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| What a view from our upcoming Connemara, Ireland vacation/holiday rental for 89 nights. |
We still have dozens of sightseeing photos we’ve yet to post, but today we are so excited to share a new booking we secured yesterday, we decided to put those photos on hold for another day. We couldn’t be more thrilled with this new booking!
As we peruse our itinerary, there were a few occasions on which we felt the time was near to secure a booking for Ireland, from 5/12/19 to 8/9/2019, in a mere 16 months.
This may seem to be a long time from now, but the best vacation/holiday homes in Ireland get snapped up quickly, especially during the warmer summer months.
In researching HomeAway on our site without entering dates, we found at least half of the properties were already booked during our dates. Once we filtered for our dates, with no other criteria, we found few with ocean views in good locations for our planned upcoming research of Tom’s ancestry.
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| This kitchen with three sinks, a center island, a dishwasher, and that fantastic stove will undoubtedly fit the bill for our home cooking! |
We decided that renting a property located close to the middle line of the country, north to south on the west coast, will allow us to drive to any of the cities we’ll research within two or three hours.
Over the past few days, after we began entering data on our Excel spreadsheets and Cozi calendar for the new itinerary, we spent a few hours each day looking for the perfect property to fulfill our objectives in Ireland. After location, the next important consideration for us, views.
We longed for an ocean view which invariably has a profound impact on the price. We tossed out a few lowball offers on properties more expensive than we’d prefer to pay with no success.
Property owners in Ireland know the desirability of their properties in the warmer summer months. The responses we received indicated they felt they would get higher prices in the summer and prefer to book one week at a time. Long-term, lower-priced renters like us would considerably impact their annual rental income. We certainly understood.
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| Weather permitting, we may dine outdoors but won’t mind eating at this table. |
We continued the search, fearful we’d run out of options in no time or have to settle for a less desirable property, perhaps without an ocean view and the amenities we so much desire that makes long-term stays comfortable and fulfilling for our lifestyle.
Of course, we’d yet to research other companies such as VRBO, TripAdvisor, and others. In most cases, we prefer HomeAway for many reasons, including our familiarity with the site and their ability to arrange partial payment deposits rather than requiring the entire rental amount to be paid in full at the time of the booking.
It makes no financial sense to pay an entire three-month rental a year or more in advance, leaving our money tied up for so long. Can you imagine spending your rent or house payment one or two years in advance? For what? However, we have no problem paying one-third of the entire rental amount to hold it for an extended period and the balance closer to the onset of the rental period.
Whether it was fate or “safari luck” yesterday, after a few hours of thorough searching, I stumbled across today’s shown spectacular home in the Connemara area with views of the Twelve Bens mountain range and magnificent Bertraghboy Bay. The sunsets will be outstanding!
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| There are no big trees on the property, but the views make up for it. Plenty of photos will follow once we arrive in Connemara, Ireland. |
The house was perfect for us except for the fact it doesn’t have Wi-Fi. The owner has agreed to provide us with unlimited Wi-Fi, which wasn’t listed as available for this property. Without this, it just wouldn’t work for us. Using a hotspot or dongle is very expensive.
Then, to top it off, the price is so reasonable, we didn’t ask for a discount for our long-term stay. The total price is US $7,368.49 (ARS 140,325) for the 89 nights, including taxes, fees, and security deposit, for which we paid one-third down with the balance closer to the rental period.
This averages at US $82.79 (ARS 1,577) per night over the listed US $77 (ARS 1,466) per night, and also at US $2,518 (ARS 47,953) per month. Based on the fact that we often book wonderful properties for even less than this amount, it works out over the year to remain within our budgetary goals.
Eileen, the property owner, couldn’t have been more thoughtful and delightful to work with us in facilitating the booking process, and we have no doubt she’ll be equally kind and responsive based on all of the five-star reviews on the listing.
This house so well fits our perception of our goal of a “home in Ireland in the countryside with an ocean view” we couldn’t be happier to have found this home. Once we’re situated in Africa, we’ll go back to researching other vacation/holiday homes/hotels we’ll need to wrap up for our newly posted itinerary. In case you missed it, the itinerary may be found here.
For today, we’re staying busy updating the budget with all of these changes and later head out for a walk and our nightly search for a good restaurant, which isn’t hard to accomplish in Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires.
Happy day to all!
Photo from one year ago today, January 9, 2017:
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| Regardless of the roads we took to explore the area, and we were never disappointed in Penguin, Tasmania. This scene reminded us of what one may find in a painting. For more Penguin photos as we began to countdown to move on, please click here. |