Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi All
Looking for some advice from you if i can. My 15 year old girl recently met her boyfriend for the first time last week, he lives in America. He is her bestfriend and honestly only friend as she struggles to understand and maintain friendships so this out of the blue relationship has been a god send for support. He travelled with his mum to stay with us for a week and returned back to Nevada last week. It was a successful but stressful trip for us mum's.
The plan is for us to visit them next at Christmas time. My worry is that she will not cope with the noise, smells and space in Economy for the first flight of about 9 hours. Its 2 flights each way. But anything above Economy is very expensive. Do you guys have any recommendations of airlines that are ASD friendly or any tips that could make the experience less stressful for both of us?
Thank you in advance
Living in Manchester 22 years and having family in Ireland myself, I stopped flying in 2010 because I can’t stand the hassle of airport security, which aside from Manchester, is even worse at Dublin - for me, aside from the overnight coaches (now totally withdrawn since Covid) SailRail via Holyhead poses its own problems from Manchester Piccadilly Platform 14 (a very long trek from the Metrolink platforms if coming from Shudehill and Market St) getting tickets and information, as Manchester Piccadilly is eternally busy and can be a nightmare if changing trains at Chester (at opposite ends of the station with very little time to change trains, especially on TfW) - I try to use Northern Rail from Manchester Victoria where possible, as they have larger trains than TfW and is easier to get to from Shudehill and at Chester, I try to get the larger Avanti Trains to Holyhead, always aiming for first class carraiges where possible, as most people get off at Bangor - on occasions, I have been lucky when changing trains at Lladnuo and catching the loco-hauled TfW from Cardiff to Holyhead - I prefer the Irish Ferries Ulysses or WB Yeates ferries rather than the Stena Adventurer to Dublin and I always pay the bit extra for the Club Class Lounge, which I have done on both daytime and overnight, summer and winter and I’m OK with rough crossings on the Irish Sea - at Dublin Port North Wall, it is a hassle to get into Dublin City Centre and on the return trip, getting to the Irish Ferries terminal from the City is a hassle because of no taxis
I booked a coach trip, ten years ago, from Busaras to Bangor. (Wales)
The Irish Ferries Ulysses was the ferry used; both ends.
National Express Eurolines and Megabus stopped these overnight coach services from Manchester to Dublin via Holyhead and now there is only one from London via Birmingham (connection from Manchester) with the fares massively going up after Covid - I’ve been using overnight coaches and SailRail on daytime and overnight sailings in summer and winter for 22 years and my firm favourite is the Irish Ferries Ulysses - the beauty of coaches is that the coach drives straight off the ferry with your luggage direct to Busaras - I’m very familiar with North Wales and the A55 and Bangor is a beautiful part of North Wales, even late at night