Ireland

Call it retirement anxiety, or maybe recession obsession. For all of their married life, Patrick Webster, 63, and Susie Martin, 54, have been extremely frugal. Webster and Martin, who both work at Marymount College in Rancho Palos Verdes, have been stashing away their combined income at an enviable rate - more than 25% - for retirement. Together they have more than $1 million in investments and no debt. But rather than feeling reasonably secure about their financial future, they dread a return of hard times.

Ireland is beautiful any time of year, and United and Aer Lingus are teaming up to offer a $760 round-trip from LAX to Dublin for travel in November and December. The first leg is United to Chicago, connecting with Aer Lingus to Dublin. Travel is Mondays-Thursdays; there's a $20 surcharge for each leg for weekend travel dates. Info: United , (800) 864-8331; Aer Lingus , (800) 474-7424  Source: Airfarewatchdog Follow us on Twitter @latimestravel , like us on Facebook @Los Angeles Times Travel.

There are no people on Earth as romantic as the French. No one is punctual like the Swiss. The Germans have defined a sense of order. The Italians know how to eat. And no one, I mean no one, does misery like the Irish. Ireland's well-chronicled story of rags to riches to rags again is a cautionary tale of the early 21st century. A country reared on hardship, famine and oppression has, after a brief turn in the economic sun, been cast back into the misty gloom of struggle. But lately I've begun to notice that a mischievous quality has sneaked in under the cloak of misery the Irish have put back on with disarming ease after the good times ended.

Struggling cosmetic firm Avon Products Inc. is cutting more than 400 jobs and leaving Ireland as it continues efforts to slim down amid profit plunges and other troubles. Avon said the job cuts, which account for about 1% of its global workforce, will be “spread across all regions and functions.” The New York firm also said Monday it's restructuring or closing operations in some "smaller, underperforming markets" in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. “We continue to work aggressively toward turning around the business,” Avon Chief Executive Officer Sheri McCoy said in a statement.

If you go THE BEST WAY TO DUBLIN, IRELAND From LAX, United, American, Delta, US Airways, AER Lingus and British offer connecting service (change of plane) to Dublin. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $486, including taxes and fees. TELEPHONES To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international calling code), 353 (the country code for Ireland) and the number. WHERE TO STAY Number 31, 31 Leeson Close, Dublin; 1-676-5011, http://www.number31.ie . Doubles from $226.

'This Is Ireland' Where: UCLA's Royce Hall, 340 Royce Drive, L.A. When: 8 p.m. Thursday Price: Tickets are $38 to $88 Info: http://www.uclalive.org

Irish eyes truly smiling After reading Andrew McCarthy's article ["Optimism Is in the Air," Sept. 30], I was most pleasantly depressed. Having just been to Ireland in June, it snared my heart, and I long to return. The photos chosen provided the perfect contrast of present and past, and let nobody suggest these were doctored: It truly is that green. An entire series could be devoted to this wonderful country, whose inhabitants sing when they speak, and whose actual songs are as evocative as the country itself.

Moody's cut Ireland's credit rating on Monday, warning the country still faces a slow climb out of recession after nearly two years of austerity as the cost of rescuing its banking sector mounts. The rating agency's one-notch drop to Aa2 came a day ahead of a scheduled sale of up to 1.5 billion euros of Irish debt, putting Moody's on par with rival agency Standard and Poor's AA rating and still one grade above Fitch. The downgrade, which a minister said provided no surprises but which briefly weakened the euro against the dollar and hit European stocks, prefaced a sale of six- and 10-year bonds worth between 1 billion and 1.5 billion euros at Ireland's regular monthly auction.

We had a delightful stay at Earls Court House Hotel in Killarney, Ireland, close to the Ring of Kerry and just a few minutes from a national park with beautiful trails. It's a small, family-owned hotel with classy art, spacious rooms and modern bathrooms. Rates include a good breakfast and complimentary afternoon tea with home-baked cakes. Co-owner Emer Moynihan gives astute touring tips. Earls Court House Hotel, Woodlawn Junction, Muckross Road, Killarney; 011-353-64-6634009, http://www.killarney-earlscourt.ie . From $150.

In a graveyard in a divided city, love declares itself.  A formula as old as "Romeo and Juliet" returns in Graham Reid's sentimental comedy "Remembrance. " Set in Belfast in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, "Remembrance" stages stark divisions in nearly every scene: Protestant and Catholic, father and son, mother and daughter.  A romance between a Protestant man and a Catholic woman in their 60s, Bert (Mik Scriba) and Theresa (Diana Angelina), mildly unsettles the prejudice that only young love can upset the status quo. Their cautious dates in the graveyard where their dead sons lie buried also conveys the hope of some intimate solution to endless division.

Genealogy workshops and a research trip to the National Library of Ireland might sound more like work than play, but not if you trace your roots back to the Fitzgerald clan and have an interest in learning more about your Irish ancestry. Pennsylvania-based Friendly Planet Travel offers a nine-day trip this summer that highlights all things Fitzgerald. It stops at Dublin Castle , which was owned by the Fitzgerald family in the 12th century; the tower of Fitzgerald Castle in Kildare; and the Honey Fitz Theatre in Lough Gur, named for President Kennedy 's grandfather, whose singing earned him the nickname Honey Fitz.

I recommend a visit to the Nicholas Mosse Pottery shop, in a picturesque spot overlooking the River Nore, in Benettsbridge, County Kilkenny, Ireland. The handcrafted pottery is beautiful; the reduced-price tables sell more affordable plates, cups, pitchers, etc. It's fun to watch the pottery being made through the open display window, and we loved the cafe. It was one of our best meals in Ireland, wasn't expensive and had the best scones, jam and clotted cream. Nicholas Mosse; http://www.nicholasmosse.com , 011-353-56-7727505.

London bookmakers see a contest among Nigeria's Cardinal Francis Arinze, Marc Ouellet of Canada and Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana, each of whom would present a smiling face of Catholicism as the next pope. (Either of the Africans might also guide the church to a future in the developing world.) Liberals hope for someone like Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna, who seems open to sharing power with laypeople. Some longtime Vatican watchers say the Italians seek to reassert their control, in order to fix the management problems inside the bureaucracy.

LONDON - Ireland sealed a deal with the European Central Bank on Thursday to ease the crippling cost of its public bailout of failing banks, keeping the country on track to wean itself from international emergency loans. By overhauling repayment of the debts it incurred to rescue its banks, Ireland will be on track by the end of 2013 to be able to borrow money on the open market the way most other governments do. It was effectively shut out of those markets at the end of 2010, when the gaping hole ripped into its budget by the bank bailout forced Dublin to go cap in hand to its European partners and the International Monetary Fund.

The Irish government was enmeshed in a harsh system of laundries run by Catholic nuns, where women and girls worked behind locked doors without pay, according to a fact-finding report released Tuesday. More than 10,000 women labored in the infamous Magdalen laundries from 1922 to 1996, a government committee said in the lengthy report. Women and girls landed in the workhouses for a long list of reasons. Some were placed there by Irish courts, some by reform schools, some after being rejected by their foster parents, others after being abused or left homeless.

Now that the obligatory holiday trips to see family are in the books, consumers hoping for a more leisurely getaway may want to keep their suitcases handy. Experts say the travel deals available in January are often some of the best all year. That's important because travelers can expect to pay more for airfare and hotel stays this year. Average daily rates for U.S. hotels increased 4.2% in 2012, to an average $106.23 in November, according to Smith Travel Research. Domestic airfare increased 4.5%.

A disturbing discovery has led some consumers to wonder "Where's the beef?" in their supermarket burgers. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland said it had discovered horse and pig DNA in burgers sold by grocery stores in Ireland and the United Kingdom, according to reports. The finding includes a burger sold by global supermarket chain Tesco that contained 29% horse meat, according to the Associated Press . U.K.-based Tesco -- one of the world's largest food retailers and known in the U.S. under its Fresh & Easy brand -- apologized for the horse meat-laden burger and pulled store brand burgers from groceries in Britain and Ireland, according to AP. A meat processor in County Monaghan was cited by Ireland's Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney for the horse meat burger find, which Coveney told state broadcaster RTE was "totally unacceptable.