All your travel questions answered
Easy singles travel
As a single person I would love to be able to contact hotels and travel companies that cater for singles. I do not have a computer. Could you give me some names of B&Bs and hotels in Ireland and abroad?
- SOT, Dublin
There are not many hotels and B&Bs that cater specifically for single travellers but I do have some ideas for you. First, you will find that most properties will be flexible on the cost of accommodation, if you ask, particularly outside of peak season. Many hotels nowadays charge a room price, whether there are one or two people staying. The following guides have details and contact numbers for many hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs around the country.
The biggest is the Ireland Hotels guide, produced by the Irish Hotels Federation and available in most tourist offices. This guide also has some discount vouchers to use when making bookings. The Bed and Breakfast Guide is also available from tourist offices and costs €10. Ireland’s Blue Book is a guide to Irish country and historic houses, copies available from 01-6769914. The Hidden Ireland Guide is a list of private historic houses that take guests, tel: 098-66650 and 01-662 7166.
When it comes to holidays abroad, the Travel Department has a range of escorted holidays to places such as the Algarve, Dubrovnik, Lake Garda, Jordan, New York and Iceland, tel: 01-637 1600.
Mercury Direct has a good selection of hotels in Malta that do not charge a single supplement, (1800-804006). Friendship Travel, based in Northern Ireland, organises holidays from Dublin, too. Contact them on tel: 048-9446 2211.
Cruise lines are beginning to make more cabins available to lone travellers. Saga Cruises specialise in the over-55 age group and they offer quite a few single cabins. NCL cruises has a new ship that has more single cabins. Get details of cruises from John Galligan Travel on tel: 01-207 6555.
Family hotels in Paris
I am coming from Chicago in June and would love to spend a few days in Paris. We’d like to stay in a small hotel on the Left Bank (we have a two-year-old). Do you know of any nice friendly hotels near the Metro?
- FK, Chicago
If you plan to go to Paris in June, book as soon as possible. June is a popular month. The Best Western Left Bank Hotel is in St Germain des Prés, a good location for the Metro and getting around. It will cost around €140 per night in June and has a family-friendly reputation, ParisHotelLeftBank.com. The family-run Hotel de Fleurie, also in St Germain, is a bit more luxurious at around €240 per night, HoteldeFleurieParis.com.
Can you send me to Coventry?
This year I would like to visit a number of cathedrals in England. I am trying to research travel details to York Minster, Lincoln, Coventry or any of the other famous cathedrals and it is difficult. Can you help please with, for example, nearest airports, onward bus travel, some accommodation?
– SC, Dublin
There is a good website that lists all the cathedrals in Britain; many you will know, but some you may not. The address is Cathedrals.org.uk, and there you will find a map and links to the various ones. Getting around Britain is quite easy, with flights from Ireland to lots of provincial airports. A quick way to check for timetables is on the Dublinairport.comwebsite.
Getting around Britain has also been made easier by an integrated website that lists all the bus and train connections. You just put in the places you want to go to and the options come up with timings, see Transportdirect.info. For example, getting to York from Leeds by train will take half an hour. The nearest airport to Lincoln would be Leeds/Bradford or Stansted. For Coventry, Birmingham Airport is only 15km away. You can find accommodation on the VisitBritain.comwebsite.
Can we get to the Superbowl?
My wife and I are fans of American football. We would love to attend next year’s final as it is a special anniversary for us. I know it will be an expensive trip. Where do we start?
- TF, Dublin
Next year the Superbowl will be on February 3rd, and it will be in the home of the Saints, New Orleans, for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. The city is well recovered and ready to host one of the biggest events on the sporting calendar.
The cheapest way to fly to New Orleans from Ireland is on a through ticket with United or Delta, at around €850-900 return including taxes. You may be able to fly cheaper with Aer Lingus over to New York and take a US airline onwards on a separate ticket, but the flights will be heavily booked for that weekend.
There are plenty of hotels in New Orleans, including a Marriott, Holiday Inn, Ramada, etc, but there is not a lot of availability and prices are high. You can contact the tourism office on NewOrleansOnline.com.
I was in New Orleans just three weeks before Katrina and stayed in the Frenchmen's Hotel, which is still operating. It is a very old fashioned, historic place on the edge of the French Quarter, a bit creaky around the corners but I enjoyed it, Frenchmenhotel.com.
Tickets for the Superbowl are like gold dust and the bulk of them go to the teams in the finals. However you can apply for the random drawing; the closing date is June 1st. Details are at NFL.com/help/faq.