Travel company offers deal combining TCU football game with tour of Ireland
The TCU and North Carolina football teams will take a trip across the pond for their season-opening clash in 2026 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, and one travel company is offering a curated weeklong trip for fans looking to explore Ireland.
This is the first time EF Go Ahead Tours has offered a public tour based around a sporting event. The company has previously put together private trips for clients.
Lael Kassis, vice president of market innovation and development, explained why now was the time to create this tour.
“We specialize in cultural immersion and really getting travelers in-depth knowledge of destinations, focused on meeting locals, interactive activities,” Kassis said. “We really wanted to bring more options to the general public. Instead of just doing customized requests, we wanted to actually give a really exciting opportunity to take one of our tours to Ireland and match it with actually one of the college football games that are happening in Dublin. ... We know that international travel is complicated, and we take care of all the details for people, from flights to transportation, hotels, guides, meals.”
The trip, which takes place from Aug. 27 to Sept. 4, will cost about $4,000 and comes with payment plan options. The company will have Black Friday deals worth up to $1,500 off on tours and Cyber Monday deals worth up to 30% off on tours.
Tickets to the TCU game Aug. 29 are included in the package. The trip will include stops in Dublin, County Limerick, Belfast and County Cavan.
Kassis, who said he has been to more than 80 countries and has 20 years of experience in the industry, explained how EF Go Ahead Tours picked the itinerary.
“We really wanted to give people after the game a kind of comprehensive experience of all of Ireland, not just the Republic of Ireland, but also the north and Belfast and the shared history of the island,” Kassis said. “Dublin is an amazing city to start, really gives you a sense of the country. You get to learn about the agricultural heritage of Ireland, meeting the farmers that work the land, doing an Irish brown bread tasting, learning about actually different Irish sporting games, too.”
Kassis talked about his favorite stop, outside of the game, on the trip.
“What will probably be most memorable is that overnight in a real Irish castle,” he said. “This is an experience that people kind of dream of. Like most people think about castles, and it’s like, kind of in fairy tales, or it’s at Disney World. When they actually get to, like, sleep and overnight there and experience the history of a place like that, it’s incredible.”
EF Go Ahead Tours has been around for more than 55 years and is a part of the EF Education First brand. Kassis said the company’s experience, focus on embedding tour groups in the local community and knowledgeable tour guides set it apart.
TCU dominated North Carolina 48-14 in this year’s season opener in Chapel Hill, ruining the college coaching debut of six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick.
