Ordering an Emerald & Picking Up at the Factory...

[RP]

The Acoustic Guitar Magazine trip to Ireland https://musicaltraveler.com/ireland/...eid=eb35f61130 has gotten me interested in ordering an Emerald guitar and picking it up at the factory. Then I'd bring it back to the US after some sightseeing. I was wondering about the experiences of others who have done this or simply traveled to Ireland. Are travel arrangements best left to travel agents or is something that can be done pretty easily? I should say I've never had a passport and haven't left the US since a trip to Niagara Falls when I was 12. This would be a birthday trip to myself for my 70th next May. What do you think???

[kramster]

I say
If you have a birthday
in May

Freakin' do it...make us proud .. and yes May B'days are the best as you well know.

After all look at our Birth Stone!!

Hope this helps


...

[Earl49]

I have not made the trip - my airline travelling days are very much over - but a good friend from Alaska did last December. He bought a Select Series Amicus while playing everything they had on hand. (He ended up ordering a "matching" custom X30 cocobolo too because Kramster already had the sibling Select Series X30 in Arizona). You can take delivery and carry your instrument home, or if you drop it back at the factory before leaving they will happily ship it home for you for the normal shipping fee.

From my limited reading, the packaged AG trip likely won't take you anywhere near Donegal, but I could be wrong. But enjoy if you go. Ireland is one of the places I would like to visit in my remaining years, but it ain't gonna happen.

[mot]

Hi RP,

It's completely doable. No need for travel agent. They can help with somethings, but muck other stuff up.

The number one thing you have to do is get your passport. It takes up to 90 days and may take longer. You have to have your passport to make some reservations. There are other basic things to consider such as an appropriate plan for your cell phone to having the right gizmo to plug a charger into an outlet, but all that can be done at the last minute. The passport should be sorted out yesterday.

Figure out if you want to fly or ride a boat. You can do one on the way and the other on the way back too. The Queen Mary cuts across the pond regularly for NYC to Southampton, so that would be my preference if I was riding a boat. Then you are just a few train and ferry rides from Ireland. You can get repositioning cruises for well under a $1000 per person too. Some even have trips to Ireland in their itinerary. I have seen them as low as $200 for one person one way. Flying can be done on the cheap too. I haven't seen anything less than $200 a person lately, but sometimes they will drop a lot lower than that. Mostly you are looking at between $500 and a grand per person unless you start following the trends to get deals. They are out there.

Car rental is going to be a big decision. There are signs all over to tell you what side of the road to be on when you leave the Dublin airport. You will still forget until you scare yourself silly once or twice. I don't know bus or train schedules and such, but Emerald is a couple hours from Dublin in Donegal and there's probably a way to get close to the shop without driving. Trains and boats work really well in England, I don't know about Ireland as I only drove while I was there.

Back to car rental - there is an Irish stupid tax on your rental if you are not careful. Basically if you don't have the right credit card, then you will have to pay rental insurance to the tune of up to a hundred bucks a day. If you do have the right credit card this is waived. Basically you need a credit card with a PIN, but there may be more to it than that. Also they have been known to use a bait and switch on you to give you a subcompact at the luxury car price.

Alistair will welcome you to the shop and may even have someone come get you or give you a tour of the area. They are busy, but one or more of his people will sit down with you and show you whatever you are interested in at the shop too. Kim is a dear and will help you with any questions you have. For lodging, check with Alistair as his mum has rentals unless you want to find an old castle that is serving as a musty B&B. We stayed at a lake side house that was several hundred years old. It was beautiful, idiosyncratic, dark at night and very quiet. Star gazing is a big attraction in parts of Ireland, and there's so much else to do too. All depends on what your interests are.

Hope this helps. I have traveled a lot, but I don't really know all that much about Ireland. This might be enough to get you started.

[RP]

Wow, great feedback guys. I'm in Philadelphia right now - go Flyers - but plan to start working on my passport next week. I would like to avoid driving entirely and depend on either public transportation or the kindness of strangers. I haven't flown since the early 90s, but figured that I'd fly both ways to Ireland. The Acoustic Guitar Magazine tour of Ireland got me thinking about this but if I can arrange it myself, I believe that to be preferable. Please keep these suggestions coming...

[Warren01]

Emerald Guitars is in the middle of nowhere. We flew into Londonderry airport in Northern Ireland and took a taxi from there into Derry itself. Didn't realize we were supposed to pre book the taxi, so another person waiting called for one. I had planned on bicycling to Emerald from there, but upon Kevin's advice, he said not to as it was too far. He arranged to have one of his fellow employees pick us up. Again, good thing as I would have gotten lost. A taxi ride would not cost much more than 15 pounds per trip and would be a reasonable backup if other options don't work.

[AZLiberty]

Originally Posted by mot

Back to car rental - there is an Irish stupid tax on your rental if you are not careful.

I don't know about Ireland, but in most of continental Europe (Germany for certain) renting an automatic instead of a manual is a couple hundred bucks a week more. Almost everyone in Europe drives a stick, automatics are for suckering Americans out of higher rental fees.

[Song]

My only experience of Ireland are about 14 hours of layovers at the Dublin airport.
They are kind and helpful.

And fortunately my precious Emerald instruments.

I would LOVE to take this tour.

This Tour takes in the world famous ‘Cup o Tae’ Traditional Irish Music Festival in the heritage town of Ardara, Co. Donegal. A weekend of sessions

and/or (an hour and a half away)

Emerald Guitars, Cavanacaw St Johnston F93 XP82 Lifford, County Donegal
(click pic to enlarge?)



I do not rent cars overseas for a variety of legal/social reasons.
I always Uber, Lyft, or taxi.

https://www.usa.gov/passport

[Song]

PS> I wouldn't be surprised if Alistair and Emerald folks/players are already planning on being at this festival.
I would contact them for an early morning tour of the factory so as not to miss the fun and workshops of the festival.
You are so LUCKY!

https://www.ireland.com/en-us/articl...cFpQ&gclsrc=ds

[casualmusic]

Originally Posted by RP

I

I was wondering about the experiences of others who have done this or simply traveled to Ireland. Are travel arrangements best left to travel agents or is something that can be done pretty easily? I should say I've never had a passport and haven't left the US since a trip to Niagara Falls when I was 12.

Hi RP.

Travel in Europe is about 80 percent the same and 20 percent important differences. Best to read up on the differences to benefit from the good stuff and avoid bad surprises. Easy peasy once you know what to expect.


A couple of travel guidebooks from the library or bookstore will get you up to speed. A few hours browsing the shelves and a day or two of reading up will be a lot more useful (complete tutorial) than asking the Internet (does the asker know what to ask?).

Travel guides usually have an introduction to the country(s), brief history, general geography, language (English in Ireland is mostly the same with some interesting differences and some Gaelic) and courtesies, regulations for entry, security, laws, consulates, money, health care, airlines, local travel arrangements, hotels, food, entertainment, festivals, general attractions, recommended itineraries by days of travel.

Maybe extend your reading to UK and Europe to see how big a trip to take. And which airport(s) in Ireland, N.Ireland, UK would be best). My comfort level is 8-10 days before I want to be home.

Travel guides are inexpensive. Often I'll read up a big heavy book, then buy a lightweight book to carry around instead of relying on notes and memory.

Once you've finished reading you'll know whether a travel service will be useful. Or sign on for a general tour with a few days of free time added on. These days there are also lots of tours that are tilted to special interests: music, gardens, literary, artistic, civil engineering (bridges, tunnels, railways, dams) etc.


Europeans love their excellent inner-city and intercity rail services that go everywhere very frequently at very
reasonable cost. After arrival I go everywhere by train and avoid the hassle of airports.

Local train services run 80-90 mph (approx same average as the Acela Express - Boston NYC Washington) and high speed trains run 130-140 mph. The trip from Dublin to Belfast takes less than two hours and travels many times daily.

Schedules and fares are online. There are many discounts for early booking and for certain dates. Be aware that services may run on different schedules on different dates.

Foreign travellers can buy a Railpass deal (before they arrive) which mean unlimited travel for x number of days in a month.

Once I met two Australians in Lausanne who were debating where to squeeze in yet another city the same day before high speeding back to Paris. They were home basing with friends in Paris for a month and using high speed Eurorail pass to go out and back every day!

There are also great bus networks and taxi services. And the tourist office can introduce short group tours and private tours. I often start with the two hour bus tour for orientation then go back to places that interest me.


Europeans get 4-6 weeks annual vacation and they love to travel. There are many comfortable not extravagant services geared to middle incomes and low middle incomes, and many savvy travellers find these facilities more fun than high class places.

Most towns will have extensive traveller services at the main train station. Including hotel and bed+breakfast listings. In my younger days I often arrived at the station and got great recommendations for a room nearby (regularly inspected and graded) and they made the booking for me.

Many towns have 'What's On' or 'Time Out' guide online or as a free booklet that lists travel, entertainment and events.

All airport arrivals areas (same as here) have a big rack of pamphlets for accommodations, tours, attractions and entertainment.

And you can use the Internet to chat with locals who have similar interests and have insider info that you may want to consider.


It's useful to ensure that your credit card(s) are compatible with local systems, and know the contact info for the card companies and your bank). I bring $1000-1500 equiv traveller cheques in local currency to defend against unexpected credit card problems (lost, stolen, incompatible). And I carry $200-300 local currency for some old world places who accept only cash.

Guide books will describe options for phone/smartphone services. Be aware that some options can be very very expensive. Especially if your device auto switches to international roaming without your knowledge.


BTW my most memorable error was assuming that European calendars are the same SunMonTuWedThurFriSat format which was not correct. It made me a day late for the return flight - yikes.


Cheers

.

[kramster]

Originally Posted by casualmusic

It made me a day late for the return flight - yikes.

Will we ever see you again?

[casualmusic]

Originally Posted by kramster

Will we ever see you again?

Can't sing, can't dance, can't busk - may have to retire in Paris (yes please).

[ssjk]

I did this exact thing a couple of years ago, including the trip to Emerald. Give yourself a week if you are staying on the north end of the island (Northern Ireland, Donegal, Mayo, etc) or if you are going to do a flyby at Emerald and head south (Kerry, Dingle, etc)

I personally would not do the trip in either direction without a car. If you don't have control, it's hard to get anywhere off track (e.g., Emerald, the Burren, the ring forts, Sleib League, random castles and abbeys). After a day or so I got used to the wrong side of the road concept and the roundabouts.

You don't need a travel agent, although if you have no idea where to go it might be worth it. Start by getting Rick Steve's book and see if you are interested in his suggestions for what's worth seeing in a week. I didn't follow it directly, but I basically agree with most of his assessments - especially for a first trip.

I booked all rooms including hotels and B&B's through Hotels.com

I booked the car directly through Budget. Get the insurance even though it looks expensive - among other things the insurance from your credit card is no good. And get the automatic as well - shifting with your left hand is something you don't need to work through as you get used to the left side of the road.

BTW - my wife and I were both 68 when we did this trip. If you want more detail of where we went and how hard it was, PM me - especially if you are deciding whether to head north or south before/after the Emerald stop.