When you plan to go to Ireland, date of your departure is very important. Why?
First of all, your plane tickets can vary significantly - in June 2016 only Ryanair tickets vary from 120 € to 260 € (of course, without the cost of luggage). The same is with other low-cost air companies. Luckily, you have direct flights from Zadar to Dublin (Ryanair) or from Dubrovnik to Dublin (Aer Lingus) with a price range from 170 € up to 422 €.
(2017 Update: you have Aer Lingus flights from Pula and Split as well).
(2017 Update: you have Aer Lingus flights from Pula and Split as well).
If you want to fly from Zagreb, cheapest (but more expensive than low cost) is by Turkish Airlines. But there is a huge glitch - flight takes you some 20+ hours since you first go to Turkey and then to Dublin.
(Update 2017: you can fly from Zagreb to London or Manchester by Monarch (in September 2017 Monarch was in serious problems) as a low-cost company.)
(Update 2017: you can fly from Zagreb to London or Manchester by Monarch (in September 2017 Monarch was in serious problems) as a low-cost company.)
Many people from Slavonia prefer flying from Budapest, but when you pay average of 60€ for car transport (see Facebook groups about Croats in Ireland, if they are not locked for you), or much more by train/bus (I used to go to Pecs in Hungary and there buy IC train ticket to Keleti and taking shuttle minivans rather than taxi or public transport (I've tried it once, and it is a suicide). This can take you up to a day to reach airport (there are not a lot of buses to Pecs from Osijek, and the last train from Pecs to Keleti is at 1:14 pm). This also involves changing a money to HUF for train and minivan. So having a private driver is ok, but at the end it is not easy to wait and see if car will be available, have enough people to travel etc. and finally, it will cost you more than flying from Zadar. Namely, if you are really lucky you can have a flight from Budapest to Dublin for around 110 € but also for 250 € (very similar to Zadar).
Ryanair has also a connection from Osijek, Pula, Rijeka to London Stansted Airport, but you'll have to be quick or wait for some time for a flight to Dublin (in the end it can cost you more than to go directly to Dublin). But price starting from only 40 € is appealing, isn't it? And since there are flights to Dublin from 25 to 100 €, this looks quite good. But when you include paying your baggage twice (60-80 €) and all other costs, then this is not so good at all.
What majority of wannabe air travelers don't know is that low-budget air companies charge you for almost everything: from choosing your seat location, for each part of your luggage, for early access to the plane (to put a cabin luggage you have to pay an extra, since there is a limit to air luggage space, and early bird catches a worm). So when someone tells you that he/she traveled to Dublin for only 40-50 € you know it is a lie.
My ticket went from 120 € to 180 € with an ease (for example, 15 kg baggage cost 30 € and 20 kg baggage cost 40 € at Ryanair). And if you travel to Ireland for good, surely you'll need 20 kg of baggage. Maybe if you travel to Cuba and bring only T-shirt and swimsuit it would be fine, but since morning temperature on 1st of June were 5-8°C in Ireland, you have to bring autumn/winter clothes even if temperature in Croatia is round 30°C or above.
One thing you have to be wary is size of your luggage and weight. Every kilo more cost at least 10 € (up to 50€). And, since I'm flying with Ryanair, there is limitation to 32 kg in total. So choose wisely what to bring and weight it carefully.
Size of luggage is all different story. Ryanair states that it should not be about 80 (height), 110 (length) and 110 cm (width). This is totally confusing since luggage height is usually the longest while width is smallest. And if you want to get info from them, simply forget it. You'll receive links to pages or rules stating what you already know. And if your luggage is above this dimensions, you won't be able to board it into the plane.
Then, you can buy a cabin baggage priority (allowing you to put your luggage before less fortunate -read: more miserly passenger) and this cabin luggage is free of charge. But if your don't pay it, and there is no space for your cabin baggage, it has to go to cargo hold and you'll be charged for it). Cabin luggage has very strict rules and size must be below 55x40x20 cm. Luckily, one can buy declared cabin baggage in Croatia without problem, and there is always possibility to buy Ryanair approved cabin baggage at the airport.
