I've just arrived at Saigon airport to start a 28hr journey back to the UK. First time back since Aug 2019. Woop.
Limerick for a city or west Cork and Kerry for more rural. Plus it means getting a flight to Cork or a Shannon instead.
Dublin really is an awful kip now. It was never the nicest city but used to be a bit of craic, most of that is all gone too because of the price of stuff.
If you were in the Croke Park hotel you could have went to a Shelbourne match
I remember Dublin being mentally expensive back in the 2000s so what are we talking for a pint now?
Depends if you're in a normal pub (around €6) or in one designed for tourists somewhere like temple bar (around €9). If I was out in it I tend to stick to the likes of the Galway Bay chain of pubs because they serve more than Guinness, Heineken, and Morretti. The likes of those will have a more varying price as there would be a big range of ABV's like the menu in my first port of call http://galwaybaybrewery.com/blacksheep/
That seems alright. I remember it being €6 a pint in 2004 and then probably more in 2009 when the exchange rate had tanked and thinking that both times it was pretty spicy price-wise. Most of those places probably pretty touristy, although not all in Temple Bar. Watched the Portugal game at the Euros in some massive sports bar which had 1 small tv in the corner on a different feed that was about 4 seconds ahead of the big screen/all the other tvs.
Also remember somewhere called The Duke [maybe] which was famed for its Guinness apparently, but that was probably BS. Better downstairs than upstairs etc.
A crisp pint of Guinness on the emerald isle. A real bucket list item. Happy St Patrick's Day.
The majority of pints of Guinness in Dublin are muck because they’re just throwing them out across the bar as quick as possible and they’ll be bought by tourists no matter what they’re like. Gravediggers is the top of the pile for a good pint of it but anyone would be better off going somewhere that had O’Hara’s on tap instead of the big G.
It's nearly always at least 10 euros for a shitty gin and shitty tonic.
I didn't find Dublin that expensive when I went, but that was about 7 years ago now. The main problem I had was every bar thinking we wanted to be assaulted by a knob with a guitar and a bloke sat banging on a box drum. And Potato Stew being the only food in half the pubs. I know it's tourist central, but you don't have to lean into the stereotypes that hard lads.
Mind the exchange rate is toilet at the moment too.
That's the first hurling semi and will be in Croke Park itself, they're expecting 60,000 for it so it'll get a fair bit busier around there on Saturday after you go.
Tolka Park (soccer) is a short walk up the road, next home game is Friday the 8th. Though if you think Dublin is shit then a lower end league of Ireland game isn't going to do much to improve that
Either Jet2 are shit hot at Edinburgh airport or people are crying over nothing. Left the house at 11.00 and was sitting with a cocktail in my hand by 12.30.
Fast track security for £5 might be my smartest ever purchase. Causally swaggering pass people like a boss.
The problem is staff, so it's different at each airport. Security at Manchester is meant to be murder, where as Flight providers are begging Gatwick to let them give up flight slots because they just can't honour them. I dread to think what Stansted is like because it was terrible long before all of this bollocks.
I can’t see our defence forces making much of a difference. The extent of their organisational skills is making sure there’s enough kegs in the phoenix park camp.
Frankfurt is supposed to be stimulating shit although the last few weeks me and the wife flew in/out and saw minor problems other than a slight flight delay. Another chance to test it this week with a flight to Portugal but hoping Air Europa does the business.
I was also able to get my compensation for my flight that was moved on the morning of. €400 back after going to the ombudsman.
I've refused to fly from there since our trips to Turkey in 2014 and Dublin in 2015. The former involved being stuck on the plane for 2 hours after landing, the latter wating for 2 hours for our baggage. Grudges
Southend Airport is the best. Off the plane and in the Taxi within 20 minutes.
We're (hopefully) flying from Gatwick in October, but it's with EasyJet and they're one of the companies trying to dump their flight slots so I'm not feeling overly optimistic.
The miniscule Biarritz airport - where none of the staff seemed to have seen a computer prior to that day - was much slower.
They spent about 40 minutes and called in about 5 escalating levels of management to decide whether a guy could take his skateboard on with him.
I've only flown out to Southend once, and it was before COVID, but I'm pretty sure they had more staff on at security that day than they had passengers.
Excellent service, would fly again.
Tenerife really is the pits.
Vamossssss
Went downhill when they closed Hooters.
Their prices are stuck in 2009. €1.80 for Estrella and San Miguel ty Gracias bye bye
Baggage reclaim is shite.
Staying on lake Windermere this weekend. View is incredible from the hotel but unfortunately the hotel room was Baltic last night. Baby woke up about 1am ice cold. Apparently they don't turn the heating on in the summer so that's ok then (but charge 5* foreign hotel prices)
A week til we fly to the Maldives
Be careful with those guns on the beach.
Hoping my license to open carry them comes through in time.
Speaking of Ireland, I got the @GS tour of Belfast the other week. He donned a flak jacket once we entered the Catholic areas, but it was otherwise pretty good 'craic'.
The only way that black tramp would enter a Catholic area would be to drop off a pipe bomb.
Booked a nightmare-inducing kids holiday (complete with gaudy “magic room”) but sun is sun, I guess. Roll on Lanzarote in March.
I'm a twit
Liked it, perfect for a few days. Lots of historical nuggets all over the place, you're on the northernmost bit of the Aegean and the view at sunset around the bay Thessaloniki sits on is very nice from just about wherever you are. Lots of great restaurants, and it's not that difficult to get some decent, trad food. We found a couple of really nice tabernas. We inadvertently ended up staying in the studenty, late-night quarter and that was buzzing until 2/3am every night. Nice atmosphere. Food/drink generally cheap too. And you can walk around the main city centre just fine, no need to faff around with buses unless you want to head further out. From the top part of the city centre bay to where it sort of peters out was about a 40-45 minute walk along the water.
Schiphol Airport looks a right barrel of laughs
I am prescribed zopiclone to take very intermittently in case my sleep goes to shit again and I've just realised last night that it's illegal in Qatar. We're staying in Doha one night either way as it made the flights much nicer.
Trying to speak to their medical attache to work out what I need to do to not get put in Qatari prison.
As an expert on things that are illegal in Qatar, I'd say it's the price you pay for going via there.
Yes. Didn't think it through given it's literally just a stopover in a hotel for a night, which is my fault. Only alternative was Dubai which I don't think is any better. Times for direct flights were awful.
Ah well. I've gathered the necessary paperwork their embassy/attache has advised so should be ok.
And if not we get a cracking thread in 5-10 years. Win-win.