I have to admit, I was sceptical about this tour with the world famous tour group, Paddy Wagon. After almost seven weeks of touring luxury hotels around the world, how would I cope with the real world and…youth hostels!?

In fact, on our way to the airport a week ago for our Malta trip, we actually stopped at a red light in front of the Paddy’s Palace youth hostel and I said to Mark, “Remember, when we used to stay at hostels? Those were the days…!”.

When our boss told us that we’d be joining a 3-day coach and hostel trip with 50 others on a Paddy Wagon tour, I was a little daunted. However, the idea of getting to see more of Ireland and meeting some other people was pretty cool so we were well up for the challenge!

Well, I have to say that I’m completely won over. We had a fantastic time and in these recession times, it would be a very cost-effective and really fun holiday for the cash-strapped bride and groom. Definitely a honeymoon with a difference, but if you’ve ever wanted to see more of Ireland, then I can highly recommend it!

We joined the Ring of Kerry tour, a very popular tour visiting Blarney Castle (yes, we kissed the Blarney stone!), Limerick city, Slead Head/Dingle Peninsula, the Cliffs of Moher, Killarney National Park (with an amazing horse drawn tour of the park) and many cute little towns along the way for real Irish hospitality.

The very last tour is the Guinness factory tour, complete with a free pint of Guinness. It’s one of the best designed museums I’ve ever seen, really fascinating seeing the story behind this Irish success story.

The scenery along the way was simply stunning – the best of the “Emerald Isle”, incredibly beautiful mountains, cliffs, farms, parks, ruins, churches and quaint fishing villages. There were plenty of stops for photo ops too.

There are many other tours to choose from, from 1-day Dublin tours, to 3, 6 and 10 tours all over Ireland. There’s even a Christmas tour!

There’s some great extras as well – breakfast is included every morning, all entrances to the parks and other attractions, free wifi at the hostels and a free shuttle bus to and from the airport (14 daily departures).

The buses are immaculate, brand new Mercedes coaches painted a bright green with leprechauns all over them (very hard to miss!). The tour itself is fantastic – complete with a knowledgeable and charming Irish tour guide to really bring the tour to life.

The great thing about being thrown on to a bus with a group of new people looking to have fun is that everyone is up for the “craic”. Jokes, banter and songs keep the bus drives entertaining and anything can happen on the Guinness fuelled nights. Karaoke at the Randy Leprechaun Hostel near Dingle was a lot of fun, surprisingly there were some pretty good voices on show from the travellers and even a couple of locals. If you are up for it you can of course socialise into the small hours, the Irish are wonderfully charming, funny and welcoming, but unlike some tours the partying is not compulsory but definitely builds great camaraderie.

The hostels are what you’d expect, youth hostels are pretty much the same the world over. You can opt for a shared room to really get to know others, but if you’re feeling flush, spring for a private room and bath, or better yet upgrade to the luxury B&B option. We had the middle option – a private hostel room. The tour is exactly the same for each level of accommodation, and you still join the group for all of the entertainment. The only difference is that you sleep in a different venue, which will be really close to the hostel but might not be as noisy at night.

We even renewed our vows three times during the trip: at the Cliffs of Moher, at the Lough Inn in Killarney and at the Paddy’s Palace in Dingle. We also christened the new building next door with a bottle of champagne! Our great guide “Fitzy” and everyone on the bus really participated in our vows making them a lot of fun and very memorable.

If you are on a budget, then it would be a fabulous and fun way to celebrate with a lot of relaxed and travel-minded people. We met a huge variety, from Sam – the second year nuclear physics student from Arkansas, a gang of late twenty-somethings from Canada, a whole bunch of Aussies on their way to live in London and plenty of other interesting people of all ages from all around the world, even families and 50 somethings.

Thanks to the team at Paddy Wagon for taking such good care of us, giving us such a good time and always giving us the “honeymoon suite” along the way!

Wanna see me dancing like a leprechaun? Watch this video till the end…