Rosemary McClure Los Angeles Times Ireland Article

This is a response to an article written by Rosemary McClure that appeared June 1st in the Los Angeles Times about travel to Ireland. I agreed with Rosemary about everything until she talk about the discourteous drivers in Ireland. I would like to report that the drivers in Ireland were very courteous and I did not hear one horn the entire two weeks. The drivers in Ireland would always let you in with a smile. The drivers in the US are the worst most obnoxious example of driving, not the Irish. My hats off the the Irish for their good driving and courtesy.

My experience with EuropCar

I just got back from Ireland. We rented a car from Europcar. I can tell you that it was one surprise after another with them. First they said that we need their insurance and it was about the same rate as the daily car rate. Of course they don't tell you this on the Expedia website. We only learned about this at the airport in Dublin. They don't tell you what 80% of the charges were. You find that out when you get there. By the time I was done at Europcar it was twice as expensive as the rate that I searched for on Expedia. Five days of car rental with Europcar was over $700.

My advice when renting a car overseas is to ask a lot of questions. I relied on Expedia to give me detailed information. It was a joke. I wont be using Expedia again.

High Gas Prices, Not really compared to Ireland

I just got back from Ireland and gas was over $9 a gallon. I wont complain about the $3.50 a gallon cheap fuel in the US. Gas was 1.23 Euros per liter in Ireland. One gallon would be 3.79 litres. It takes 1.62 Dollars to make up 1 Euro. Yes it is expensive.

Credit Crunch hits Ireland

I just got back from Belfast. I could not believe how many houses were for sale. There was a Sherry Fitzgerald sign on every corner. Real Estate signs are everywhere. I heard that values were dropping as well. I spoke with an estate agent who told me that Ireland is always behind the US by six months. I even saw a sign advertising 100% financing. I don't think that they learned anything from our mistakes.

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Euro vs. the Dollar

We are getting hosed. Check out the rates from Halifax on savings accounts. These guys were all over the airwaves. I only get just a hair over 3% on my savings at HSBC Direct. Some of these accounts pay over 7%. I might consider opening an account over there. Keep in mind that you will lose about 3% of your value as a commission to convert from dollars to euros.

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