Daily travel deal – 5 night “Irish Sampler” from $729

Our daily travel deal for today is great if you are one of the many people that has Ireland on their “must visit” list, but never had the chance to visit this beautiful country.

The deal consists of everything you need to get to Ireland, spend 5 nights (or more) in a decent hotel, and drive around at your own leisurely pace.

Starting at just $729, you’ll get airfare (the quoted price is based on a Chicago departure), 5 nights of hotel accommodation with breakfast and 6 days of car rental.

If 5 nights is not enough for you, then you add nights at any of the 3 cities on your itinerary (Limerick, Killarney and Dublin). Each extra night and rental car day adds about $70 to the package.

Most of the flight options involve a stopover in London Heathrow or Paris, but smart travelers can make the best of that by adding a little time to visit those cities on the way to Ireland (the airfare rules won’t let you stay in a stopover city longer than 24 hours).

Also, don’t forget to check out our other top travel deals!

Are We in a Golden Age of Green Travel?

Clearly the entire travel industry has been undergoing some dramatic changes over the past few years. There was a time when the thought of “green” travel was relegated to a relatively small, niche market that included some eco-conscious tour operators. But in the past few years there has been an inceased effort to be more green in all area of our lives thanks to an increased awareness of global climate change and a focus on limiting our impact on the environment in general.

This increased awareness and focus within the travel sector has resulted in more energy efficient modes of transportation, the rise of sustainable tourism efforts across the globe, and better environmental policies from many nations. All of this has prompted National Geographic Adventure to ask “Is This a Golden Age of Green Travel?”

Adventure cites an action plan from the World Tourism and Travel Council that offers ten ways to combat climate change and the fact that four major international airlines have begun testing jets that use bio-fuels. They also point to the fact that Marriott Hotels is leading the charge to protect a 1.4 million acre section of the Amazon Jungle.

As further examples of the green movement, the magazine offers up five great eco-lodges, on five different continents, that are all leading the way in sustainable tourism and caring for the Earth. Places like the Black Sheep Inn in Ecuador and the Odd-Balls Camp in Botswana, who are making it easier for us to visit exotic places, while leaving a minimal impact.

Gadling Take FIVE: Week of March 21 –March 28

I’m psyched. As soon as I set this puppy to post, I’m heading to Cleveland to go to the Cleveland International Film Festival where I’ll meet up with Brook Silva-Braga for the showing of his film A Day in Africa. There’s also a load of stuff going on to commemorate the inductions at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

It’s been busy around here at Gadling as well. Kent has been posting about his Competitours Race in Europe, Aaron is posting about his Heathen in the Holy Land experiences which includes why wearing stripes is a good thing. For anyone who wants to be a flight attendant, Heather has the scoop on that . And Karen, with her artist’s eye, tells about color in photography. Her post is gorgeous.

Here are six more.

See the best of Ireland – on an electric bike

This sounds like a cool way to see Ireland – on an electric bike, pulling your own camper tent. The bike has a top speed of 15.5mph, and a range of 40 miles, though the site does not make it clear what the range is when you pull the trailer with you.

And don’t worry about running out of power during your journey, fresh batteries are provided along the route, which also means you don’t have to deal with the hassle of finding a charging point.

Rentals of a bike with camper tent start at €200 for a weekend. If you’d rather go on a guided tour of the country by electric bike, you can participate in a 2 day (€299) tour or even a 7 day tour (€1000). Both tours include bike rental, accommodations, breakfast and energy drinks/bars during the day.

You won’t even have to worry about bad weather, since the rental bikes come complete with a retractable roof canopy and weather protector!

Porn industry disgusted by flight attendant side job

“Look, we all have standards,” an adult entertainer familiar with the full- and part-time work of Ryanair flight attendant Edita Schindlerova told The Independent. “I think it’s disgusting that she works for Ryanair. All of us here at Biggus Dickus Productions feel really let down by her. If only she had told us she worked for them, maybe we could have done something to help her. Now, she has lost all our trust. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m off to do a three way.”

If you’ve seen Monty Python’s The Life of Brian, you know not to treat “Biggus Dickus” as a joke name.

While many look down their noses at the porn business, it looks like the airlines are able to give even those in the skin biz someone over which to hold a sense of superiority. Of course, the porn folks could learn a lesson in tolerance from Ryanair, which doesn’t care about Edita’s side job as “Edite Bente.”

If you’re surprised to see the porn industry claim any sort of moral high ground, don’t be. Anyone who has spent a bit of time in this business has had to listen to more than a few hours of First Amendment tirades, claims of wanting to be left alone and so on and so on and so on. Yes, it can get tedious, even though some of it is warranted. Either way, it’s pretty crazy to see the porn industry piss all over the airline business. What happened to “live and let live”?Ryanair flight attendant Schindlerova was recently outed as a part-time porn star by London tabloid The Sun. Her employer doesn’t care, and she hasn’t denied the allegations. She was also featured in the airline’s 2009 calendar, a collection of the sexiest employees that the low-cost carrier has to offer.

Her cover was blown by a pilot who somehow stumbled upon her work. Either this was an incredible coincidence, or this guy, who has not had to see his name in the press, spends a hell of a lot of time cruising the web for porn.

Julia Molony, who covered this story for The Independent, suggests, “Watch out fro the free-orgasm-with-every-flight offer on a billboard near you.” Such naïveté … does she really believe that Ryanair would give “free” anything?

Okay, through some investigative journalism on my part, I’ve been able to find some of her night job work. This is absolutely not safe for work or around children.This is not an adult website, rather it is a Czech tabloid, but do understand that they are able to push the envelope a lot farther than we can in the United States.

See our first story on Schindlerova’s erotic escapades.