Ireland Day 1

Well today it's planes, trains and automobiles.  We leave our home in Salem, drive to Eugene, fly to San Francisco, connect to London, and then on to Dublin for our first 3 nights.

We chose to fly out of Eugene rather than Portland because it is a small airport, much easier to park and check-in and parking costs are about 40% less.  On a 12 day trip, that can really add up, and in a matter of 5 minutes you can be at the gate, if everything goes as planned.

Tip - Think of smaller airports when flying.  Often the time savings of not having to deal with a large airport can be significant.  Some smaller airlines use these airports and you can find really good fares.

For this trip we used our American Express reward points for the SFO-LHR and LHR-DUB and United miles for EUG-SFO.  We have to fly on 3 airlines and make a couple of transfers, but having to pay only for taxes and fees makes this a really great deal.

Tip - Sign up for your preferred airline's frequent flyer program and do the same for your charge cards.  Try to concentrate all your points and miles in one program, or programs that compliment each other.  Most airlines have partnerships with other airlines that let you credit and redeem miles in each others programs.

Time to sign off, we are in the Virgin Clubhouse having a complimentary lunch in San Francisco and it is very nice!