05 Tuesday Jun 2018
Posted in Travel
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The Rosleague Hotel lobby in Letterfrack, Ireland.
Ennis, Letterfrack, and Hodson. Sounds like a legal firm you might hire to defend your son on a charge of animal abuse with a laser pointer. (“Really, Your Honor: Whiskers had a healthy relationship with that red dot for years. I can only assume it was his old age that led him to confuse it with the barbecue.”)
31 Thursday May 2018
Posted in Travel
Those of us who compulsively read guide books about where we’re going and where we are, read this sensible lesson: “Don’t tell the Irish that you’re Irish too, just because your ancestors were from Ireland.”
29 Tuesday May 2018
Posted in Travel
Free upgrades are one of life’s little rewards, cherished and remembered. First class. Room with a view. Bigger car.
Unless you’re in Ireland. If you’re renting a car in Ireland, a free upgrade can be a burden.
We got a free upgrade.
27 Sunday May 2018
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One fine Irish afternoon, sitting in a Kinsale pub, I asked the bartender if there are any local beers. “Oh, yes!” interrupted the fellow occupying the stool to my right. “Have a pint of Blacks,” he said. “I got properly pissed on it last night.” The bartender never had a chance to reply.
24 Thursday May 2018
Posted in Travel
Pink gin in the Club House pub, wedding on TV. No crowds. There was more enthusiasm for The Wedding in the US than in Ireland.
We made a speedy exit from Dublin. It was Saturday, May 19th, and we needed to get to the Club House Hotel in Kilkenny in time for The Wedding. I had booked the hotel only after the front desk assured us that we could watch the festivities in their bar. Previous research had revealed that the wedding would not be on every single pub TV in Ireland, because, well, soccer.
18 Friday May 2018
Posted in Travel
Some people live to visit Jerusalem. Others, the Blarney Stone. Me? The St. James’s Gate Guinness Brewery in Dublin.
09 Monday Jul 2012
Posted in Sentiments
Tags
expat, expat-almanac, expatriot, Girona, ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, travel
We’ve been discussing Life After Girona lately. Ireland? Italy? Switzerland?
Or, maybe, no plans at all. Perhaps we’ll wait until the last minute – the 88th day in Girona? – before we decide where to go next.
26 Tuesday Jun 2012
Posted in Sentiments
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21 Thursday Jun 2012
Posted in Travel
You may notice that all is sweetness and light with us, except for the visa thing. The idea of amassing a bale of documents and flying down to San Francisco to present them in person, at $300 per round trip (each), then doing the same a month later to pick up the visa stamp…well, life is too short. We love going to San Francisco, but document digging we hate. All this to stay ninety days or more in Spain?
