Unfortunately, here you are caught in the labrythine world of airline ticket pricing, interline agreements and other such nonsense. Added to the complication, your contract is with Travelocity, not with Aer Lingus, which adds another layer of terms and conditions which complicate the matter.
Let's start with the bad news...there is nothing you can do to recover the wasted portion of your ticket. It has been tested in law and there is little you can do, airlines are permitted to make such restrictions. The one year maximum validity of an airline ticket is something which has been around for many many years, but if you are an infrequent flyer you clearly didn't know this. It is long overdue for airlines to have to put together a ""key facts" summary of the terms and conditions of the tickets they sell. It is ridiculous to expect a customer to read them and they rely on this to exploit the customer.
Now, what do you about your trip to Slovakia. My advice is this. Keep the ticket (it is almost certainly much cheaper than a one way ticket, which was your only other alternative). As your return is 10 months away, you have a fair chance you might get your return portion back. Here is how.
As your return is 10 months away, the airline schedule is only "tentative". If any leg of the journey is reschuduled, you will receive an email from Travelocity or Aer Lingus advising you of the change. As there are 3 legs in your journey there is a good chance that this could happen. When they send you the change, immediately contact Travelocity and advise them that the change is not suitable and you wish to have a refund. You are entitled to a refund under EU Regulation 261/2004 in these circumstances.
Don't let this ruin your trip to Europe. Airline Terms and Conditions are notoriously one sided and unfair. You simply have to play the game....lets hope their timetables are as unrealiable as normal, and you can turn that into your favour.
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