Air related strikes ... much attention

It amazes me how civilized the strikes are in other countries. When we arrived in Brussels March 2008, I saw a lot of luggage sitting near baggage claim conveyor belts. That day there was a short (2 hours) strike of baggage handlers. No idea what the strike was about but it was scheduled and didn't affect people for very long. Not sure if it helped them but they kept to their "schedule" for the strike. Got attention.

The Lufthansa 4-day strike of its main pilots seems to have been halted until March 9... for now. There have been some flights cancelled since the belief was that all pilots were going to strike. More attention.

Now there's an a strike of  France’s Air Traffic Controllers for 5 days. There is a system of how to handle the air traffic but they did cancel many flights going into DeGaulle Airport. 

Our flight to Dublin goes through DeGaulle and we return there when we go to stay in Paris and then back home. Have to just keep positive that their issues about losing jobs, etc., will be resolved soon.

Other strikes, many of 1 day, are planned by air traffic controllers in Greece.

Notice given about these planned strikes. Lots of attention.

 

Hotels

For both hotels, breakfast is included.

The Mespil Hotel  is located in "Georgian Dublin" overlooking the Grand Canal and only a 15-20 minute walk from St. Stephen's Green, a lovely park in Dublin. Bus stops are nearby so no problem with getting to other areas of Dublin.Free WiFi is available so I'll be able to use our Netbook and keep this blog up-to-date while in Dublin. 

Our hotel in Paris is in the Montmarte area, close to a Metro stop. It's a small place, but not a big deal for us since we're sleeping/showering there and spending most of our time seeing the sites of Paris. No reason to spend a lot of money when we're not there very much.

Planning the trip

I received an email in June about deals for week long trips to European cities. Since it was from the same tour operator that we used for the week in London in March 2009, we knew they were reputable. We decided to go to both Dublin and Paris. Since we are flying Air France, we travel via Paris to get to Dublin for the first week. We last visited Dublin in 2006 and have wanted to go there again. I've never visited Paris (Steve has) so I'm very excited about going there. A college friend of mine lives/works there so we'll see him sometime during the week we're there.

I ordered the Paris Pass which includes free admission to many places and a transit card. We usually get the city passes when available if they are a good deal. For Dublin, we'll probably buy the Dublin Pass and a transit pass.