considering most of my other options seem crappy. Thanks!

That is your best bet... You are going to get your best rates through ATM/Debit/Credit Cards usually there was no fee's from their atm's. (Or if there was it showed up in my amount withdrawed) I only got charged by my bank for accessing my account from an outside network which it was like a $1.50 each time i got money out...The rates are the best you can get through these networks I usually beat outside vendors by atleast a nickel not counting their fee for exchanging money.

I will also say someone said to take travelers checks....DON'T too much of a hassle...Credit/Debit FTW

Yeah, I agree about Traveler's Cheques. We took some to Canada and they just ended up being a pain in the dupa.

Hehe...Good! Hope you have fun it is a great country I went on a paddywagon tour which took you all over the southern half of Ireland...

 

[PowerEngineer]

Like Josh said...

Here's an example of a "travel card" that is the succesor to traveler's checks. The better way to carry cash.

AAA Travel Money
The pre-paid, reloadable Visa TravelMoney card can be used worldwide anywhere Visa credit cards are accepted. Get foreign currency, or country currency guide online. Don't know how much cash to take along? Check out our Travel Money Adviser.

Link

Have fun!!!!

 

[imported_yovonbishop]

Originally posted by: PowerEngineer

Like Josh said...

Here's an example of a "travel card" that is the succesor to traveler's checks. The better way to carry cash.

AAA Travel Money
The pre-paid, reloadable Visa TravelMoney card can be used worldwide anywhere Visa credit cards are accepted. Get foreign currency, or country currency guide online. Don't know how much cash to take along? Check out our Travel Money Adviser.

Link

Have fun!!!!

Thanks a lot good sir. This is very helpful.

 

[teddyv]

I travel overseas fairly often and have always found ATM machines to be the best bet. I usually make sure I have $100 or so in local currency then just hit local ATMs as needed. The costs are pretty minimal (like $2 per) and the exchange rate is always better than the currency exchange places (plus you avoid the ridiculous fees those places charge.)

I usually keep some Euros from trips for the next - if you don't however have 75 or so laying around to take with you, you'll see what I mean about fees.

 

[vi edit]

You're renting a car in Ireland?

I'd advise your family to take insurance policies out on you before you leave. The roads are half as wide as we are used to, have giant stone walls along the edges, and to make things even worse...they drive on the other side of the road.

Be careful!

 

[imported_yovonbishop]

Thanks for the responses guys. My fiance and I plan on going to the local exchange here tomorrow and getting a couple hundred euro to hold us over. If we need more we'll just withdraw I suppose.

Yeah, we're driving over there. The car rental was included in the package. We've got extra insurance and such, so I'm sure we'll be fine. We're going to be in the Shannon/Limerick area and probably won't be going much further than Galway this trip so we'll be extra careful. Thanks for the concern!

 

[teddyv]

del

 

[Injury]

I survived for 10 days (including travel time) on $400 and a AAA Prepaid Visa with $400 on it... with plenty to spare. But I also didn't have to pay for lodging or rental car. Most of the attractions will take Cash only (but their gift shops will take plastic, hahha!) but a lot of restaurants and pubs will take plastic.

If your ring isn't insured, I would leave it. You know you love each other, you don't need to risk it to prove it or anything. Going OUT of JFK I don't know about security, but going out of both Shannon and Dublin took about 20 minutes for security, and about an hour for customs. Coming IN to Dublin and Shannon, customs took about 10-20 minutes for a line of about 300 people.

A few tips:

- The average meal will cost a person 4-7 Euros. Just remember that most of the people over there close up their restaurants early, so if you are planning on dinner, don't wait or you'll be looking high and lo forever.
- Technology is a little behind over there. If you plan on getting on the internet with a laptop or PDA or anything, the best place I found to do it was McDonald's, as they give free wireless.
- If the trip isn't pre-planned, take a day and visit the Aran Islands and take your camera. If you go, when you get off, let one of the tour guides pick you up but haggle with them a little bit.
- There isn't TOO much to do between Galway and Shannon, but you can actually drive to the other side of Ireland and back in a little bit of a longer day, so don't be afraid to go out on a limb. Dublin and back would definitely take a LONG day, though.
- Leave a day or two open to the suggestions of what people in the area say would be fun. The best advice I was given before going is to write out a few things you wanna do, but don't get too hung up on doing them. A lot of the things you hear about are more or less tourist traps (but still fun) but you'll spend as much time waiting in line to see them as you will actually seeing them (ie: Blarney Castle) If you go out to a pub at night, as people what they suggest doing. They will happily steer you away from tourist traps. Not that you shouldn't go to places like Blarney, but just be prepared to wait in line.

 

[imported_yovonbishop]

Originally posted by: Injury
I survived for 10 days (including travel time) on $400 and a AAA Prepaid Visa with $400 on it... with plenty to spare. But I also didn't have to pay for lodging or rental car. Most of the attractions will take Cash only (but their gift shops will take plastic, hahha!) but a lot of restaurants and pubs will take plastic.

If your ring isn't insured, I would leave it. You know you love each other, you don't need to risk it to prove it or anything. Going OUT of JFK I don't know about security, but going out of both Shannon and Dublin took about 20 minutes for security, and about an hour for customs. Coming IN to Dublin and Shannon, customs took about 10-20 minutes for a line of about 300 people.

A few tips:

- The average meal will cost a person 4-7 Euros. Just remember that most of the people over there close up their restaurants early, so if you are planning on dinner, don't wait or you'll be looking high and lo forever.
- Technology is a little behind over there. If you plan on getting on the internet with a laptop or PDA or anything, the best place I found to do it was McDonald's, as they give free wireless.
- If the trip isn't pre-planned, take a day and visit the Aran Islands and take your camera. If you go, when you get off, let one of the tour guides pick you up but haggle with them a little bit.
- There isn't TOO much to do between Galway and Shannon, but you can actually drive to the other side of Ireland and back in a little bit of a longer day, so don't be afraid to go out on a limb. Dublin and back would definitely take a LONG day, though.
- Leave a day or two open to the suggestions of what people in the area say would be fun. The best advice I was given before going is to write out a few things you wanna do, but don't get too hung up on doing them. A lot of the things you hear about are more or less tourist traps (but still fun) but you'll spend as much time waiting in line to see them as you will actually seeing them (ie: Blarney Castle) If you go out to a pub at night, as people what they suggest doing. They will happily steer you away from tourist traps. Not that you shouldn't go to places like Blarney, but just be prepared to wait in line.

Thanks so much for all the tips. I'm sure these will come in handy. We definitely have a couple of things we want to see, but we really don't want to set out a full fledged itinerary or something like that because chances are, we'll miss out on things regardless of how well we plan. So I guess our plan is to just wing it for now and see where the road takes us. We really look forward to meeting some of the locals at pubs. We got a few hundred euro yesterday to take with us plus we've both got plastic and plenty of cash in the bank if we need to use an ATM.

And thanks for the tip about McDonalds! I didn't really think of that, but I knew they were a bit behind on the times technologically. I'll definitely be bringing my laptop though. The cell is staying off with a nice little voicemail for potential employers to let them know that I'm not lazy in getting back, I'm just unreachable until such and such a date. So hopefully everything goes well and hell, maybe I'll have some nice news when I get back about a job!