Go Travel Tales

E-mail your experiences to go@irish-times.ie

E-mail your experiences to go@irish-times.ie

John Donoghue from Rathfarnham, in Dublin, e-mailed about trying to book flights for a rugby weekend

"I was given the job of organising a trip for a group of six to next season's 6 Nations rugby game between Ireland and Scotland, in Edinburgh on Saturday, March 14th.

"I booked a hotel for two nights, through 1800hotels.ie, and tickets for the game on the Scottish Rugby Union website, at the beginning of May.

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"Then it was a question of waiting for Aer Lingus and Ryanair to announce their schedules for that rugby weekend.

"The schedule went up in the last week. To my dismay the return flights to Edinburgh cost about €470 with Ryanair. With Aer Lingus I couldn't get flights home on the Sunday.

"I considered flying from Dublin to Glasgow (€270 return) but eventually decided to go with BMI, with a stop-off at Heathrow, for just €178 each.

"The flight times are much kinder for a group that doesn't expect to be in bed too early. The wait at Heathrow for the connection to Edinburgh is only 90 minutes or so.

"The total cost of the weekend, including hotel, tickets and flights, is about €440 each. That's €30 less than Michael O'Leary and Dermot Mannion wanted me to pay just to fly there. I will spend the money I have saved on tea and cake."

Clodagh Murphy suggests Bordeaux as an alternative to Paris if you plan to visit France

"I flew to Bordeaux with Aer Lingus and took up the local tourist office's Bordeaux Découverte (Bordeaux Discovery) offer of €95 per person sharing for two nights' B&B at a two-star hotel, with a bottle of wine on arrival, a guided walking tour of the city, a coach vineyard tour and free public transport for two days.

"Also included were a wine tasting in a bar close to the tourist office, and passes to museums, which we just didn't have time to use.

"Last Saturday's Go had a feature on Paris. Bordeaux, which is France's fifth-largest city, is a lot less daunting than Paris, as it's more compact. It has grand boulevards and impressive sandstone buildings, narrow medieval streets and lively cafes.

"Beautiful countryside awaits just 10km from the centre, and the incredible Atlantic coast, which is a surfing hot spot, is about 50km from the centre.

"I worked in the vendange, or grape harvest, in 2005. It was nice to see another side of the Bordeaux vineyards."