Coming home? Are you thinking about it?

Tom Dunne

BailMeOut wrote: »

There loads and remember they just cover the excess which is how the rental companies really screw you. I also understand that some USA credit cards are covering this again for Ireland. For years they were not.

http://www.carhireexcess.ie/
https://www.aig.ie/personal/car-hire-excess-insurance
https://www.axacarhireexcess.ie/
(google for more)

Lastly I rented cars in Ireland over 20 years and always found the best deals on Nova - http://www.novacarhire.com/

Wow. Thanks for the tip. You have save me over 300 Euro for my trip home at Christmas. I owe you a pint. Or two.

FURET

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Wow. Thanks for the tip. You have save me over 300 Euro for my trip home at Christmas. I owe you a pint. Or two.

That Nova website is giving me a quote of around 160 euro for two weeks with collision waiver. This is around 300 cheaper than Europcar. I'm pleasantly astonished!

BailMeOut

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Wow. Thanks for the tip. You have save me over 300 Euro for my trip home at Christmas. I owe you a pint. Or two.

brilliant. Love Nova. I use the all over Europe too and always get great deals and prices.

keithclancy

I use www.autoeurope.ie for some years now, just a broker for some different crowds.

Don't book on US Sites ... doesn't include the insurance at all, looks cheap up front but ends up expensive!

Also Excess insurance is grand

I use this crowd:
http://www.insurance4carhire.com/?curID=2


Have never paid a cent extra than the quoted price.

Suaimhneach

Ugh that saved me a ton of hassle too, THANKS!
I only drive automatic (learned in America) so that always drives up the cost for me

Also re "buying property in Ireland with money earned abroad and/or buying it from abroad" - no idea and would also love advice. I assume once you have the $$$ and a job a bank will give you the money. Maybe a guaruntor would help?

Kevhog1988

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/generation-emigration/homesickness-was-a-better-option-than-years-on-the-dole-at-home-1.2344514 I wrote this for the irish times

Undertow

theemigrant wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/generation-emigration/homesickness-was-a-better-option-than-years-on-the-dole-at-home-1.2344514 I wrote this for the irish times

Good read mate!

Suaimhneach

Former Irish president Mary McAleese once said: “The immigrants heart marches to the beat of two different drums, one from the old homeland and one from the new.” I think my heart only beats for home.

;( Actual tears welled up in my eyes. Lovely article and exactly how I view my three years away. And I dont have the complexity of having a kid at home. Well done. I'm excited for you for Feb - it'll be here in no time at all.

Ruu

theemigrant wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/generation-emigration/homesickness-was-a-better-option-than-years-on-the-dole-at-home-1.2344514 I wrote this for the irish times

Nice one! Appreciate you sharing that.

shane9689

Interesting thread for me to read, as in a couple of weeks i will becoming an ex-pat myself for the first time

questionmark?

theemigrant wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/generation-emigration/homesickness-was-a-better-option-than-years-on-the-dole-at-home-1.2344514 I wrote this for the irish times

Good read and well done for writing it. You made a decision that has cost you time with your son but in the long run will help provide for him on a long term basis. When he is older he will recognise the sacrifice you made. I tip my hat to you sir.

Startagain2010

wuffly wrote:

Well that escalated quickly! Firstly its not like I've booked my flight and sold my stuff, just saying its adding to pro's for leaving list!! The price of petrol going up has a date set so its quiet likely to happen (at some stage even if this is just a warning/testing the water scenario), me and my little car won't be affected very much but I wonder how long before cheap taxi's and cheap deliveries are effected. I think its a bit naive to think there wont be any knock on affect on the rest of the economy. As for VAT and corporation tax my OH is setting up his own business so if it goes ahead it will very much affect the feasibility of us staying here. Combined with the fact that we are hoping to start a family in the coming years and cost of decent education is out of control. The benefits of staying here are slowly being eroded for us anyway!

thats exactly why we want to leave. Apart from the fact that schooling is extremely expensive, it's the British Curriculum that most people end up in here and quite frankly it's pretty crap in comparison to the Irish system.your perspective totally changes when you have children.

CelticRambler

Startagain2010 wrote: »

your perspective totally changes when you have children.

It sure does! :cool:

Agree with you, too, about the British educational system, especially senior-cycle in secondary school. With the benefit of distance and experience of alternative systems, I'd rate the Leaving Cert (course and exams) as one of the better ones. Don't understand all the whinging about it.

Wompa1

CelticRambler wrote: »

It sure does! :cool:

Agree with you, too, about the British educational system, especially senior-cycle in secondary school. With the benefit of distance and experience of alternative systems, I'd rate the Leaving Cert (course and exams) as one of the better ones. Don't understand all the whinging about it.

Complete side topic BUT I think every education system is flawed in that they don't test on all types of intelligence. Some people are strong type A thinkers. Others are not. My brother in law is a math genius but he's let down in pretty every other subject. I was very good when it came to History, English, Geography, Business but let down by Math and the more mechanical subjects. I still ended up getting through education with a Bachelors Degree and a good job over here in the US.

But still...if education is not about learning how to take exams or to be trained for the work force but is about the pursuit of learning and expanding your mind. I'm not sure the core subjects should be weighted the way they are. Just my thought.

Common core in the US is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Over here, it also doesn't matter how dumb you are if you've got money. What I do like about the US system is that in high school they have a much more varied set of subjects to pick from. My mother went to high school here in the 60's and 70's and was learning programming back then! I put down to do Technology in 1st year and was told it was taken off the curriculum. Only some schools offered Latin or Spanish etc.

CelticRambler

Don't know if it is a side-topic, if the "coming homers" have children of (secondary) school age and need to put the Leaving Cert into context. Yes, all systems have their weak points, but so to does the whole idea of processing children into third-level fodder at an age when most of them don't really know what they want to do. That's where the UK system is very weak, limiting the majority of teenagers to just three subjects (on average) then giving them the choice of hundreds of subjects, some of which are of limited usefulness (to be polite), and finally asking them to pick just five courses from the thousands on offer.

At least with the Leaving Cert they head into third level with six or seven subjects and have the chance to make a sharp change in direction even after they've filled in the CAO form without having to justify their change of mind. French children study an even wider range of subjects (the core curriculum is ridiculously all-inclusive) but the system falls down when everyone is guaranteed a place in university as long as they get a pass on aggregate.

One of the things that I've been most struck by with the Irish system is how much time and how many opportunities children have (in Dublin, at least) for all the extra-curricular activities that make up for the deficiencies in class-room learning. The youngsters 'round here don't get anything like that.

Albeit with a sample size of n=1 :pac: I've been able to see what happens when you bridge the divide. Half way through his French senior cycle, SonNo.1 woke up from his teenage yeahwhateverness and realised what he wanted to do with himself, which was to (first) get a place in UCD. It took him a long time (and his cousin's sorry example) to get his head round the idea of competition for places after a decade's égalité indoctrination (now that's a side topic ... ) At that stage, he'd already completed the first set of assessments and managed a satisfactory just-over-50% score, well short of what he'd need for UCD. Well, he did the maths himself and went all out to get scores in his other subjects high enough to bring his average up to the 500+ equivalent he needed. The end result: he got the highest grades in the canton (no-one else even came close ) ... but he still only "scraped into" his UCD course. Now, in Ireland, he'd be described as "average", but he's way ahead of his former French classmates in terms of all-round education.

keithclancy

The whole thing of Pragmatic Baptism is something that would put me off.

AFAIK some schools actually ask for Baptismal Certificates when places are in high demand.

I'd prefer it if my kids could make their own choice when they are old enough to do so and not because I signed them up to it.

murphaph

When Dublin has built its first stretch of underground railway I'll consider it...so probably not before I die.

Wompa1

murphaph wrote: »

When Dublin has built its first stretch of underground railway I'll consider it...so probably not before I die.

Even though automated cars will be here much sooner?

murphaph

Wompa1 wrote: »

Even though automated cars will be here much sooner?

Are you being sarcastic? It's hard to tell tbh.

Wompa1

murphaph wrote: »

Are you being sarcastic? It's hard to tell tbh.

No, not at all. I grew to hate the tube and to me it's the best of the lot of them. I started to feel like I wasn't in control of my schedule. There were constantly stations out of commission or routes closed. I know Dublin has bad traffic but for the most part it's consistently bad. Your commute time with traffic is the same more often than it's not. That's the same for every city including the one I now live in. It takes me over an hour each way for work.

If I could own my own automated car to get me where I want to go, when I want to go. I'd take that over the tube or underground any day of the week. As it is, my car has failed me far less regularly than public transportation. My time is valuable to me.

CelticRambler

murphaph wrote: »

Are you being sarcastic? It's hard to tell tbh.

Automated cars are are already here, with people willingly paying for even-more-automated optional extras, like cruise control, reversing sensors, parking assistance, etc. Even braking and acceleration is no longer under the direct control of the driver in most modern cars.

All that's needed now is for Google/Apple/whoever to take control of the steering and for insurance companies to whack a huge premium on the eejits who think they can drive more safely than the computer. There'll be resistance (especially from the taxi lobby) but when it happens, it'll happen really fast.

(I think the govt should forget about Metro North, the DART extension and all that carry-on and just offer the whole centre of Dublin - between the canals - as a real-world testing ground for self-driving cars. That's do far more for the country than the Web Summit)

keithclancy

CelticRambler wrote: »

Automated cars are are already here, with people willingly paying for even-more-automated optional extras, like cruise control, reversing sensors, parking assistance, etc. Even braking and acceleration is no longer under the direct control of the driver in most modern cars.

All that's needed now is for Google/Apple/whoever to take control of the steering and for insurance companies to whack a huge premium on the eejits who think they can drive more safely than the computer. There'll be resistance (especially from the taxi lobby) but when it happens, it'll happen really fast.

(I think the govt should forget about Metro North, the DART extension and all that carry-on and just offer the whole centre of Dublin - between the canals - as a real-world testing ground for self-driving cars. That's do far more for the country than the Web Summit)

Their already here and work well if you have a well regulated traffic environment.

Ireland does not have this, no matter how good a driver the computer is, you still have people driving around with licenses given during an amnesty.

Never mind the insurance problems, bad signage, pot holes and streets that are barely wide enough for one car let alone two.

And the poor infrastructure for cyclists.

I couldn't even see it working in Amsterdam, MAYBE Eindhoven where the Bus/Car/Bicycle traffic is separate from each other.

murphaph wrote: »

When Dublin has built its first stretch of underground railway I'll consider it...so probably not before I die.

Maybe when they build a rail system that extends to the Airport, like every other major European city

silja

Mod Note: Ladies and Gents, let's get back to discussing the question in the OP please. The tube and automated things in cars can be discussed in other fora.

iusedtoknow

You know - having just got our green cards and all, you'd think that coming back to Europe would be the last thing on our minds. But we were talking about it last night.

If Trump, cruz or carson...or pretty much any of those republican boneheads become president...then we'll be in the air the day of the inauguration and we'll let our cards lapse. We weren't even joking.

Wompa1

iusedtoknow wrote: »

You know - having just got our green cards and all, you'd think that coming back to Europe would be the last thing on our minds. But we were talking about it last night.

If Trump, cruz or carson...or pretty much any of those republican boneheads become president...then we'll be in the air the day of the inauguration and we'll let our cards lapse. We weren't even joking.

My fiancé has been cold enough on the idea of moving to Ireland. She also doesn't talk about current affair or politics ever. She says talking about it create conflict and she doesn't care enough about it to get in an argument with someone...she doesn't even talk about it with me. She doesn't vote!

Anyways. She said if Trump wins, it's time to leave.

Suaimhneach

Huh, that's kinda amusing to me. Unlikely much will change if those folks get elected, right? They have to get majority in a bunch of houses (american politics is confusing to me) and it would take a while to bring the whole country to sh!t?

We're hoping for early new year, but probably the worst time weather-wise to move back.

Wompa1

Suaimhneach wrote: »

Huh, that's kinda amusing to me. Unlikely much will change if those folks get elected, right? They have to get majority in a bunch of houses (american politics is confusing to me) and it would take a while to bring the whole country to sh!t?

We're hoping for early new year, but probably the worst time weather-wise to move back.

Nah, Obama is kind of setting a precedent now for bypassing all of that and just using his executive orders. I don't think he's used the power to do anything too detrimental but he may be opening the floodgates for the next President and if that's Trump...may God have mercy on us all!

Also, look at the Patriot Act...they can pass controversial sh1t with ease under the right circumstances.

Tom Dunne

So we have set a date to return to Ireland. The decision was spurred by a recent health scare, among other things.

I think I'll start a new thread when I hand in my notice to act as a kind of blog.:)

iusedtoknow

Suaimhneach wrote: »

Huh, that's kinda amusing to me. Unlikely much will change if those folks get elected, right? They have to get majority in a bunch of houses (american politics is confusing to me) and it would take a while to bring the whole country to sh!t?

We're hoping for early new year, but probably the worst time weather-wise to move back.

well they are already majority in the house. I think it is more about the way the national dialogue goes with the leader. I'm instinctively liberal and socialist. If i could vote it would be for Sanders.

Bush did a lot of damage in 8 years - i shudder to think what those knuckleheads could do in 4. It's be an ignorant theocracy at best.

Wompa1

Tom Dunne wrote: »

So we have set a date to return to Ireland. The decision was spurred by a recent health scare, among other things.

I think I'll start a new thread when I hand in my notice to act as a kind of blog.:)

I thought health care was pretty good over there.

Are you excited?

From what I've heard when looking for a job in the UAE...you may want to hold off on that blog until you move back to Ireland. I have two blogs. I would have had to drop them when moving there. Also heard a story of a guy that complained about his job while back in Ireland for a holiday. He was then arrested when he got back.