backpacking Ireland

Hi, I've done my fair share of traveling and I met a lot of great people who were backpacking. But I'll let you know now that you might actually want to consider buying plane tickets in advance to each country you want to visit. It can actually end up being cheaper than buying at the time of, whether you rent a car or take a train etc. Some airlines offer youth tickets if you are 25 or younger. It's better to book through the airline directly so if there are changes you can handle it with them.

What I did was planned 4 months and had tickets already purchased. And between my time in one country, I'd opt for trains or buses etc to other areas or close by countries. If you head to Copenhagen you can actually get a cheap bus to Sweden (Malmo) and that's awesome. Two birds with one stone.

If you end up in Florence there is "florence for fun" and it's for people attending schools but usually if you sign up no matter what you can get really good deals. You could even ditch the group once you get to your destination--they have Prague/Munich trips at a bargain price.

If you do choose a train option, Euro rail has some good options that are cheap over all. But when I took a train in Italy all over, to different areas, it cost me about the same price of a plane ticket that would be worth $600. So consider the EuroRail pass. Meeting locals is best so they can give you rides ;)

You can find a lot of cheap transportation all over though. Do local buses etc. Avoid taxis unless you must.

In Asia, I'm from there, you WILL be asked to pay more if you are obvious you don't know the cost of anything etc. You can haggle a lot in Asia and India on fares.

My tip is to ask before getting in a cab or bike etc.

If you travel with friends, try Airbnb. There are a lot of cheap options if you split between the three or two of you. Some hostels are well priced, but I've found most are 18 euro a night for the cheapest. And if there's two of you, some hosts on airbnb offer a guest room for $30-50 a night anyway so it's in a way better if you want more privacy or relaxing time. Hostels are good to meet various people but some hostels are regrettable.

If you're in spain, in barcelona, try bemar hostels.
If you go to Santorini in Greece, try Oia Youth Hostel. <--Absolute favorite. Easy to get to, nice location, beautiful all around. Sometimes the bathrooms have lines but nice people and staff is very friendly.

I've been to 17 countries so if you have questions let me know.

Sounds like a lot of fun though and whether you choose to get plane tickets or not, make sure to come up with a route that will be best for you to travel within good time.

happy dreaming - but you are an American. So the word for you is 'Schengen' which will affect your trip to Europe.

I am planning a backpacking trip that i hope to start two years from now. I want to backpack across parts of Europe and Asia for around 9-12 months.

As said above, make sure to familiarize yourself with the 90/180 day restriction for the Schengen Area.

I basically want to know what the best way to go about this would be.

Step 1, 2 and 3: get a few guidebooks and research, research, research.

specifically- travel, accommodations and sights in Ireland and northern Ireland.

Sorry, but there is nothing remotely specific about that. Have you even opened a guidebook yet?

sights are what I'm most interested in.

What sort of sights? I have seen about one hundred in Ireland that I found interesting, but I am not going to list them all, as they can be found in any guidebook or online travel site and I don't know if you have the same interests as me.

mainly what should we not leave the island without having seen or done. any suggestion is welcome as we want to look at ALL possible options.

Rather than expecting us to write a whole guidebook based on a guess of what you may find interesting, why not do some basic homework yourself? We can help fill out the gaps after that.

Would it best to fly into Dublin and go from there or start in the north and head to the south or vise versa?

Based on what criteria?

Re Couch surfing - those near popular tourist sights are inevitably oversubscribed. Many will not let you stay if you haven't couch surf hosted yourself. Also, couch surfing should not be viewed as a freebie bed, more as a way to integrate with real people in the place you're visiting. Offering to cook something from your home for them, bringing a small gift from home, that kinda thing is the way it tends to work.

Schengen has already been discussed, which will shaft you if you don't hold EU passports.

Most N American visitors (hell, most visitors worldwide) underestimate the cost. Absolute subsistence is 60 euros per person per day in W Europe, arguably even more than that in Paris, London, Rome, Scandinavia and Switzerland. The more you move around, the more your budget gets eaten up.

Dublin is the most useful hub for you for entry into Ireland, so I'd fly into there, around Ireland, up into N Ireland, fly out of one of the N Ireland airports (E.g. either of the Belfast's) to Scotland, head around there and down into England and Wales if you like too. From London you can get a eurostar train to Paris or Brussels and continue on your way. The major airports (ie those with the likeliest lowest charges for jumping to Asia are London, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Frankfurt and Amsterdam, although you could get decent rates potentially also from Zurich, Rome, Berlin, Prague and Vienna under certain circumstances.

Thank you for all the responses!

I am familiar with the Schengen restrictions and won't have a problem with that because of the time I will be spending throughout Asia (or so I hope) i plan on dealing with all that as i get closer to my 2 year departure date. I just posted here for mostly tips on Ireland. I know I have not been very specific sorry about that but I just wanted like one or two suggestions something to get me started. I do not want any personally constructed, extremely detailed itinerary and once again sorry if thats what it sounds like but for example if you were like hey I am coming to florida for a week i might say- "try hitting New Symerna Beach for a couple days, its on the mid west coast of the state, then id consider checking out Ocala National forest just a few hours north, you can camp out there/ do some off roading- its great". Random names I could research and connect to other sites and places. When i said anything i meant anything. I can go outside and be captivated by the shape of the clouds, for hours.

I have so long to plan this trip i thought id match suggestions with what i found online/ through guidebooks ext and have a lot to go on and work with and plan with. But its probably not realistic to expect people to just start throwning out dime locals off the top of their head (oh that was easy) ha. I think this post was just a bit too broad.

What I think I'm most concerned about-like before i start finding out exactly what i want to see and stuff is the logistics of it. like has anyone backpacked through uk or Ireland and where did you start and finish.

As said above, make sure to familiarize yourself with the 90/180 day restriction for the Schengen Area.
very familiar with Schengen rules

Sorry, but there is nothing remotely specific about that. Have you even opened a guidebook yet?
not very specific- apologies

What sort of sights? I have seen about one hundred in Ireland that I found interesting, but I am not going to list them all, as they can be found in any guidebook or online travel site and I don't know if you have the same interests as me.
not asking for all 100. your favorite possibly. I was purely looking for PERSONAL opinion.

Rather than expecting us to write a whole guidebook based on a guess of what you may find interesting, why not do some basic homework yourself? We can help fill out the gaps after that.
sorry if it sounded like this i just wanted people to get my full scope and leave me with one or two spots in the country that they thought were worth their while.

Based on what criteria?
yours, personal experience.

I want to know what people did so i can figure out what i should do. i'm confident that anything i stumble upon i'll find fascinating. I think i went about it the wrong way though, still thank you for your response !