Sad to read that Aer Lingus is getting rid of the service to Shannon from New York. Obviously they must figure it's not making any money and unlikely to for some time. However, if I was still living in America and planning a vacation to Ireland I can't imagine landing anywhere else. Dublin is a lively, vibrant city, but it's a city with all that traffic, etc. Shannon still has that rural feel.
When I was living in New York nothing cheered me up more than descending into the Middle of Nowhere, Co. Clare. That's the Ireland I dreamt about when I was sitting in an open plan office on the 20th floor of 111 Wall Street. All those green, rocky fields, the Cliffs of Moher, north Kerry ... there is just so much to love about the west of Ireland. Now you'll have to drive for at least four hours to get to that Ireland.
UPDATE: Hmm. It seems the Irish Times got it wrong with their front page story. At least for now. RTE says that the Shannon flights to New York (& Chicago) are "under close review."
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Comments:
jakethedog27 wrote:
I agree I love flying into SNN. Lucky the BOS to SNN is not going away yet....not that I have $$ nowadays for a vaca-apparently I'm not alone. On the bright side for us-if they do suspend JFK-SNN or BOS-SNN at least Ireland is small enough to make it work-it wont take you 6 days to drive from Dublin to Tully Cross. Did the article say that Aer is stopping flights to SF all together? Or is there still the DUB to SF option? It would be a pain to have to fly from DUB to JFK and pick up AA to SF -sure there will be some type of codeshare. Anyway when it makes more sense to open these flights back up I am sure they will. (want to bet it will be at just about the time I/we can afford a vaca? funny how that works) Not sure if Aer Lingus has been laying off-sure they have -t I would rather make the drive from DUB to GAL than have someone get the axe.
6/13/2009 2:59 PM EDT
jakethedog27 wrote:
Being new to this blog..forgive me if this is a subject you have talked about. Going back and forth with you last few days has got thinking about my few trips to Ireland. I have been more than a few times the last time being 2002-exactly one year to the day after 9/11. On all prev trips it seemed to me that the Irish people went out of there way to be nice and friendly and open-just like your read about in travel publication. 2002 I noticed a major change in the attitude-people seemed to be less likely to care about you-and more than that-there was more than one time at a pub when young kids seemed to want to fight or at least give me sh about being American. Now I have done the playful "yank" thing in the past-I understand the playfulness of it all..this was not the same and was not playful. So you ask- as I did was I doing something to cause this...not sure, but I'm well traveled and have never been that loud stand out American (not that it should matter if I was). The last few years I have been doing an unofficial survey of people I have know that have been over-I gotta say a good amount have had the same feeling and experiences.
As a yank living in Ireland have you seen any of this? I guess It could be me, all of my friends, co-workers and the random people that I met that have been over in the last few years.
I know for a long time Ireland had been dependent on tourist $$-all of the sudden the celtic tiger started to roar....do you think this could be it?
Please don't get me wrong-I have been in rougher tougher spots(USMC) but gotta say it sucked.
interested to hear what you have to say.
6/13/2009 3:42 PM EDT
TheYank wrote:
Jake,
Yes, Aer Lingus is going to "suspend" the Dublin-SF route and the Dublin-Washington route. I haven't had to go to SF in about 9 years, but when I was going there from here I flew to London and then direct from London to SF.
I think Aer Lingus has shed a few jobs, but I also think the real "cost-cutting" is still to come. The airline lost quite a bit last year.
I know what you're saying about driving across the country, but with the traffic, you might find your first hour just getting beyond Dublin. After that it's pretty easy driving nowadays. It used to be totally draining to drive across the country here. So much tension on the narrow roads with people passing you doing 90 or people passing cars going the other way coming right at you ... then add in the tractors, cows, uggh.
6/15/2009 4:34 PM EDT
TheYank wrote:
Jake
Now the hard questions. The short answer is that you caused none of the reactions among people here that you describe and yes, I've plenty of it. It was very hard to take in the immediate aftermath of September 11. There was always an undercurrent of anti-American stuff here - especially among the so-called educated - but it seemed to explode after Sep 11.
One thing I can say is that people here are over the moon about our new President so I've noticed a definite decline in those attitudes.
6/15/2009 4:57 PM EDT
jakethedog27 wrote:
Why would you want to live in a place that has people that hate you b/c you are American or b/c of your president? Its hard enough being judged by race, social status or bc your fat/skinny/bald/hairy/tall/short/gay/straight/cat/dog.
Why would it explode after 9/11? I can understand Iraq? Are you suggesting that the guy at the pub was giving me a hard time b/c of Bush? Seems a little foolish and un-educated but that is what I suspected. Kinda like me starting a fight with a guy at a pub he was from California and I hate Arnold.
What do you think of the theory of a certain we don't need you or anyone we are the Celtic Tiger we no longer need tourist $$ blaa blaa blaa? Funny thing is the Celtic tiger is dead and Bush is gone so we might never know. The one thing I can tell you is that attitude toward tourist better change because Ireland is in for a stormy few year(more than most).
Do you think that tourists coming to America get targeted at bars b/c of where they came from or who their president happens to be. No -they are target b/c they stick out and don't know the direction back to their hotel rooms.
6/15/2009 6:04 PM EDT
TheYank wrote:
Jake,
First, although what you experienced is real, it's not everyone. Most of the people I meet are very decent and are not that dumb. I think the arrogant & ignorant who look for Americans on whom to vent their stupidity are a small minority. And that's it. They go looking for Americans. {American tourists are not that difficult to identify.}
Yes, most Irish people didn't like President Bush and were very much against Iraq, but other than a small number most people here did not and would not hold any American responsible for all that his government does. I mean, there are few here who would like to be held responsible for what the Irish government does.
Most people do not hate me and I would say that Americans are as or more welcome than any other 'blow-ins' here.
I think the Celtic Tiger and its impact on tourism is more complicated. For many here the whole "quaint" Ireland was a source of embarrassment and they were happy to be able to shed that. Now, however, it looks like we're heading back in time and maybe tourists will be treated a bit better. I don't know. I agree that the economy here may suffer for quite a bit longer than elsewhere.
My wife - who is from here - has always insisted that Americans are the friendliest people in the English-speaking world. She never understood how Americans could come here and find the people friendly. I think she's a little harsh, but I know what she means. I think in general Americans are very welcoming (although sometimes they can be very direct, which can cause Irish or British people to take a step back), would not hassle anyone because of their government or whatever and tend to be almost excited to meet people from other countries. Maybe this is less true in the big eastern cities, but I often hear people here saying that New Yorkers are friendly, which surprises me at times.
6/16/2009 10:45 AM EDT
jakethedog27 wrote:
thanks good insight and interesting.
6/16/2009 5:25 PM EDT
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