Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

Initial brag: a good friend of mine just scored a gig being Frank Black's tour manager overseas. (He did the job in the States and they liked him enough to keep him on)! The international tour kicks off in Dublin Feb. 9 and continues in Glasgow Feb. 10 and then Manchester/London/etc.

I've been invited to go to the shows, and since I've never been to Ireland or Scotland (I have been to England) I think I shouldn't pass up the opportunity to not only visit Dublin and Glasgow but also hang out with Frank Black and potentially Bono, who evidently has drinks with Frank after the show every time Black plays Dublin.

That said, I need to plan the trip (with 1 friend) and figure out how to do it efficiently, with as much fun/ideas as possible but also not too expensive (we're not broke, but we're not ballas either).

[Note: I can't actually travel with the band; we're just friends of the tour manager so we can only join up at the show itself and at the pubs afterwards; we have to take care of transportation ourselves.]

1) What's the best way to get from place to place? I'm thinking flying round trip from Los Angeles to Dublin, and in the middle having a round trip from Dublin to Glasgow for the second show, so we can hang in Glasgow too, but come back to Dublin to catch the flight back to L.A. Is this OK? Or should we just like take a ferry from Dublin to Glasgow and ferry back? Are there ferries? Are they cost-effective?

2) The second show is a Sunday (Feb 10) in Glasgow. Should we hang out and see the city Monday/Monday night as well? Is there stuff to do there on a Monday in February? Or will it be so freezing cold that everyone's shacked up inside. In which case we should head back to Dublin or even go to London and fly back to L.A. from there.

3) I'd love some ideas of what to do in Dublin when we get there. We might arrive Fri. morning Feb 8, the day before the first show, so we'll have 36 hours on our own. Any recommendations? And what about lodging -- B&Bs? Hostels? Hotels?

4) Same goes for Glasgow -- recommendations, lodging, sights, etc.

5) Weather -- I've heard Dublin doesn't get that ridiculous in the winter for some reason. True? I'm a pussy when it comes to cold weather so I'm afraid. Glasgow... aiya. It sounds like I'm going to turn into a block of ice. Is it really unbearable?

Thanks for any advice, etc...

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

You know Glasgow is quite a way inland, right? I would just fly. Oh and you should see Edinburgh for a day or two.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

So, fly from Dublin to Glasgow, see the show Feb. 10 then maybe take some sort of train to Edinburgh the next day maybe? Spend Monday night there? Maybe I could then fly back from Edinburgh to Dublin...

*sigh* So much traveling!

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

yeah you can get the train or a really really cheap bus if that's your bag. they are very well connected.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

I enjoyed riding the tour buses around Dublin. Although the open-air part might be a little annoying in the winter. Also check out the jail (Kilmainham Gaul) if you get to do any touristy kind of stuff. I thought that tour was fascinating. Other than I don't think you can go wrong getting drunk at a pub! There are a lot of cool areas of town other than Temple Bar, which is the most touristy. Don't be afraid to try some of the other, hipper areas.

And that's about all I know of Dublin. Never been to Scotland, but I'm hoping to go with my Dad in 08.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

Anyone know anything about Manchester? Since getting to Glasgow seems annoying, we're thinking of skipping the Feb 10 show, staying in Dublin one more day, then going to Manchester (by ferry? or do we need to fly?) on Feb 11 for the Feb 12 show there.

Historically, Manchester holds a place in my heart -- but what's it like, is there stuff to do? Or is it a dark cold place full of hooligans and thugs waiting to beat up Americans?

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

I've been to Glasgow in late March and it wasn't terribly cold (maybe I was lucky). I didn't care much for the city, and if you have enough time, I would recommend driving north through the Highlands. I believe I saw most of it in 2-3 days.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

pj,

Heh, a lot of these cities are dark and cold at this time of year.

You could ferry to Liverpool then get a train to Manchester. Manchester is pretty cool, it's basically England's #2 city so there is obviously tons of stuff to do. I just have trouble actually thinking of anything, cos when you live nearby you don't tend to actually ever go to any of the stuff a tourist would, ya hear?

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

I don't want to do touristy things... I mostly want to go out, drink 7 pints of Harp, and listen to some trance DJ spin in front of a floor where 300 24 year-old Brits are dancing their arses off.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

Oh. Then you will love Manchester.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

Hey PJ,

Nice play on Geosense.. Definitely rigged in your favour...even my work colleague thinks so !

Anyways on your trip to Dublin/Glasgow....

Dublin is great...Expensive out there for touristy stuff, but as you said you won't really be doing that you'll be fine... Its not that cold out there either...All my friends have been but I never have... But am planning to in the very near future...

Glasgow...I preferred Edinburgh, but compared to other cities in the UK, I wasn't a big fan of Scotland as a whole.


If you do go to Manchester...The sunday night would be the best night (10th) to go out on as opposed to a monday or tuesday ... however, I'm not too sure of exactly what goes on that early in the week in Manchester...I have many friends up there...I'll ask them what they would suggest...

If you did come to london...midweek is always pretty lively so I'm sure you would be able to do something...

So it depends on exactly what you wanted to do and how long you was over for...

If you were going to stay in London - I would suggest a Travel-Lodge or something... in fact, if you stayed anywhere in the UK, if you booked it that far in advance you would get it fairly cheap !

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

Probably be easier and cheaper to catch a flight from Dublin to Manchester or Liverpool.

Check out Ryanair and Aer Lingus. Flights from literally 1c.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

Just wrote a long post and IE crashed so i'll give you the jist of it.

If you're coming to Glasgow on the Sunday and want a good night out for dance music then head to Subclub in the city centre for their 'Optimo' night. It's not trance, rather techno with some other stuff thrown into the mix but always a very good night.

Buses from Glasgow-Edinburgh are cheap, a few pounds. I'd recommend spending the monday in Edinburgh - it's a beautiful city.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

Going to Edinburgh is a must if you're in Scotland. Glasgow is cool if you're into art/music/"new" culture etc, but Edinburgh is a great and legendary city.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

[ QUOTE ]
1) What's the best way to get from place to place? I'm thinking flying round trip from Los Angeles to Dublin, and in the middle having a round trip from Dublin to Glasgow for the second show, so we can hang in Glasgow too, but come back to Dublin to catch the flight back to L.A. Is this OK? Or should we just like take a ferry from Dublin to Glasgow and ferry back? Are there ferries? Are they cost-effective?

[/ QUOTE ]

That's probably your best bet. LA to Dub and then return flights to from Dublin to Glasgow. With Ryanair you'll flying into Glasgow Prestwick, about 30 miles from central Glasgow. With Aer Lingus you'll fly into Glasgow airport in Glasgow's suburbs. The boat isn't really an option as you'd have to get that from Belfast (about 2 hours on the train) and you'd have to get the train again when you get to Scotland to get to Glasgow.

[ QUOTE ]
3) I'd love some ideas of what to do in Dublin when we get there. We might arrive Fri. morning Feb 8, the day before the first show, so we'll have 36 hours on our own. Any recommendations? And what about lodging -- B&Bs? Hostels? Hotels?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hotels are relatively cheap and of a high standard. I'd recommend staying on the south side of the City, around the Stephens Green area.. It's probably the most central spot for nightlife. If you have a bit of time, the usual tourist stuff is good.. Guiness Hop Stores, Dublin Castle, Temple Bar etc.. More at http://www.dublintourist.com/

[ QUOTE ]
5) Weather -- I've heard Dublin doesn't get that ridiculous in the winter for some reason. True? I'm a pussy when it comes to cold weather so I'm afraid. Glasgow... aiya. It sounds like I'm going to turn into a block of ice. Is it really unbearable?

[/ QUOTE ]

Dublin is fine during the winter.. Tradewinds from the carribean keep the weather settled and temps reasonable all year all year around. It's generally overcast with temps of about 4-8C, about 39-46F. Glasgow is fairly similiar although a bit colder.

Let me know if you need to know anything more.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

PJ,

As a big pixies/frank black fan i'm verrry jealous!

You won't recognise my 2p2 name i'm sure since i stick to msnl, but i'm a student in manchester so i'll be going to his manchester show fo sho. Can't seem to find tickets or even tour dates on ticketmaster/seetickets etc (wtf is up with that?) but i'll just get one off ebay if i have to.

Of course feel free to pm me if you do decide to come to Manchester and have any questions/queries etc, hopefully i can help out in some way.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

Im going to Manchester next weekend. Pretty cool city if you wanna go out n that. As far as Scotland goes, Iv only been to Glasgow breifly and although it seemed a cool city I prefer Edinburgh especially from a tourist point of view.

I wouldnt bother with ferrys n that just decide which city u wanna go to and fly there. Once there take trains if you wanna move around more. And book everything well in advance to save a whole bunch of £s.

Oh and when is FB's tour - couldnt find much via Google and would like to check him out. Only time ive seen him play is with Pixies at V-festival.

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

Thanks for the help so far, everyone! Keep the ideas and tips coming!

Leadbelly -- here's the Europe schedule I have so far:


FEBRUARY





9 IRELAND DUBLIN VICAR STREET

10 SCOTLAND GLASGOW GARAGE (NME show)

11 ENGLAND Tbc

12 ENGLAND MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2 (NME show)

13 ENGLAND LONDON KOKO (NME show)

14 ENGLAND Tbc

15 Off

16 FRANCE PARIS ELYSEE MONTMARTRE

17 GERMANY COLOGNE PRIME CLUB

18 GEMANY BERLIN POSTBAHNHOF

19 GERMANY HAMBURG FABRIK

20 DENMARK COPENHAGEN VEGA (Small Hall)

21 Off

22 LUXEMBOURG LUXEMBOURG DEN ATELIER

23 SWITZERLAND LAUSANNE LES DOCKS

24 SWITZERLAND ZURICH ABART CLUB

25 Off

26 BELGIUM BRUSSELS BOTANIQUE (Orangerie)

27 HOLLAND AMSTERDAM MELKWEG

28 HOLLAND NIJMEGEN DOORNROOSJE

29 HOLLAND ZWOLLE HEDON

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

Another vote for "go visit Edinburgh while you are in Scotland". Glasgow and Edinburgh each have very central train stations, and it doesn't take long - this can easily be a day trip. Timetable here (in .pdf format).

Re: Help me plan a trip to Dublin & Glasgow
 

Flying will be best.

Glasgow isn't very cold in winter; edinburgh will be colder most likely (east coast - continental land mass effect).

Cheap n easy to get between glasgow/edinburgh, but - unless they've changed since I left - the last trains/buses stop around midnight or so (had to sleep on a toilet floor once after staying for one pint of beer too many before running for the train station [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img])

edit: yeah, edinburgh is def worth a look - beautiful city.