Spring Break difficulties

For my Spring break trip I went with three of my roommates to Amsterdam and then to Dublin. We originally planned on visiting england first, but the stress of planning so many destinations forced us to book our flights last minute, and to skip out on the first destination for monetary reasons. One the reasons planning the trip was so stressful was that each leg of the trip required us to fly another airline. All three of these airlines has different baggage requirements. Since the airlines we flew were budget airlines, they required you to pay to check a bag. Since we were feeling particularly stingy after booking so many flights and hotels, we decided to only check one bag between the four of us. We all stuck the rest of our stuff in backpacks and carried it on. The Tram in Amsterdam: A mode of transportation I became very familiar with...The first flight was Transavia, and they had the fewest baggage requirements, allowing everyone to check a bag for free. Air Lingus allowed for a very heavy checked bag, but extremely light checked bags. This meant that we had to rearrange all of our stuff within our suitcases, and stuff the large bag to the brim. Ryanair had the toughest baggage restrictions. There was the highest charge to check a bag, and then checked bag had to be very light. We tried to put only light clothing in the checked bag, but still ended up rearranging our suitcases once again at the check-in desk. The end result was that we had simply packed too much stuff for their baggage requirements, and few of my friends were stuck checking there carry on bags at the gate at extremely high prices. Hotels were another big issue. One of my friends had booked a hostel for the four of us in Amsterdam and a hotel for us in Dublin. Upon closer inspection we found that the hostel was not going to be suitable. The biggest criticism of the hostel was that it was completely infested with rats, and guests often found there suitcases filled with the filthy rodents. I did some online research and found that we could stay at the Best Western, a four star hotel, for just about the same price. When we arrived I was shocked at how beautiful the hotel was, until we realized that it was not actually in the city center as advertised. We needed to take a 25 minutes and 4 euro tram trip to visit anything in the city. The tram also ended at midnight, forcing us to take several very expensive cab rides. The hotel in Dublin was no better. While it was located in the city center, it was far from a four star hotel. The hotel was dingy, smelled like curry, and had the most uncomfortable beds I had ever slept in. In comparison, some of my friends stayed in a much more affordable hostel that was extremely comfortable. I had an absolutely amazing time on my spring break trip. I didn't allow any of these set-backs to affect the time I had in the cities I visited, but it really did show me how important it is to plan ahead. The farther in advance you plans your travels, the cheaper and easier the trip will be.