Mittens 2011 - UPDATE: aftermath

[FSi++]

I'd say go for it!

I'd gay so for it!..
I degeso for it!..

...wait, what?

[Disco]

I just got the booking email and am completing the process now.

There was one line that stood out as a bit odd to me, but I suppose for their protection:

"Please reply with an email with all the names of the guests that will be staying along with their home address."

I don't believe we've ever had to do this before, but it should just be for security deposit reasons. I would assume it can be sent in with the remaining deposit by June 10, but if anyone wants to PM their address I can start crafting that.

UPDATE: Property is book'd

[Miez]

Wheeee! good job, Disco!

[bicilotti]

Thanks for organising this Disco!

[Snarky]

Hey, that looks nice! Good job Disco!

[Darth Mandarb]

The place looks great!

The dates worry me (only slightly) but I should still be able to manage this!  My two trips over-seas would be only about 1 month apart.  While this is just fine by me, I'm not sure how those that sign my paychecks will feel about it!  I will find out.

Keep me on as a [almost certain] definite though!

[LimpingFish]

Great job, Ken!

[Layabout]

I think it's great. Can you add a +1 for me as my girlfriend would like to attend as well.

[m0ds]

Nice one Ken, are you able to give us a summary of payments - how much we owe you now as a deposit, the total cost and what we'll need for security? That'd be great

What are people doing for travel? The cheapest option from UK I could find is Bristol - Dublin by plane (£60 return) and the train Dublin - Rosslare (20 euro return). That's very reasonable. How do other people plan to get there and from where to where?

Any plans on car rental? I can see there being some minor problems with this. For example, if a couple of people take their car from the UK - Ireland, the ferry cost is high (300 pounds). A people carrier from the UK would require a drive through Wales, with a ferry cost in excess of £600. Rental from Rosslare itself doesn't have any people carrier/mini-busses available, so it'd have to be rented from further out of town, ie Dublin, Wexford etc. A 4 seater rental car is about £250 from Rosslare. I'm sure most have the money for it but I just wanted to point out a car rental/road trip is going to be a lot more expensive than plane & train. Thankfully the train connections to other parts of Ireland from Rosslare seem to be brilliant.

Personally plane and train tickle my fancy, as Ken says, it's a waterfront rail ride and looking at some of the photos it looks amazing But it'd be good to get an idea of other people's plans, in case there is a group booking or anything.

Edit: Oh Ken is it possible for you to talk to the owners/rental people and mention that broadband/internet connectivety is a BIG deal for us, and could they please make sure it's working and stable. After the bum deal we got with it in Italy the last thing I'm sure any of us want to do is have to stand next to a goddamn crapper to use the internet. If they know it's going to be a crap connection, can they let you know, perhaps.

[Disco]

The total cost of the rental is â,¬2000. Based on 20 attendees, I will require a total of â,¬100 from each (that was easy ). The money needs to be sent by June 10. So please make plans send it to my paypal sometime within the next 113 days.

The terms I was sent mentioned nothing about VAT or cleaning fee. The only extra possible fee would be having our rubbish taken care of at a local shop:

When you leave the property you must bring any rubbish with you such as bottles, cans, paper plates etc. You can leave them in the local shop Londis, they charge five euro per bag.

I am taking care of the deposit on my lonesome. No one need worry about that, unless of course they break something more substantial than a glass or plate. In that case they can look forward to a good ol' country boy ass whoopin'  8)


My own travel plans are to fly London > Dublin and get the train down. There are three trains daily, I plan on getting the afternoon train for ~16:00 arrival, the earliest we can check in:

Possession of your rental property should be taken between 16.00hrs and 19.00hrs and the property vacated before 11.00 hrs on the morning of departure.

I have been assured that the supermarket is a 3 minute walk, so we should be fine collecting our food the same way ants do.

I'm not sure if there are many opportunities for day trips like we had in Italy. Perhaps we should plan for an extended trip somewhere before or after? Mittens ends on the Friday that the August bank holiday begins, so some of us will be able to take advantage of that I imagine.

I will inquire about the internet. Site says "wi-fi available" but as we know that isn't 100% reassuring.

[m0ds]

Thanks for the info dude!

unless of course they break something more substantial than a glass or plate. In that case they can look forward to a good ol' country boy ass whoopin' 

Hehe - the question is, will Grundislav be t-total this year?

[Grundislav]

In Ireland? Are you nuts?

Besides, I haven't broken anything, aside from that rug...

[cat]

I'm a definite and my boyfriend a maybe.

I'll most likely fly to Dublin and taking the train for the journey down sounds good to me. I'd be interested in staying in Dublin Friday-Sunday after Mittens, could be fun if more people want to do that.

Renting cars would be neat for day trips, but I'm not sure if it is worth it. If we want to go to Wexford or other places, it might be even cheaper to go by taxi than renting a car for the whole week. I'll try to find out if there are busses that might get us to some interesting places, too. Disco, can you give me the link to the railway company?

Edit: We could even consider renting a car just for one day if we want to go somewhere special.

[Kweepa]

Dang, Ireland? The bonny bogs of me old trotting ground!
I suppose I should make an effort to at least show up for a day or two... that puts a date on our summer holidays.

[Monsieur OUXX]

I will attend.
Just to clairfy: My nickname is "Monsieur OUXX" (don't want any last-minute mixup because of the icey_games thing)

[Disco]

http://www.irishrail.ie/home/

The train station is right around the corner to the house. I suggest we use that for daytrips. Wexford is 18 minutes north and the next stop Enniscorthy is 39 minutes. Not too bad and no parking hassle like we had in Sienna.


List is updated now. We currently have 26 names. I don't mind subverting authority and having a couple extra on the spare couches or floor, but I have instituted a similar policy on non-AGSer significant others:

I am putting all +1 type people in "possibles" pending available space. Please understand when I place AGSers and perennial Mitteners at the front of the queue.

We have had the same guidline in the past, though I don't think it has been an issue before as we have a few dropouts usually, but space is more limited this time so please understand.

[AGA]

I will come.  Jen probably won't, since she's not too interested in Ireland;  I will consult with her and let you know though.

[LimpingFish]

Some sites of interest:

http://www.wexfordweb.com/

http://www.enniscorthytourism.com/

[Pumaman]

Thanks for booking it, Disco!

I'd be interested in staying in Dublin Friday-Sunday after Mittens, could be fun if more people want to do that.

I'd definitely be up for this.

Any plans on car rental? I can see there being some minor problems with this. For example, if a couple of people take their car from the UK - Ireland, the ferry cost is high (300 pounds). A people carrier from the UK would require a drive through Wales, with a ferry cost in excess of £600.

Those ferries do seem to be bizarrely expensive! If we had 4 people in a car driving over from the UK, would that ferry crossing be cheaper than flights for everyone plus car rental in Ireland? If the train connections are good then maybe as cat says we don't actually need cars.

[m0ds]

CJ, car options appear to all be more expensive than flights & train by the looks of it. The best option would be to rent out there and not take any car on a ferry. A ryanair return flight is currently about 60 pound in total. 4 people sharing a car would pay about £100 each for a return ferry UK - Ireland.