Archive for the ‘Transport’ Category

If you would like to use modes of transport to see Dublin city then there are many options which include, Bus, Taxi, DART, Train, Luas, Car. Two other options which are the cheapest are walking and cycling.

Walking is one option where you will see attractions up close or even where you can find unique places where you wouldn’t find if you were using a bus or train for example. Walking tours of Temple Bar, The River Liffey, Castles, Cathedrals, Viking and Medieval tours are available and provided by Pat Liddy’s Walking Tours of Dublin.

If you enjoy cycling then you will be in your element in Dublin because a new Public Bike System has been put in place in the city where there are stations located all over the city where you can hire these bikes. Cycling is a great fast way to get around the city and they have supplied 42 stations so you have no problem finding a bike to hire. The best thing about this new bike system is that you can hire a bike at great prices that won’t break your budget.

If you prefer not to walk or cycle then Taxis are a good option in Dublin. You will have no problem finding a Taxi as there are many Taxi stands located around Dublin. Taxi ranks are located at O’Connell Street, St. Stephen’s Green and Dame Street and that’s just to name a few. Taxis are an easy option of transport in Dublin but can sometimes be expensive depending on the length of your journey. If you are staying in a Dublin Hotel then you can ask them to call a taxi for you which is also a good option.

Buses are pretty cheap to use and there are Ticket Agents located around Dublin provided by Dublin Bus to help locals and tourists with their travel plans. Here you will find timetables where you can plan your bus journeys to different locations and also prepaid tickets can be purchased to make your bus journeys even easier. Dublin Bus provides many services including Airport Services, sightseeing tours, Xpresso, Nitelink and many more to choose from.

There are other transport services such as Train, DART and Luas. These services are quick and easy options to get to other sides of Dublin that are hard to reach by walking, cycling or just too expensive by public transport. You can relax on these modern means of transport and enjoy the sights of Dublin. Irish Rail tours are available which are provided by Railtours Ireland and Barratt Tours.

Travelers to Dublin can stay at Hotels in Dublin or Dublin Bed and Breakfast

The volcano in Iceland continues to erupt and the cloud of volcanic dust continues to hang over Europe.

80% of passenger flights have been cancelled and in Ireland Aer Lingus has cancelled all flights until tomorrow and Ryanair says that it is unlikely that there will be any flights until Wednesday at least.

Both Aer Lingus and Ryanair are thought to have lost millions so far although no definite figures are available. There is a fear that some small airlines throughout Europe who are already struggling may find it difficult to survive these losses.

The hospitality industry in Ireland is reporting a noticeable drop in visitors in the past few days.

The old adage: “It’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow good to somebody” was demonstrated this week by the catastrophic volcano eruption in Iceland.

Who would have thought that such a disastrous event which spewed volcanic material into the atmosphere causing flight disruption all over northern Europe effectively closing airports with losses of millions of euros to business and individual travellers could be good for anybody?

In Ireland and the UK all airports are virtually shut down and Aer Lingus and Ryanair have grounded all their planes until tomorrow (Monday) at least.

However some people just have to get to their destination and are finding alternatives. Even celebrities have to take the Ferry. In order to fulfil her concert engagement in Dublin Whitney Houston got on board the boat.

Over Thursday and Friday Stena Line reported that 6,000 extra foot passengers and 2,000 extra cars were carried across the Irish Sea, which is a 700 per cent rise in business.

Other ferry companies in Ireland and throughout Europe are reporting similar increases in traffic.

1. Queue jumping
Airports can be stressfull enough places at the best of times with check-in, baggage limits, queues, security checks etc. but what really adds to the tension is queue jumping.

Recently on a trip from Beauvais, Paris to Shannon, having taken all the necessary precautions – getting there in plenty time, making sure bags didn’t exceed the weight or size limits, checked in on line – we sttill had to queue for almost an hour just to drop our bags.

In front of us were a group of French students and their teachers/adults and behind us in the queue mingled with other passengers were 30 -40 more students and their minders.

After almost an hour we eventually got to the front of the queue when suddenly all the students behind us rushed up to the front. Naturally the rest of the passengers in the queue began to grumble and arguments broke out between them and the French teachers.

I complained to the man on the check-in desk but he said: “That’s your problem not mine” and the two desks proceeded to check in the students. When they had finished, the man then immediately closed his desk walked away and proceeded to chat with a colleague a few desks away.

Everybody was fuming! Some said “Ryanair – never again!”

I am an admirer (sort of) of Ryanair and I’m not sure if the check-in staff are actually Ryanair employees but it is rudeness and lack of consideration like this that really give airlines a bad reputation.

Nobody doubts that Ryanair played a very important role in reducing the cost of air travel over the past 10 years or so and that many others have followed their lead.

Chief Executive Michael O’Leary is one of the most astute publicists in the business and although people complain about some of the cost cutting measures Ryanair has introduced very few dispute that they have managed to grow into one of the world’s leading low cost airlines in a time when others are shrinking or dying.

One of the dislikes I have is the fact that Ryanairs baggage allowange is only 15kg whereas others are generally 20kg or more. This means that you always have to be conscious of their lower limit when Ryanair is one of the  leg of the journey.

On a trip from recently from Beijing the first leg from Beijing to London (British Airways) the limit was 23kg, London to Dublin (Aer Lingus) 20kg, Dublin to Kerry (Ryanair) 15kg.  So before we left Beijing we had to make sure that all that cheap merchandise was under 15kg!

I’d like to see standardization of baggage allowance across all airlines.