gaobest

In a previous post you mentioned only carry-on - no luggage to check. How did you have enough in your carry-on?? Did you have to do laundry daily or do you use a clothing service that I should consider?

HMPS

OMG ! The Princess better not read this about "doing laundry-daily".
Me thinks she is a smart shopper and does excellent shopper & planner on mix & match outfits.

SFO777

LOL.

I do think that this would be hilarious. She comes up with off the wall funny stuff all the time, and I'll say "let me write this down so I can remember"

Not sure about the "smart shopper" part , but she is an excellent planner. We've both become pretty efficient over time. We typically pack for 4-5 days with mix and match outfits, one extra pair of shoes for me, two for her, and then use hotel laundry mid-trip.

gaobest

Wow, I'm impressed - but what do you do for shopping - do you buy a new suitcase and check it for the return flight home? Or do you not shop when flying only with carry-on?
I'm definitely impressed at the thought that you can travel to all of these nice places only with carry-on! We tend to shop for clothes or other things when traveling and have even had to buy new suitcases for the shopping.

Bretteee

Well at least your wife was in the EXIT row which is VIP treatment. I am sure she knows how to open the window in an emergency.

offerendum

Can´t stop laughing

SFO777

Believe it or not, we don't do much shopping on most trips so it's not a problem.
If one of us () is tempted, a "we don't have room to pack it" works a surprising number of times.

The "shopping" trips are different. We did Milan a couple of years ago and I had to buy a cheap 30 euro bag at the Italian version of Walmart. We stuffed it with dirty clothes and then put Mrs. SFO777's purchases in our carry-ons. For 30 euros, you can't be picky about what you get. At least it was in Broncos colors. Heck even the HON tag colors matched.



Now this past week in Paris, there was no way that everything would fit in carry-ons. Fortunately, Air France had no problem with two carry-ons and two shopping bags. Once onboard, I expanded the carry-ons to fit the items in the shopping bags before we got to LAX.

LOL. I'll tell her that those are VIP seats next time. I'm sure that will go over well.

I thought it was funny as well. She was not amused.

CHOPCHOP767

LOL!

We've come to learn that Carrefour is an excellent choice for this type of luggage in France as is Primark for London trips. On the last London trip, a friend took us to Primark laughing the whole way after a day at Liberty and a short stop at M&S. It was great to see the UK's version of 'peopleofwalmart.com' especially after the good folks at Liberty and the better half were all too happy to relieve me of lots and lots of pounditos. I also found the priority tags on dirt cheap luggage to be a good laugh as did the driver when we got home. Better than Montreal, where we shamelessly used a large trash bag from the Fairmont because of a late night out and early flight in the morning.

Another fab TR! Thanks, SFO777!

offerendum

Have seen worse I used bags from the hotel in the past

pacenotes

I see that Ballyfin won best hotel in Europe today.

Genius1

Thanks for another entertaining and enjoyable read, SFO777.

That is a distinctly underwhelming AF lounge at SFO - interesting that QF use it when oneworld partners BA, CX and JL have their own lounges in the International Terminal. The A380 interior (and IFE) looks very dated for what isn’t a terribly old aircraft. I tried it in 2009 when they were trialling the aircraft on the LHR-CDG route, and although ticketed in Business (the highest cabin they were selling), did try out the First seats. The AF ground and soft products (particularly the escorts, CDG lounge and onboard catering) all look excellent. Unfortunately AF is on my black list after a few too many safety incidents in recent years.

The Ballyfin is truly amazing. I certainly agree with you on the Downton Abbey look - the hall and drawing room in particular are virtually identical.

Shame about the service failures at Ashford Castle - it's never nice when these things spoil what would otherwise by a good stay.

In DUB, I would recommend staying at The Westbury if you're ever in the city again. I reviewed it towards the end of my 2015 report here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...irst-a380.html

The US Preclearance lounge at DUB looks nicely designed. The old angled AA seats are pretty poor for international J these days, and the soft product looks pretty dismal. The transcontinental J seat on the A321T is not bad for a domestic flight, and certainly better than what I am looking forward to (or not) on four upcoming 2000+ mile domestic sectors on AA and legacy US equipment in F.

MickV

I really couldn't see one plus point for the Westbury over the Shelbourne.
SFO didn't have a great experience but as Dublin goes it is a great hotel with a rich history, good food and an amazing bar. Plus if you're driving the Shelbourne is infinitely easier to get to.

CHOPCHOP767

I'd take the Westbury over the Shelbourne; Shelbourne was very underwhelming and felt more like a Marriott than a Renaissance collection hotel. The Conrad OTOH is to be avoided. If I were Hilton, I would remove that branding from the hotel immediately, lol.

rstruthe

Great report, always enjoy reading your trip reports! I recently traveled this same area of Ireland, although not quite in this much style. Its fun comparing the pictures and experience to what we had.

Thanks!

SFO777

Thank you pacenotes. It is a well deserved honour.

Thanks very much Genius1 and for all of your comments. Not sure when I'll be in Dublin again, but it will not be at the Shelboure. I believe we stayed at the Merrion years ago and that was quite nice.

I've just really soured on AA and have no plans to re-qualify for EXP. The HP clowns that now run the place are bean counters that do not understand service. Food is mostly garbage, FAs the least friendly of the US majors. And calling the EXP line now?? OMG, what a crap shoot as the most of the US agents are simply clueless. This airline has gotten so bad that I don't want to fly them pretty much anywhere. Indeed, I've decided to throw away our return LAX-LHR-FCO First Class ticket at New Years. Made Mrs. SFO777's day as I booked Lufthansa First on LAX-MUC-FCO.

Thank you rstruthe. Ireland is a wonderful country to visit.