Pug Does the Emerald Isle - Part 1
Mar 4th, 2007 | 05:49 AM
#1
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Joined: Mar 2007
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Pug Does the Emerald Isle - Part 1
This report is from my gripping tale of international globe hopping to Ireland in May 2006. Yes, I am a bit late posting it, but as they say "better late than never."
NOTE: What I write may not be for all tastes, just take it with a grain of salt and enjoy. Lord knows I tried to. ;-)
DAY 1:
Pug, and her entourage consisting of her brother, her misanthropic twin and her twin's hubby, proceeded to hop a plane to skip across the Atlantic for ten days of glorious Irish adventure. I believe, God, fate, and pug's constant companion "bad luck," decided that the word "glorious" was not the correct adjective to describe pug's Irish adventure, and instead decided to substitute the word "wet" in its place. Hey, God, fate, and "bad luck" must be consistent when dealing with pug's world.
We had to take two planes (Jet Blue to JFK and Aer Lingus to Shannon), as there are no direct flights to Ireland from CNY. Surprisingly, both flights were on time, which is amazing in this post 911 "the terrorists only care about airplanes" world. Of course one still had to "strip" to have the pleasure of flying on a commercial airplane, but thank God none of our group had to be lovingly "patted down" by the slack-jawed TSA agents.
Thank God for small favors!
It was a six hour flight from JFK to Shannon, Ireland, we flew overnight so we would arrive early the next day and be nice and tired for our first day in Ireland.
All in all, as most people on the plane were adults, pug managed to get about 20 minutes of semi-sleep, sitting upright using her coat as a pillow. There was only one slight problem with the plane, for some reason it continually smelled like a public bathroom. No one else seemed to be bothered with the smell, I suppose pug is just not used to being squeezed into a small steel cylinder with 300 other people.
Oh well, you have to concede to some discomfort when you are cheap SOB traveling "economy."
PUG RATING FOR THE DAY: 5/10 (for pug finding out that she is currently not on the "no-fly" list)
DAY 2:
We arrived at Shannon on time at 9:15 am, and by some miracle, all our bags made it to Shannon, without the obligatory baggage side trip to Shannon via Milan, Italy. We all hightailed it to the lone ATM machine to withdraw Euros to begin our "wet" Irish adventure. Lo and behold, my twin sister's ATM card did not work. Go figure.
Me, being the incredibly smart unemployable database whiz, stated to my sis that it was probably because her ATM PIN number has a leading zero, and more than likely the ATM machines in Ireland did not recognize leading zeros as a numeric character, and therefore her PIN number did not have the required four digits needed to work correctly in Europe.
My twin sneered at me with that "I don't give a bleep" look and stomped off to the rental car counter.
Yes, the *fun* was just beginning!
We decided to rent a car from the local Irish favorite "Dan Dooley Car Rentals" as its cars are known to be cheap and rather beat up, which is just the type of car needed to maneuver the "shoulders" that Ireland calls roads. We were given a blue, four door, Ford Focus, with a loose passenger side mirror (see I told you) and proceeded to drive to our first B&B as we were all extremely tired from traveling for the past 11 hours. Yeah, nothing like being tired and then having to drive on the left side of the road while simultaneously looking for road signs that do not exist.
NOTE TO SELF: Ireland does not have road signs. Deal with it you anal retentive SOB.
The weather was overcast with the threat for rain. Still overall it was not too bad as the temperatures were in the mid 60's. We made it to the Bunratty Courtyard B&B at 10:15 am after getting lost and were allowed to check in early as the B&B owner probably felt sorry for our disheveled looking party. The B&B was nice, clean and quiet. We all decided to sleep for a couple of hours and get up at 3:00 pm to take in the sights in and around the B&B before going to dinner.
After sleeping and taking showers to wash off the "bathroom smell" from the six hours on the plane, we all took off to the Bunratty Folk Park. Yes, it is a hokey tourist area, but we were hokey tourists, and hell if we were going to attempt to drive anymore this day on the winding "shoulders" that Ireland calls roads. We walked around taking photos of Bunratty Castle, when the wind began to pick up ever so slightly. Still no rain.
Later that night, we went to the "Traditional Irish Night" at the Bunratty Corn Barn. Yes, yet another hokey tourist attraction that I thought was quite entertaining. In a nutshell, you are placed in a large barn, where you sit among other hokey tourists to watch traditional Irish dancers, musicians, singers and storytellers, while you are served a "traditional" Irish meal.
We were placed next to another American group, consisting of two men and two women (in their 50's). For some strange reason the woman sitting next to my sis took an instant liking to her (she must have been drunk). They conversed throughout the night with such sparkling conversation as:
SIS (to woman): "Have you tried Irish whiskey and Guinness since you have been in Ireland?"
WOMAN (slightly drunk): "No, I don't like beer or hard liquor, I have been mainly drinking Irish coffee."
SIS: "Irish coffee has whiskey in it."
WOMAN (amazed): "It does?"
SIS: "Yes, that is why it is called Irish coffee."
WOMAN (laughing in a drunken way): "Huh, I didn't know that!"
The second woman sitting next to me shakes her head and looks at the first slightly drunk woman in a "She has been drunk the whole trip and doesn't even know it" way.
Did I mention that the Ireland is a good country to get drunk in?
Besides the American couples sitting next to us, there were also two large tables full of drunken Australians. Let me tell you, I thought Americans had the patent on loud and obnoxious behavior...well...I was wrong. Drunken Aussies are a sight and earful to behold. However, little did I know, I should have not been too harsh on judging such drunken behavior that night, for the Aussie's and Americans sitting next to us, it was their last night in Ireland, and after another three nights in Ireland I was ready to drown my sorrows in fine Irish alcohol, also.
PUG RATING FOR THE DAY: 5/10 (for being able to hold off "The Deluge" for one day and being entertained by drunkards at the Corn Barn)
---------------------------------------------
Coming up: Part 2 - Connemara and the beginning of "The Deluge"
NOTE: What I write may not be for all tastes, just take it with a grain of salt and enjoy. Lord knows I tried to. ;-)
DAY 1:
Pug, and her entourage consisting of her brother, her misanthropic twin and her twin's hubby, proceeded to hop a plane to skip across the Atlantic for ten days of glorious Irish adventure. I believe, God, fate, and pug's constant companion "bad luck," decided that the word "glorious" was not the correct adjective to describe pug's Irish adventure, and instead decided to substitute the word "wet" in its place. Hey, God, fate, and "bad luck" must be consistent when dealing with pug's world.
We had to take two planes (Jet Blue to JFK and Aer Lingus to Shannon), as there are no direct flights to Ireland from CNY. Surprisingly, both flights were on time, which is amazing in this post 911 "the terrorists only care about airplanes" world. Of course one still had to "strip" to have the pleasure of flying on a commercial airplane, but thank God none of our group had to be lovingly "patted down" by the slack-jawed TSA agents.
Thank God for small favors!
It was a six hour flight from JFK to Shannon, Ireland, we flew overnight so we would arrive early the next day and be nice and tired for our first day in Ireland.
All in all, as most people on the plane were adults, pug managed to get about 20 minutes of semi-sleep, sitting upright using her coat as a pillow. There was only one slight problem with the plane, for some reason it continually smelled like a public bathroom. No one else seemed to be bothered with the smell, I suppose pug is just not used to being squeezed into a small steel cylinder with 300 other people.
Oh well, you have to concede to some discomfort when you are cheap SOB traveling "economy."
PUG RATING FOR THE DAY: 5/10 (for pug finding out that she is currently not on the "no-fly" list)
DAY 2:
We arrived at Shannon on time at 9:15 am, and by some miracle, all our bags made it to Shannon, without the obligatory baggage side trip to Shannon via Milan, Italy. We all hightailed it to the lone ATM machine to withdraw Euros to begin our "wet" Irish adventure. Lo and behold, my twin sister's ATM card did not work. Go figure.
Me, being the incredibly smart unemployable database whiz, stated to my sis that it was probably because her ATM PIN number has a leading zero, and more than likely the ATM machines in Ireland did not recognize leading zeros as a numeric character, and therefore her PIN number did not have the required four digits needed to work correctly in Europe.
My twin sneered at me with that "I don't give a bleep" look and stomped off to the rental car counter.
Yes, the *fun* was just beginning!
We decided to rent a car from the local Irish favorite "Dan Dooley Car Rentals" as its cars are known to be cheap and rather beat up, which is just the type of car needed to maneuver the "shoulders" that Ireland calls roads. We were given a blue, four door, Ford Focus, with a loose passenger side mirror (see I told you) and proceeded to drive to our first B&B as we were all extremely tired from traveling for the past 11 hours. Yeah, nothing like being tired and then having to drive on the left side of the road while simultaneously looking for road signs that do not exist.
NOTE TO SELF: Ireland does not have road signs. Deal with it you anal retentive SOB.
The weather was overcast with the threat for rain. Still overall it was not too bad as the temperatures were in the mid 60's. We made it to the Bunratty Courtyard B&B at 10:15 am after getting lost and were allowed to check in early as the B&B owner probably felt sorry for our disheveled looking party. The B&B was nice, clean and quiet. We all decided to sleep for a couple of hours and get up at 3:00 pm to take in the sights in and around the B&B before going to dinner.
After sleeping and taking showers to wash off the "bathroom smell" from the six hours on the plane, we all took off to the Bunratty Folk Park. Yes, it is a hokey tourist area, but we were hokey tourists, and hell if we were going to attempt to drive anymore this day on the winding "shoulders" that Ireland calls roads. We walked around taking photos of Bunratty Castle, when the wind began to pick up ever so slightly. Still no rain.
Later that night, we went to the "Traditional Irish Night" at the Bunratty Corn Barn. Yes, yet another hokey tourist attraction that I thought was quite entertaining. In a nutshell, you are placed in a large barn, where you sit among other hokey tourists to watch traditional Irish dancers, musicians, singers and storytellers, while you are served a "traditional" Irish meal.
We were placed next to another American group, consisting of two men and two women (in their 50's). For some strange reason the woman sitting next to my sis took an instant liking to her (she must have been drunk). They conversed throughout the night with such sparkling conversation as:
SIS (to woman): "Have you tried Irish whiskey and Guinness since you have been in Ireland?"
WOMAN (slightly drunk): "No, I don't like beer or hard liquor, I have been mainly drinking Irish coffee."
SIS: "Irish coffee has whiskey in it."
WOMAN (amazed): "It does?"
SIS: "Yes, that is why it is called Irish coffee."
WOMAN (laughing in a drunken way): "Huh, I didn't know that!"
The second woman sitting next to me shakes her head and looks at the first slightly drunk woman in a "She has been drunk the whole trip and doesn't even know it" way.
Did I mention that the Ireland is a good country to get drunk in?
Besides the American couples sitting next to us, there were also two large tables full of drunken Australians. Let me tell you, I thought Americans had the patent on loud and obnoxious behavior...well...I was wrong. Drunken Aussies are a sight and earful to behold. However, little did I know, I should have not been too harsh on judging such drunken behavior that night, for the Aussie's and Americans sitting next to us, it was their last night in Ireland, and after another three nights in Ireland I was ready to drown my sorrows in fine Irish alcohol, also.
PUG RATING FOR THE DAY: 5/10 (for being able to hold off "The Deluge" for one day and being entertained by drunkards at the Corn Barn)
---------------------------------------------
Coming up: Part 2 - Connemara and the beginning of "The Deluge"
Mar 4th, 2007 | 11:01 AM
#3
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 75,008
Likes: 50
pug: I haven't read the whole thing yet - am enjoying it so far.
But a bit of advice - you have started all these different threads for each part of your report. That is a really messy way of doing things. They will all get separated as some threads are responded to and others won't as much. some will get topped and some will drop off 1st the page faster.
It is better to post each installment as an addition to the same thread. In other words - after you post this one, then you post a reply to it w/ part 2, then do the same w/ part 3 and so on . . . . .
But a bit of advice - you have started all these different threads for each part of your report. That is a really messy way of doing things. They will all get separated as some threads are responded to and others won't as much. some will get topped and some will drop off 1st the page faster.
It is better to post each installment as an addition to the same thread. In other words - after you post this one, then you post a reply to it w/ part 2, then do the same w/ part 3 and so on . . . . .
Mar 4th, 2007 | 03:13 PM
#4
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,647
Likes: 0
Here are links to the rest of PUG'S Trip Report:
Part Two: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34957613
Part Three: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34957622
Part Four: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34957626
Bob
Mar 5th, 2007 | 04:27 PM
#5
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
as well as Part 5:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34958099
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34958099
