Blending in
Last month I took a trip that some might call blow-your-mind-fantastical. It was quick (one week) and consisted of my greatest friend Megan The Gnome and I tooling the entire island of Ireland. “Whoa, fun!” you say, and I concur. It was also very very expensive.
Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare, Ireland – New friends
It didn’t start that way. Gnome found tickets round trip from Boise, Idaho to Dublin, Ireland for $571.60. That’s pretty phenomenal – especially considering my ONE WAY flight from Sitka, Alaska to Boise cost $358.20. The return flight (Spokane, WA – Sitka) was an extravagent 20,000 airline miles (12,500 miles is normal).
A session at Murty Rabbit’s in Galway
Don’t worry about busting out your calculator yet. I’ll sum the numbers for you in a minute.
Lodging costs were nominal as Megan paid for most of them with the agreement we would settle up later. I paid a reasonable $105.66 for the week.
The superb Sandrock Holiday Hostel on Ireland’s northern shore.
In flight booze was free on the international flight, so my airborn booze costs were purely Alaska Airlines – $20.
Gnomes drink airplane Heinekin from teacups.
Euro socket/wattage adapter – $39.99, and it did not work at all. Stupid airport salesman.
Um. There was a Pan-Celtic festival in Donegal city.
Tour of the Guinness factory in Dublin – $17.16 which was completely worth it, especially considering a pint was included (and that the average cost of a pint equates to about $7 or $8 US.
View from the bar atop the Guinness factory.
Foreign transaction fees weren’t bad for my credit card ($2.56), but two ATM withdrawals on my debit card cost $10 in fees.
Beer on the riverside – Spanish Arch, Galway.
$10 in Skype credits to call home, and $26.81 in souveniers didn’t seem too outrageous, nor did $40.09 for food & booze.
Crossroads Inn at Malin Head. Thank you, barman Paul.
My ATM withdrawals totalled $395.22 and probably split 60% drink, 30% food and 10% souveniers. A little steep, but all in all a pretty thrifty adventure at $1,597.29.
Irish coffee is still called “Irish Coffee” in Ireland. It’s just more expensive.
But wait … there’s more.
Sooooo I tried to research how my iphone would work across the atlantic, but I couldn’t find much for straight answers. I knew better than to make phone calls, but I figured the wireless internet smart phone capabilities were created to make my life easier, and I thought of all the times travelling when a wee map or a Google search could have really improved a situation. They did, in fact, make life a little easier – until I got my monthly bill. $409.41. Awesome.
Dancing on a dart board; The Reel Inn, Donegal town.
So for anyone out there wondering about using an AT&T iphone in Europe, yeah … just don’t. Unless the second you land, you go to: SETTINGS>GENERAL>NETWORK>DATA ROAMING (SLIDE TO OFF). It’s almost as buried as the international usage information on the AT&T website: http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/iphone-travel-tips.jsp. My phone automatically searched for emails and voicemails, running up a steady bill. The kilobytes I used to send one picture by email cost about $20. Imagine if they billed monthly Internet that way. Fucking robber barons.
But whatever – I learned something, and that brings my trip total to $2006.70.
Oh. And then this happened.
Fuck you, Focus.
That is a Focus from Hertz rental cars. In a land of roundabouts, right-side steering wheels, left-side-of-the-road driving, fast ass driving and 2-lane highways the size of my front porch, this is not uncommon. Plus I needn’t have worried – one of the perks of renting with my Alaska Airlines/Bank of America Visa credit card was complimentary auto rental insurance. Right?
Notice the yellow line is on the shoulder, white line in the middle.
Oh wait. Also buried on a website (http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/benefits/bft_dmg_waiver_personal.html) in small print in a section called “Who is NOT covered” was this little cat turd: “Losses from rental transactions which originated in Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland, or Northern Ireland.” So yeah, having declined coverage (since I thought it was covered with my card), I was fully responsible for the damage. But I mean, come on. It’s a fiberglass pop-together fender of a Ford Focus. How much could that really cost to replace?
Can you find the highway direction signs?
Um – exactly $3,277.03 apparently. Fuckinggoddamncocksuckingsonofabitchassbastards. For that price, I’m pretty certain I could have flown back with the parts, completed the labor, then drove the fucker around for another week, and still had some money to spare. I will never rent from Hertz again. Ever. Assholes.
So my one-week Ireland trip culminated at a grand total of:
$5,283.73!!!!!
Cliffs of Moher
There are three ways I’ve come up with to justify the excessive money pillaged from me.
1. My job covers food and housing. If I had been renting and paying bills for the last 5 or 6 months, I wouldn’t have that money anyway.
2. This is the first winter I’ve worked full time/overtime fairly consistently, so that money wasn’t very accustomed to my bank account and was longing for escape.
3. It was worth it – the old pubs, the accents, the castles and beer. I learned a couple lessons, but given the choice, I’d do it again. I would not trade the good memories for the couple thousand I lost.
Dunluce Castle, Giant’s Causeway, N Ireland
Sitting on the city walls of Derry, N Ireland
Near Amsterdam, Netherlands – flower fields from above
Wow that ended up being expensive. Loved the picture of Dunluce Castle
Yeah. Like I said … it was worth it, and I got loads of great pictures (at least 50 of Dunluce Castle), but my credit card is still smoking.
holy smokes, you sassy little lady, you have quite outdone yourself. I am glad you went, just so I could read that! HA! Good for a laugh! Unfortunately at your expense. It’s okay, I am pretty sure I owe you a couple drinks at the pbar when I roll into Sitka in the next week or so.
Am I right in understanding you managed to rent from Hertz without insurance? Of did you have to purchase insurance when you got there because your card didn’t cover it? If this was the case you should check how much the excess is with hertz on that type of car. Seems pretty excessive.
Cock gobblers. By which i mean Hurts can gobble my sheweiner.
However, your photos did make me instantly crave an irish accent and a guiness. next time – we tramp about the countryside by packmule.
Jeez man, you could have bought a couple of Ukrainian children for that price.
Tiff: I’m really only here to entertain you. Yes you.
Info: I denied *Hurts* insurance because I was under the impression that it was automatically covered as a benefit of my specific credit card. Only when I called to file my claim did I find out I was in an excluded country. Too late. :/
Mao: I was thinking gypsy Airstream caravan.
B-Nas: I thought you said you’d hook me up for free.
Holy kry kee. Thank you for sharing your hard earned lessons with us. If I ever have the chance to leave the country again I will endeavor to remember them.
Thanks for reading. I hope it saves you a nickel or two down the road – especially the road with the cars on the wrong side.
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You forgot to tell your mommy about the wreck.
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Jesus on a stick! That auto repair fee is ouch… God damn.
Hi from Wexford, very good post, deserves a Digg.
Thanks for reading, good sirs!
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