Badly need some guide for the newly arrived

Kaidan

Hi! First off, I apologise if this is not the correct thread (or even forum) to post this. I arrived in Ireland (Dublin specifically) February this year and I am simply lost on how some basic stuffs work here. I am not a EU/EEA citizen and an employer processed my work permit and visa to have me work for them. They're basically the extent of my connection here and I don't know anyone else.

My employer, well, let's just say left me to fend for myself, lol. Aside from job related matters, they didn't guide me anything about basic stuff in Dublin (or the country in general). I am just a bit embarrassed to ask colleagues about this since I only have communication with them during work and none at all outside working hours.

Now I know the internet is full of these guides and already browsed many but it just made me more confused and majority of them are guides focused on tourists, not for settling and general living. Having said this, I just decided to post this so it is specific to what I need at the moment so I would really really appreciate direct answers rather than links of another extensive guides that I have to filter through.

Without making this any longer, I just have 2 major problems hoping to be addressed. Public transportation and shops for specific necessities.

1. What would you suggest the kind of ticket/card should I get if my travel routine is MWF and Weekends? I aim to have access to the city centre and I currently live in Inchicore D8 area. My office is about 3km from my home with accessible Luas line. Preferably a combination of Bus and Luas mode.

Main concern is how to save money on this as there are SO MANY ticket types when I tried to research about it.

TLDR, money saving tips for MWF-Weekends travel routine, Luas and Bus (or only one), Dublin. And of course how to get it.

While we're at it, what is fare capping? I really don't get the explanation that after using the certain amount, you won't be charged for succeeding trips? Sounds too good to be true? What's the catch?

2. Necessities, where to buy them? Right now I only know Lidl, Aldi, Centra, and Tesco. These are, I think mostly food stores and a very few choices of "others". I have been getting some needs off Amazon and this won't be practical in the long run.

The list of the items I have no idea where to get locally:

-More choices of toiletries and grooming stuff - bath soap, bath sponge, shampoos. I don't know but Lidl and Aldi have so few choices. They only have their own products mostly.

-Lots of kitchen supplies - everything, seriously where to look for them? Lidl and Aldi will have some and on certain days only, why? And most of all they mostly sell sets. Where can I buy a single knife or a lunchbox for example?

-Basic clothes - undergarments, jumpers, and slippers. Where are these?

Just the names of the stores specialising on them will help me a lot what to look for in the map.

Those are the major struggle as of now. There is so much to learn about this country but I need them first sorted out. I thank you if you could please point me to the direction.

wench

For transport, buy a Leap card. The Eurospar in Inchicore village should have them.
It will have €5 credit when you buy it, so put another €20 or €30 on it, which should do you the week.

I wouldn't bother trying to buy a multi-use ticket, just let the fare capping work.
https://about.leapcard.ie/fare-capping
There is also a 90 minute discount, where if you change from Luas to or from Bus, or bus to bus, you save €1.

For Luas, you tap on and off at each end of your journey.
For Bus, just tell the driver where you are going. Most of your journeys will be below the max fare, so don't use the validator on the right hand side.

Continue to tap all week, even if you've reached the max limit, otherwise your journey isn't validated.

wench

There isn't a catch with the fare capping.
It is set at about the same level a weekly ticket would cost you, but you have the flexibility of not having to shell out up front for it.

Weeks where you don't travel much, you just pay as you go. When you travel more you hit the daily or weekly limit, and the system stops deducting cash.

L1011

The fare capping works and works well. No catch. The cap is roughly equivalent to one weeks worth of an annual ticket. You can get actual annual or monthly tickets tax-free via your employer but you need to be a heavy user and a high rate tax payer to really make that work.

Shops are not good right now which is a problem

Toiletries - Boots usually have the widest range of everything, there's a very big one in the Jervis Centre at Jervis Luas stop

Kitchen bits - many of these shops are shut right now although they don't have to be; I don't know which of these are open. All Rooms on Liffey Street stocks nearly everything although the quality isn't great. Homestore&More is a much bigger retailer for this sort of stuff with multiple branches. For kitchen equipment there is Stock on South King Street that does high-end stuff.

Larger Tesco stores, like the one in Jervis; and Dunnes stores like the one in Stephens Green should have a lot of kitchen stuff too, all the time.

For basic clothes you will really need to go to a big supermarket - Tesco, Dunnes, Marks & Spencer - as they are all selling those. When proper shops reopen in two weeks or so, Penneys and H&M are the two obvious catch-all clothes shops.

wench

Once you have your leap card, head into the Jervis Street shopping centre.

There is a large Boots store there where you will get a good selection of toiletries.
In the same place is a large Tesco, which has a homewares section for your kitchen supplies.

Clothing stores are still shut due to the Covid regulations, so it may be a few more weeks before you can really shop for those.

seamus

Kaidan wrote: »

2. Necessities, where to buy them? Right now I only know Lidl, Aldi, Centra, and Tesco. These are, I think mostly food stores and a very few choices of "others". I have been getting some needs off Amazon and this won't be practical in the long run.

It's not being helped by lockdown no doubt, as a lot of the shops which do sell these things are closed.

-More choices of toiletries and grooming stuff - bath soap, bath sponge, shampoos. I don't know but Lidl and Aldi have so few choices. They only have their own products mostly.

You might be using the local Tesco, which is a Tesco express. This is small supermarket; bigger than a corner shop, but smaller than a supermarket, so the selection is probably lacking.

Centra, likewise is a small shop. Try the larger Tesco in Ballyfermot, Dunnes in Crumlin or SuperValu Walkinstown.

Larger pharmacies are also pretty good for grooming stuff. I'm not familiar with Inchicore, but Boots is often a good bet and Drimnagh Pharmacy looks decent.

-Lots of kitchen supplies - everything, seriously where to look for them? Lidl and Aldi will have some and on certain days only, why? And most of all they mostly sell sets. Where can I buy a single knife or a lunchbox for example?

Lidl & Aldi do "Special Buys" twice a week. They pick a theme (e.g. kitchenware, gardening, fitness) and sell of a load of items with that theme. That's why they only seem to appear sometimes. You can sign up on their websites to get advance notice of what Special Buys are coming up.

Kitchen supplies are a bit all over the place in Ireland to be honest. Homestore & More are probably one of the biggest, but can be expensive. Woodies is a hardware / garden centre, but also sells a lot of homewares/kitchen supplies.

Mr. Price sells really cheap stuff, but they sell a lot of really random, cheap stuff. I would say you'll find a lot of the things you're looking for there.

-Basic clothes - undergarments, jumpers, and slippers. Where are these?

For now, you'll have to shop online for these. Penneys are one of the biggest, but they're closed right now. Tesco and Dunnes Stores are the other two big clothes retailers, but not every Tesco or Dunnes has a large clothing section. And many of them are closed while we're in lockdown.

sharpish

Kaidan wrote: »

Hi! First off, I apologise if this is not the correct thread (or even forum) to post this. I arrived in Ireland (Dublin specifically) February this year and I am simply lost on how some basic stuffs work here. I am not a EU/EEA citizen and an employer processed my work permit and visa to have me work for them. They're basically the extent of my connection here and I don't know anyone else.

My employer, well, let's just say left me to fend for myself, lol. Aside from job related matters, they didn't guide me anything about basic stuff in Dublin (or the country in general). I am just a bit embarrassed to ask colleagues about this since I only have communication with them during work and none at all outside working hours.

Now I know the internet is full of these guides and already browsed many but it just made me more confused and majority of them are guides focused on tourists, not for settling and general living. Having said this, I just decided to post this so it is specific to what I need at the moment so I would really really appreciate direct answers rather than links of another extensive guides that I have to filter through.

Without making this any longer, I just have 2 major problems hoping to be addressed. Public transportation and shops for specific necessities.

1. What would you suggest the kind of ticket/card should I get if my travel routine is MWF and Weekends? I aim to have access to the city centre and I currently live in Inchicore D8 area. My office is about 3km from my home with accessible Luas line. Preferably a combination of Bus and Luas mode.

Main concern is how to save money on this as there are SO MANY ticket types when I tried to research about it.

TLDR, money saving tips for MWF-Weekends travel routine, Luas and Bus (or only one), Dublin. And of course how to get it.

While we're at it, what is fare capping? I really don't get the explanation that after using the certain amount, you won't be charged for succeeding trips? Sounds too good to be true? What's the catch?

2. Necessities, where to buy them? Right now I only know Lidl, Aldi, Centra, and Tesco. These are, I think mostly food stores and a very few choices of "others". I have been getting some needs off Amazon and this won't be practical in the long run.

The list of the items I have no idea where to get locally:

-More choices of toiletries and grooming stuff - bath soap, bath sponge, shampoos. I don't know but Lidl and Aldi have so few choices. They only have their own products mostly.

-Lots of kitchen supplies - everything, seriously where to look for them? Lidl and Aldi will have some and on certain days only, why? And most of all they mostly sell sets. Where can I buy a single knife or a lunchbox for example?

-Basic clothes - undergarments, jumpers, and slippers. Where are these?

Just the names of the stores specialising on them will help me a lot what to look for in the map.

Those are the major struggle as of now. There is so much to learn about this country but I need them first sorted out. I thank you if you could please point me to the direction.

Firstly welcome and I live in the area so I have some advice.

1. You need a leap card they are designed to save you money and make things easier or an annual ticket but for now, you need a leap card.

The simplest way to explain the cap is it will debit ticket prices from your balance but the cap is the most you'll pay. so there's a cap for the most you'll be charged for the bus each day take the bus as much as you like all day but you'll only pay the daily cap, weekly cap works the same, take the bus all week the most you'll pay is the cap ( used to be 27euro the bus for 7 days). If you take one trip it'll just debit that amount, you are not subscribing to the cap it'll just kick in if you hit the limit for the day or week.
the cap for using the Luas and the Bus on the same day or week is higher, Ideally, stick to just the bus or just the Luas, the bus gives you access to the whole city.

You can ask your employer about an annual ticket ( called a taxsaver ticket) that is a fair question and come back to me if you have any questions or send me a PM

You can link your leapcard to your bank account so it adds money but you can add money at the euro spar or the Luas stop ticket machines.

2.
Kitchen supplies and home goods. Homestore and More have a good selection the 40 bus at Grattan crescent will take you Fonthill Homestore and More ( they are online to see their selection )

Toiletries: Boots City Centre, Superdrug Liffey Valley No 40 bus

Basic clothing: Dunnes stores or Marks & Spencers ( Online, city centre and Liffey Valley), Penneys/ Primark ( currently closed but famous for their cheap price also in Liffey Valley)

Tesco you can order online, if you pick a delivery slot for late in the evening it's about 3euro for delivery, I find it useful for bulky stuff or a better selection than the little Tesco in Inchicore, they have a very limited selection of home goods, small electrical appliances, basic kitchen things.

Please if you've any questions shoot me a message or ask a question here.

headtheball14

IKEA is closed at the moment but when it reopens the 13 bus wil take you there.

Also for different food shopping you could have a look at the green door market .it's about twenty minutes walk from you. https://www.thegreendoor.ie/

For other shopping look for a dealz. It has lots of kitchen supplies quite cheap.

If you want brand names and more choices in food best look for a dunnes, supervalue or Tesco.

Also there are a few Asian supermarkets around , there's one on Jervis st, if you are looking for spices sauces you can't find other places.
Clothes the shops should open soon enough depends what you like dunnes would be better quality than Penney's for essentials but dearer.

Sign up for your library they often have good local networks and also free books, audio books ebooks and magazines available.
Enjoy