While you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise, given the state of my blogging lately, there is still a blogmeet happening in Galway, Ireland in August.

It's the UK bank holiday weekend - Friday 22nd to Monday 25th August.

I thought I'd better post some information for anyone who is interested. It's better to book flights as early as possible - I just hope I haven't left it too late for everyone now!

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Flights

I'm working on the assumption that everyone is coming on the Friday and going on the Monday - if this isn't true, let me know, we'll work around it.

You can fly from most major airports (and some minor ones) to either Galway, Shannon or Knock airports. Shannon is fairly big, Knock is fairly small, Galway is teeny-tiny. Also, if you fly back from Knock, you have to pay a €10 "development fee" on departure.

The cheapest flights from the UK tend to be with Ryanair - www.ryanair.com - but it's seriously no-frills stuff. You are treated like cattle, and customer service is non-existant. Also, it seems queues do not apply at Ryanair gates in airports - people push in all the time, and if you're anything like Landers you'll be ready to kill someone before you get on the plane.

You can also fly with Aer Arann, Aer Lingus, BMI Baby and Flybe, but we always use Ryanair because they are cheapest, generally.

With Ryanair, they charge for everything. To get the cheapest option, bring just hand luggage (one item of cabin baggage per person, weighing no more than 10kg and with maximum dimensions of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm) - we have a medium sized case on wheels that is almost that exact size (as long as you don't count the handles!) and has plenty of room for stuff for a weekend. They charge you to take checked baggage, and of course then you have to wait at the other end for it too.

The other benefit of bringing hand luggage only is that they charge to check-in at the airport too. If you have hand luggage only, you can check-in online up to four days before you fly, and you print out your own boarding card. You just walk straight through security, no waiting in line at the check-in desk. Marvellous!

They will also offer you priority boarding (used to be free but they charge now because everyone was doing it) and travel insurance - I would definitely look into whether or not you need insurance. We never take it.

Finally, there is a booking fee depending on the type of card you use to pay. I think solo or switch is fee-free, but don't quote me on that.

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Transport from Airport (and back!)

Right, much as we'd like to, we can't pick everyone up from every airport - logistically that would be impossible; Shannon and Knock are in opposite directions, and we can only fit so many people in the car. Depending on the numbers involved, I propose to hire a minibus and ask those who need chauffeuring to contribute towards it.

There are great transport links from Shannon to Galway, it's about an hour on a coach, and there are a couple of coaches every hour. We could pick you up in Galway no problem.

Knock is about 40 minutes away from us, we are happy to pick people up from there, but we don't want to make seven trips if people come on different flights, so it might be a case of us waiting around, chatting, having a coffee (or a Guinness!) until the last person arrives. We'll sort that out when we know for sure who is flying into Knock. The same will apply for the return trip.

Galway is the closest airport, but I seriously doubt anyone will be flying into there - it costs a fortune!

Also, car hire over here is quite reasonable - some of you might want to club together and rent a car, so you can explore.

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Accommodation

We're happy to put people up. We have two spare bedrooms, and two other rooms that can be used as bedrooms (albeit with no beds at the moment - we'll sort something out!) - one of which is enormous, it runs the length of the house. If people don't mind sharing, we can fit loads of you in.

Our place is about 30 minutes from Galway city, so not really convenient for you to go off exploring on your own, but we can all go in together and split up for a while if you wanted to.

If you'd rather do your own thing and just meet up for the main events, there are a gabillion hotels, B&Bs and even a couple of hostels in Galway - I know the hostels are basic but very cheap. Let me know and I'll give you details.

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Itinerary

There's nothing major planned, I'm hoping the weekend will be about the people, not the events.

Friday
Collecting people from the airport etc. Nothing special planned, just an evening at ours (or your hotel or whatever) getting to know one another, having a drink, and I'll rustle up some food.

Saturday
Depending on what time we get up, we'll have some breakfast and go into Galway. We can split up if you want, have a look round, walk along the river, take in the sights. We could meet up for a drink or two and some lunch, or sort ourselves out. A trip along to Salthill and Silver Strand (beaches) if the weather is nice.

Back to ours for dinner, then maybe a night out in the local town, Tuam? Or another night in at ours, it's really up to you guys. Anyone staying in Galway city will have to make their own way back, unfortunately.

Sunday
Breakfast again, and then maybe a trip over to Cong, on the north shores of Lough Corrib. There's a nice pub there, and we could take the dogs for a dip in the lake.

A lazy Sunday afternoon, dinner, and then into Galway for the main event, a night on the town. There are loads of great places in Galway, live music everywhere, but we always end up at the Quays; there's a great party band that plays there every Sunday. It'll be a late night - they kick off at 12am!

Monday
This will probably be a manic day, trying to make sure everyone gets to various airports in time to get home while suffering from horrific hangovers. I hope it doesn't spoil a lovely weekend!

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Main Points

Dates - Friday 22nd to Monday 25th August
Airports - Galway, Shannon or Knock
Coach from and back to Shannon
Contribution towards minibus depending on numbers
Plenty of room at ours but hotel info available if requested

So, all I need now is numbers to work out the minibus, flight info to work out the transport arrangements, whether you want to know about hotels, and any info about things you can't/don't/won't eat (shurrup about the hummus, Row!).

Please book your flights as soon as you can and let me know you're coming so that I can sort out the minibus. I will divide the total up, with a discount for those flying into Shannon cos they've got to make their own way to Galway.

Any questions, problems or comments, let me know.

- Brad