Ireland As A Homebase

Ireland is a great place to vacation in itself, but while you're in Europe why not visit a few other countries. I was in Ireland for five weeks and I took advantage of my time in Europe. Most people who travel to Europe go for a minimum of two weeks. I used Ireland as my homebase for the five weeks that I was there, but on the weekends i ventured out to different parts of western Europe. I visited Belgium, France, and England. All were short plane rides (an hour +/-). I highly suggest this to anyone going for at least two weeks.

You can do this inexpensively by using a discount airline. I used Ryan Air. When i mean cheap, I mean cheap... I did not spend more than $140 for any of the airline tickets that i purchased. Also, since I was just out for a weekend trip, I found inexpensive lodging. Let's face it I didn't spend any time in the room anyway.

Considering the plane rides were so short, I felt that a weekend gave me enough time to get a decent experience of another part of Europe. If you plan on traveling to Ireland, some short trips to other countries will greatly enhance your European experience.