On the Road with Reid: 'Round Ireland on Four Wheels (cont'd)

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The Best Deal in Travel Today
Picture this: you can buy your transatlantic airfare, get six days with a rental car, and lodging vouchers good for six nights at a network of more than 450 farmhouse B&Bs all across Ireland, all for as little as $399. (That's per person based on double occupancy, as will be all prices mentioned in this article.)

We've told you about this one from Sceptre Ireland (www.sceptreireland.com) before [author's note: the company has since changed to become the invisible—yet still deals-happy—travel partner of ireland.com; you can now find them at www.ireland.com/travel], and we probably won't stop flogging the concept because it truly remains one of the knock-down, drag-out best deals in travel today, and it's a base price that has remained unchanged since last year. It also happens to be the package I'm traveling on, so I can personally vouch that it works like a dream. I haven't even had much trouble finding a room in my first choice of B&B even though I'm only calling ahead around midday for a room that very night (though, once or twice, when I've waited until late afternoon to call, I've had to settle for second choice—not bad).

Of course, that $399 is the rate for low-season travel, which won't start up again until November. The following seasonal prices are for departures from New York, Boston, Baltimore (for Chicago add $100; Atlanta add $150; Miami, Dallas, or L.A. add $200; Seattle add $250):

• Apr-May $799
• June-Aug $949
• Sept-Oct $799
• Nov-Dec 16 $399

That base package is per person (based on double occupancy) and covers flights in and out of Shannon Airport, gateway to the pleasures of Ireland's Western coast, where I've been traveling. To use Dublin as your arrival or departure airport, tack on another $30. For the guarantee of a private bathroom and to expand the database of B&Bs available to you to a full 2,000, add in another $36. Automatic transmission on the rental car will cost ya yet another $36. The final optional upgrade I'll mention—pricey, but tempting—is to spend one night in one of several bona fide Irish castles rather than a B&B.

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