IO: We're on our way....

[BluRmGrl]

OK.... I had to tell somebody right now or I'll freakin' spontaneously combust: Mr. Blu & I are officially on our way to England (specifically London & Lakenheath RAF) and Dublin!!.

Our airfare from to Heathrow has been purchased, an apartment in Dublin has been reserved and as of about 10 minutes ago, our flights from Gatwick to Dublin have been paid for.

(Mr. Blu's already in bed, so there's no one else in the house for me to celebrate with right now. )


Hmm - we don't travel until the middle of August... that's still a really long time from now. Damn..... I might need to be medicated.

 

[Lila64]

Lucky you!!! Congrats

 

[pepokiss]

you're telling us this like he doesn't know ?????


congrats to both of you

 

[Laura M]

Have fun.

 

[MsPurrl]

How wonderful! I'm envious. Maybe it will be warm in Dublin in August!

 

[Carek1230]

Lucky you! And more daylight hours during which to see more in Dublin in August

 

[Doozer61]

:jealous:

 

[BluRmGrl]

you're telling us this like he doesn't know ?????

Of course he knows about the trip, he just didn't know until this morning that I'd made the executive decision to not wait any longer on the England - Ireland tickets. (The price had gone up by 33GBP from Wednesday through last night - I was afraid if I waited, it was only going to get worse. And with the US dollar so weak right now, even 33 British Sterling hurts!)

Anyway, my brother's in the Air Force for about 5 more years & he & his wife will spend the next 3 1/2 years in England at the RAF Lakenheath base. Mr. Blu, myself & my mom are all going to spend some time w/them, then the five of us are taking a mini vacation to Dublin.

If all goes well, then hopefully I'll be making this trip at least 2 more times while he's there.

 

[pepokiss]

I love impromptu decisions and traveling

 

[redkat]

Anyway, my brother's in the Air Force for about 5 more years & he & his wife will spend the next 3 1/2 years in England at the RAF Lakenheath base.

We used to live there

Have fun! Flights do seem to get more expensive every day, You did the right thing

 

[Laura M]

Of course he knows about the trip, he just didn't know until this morning that I'd made the executive decision to not wait any longer on the England - Ireland tickets. (The price had gone up by 33GBP from Wednesday through last night - I was afraid if I waited, it was only going to get worse. And with the US dollar so weak right now, even 33 British Sterling hurts!)

Anyway, my brother's in the Air Force for about 5 more years & he & his wife will spend the next 3 1/2 years in England at the RAF Lakenheath base. Mr. Blu, myself & my mom are all going to spend some time w/them, then the five of us are taking a mini vacation to Dublin.

If all goes well, then hopefully I'll be making this trip at least 2 more times while he's there.

£33 is a big increase in just one night.

Who are you flying with?

 

[pgv]

Have fun, and england is indeed a lovely place

 

[RavenBlue]

Congrats!!

 

[zuropa_fit]

SWEET!!!







*jealous*

 

[Total U2 Nut]

Lucky you're not flying BA into Terminal 5 (Heathrow) else you'd be lucky to see any of your luggage ever again

Enjoy your time over here anyway - let's hope the weather gets a bit less crap

 

[BluRmGrl]

Who are you flying with?

Air Canada - Raleigh NC to Heathrow, connecting in Toronto
Aer Lingus - Gatwick to Dublin, direct

We looked at Flybe & Ryanair, but I read a few unfavorable reviews about their advertised prices not being all they're cracked up to be & got squirrelly about using a discount airline - decided to stick with a name I at least recognized.

 

[BluRmGrl]

We used to live there

Air Force or civilian?

Anything you would recommend as something we shouldn't miss in the area? My brother's mentioned some really cool ruins and a church that's about 900 years old that he & my sis-in-law have already seen & want to take us to.

 

[Laura M]

got squirrelly about using a discount airline

How come? The discount airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet are very popular here and two of the biggest airlines in Europe. Nothing wrong with them at all. I read something about the 'misleading' ads too but we've always been able to get great bargains with them. Flights from Spain - London for under £30.

To be honest, I don't see much of a difference between any of the airlines. Discount or not, they're all much of a muchness in terms of price. Since Aer Lingus started competing with Easyjet in Belfast they usually have the cheaper flights but we still book with Easyjet because they have flights at a more decent hour. With Aer Lingus being the National airline you do get better service though. And the planes are supposed to be more roomy and comfortable.

 

[BluRmGrl]

How come?

Fear of the unknown I guess. I mean, I'd heard of Ryanair before, but Flybe was completely new to me - I only found their name by clicking some links from other travel search engines. And not being able to find any customer comments/feedback on either site concerned me a bit, too.

In the end, I decided it was worth a few extra dollars for me to fly with a carrier that I was familiar with, if only vaguely.

 

[Mr. BAW]

 

[Carek1230]

One of the best flights and airline experiences I ever had was BMI (British Midland) from Scotland to London Heathrow. It was only about a 90 min flight, but it was a perfect flight in every way. I'd definitely fly them again. Of course, they're only popular in the UK.

 

[Salome]

does BMI fly outside of the UK?

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

So jealous but for you guys!

 

[BluRmGrl]

Thanks... Mr. Blu & I never had a honeymoon & we've been trying to take this trip or at least one similar (more Ireland, less England ) for years but there's always been something to prevent it. We were going for our 10th wedding anniversary but then got the chance to build a house & that was more important. We tried again last year for our 15th anniversary, but had medical bills from an unplanned surgery in '06 and that killed any travel plans.

With my brother in England another 3.5 years though, I'm hopeful that we'll be able to make this trip at least once more while he's there... possibly twice.