Planning Your Budget
Generally speaking, you should factor the following into your budget:
- Airfare: Airfare to and from Ireland varies depending on where you’re flying from, the time of year, and the totally arbitrary whims of the airline gods. On average, airfare from New York to Ireland and back runs about $700. See Chapter 6 for tips on getting the best airfare deals.
- Transportation: Transportation costs vary depending on whether you’re busing or training it or renting a car. Driving — the transportation choice for most tourists — costs around $50 a day, plus an additional $15 in gas. Bus fares can cost anywhere from $1 to $20, depending on your destination. The train is slightly more expensive. See Chapter 7 for more information.
- Lodging: An average double room runs about $90, rooms on the low end go for about $70, and those on the high end about $130 to $200.
- Meals: This is one area where it’s difficult to save money; even a simple pub lunch can cost about $10. A good per-person allowance for lunch is $12, and for dinner, between $15 and $30. Breakfast is included with most accommodations, so you don’t have to figure that into your daily costs.
- Attractions: A fair amount to budget for sights is $20 per day. Buying a Heritage Card is worth it if you’re planning to see a lot of sights.
- Shopping: Are you planning to buy clothes, jewelry, Waterford crystal, and antiques or just a few postcards, a snow globe, and some other inexpensive souvenirs? A modest piece of Waterford crystal can set you back $80; a nice Guinness sweatshirt is about $50. Gauge your buying tendencies and factor them in. A perk of buying in Ireland: You can get the value-added tax (VAT) on your purchases refunded.
- Nightlife: Pubs are the most popular place to spend the evening, and they are as free as the air you breathe, except for all those pints of Guinness (about $5).
