Back when we were able to travel around the world, a #firstworldproblem was a long layover. An overnight in a city can be an adventure, but what if you only have a few hours during the day? Can you leave the airport to visit a city on a daytime layover?
I knew the answer was yes because we did just that while on our way to London. We flew from Orlando to Dublin on Aer Lingus. The original flight plan only had us there for 1 hour before boarding our flight to London. Knowing from past experiences that our hotel in London was not likely to be ready until check-in time late in the afternoon, I figured we’d rather spend time in Dublin than sit in a hotel lobby.
I scheduled our connecting flight so we had approximately 8 hours in Dublin. At the time, all connecting passengers landing in Dublin had to go through immigration (which is no longer required for some flights.). Since we’d have to enter the country anyway, why not stay in the country? It was interesting to tell the immigration officer we would be in Ireland for 8 hours, mainly for lunch (and yes, we really did say that).
Before our trip, I found a place where we could leave our luggage at the airport for a small fee. After checking our bags, we hopped into a taxi to get into town and asked to be dropped off at the Westin Dublin. It was the hotel we stayed in on our Adventures By Disney trip, and it was a landmark we knew, so it was easy to find from every place we wanted to go. What do you do on a short layover in Dublin? Well, there was the obvious…
Not all of Dublin is scenic; some of it looks like this. The sign reads, “Here is not a toilet! PLEASE do not pee or sh*t in here. Thanks!” I’m glad they were polite about it, at least.
But no, that’s not what we did (although we certainly could have). I don’t know what you would do, but for us, our itinerary was:
- Get Starbucks
- Pick up some souvenirs at a touristy shop in Temple Bar.
- As mentioned above, go to lunch at Gallaghers Boxty House because yeah, it’s really THAT GOOD.
- Try to find the Leprechaun Museum.
- End up at a shopping mall (long story for another time)
- Head back to the Westin for a taxi back to the airport
- Check-in and spend time at the Aer Lingus lounge before our flight to London.
This was something we did just because we could. By no means did we get to see much of Dublin at all, nor had we planned to. Between the 2 taxi rides and the charge to store luggage, it was not a cheap excursion, either. However, we had specific places we wanted to go and for that reason, it was worth it to us. Now that I’ve done it, I definitely wouldn’t recommend it as a way to see a new city. But if you’re stuck at the airport anyway for a long connection, I’d say it’s certainly possible.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and get emailed notifications of when we post. Or maybe you’d like to join our Facebook group – we have 14,000+ members and we talk and ask questions about travel (including Disney parks), creative ways to earn frequent flyer miles and hotel points, how to save money on or for your trips, get access to travel articles you may not see otherwise, etc. Whether you’ve read our posts before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
6 comments
Nice idea!
Some airports have activities specifically aimed at travelers with long layovers. ICN offers a number of free tour options and even some on-site activities, for example.
I did the same in Dublin. Just there for a layover, except a little shorter. Saw St. Stephen’s Green and not much else.
We had a connecting flight through Philly with around a 5 hour layover early in the morning (6 am). We only had a small carry on bag with us so it made it easier. We decided to take a taxi to the Philadelphia Museum of Art so that we could run the Rocky steps. No need for coffee that day since we started our day in the footsteps of Rocky Balboa!
We had an eight hour layover in Samoa on our way to New Zealand. All passengers were required to stay in the transit lounge. I slipped a $20 into my passport and showed it to the security officer. He stamped my passport and said, “Welcome to Samoa! My brother owns a taxi service, shall I call him for you?” His brother took us around the entire island during our layover at a very reasonable price. We went to the local markets, went snorkeling, learned some of the culture, and visited the interior. Best layover ever.
Great story. We did the same with a 19-hour layover in Zurich in November. Booked a hotel near the airport, arrived at hotel approx 10pm after a flight from Rome. We got up early, had breakfast and then enjoyed a pre-booked private tour of the city. Four hours later we were dropped off at the airport for an 11:30am flight to Washington Dulles. Excellent overview of the city. Thoroughly enjoyed our brief sojourn to Zurich.