Our tour, including tickets to the game where Notre Dame play Navy in Ireland’s Aviva Stadium on September 1st 2012 is filling up fast!
For American Football lovers worldwide this is a unique opportunity to see two of College Football’s giants play on Irish soil. The “Emerald Isle Classic” as it has been billed has attracted unprecedented interest.
To coincide with the game we put on a great tour of Ireland that allows those visiting us see the true character of Ireland. However this tour is filling up fast.
If you want to join us, I recommend booking soon!

Click here for more info: Notre Dame vs Ireland 2012 Tour

In our last newsletter we were amazed by the feedback we got on our suggestions for the top 10 places to visit in Ireland. Plenty agreed with some but no one agreed with all and we got many suggestions on special places to visit all across or wonderful little Island.

That got us thinking….instead of publishing all the feedback we received why not get you our Guests to write about the places you think all visitors to Ireland should make that extra little effort to fit into their vacation.

Whether you have a list of 3 or 23 why not talk about it either on your own blog or website? Alternatively comment on our facebook page, send them to us via twitter or simply email them in and we will publish the very best of them here on our website.
To mark this we are also offering an amazing FREE vacation to Ireland to the person we deem writes the best blog post/s about the reasons that make Ireland such a special place to visit.

How does it work?

• Our starting prize will be a basic vacation to Ireland for 2 people staying in a cottage vacation rental with rental car for a week
  - great if you can get it but how about some more? …

• Once we reach 25 entries the bar rises and the vacation includes a mix of B&B’s & Hotels

• At 50 entries, the vacation includes all luxury hotels

• Get us to 75 entries and half the stays will be in genuine Irish Castles

• When we have 100 or more entries, all entrants will have the chance to win a luxury castle vacation in Ireland.

Rules:

There are no rules for entry as such but here are some things we won’t say no to:

• Nice mentions of myguideIreland
• Becoming our friend on facebook … www.facebook.com/myguideireland
• Links to our website
• Constructive comments of our website
• We love lists – top 3, top 5, top 10 etc.

Looking forward to hearing from all you Ireland enthusuiasts soon.

Once you have written about Ireland – email: seamus.omurchu@myguideireland.com
with details of where the article is posted,
Entering is as simple as that!

From Yesterday, St. Patrick’s Day, all senior tourists (aged 66 or more) are entitled to travel on the Irish Rail Network completely free of charge.

The scheme, known as the “Golden Trekker” applies to train travel in Ireland on the Iarnród Éireann (Irish rail) network.

Golden Trekker Tickets take the form of a four-day Trekker ticket, or a sequence of four-day tracker tickets for longer stays, providing senior visitors with unrestricted rail travel within the republic of Ireland.  Each four-day Trekker ticket is worth at least €100 ($140) per person.

The scheme makes Ireland vacations even more affordable for seniors. Any of our selfdrive Ireland vacation packages can be purchased excluding the rental car and you can get around using your free rail pass and take a bus or taxi to your hotel.
Alternatively choose from our list of hotels near Irish train stations to make that vacation even more convenient.

To get your Golden trekker ticket you must contact your local Tourism Ireland representatives:

For visitors from the USA the process is:

Call Tourism Ireland on 800 SHAMROCK (1-800-7426-7625) at least 48 hours prior to your arrival in Ireland, and provide the following information:

- First and last name
- Date of birth
- Passport Number
- Date you wish your Golden Trekker Pass to commence (each pass is valid for four days. If you intend to travel for longer periods, you have to apply for more than one pass.)
- Country of residence
- Email address and/or Postal address
- Origin of first rail journey

Once you have provided this information, your Tourism Ireland agent will process your application for a Golden Trekker, and a confirmation will be delivered to you in time for your trip to Ireland.

 For visitors from other countries visit www.discoverireland.com for details.

Hotels in Ireland are now among the cheapest throughout Europe with only Hungary, Poland & the Czech Republic having lower average rates. According to the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index, the average price of an Irish hotel room fell by 21% in 2009 with the cost per night falling from €101 to €80, the steepest decline in Western Europe.

The index also shows that Killarney hotels are the most expensive rooms in the country while the cheapest are in County Waterford. The largest percentage fall was in Galway where prices were highest in 2008 but fell by 24% in 2009.

The changes by town/city are set out in the following table:

You can download the full report at hotels.com:
http://www.hotels.com/press/hotels.com-hotel-price-index-ireland-2009-h2.pdf

We have just launched an initiative that sees the US Dollar jump in value by 10% when you book a vacation to Ireland;

At myguideIreland, we always pride ourselves on putting our Guests first and are always looking for ways to offer better value without compromising the service we deliver. As you are well aware, the dollar has recently hit annual lows against the Euro and many of our Guests and potential Guests have expressed their concern. With myguideIreland, you don’t have to worry.

Behind the scenes, over the last six months, our Finance Director has been applying great foresight in currency management so we are now in a position to provide our vacation products at a great value exchange rate. Resisiting the temptation to profit from this currency hedging, we are now offering an exchange rate of just $1.35 per Euro to any US Guest booking a vacation to Ireland. This “turns back the clock” to May of this year before the recent sharp declines in the Dollar’s value.

We buy all our accommodation, rental cars, activities, tours etc in Euros so why pay $1.50 when you can book & pay now and get Euro priced products for just $1.35. We can only guarantee the exchange rate until Novemebr 14th at which point we will revert to the prevailing retail bank rate.

Our most popular annual promotion, the early bird special, is back by popular demand!!
Due to an unprecedented level of requests we are again offering you the chance to get 10% off your 2009 visit to Ireland

So Why Book your 2009 Ireland Trip Now?

• Secure the dates you want in advance

Everyone has their favourite time to relax and travel. Make sure this year that you do get those free days off when it suits you. Securing those dates will ensure you or your family won’t be disappointed. Get the tours, properties and dates that you deserve by booking in advance. This offer is available for bookings up until December 19th 2008 for travel in 2009

• Save 10% by booking early

Save up to 10% on the cost of your trip.
5% if you book by December 19th and an amazing 10% if you pay in full.
(excludes flights and ferries)

• No Risk – You can change your mind

Your deposit or full payment on the land portion is fully refundable if you change your mind before 1/1/2009
If you choose to also take flights at the time of booking these are non refundable due to airline rules

• Popular Tours in demand – don’t miss out!

Our most popular tours and dates on fly/drive and escorted tours fill up fast. As do the best dates in our Magical Irish Castles, Luxurious Manor Houses and Award Winning Hotels.

So what are you waiting for? Book Now