yet another dj

Irish people are cool – the accent, culture and the music, all fecken cool. The Irish, are a well humored, sheep-loving and friendly bunch of “fecken eejits”. Trust me, they like this term (or if not, blame our tour guide!). It’s all in good spirit… they have slangy nicknames for everything – kinda cute yet it cracks me up :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Irish_slang

In search of Bono, no? Guinness, yes

Four days in Ireland – a great to get away from the office once again! The tour started in Dublin (after a one hour flight from Stanstead Airport); although we only spent a few hours in the fair city. The general theme of the tour was West Ireland (and not Dublin) – so we didn’t get meet Bono or anyone famous like that (some screwy misconceptions on my part). However, we did visit the Guinness Brewery; perhaps this tour could’ve been labeled the Guinness tour? Yep, I experienced my first pint of Guinness in Dublin – from there I had a pint of Guinness everyday after that. The brewery was also very educational: Guinness = BARLEY + WATER + HOPS + YEAST. Unfortunately, later that night we had an absolutely shocking meal at the pub on Temple Bar (a tourist hotspot) – the three waiters couldn’t speak English and the food was simply shite. Feck!! I asked for an Irish cyder and and they didn’t know what I was on about. My gollie. C-Y-D-E-R please fecken CYDER! Magners, Balmers, the same thing gimme gimme!

Shamrocker, here we come

Once loaded on the tour bus, our guide gave us a spiel about his short journey to becoming a tour guide. Another case of soul searching – once a professional in an unsatisfying job but now a wild and fun tour guide driving up and down the country of his origin. Surprisingly I didn’t miss my iPod on this trip, a credit to the mouth of our tour guide. Many tales and interesting memories – they’re all coming back to me now.

Things I saw and experienced, in the country

• Locke’s Irish Whisky Distillery, near the (Pierce) Brosna river
• Pete farms (pete is a fossil fuel alternative to coal)
• Celtic high crosses
• Castles and castle ruins (Clonmacnoise, Rock of Cashel)
• Random but natural rock formations (Burren Plateau)
• Ireland beaches! Yep some surprisingly great views, all be it shite weather
• Traditional Irish stew (lol just like mumma made me)
• The Blarney stone (famous stone that you kiss, to gain the “gift of eloquent speech”)

There were 29 tourists on the bus, very nice people (even though half of them were Aussies!). There was a Mexican lass on her five month random European tour – in good spirit we did Tequila shots and put the Guinness aside for one evening. The final night we ventured into an Irish disco in Killarney, excellent fun! Two rooms, one for country oldies and the other, phatt pop beats with the random eurodance track for good measure. The locals were very friendly (yet shy), so not seedy.

My secret goal to find Andrea Corr was forgiven, but not forgotten.

Cost analysis:

I’ve used Google Spreadsheets to work out my spending balance – worked like a charm (I’m a spreadsheet nube).

• Accommodation: £37 (3 nights, hostel)
• Flight/coach/bus: £64 return
• Guided bust tour: £75
• Exhibits: £35
• Gifts: £31
• Food: £52
• Drinks: £22

Average daily expenditure (exc. travel and accommodation): £35

Total cost for three days: £315.00

Would I go again? It feels like I just touched the surface of Ireland. I would be keen to stay a bit longer in Dublin and check out the city life.