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Planning Honeymoon in Ireland and Rome, Italy

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traveler Posts : 18 Registered: 6/17/08
Planning Honeymoon in Ireland and Rome, Italy
Posted: Dec 5, 2008 1:08 PM

We are getting married Sept. 6, 2009 and are planning a two week honeymoon in Europe. We are hoping to spend the first week in Ireland (FH is Irish) and the second week in Italy, mainly around Rome. If possible, my FH would like to spend 2-3 days in between in England and hopefully catch a soccer game.

We have just started looking into all of this. Does anyone have any recommendations on places/things to see and do? Neither of us has been to Ireland/England/Italy before.

Also, can anyone recommend a good travel agent?

I know it sounds quite adventurous but we both like to travel and this will be our first real vacation together, we want to make it memorable.

september_2009 , illinois_chicago
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auntofthebride Posts : 9,357 Registered: 4/2/06
Re: Planning Honeymoon in Ireland and Rome, Italy
Posted: Dec 5, 2008 7:39 PM Go to message in response to: traveler

Dear TL,

Sounds great. I've been to Europe a lot and can offer you a few tips.

My suggestion to you is to start with a cozy B&B in Ireland, and let yourself have a week, or so, of very easy days to decompress from the stress of wedding planning. Be aware that Ireland is not big on super-fast interstate type highways, so you need to allow a good amount of time to get from Point A to Point B.

If you rent a car, bear in mind that they drive on the left and the cheaper rental cars are manual transmission. That means, gear-shifting with your left hand. If you think you can handle that, great. If not, then see where you can get to by public transport.

A week in Ireland where you sleep late, walk along the coast, watch the waves, visit pubs and look into each others' eyes would be a great start. Also - they speak English there, which means you will have minimal language struggles. Finally, both Ireland and Italy are in the Euro zone, meaning you won't have to change money to go from Ireland to Italy.

Then, fly or take the ferry to England for football/soccer. (You will need GB Pounds there. They are not in the Euro zone.)

Next, Rome. Rome is an incredible city with tons of things to see and do. I've been to Rome, twice, and have been utterly exhausted after sightseeing all day and trying to cram in as much as possible. I especially enjoyed walking in the Roman Forum, seeing the same buildings that were there when Julius Caeser was there. There are layers and layers of history and culture in Rome: The early Etruscans, the ancient pagan Romans, the ancient Christians, medieval and Renaissance Rome, and modern Rome itself. It is unbelieveable how much has happened in that small amount of geographical turf.

This is another reason I urge you to have a very easy, relaxing first week in Ireland before heading to Rome. You want to be well-rested before hitting the sightseeing trail in Rome. Take comfortable shoes. I'm not kidding.

I suggest you learn some Italian before going to Rome. The Italians are not shy about speaking English, but you will run into some people who don't speak any English. The more Italian you are able to speak, the better.

Finally, a serious tip for Rome. Pickpockets run amok. Literally. When you walk around Rome, you must have your passport and your wallet secure under your clothes. Do not carry those things in an outside pocket or purse. I put my passport and wallet in my bra. The only things that should be in any outside pocket, purse or backpack should be things you can afford to lose: sunglasses, reading glasses, city map, metro guide, maybe €50 in the day's spending money.

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FutureMrsNajar Posts : 159 Registered: 11/15/07
Re: Planning Honeymoon in Ireland and Rome, Italy
Posted: Dec 29, 2008 7:33 PM Go to message in response to: traveler

Hello-

my husband and I spent 10 days in rome. Auntofthebride is right you will need very comfortable shoes. Rome is a huge city with many things to do. My husband and i love to travel but he got tired because I kept waking him up early to do sightseeing. Public transportation is the easiest there. Keep in mind hotels are expensive .. we used points from our credit card.
As for things to see here are my recommendations:
Colleseum
Roman Forum
Vatican
Vatican Museum (if you like art and want to see the sistene chapel no pictures are allowed)
Catacombs

If you have a free day or two take the train to florence or siena both beautiful cities and very close to Rome by train from the Roma Termini station.

To get from Ireland to England to Rome I suggest looking at ryanair.com they are like the southwest of europe and sometimes you can get flights for a penny + any taxes + baggage fees.

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

~ June 28, 2008 ~

june_2008 , september_2009 , southern_california , illinois_chicago
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EnidGlasgow Posts : 5 Registered: 12/30/08
Re: Planning Honeymoon in Ireland and Rome, Italy
Posted: Dec 30, 2008 9:25 AM Go to message in response to: FutureMrsNajar

Sounds like a great trip!

june_2008 , florida , december_2009 , september_2009 , southern_california , illinois_chicago
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MrsMaldonado Posts : 2,852 Registered: 3/7/07
Re: Planning Honeymoon in Ireland and Rome, Italy
Posted: Dec 30, 2008 9:55 AM Go to message in response to: traveler

My DH & I honeymooned in Italy.
It is absolutely breathtaking......Rome is awesome. Make sure you do a lot of sightseeing because there is just so much!
Enjoy it while you are there!

♥Emy&Bryan♥
September 27, 2008
WEDDING42SMALLER-1.jpg picture by BellaEmy112

september_2008 , northern_new_jersey
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HLYflute Posts : 1,283 Registered: 2/5/07
Re: Planning Honeymoon in Ireland and Rome, Italy
Posted: Jan 4, 2009 1:39 PM Go to message in response to: MrsMaldonado

I haven't been to Ireland or Italy (yet!), but I did spend three weeks in England in 2004. I just wanted to offer a suggestion with money exchanging. Through AAA, I got a prepaid ATM card. You can use it at any ATM in the world with no withdrawal fees. Then, when you return from your trip, you can either withdraw the remaining money from an American ATM, or go to AAA and they will give you the leftover money on your card. I am fairly certain that your money is protected on the card through AAA in case the card is stolen. You can also use your credit card just about anywhere, which I found much easier than using cash.

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ktbugg Posts : 12 Registered: 5/15/08
Re: Planning Honeymoon in Ireland and Rome, Italy
Posted: Jan 5, 2009 3:14 PM Go to message in response to: HLYflute

Hi there!
Just to reiterate what has already been said about Rome...it is absolutely amazing! You won't have any trouble finding anything to do and things actually stay open into the night -- restaurants and such. Make sure you save time to visit the Colosseum both during the day so you can go inside and tour the site as well as at night so you can take stunning photos of the site all lit up. Florence is well worth a day trip so you can see the statue of David and Michelangelo's Bronze Baptistry doors. Europe is different in the regular business hours, pubs don't typically
open until the late afternoon, markets close by 6:00 or 7:00pm, and
even restaurants in London's West End will close by 10:00 so keep that
in mind if you plan to go out during the evening.
Make sure you invest in a GOOD outlet/power adapter!!! Each country that you are visiting will have a different outlet so one of those adapters that has all the different countries would be good. Kensington makes a good adapter that comes with a usb plug as well but it doesn't come with a voltage converter so you'll need to pick up one of those too.

northern_california , july_2009
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jackson132 Posts : 1,662 Registered: 9/13/12
Re: Planning Honeymoon in Ireland and Rome, Italy
Posted: Sep 16, 2012 5:38 PM Go to message in response to: traveler

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