Flint818
Ireland here we come!LastDrinkStanding
There are 4 of us, Tammy and Ed (a married couple), Jackie and Steve. We have been friends forever, and although we have gone a number of smaller trips together, we have never been so bold as to go on a 10 day trip to another part of the world. Will we still be friends at the end of the trip...of course!
For years we have been threatening to go to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day and/or to see one of our favorite bands (The Waterboys) perform live...and that's exactly what we are going to do. Along with our fondness for The Waterboys, we have all taken a liking to Irish music in general, as well as the lively spirit one finds in the "Irish" pubs we have in the States. We can only assume the atmosphere in actual Irish pubs will be even better.
We arrive on March 15th, 2007 and will spend one night in Dublin, 2 nights in Cork, 1 night in Killarney, 3 nights in Galway and back to Dublin for 3 more nights before returning home to Los Angeles.
Check back here soon, we'll try to update you on our progress...if we aren't too hungover to update our blog.
Travel Blog Posts
June 11th 2007
okay, 7:30am and i got gpa off to the airport. what is left of my liver waved goodbye and told him don't come back... so saturday we ate some Rudy's barbq, then drank a marg at Antonio's. then it was time to get the sharp gear on and go to Threadgill's for chicken fried steak and the Dukes of Simpleton. good scene, very good band, if you like XTC, which i can take or leave. then we walked over the bridge (no bats out that late) and met some homies at Lavaca Street bar, then went over to the L.A. folks' fave 4th st bar, Fado. we put away many guiness' and harps and saw several songs by a cool irish rock band called the Farrington's or something like that. cabbed it home plastered again. ... read more
June 9th 2007
danny here again... okay we just saw a kick ass show. freakin The Hold Steady was mucho good. also the opener Illinois was pretty good. the band before that was called Blitzen Trapper, and gpa liked them pretty well. i thought they had some Zappa in them, but gpa let me kno i was wrong. we headed down there via the wiff, hung out with some friends and ate some chow at the Jackelope, then drank off a pitcher at Casino El Camino, then headed to Emo's for the show. it was hotter than a sackful of demons gargling tabasco. we were cooking. Tammy good news, i got you an excellent porno shot of your husband all sweaty and drenched like Fucking FABIO! also got a shot of ed with the drummer from the hold ... read more
June 8th 2007
Hey this is Danny. here goes. Zappa got here no prob. We gathered up the suitcase and headed for a sports bar to watch the Spurs, but we got shut out. we went to plan B, beers and pizzas at my house. wait but first we stopped by Buddy's Place for our first beer. there was an antique dino-band playing some texas two-step music. then we split. i had laid in a 12 pack of shiner, 4 tall guiness cans and a six of MGD at home . Ed managed to offend a complete stranger about 15 minutes after entering the house, so that worked out well. Laura's friend Julia had committed the grevious sin of calling the Lakers a bunch of whiners, so the EDGE let her have it. We stayed up til 5am, ... read more
May 4th 2007
Hey Blog Reading Folks……(Ed/ZAPPA here) The ultimate(I felt)best way to go about this was to do it as we went along…Fresh thoughts…get a real feel for the place…unedited…warts and all…balls to the paper journalism….Stream of consciousness…how it was happening…while it was happening…you get the idea…..Just as I am ranting now…just throw it down big fella…The problem … 1)Would it be understood? 2)Would it make sense? 3)Would it be boring? The bigger problem it ends up was ………not laziness not drunkenness(that would have added to the charm)but we could not get “hooked up”.We wanted 24-7 access…not to be had in “good ol Ireland” our rooms were not equipped.The idea was as we were done for the day getting ready to “kick it”…jot a few things down…wind down for the day...see what we were arguing about….put it on ... read more
March 31st 2007
We have been bad...we have not updated. However, we have excuses! We lacked Internet access at all but one of our hotels. Also, once we got back to the states we have all been sick. Tammy and Ed indeed got some sort of Cholera-like bug that had them out of commission for days. Jackie and I have had bad colds, and none of us felt like blogging. But I’m on it now, and we’ll finish the whole travel blog eventually.... read more
March 22nd 2007
Tammy here- We're currently back in the car on our way back to Dublin. None of us can remember the name of the castle where they took the cover shot for the Unforgettable Fire so we'll be skipping that side trip and heading back into town. Steve here- We make one stop on the way, at Tyrrells Pass Castle Restaurant. Very good food, and also cool that we are eating in a building that used to be a castle...at least we think it used to be a castle. We get to Dublin safe and sound, check into the hotel and try to return the car to rental agency. Turns out that when I talked to the customer service person at Europcar on the phone earlier in the day and she told me that they closed ... read more
March 21st 2007
Tammy here: We spent the day getting on tour bus to see the Burren and Cliffs of Moher (better known to us as the Cliffs of Insanity from the Princess Bride movie). It was fraiken cold. Turns out the Burren are a lot of rocks and the Cliffs are cliffs. We did go inside the very cool Aillwee Cave where the guide had us turn off all our cameras and cell phones and then shut off the lights so where in pitch darkness. Totally no lights. He left the lights off just long enough so it starts to get uncomfortable like he might have left us there. We also saw a cool ancient burial ground that looked like a mini Stonehenge. One of the best things on this trip has been watching Jackie's self-proclaimed narcolepsy ... read more
March 20th 2007
Tuesday, March 20 Tammy here- We spent the day visiting pubs and shopping around in Galway. With all the Irish knitted sweaters in every shop, it's funny how you never see anyone Irish wearing them. I dragged the gang to a shop I'd found on the Internet that says it was the originator of the Claddagh ring. Of course, there where about three other shops advertising themselves as the originals too, but I had read about this place on the Internet and everyone knows if it's on the Internet, it's true. We all got sized up and Ed and I got all romantic and purchased our rings together. All other shopping looks like stuff you'd find at a Target store display with Guinness or shamrocks or big green top hats. We did go into a ... read more
Ring of Kerry and Galway (day 1) - Trip Day 6
Published: March 19th 2007Europe » Ireland » County Galway
March 19th 2007
Steve here: Travel day to Galway. The roads are a bit straighter than they were going south, so travel goes much faster. On the way, Ed decides that we will go to a third Waterboys show in Limerick, as long as the drive from Galway to Limerick isn’t prohibitive. We decide to drive the Ring of Kerry today. This is a 170km (105 mile) tourist trail that travels through some of Ireland’s most beautiful scenery. It turns out to me more of the Sliver of Kerry, as we drive part way in, and backtrack our way out before heading to Galway. It is not that the Ring as beautiful as advertised, but the roads are narrow, the weather is horrible and visibility isn’t exactly 100%. While on the Ring of Kerry we make two stops. ... read more
Blarney Castle and Killarney - Trip Day 5
Published: March 18th 2007Europe » Ireland » County Kerry » Killarney
March 18th 2007
Jackie here: Blarney Castle is our trip on the 18th . Touring the castle was great although Tammy and I refrain from kissing the Blarney Stone. The boys did it and now are entitled to some crazy mojo! The drive to Killarney is next. Steve is doing a great job driving and it is quite stressful. I will think twice about complaining about the 101 or 210 freeways. Most importantly, we find a bar with no cover, and a live band that stays open until 2. The band 'DRIVE' is not quite the crowd-pleasers we hoped for, but they have no waiting for drinks and a wicked fog machine that Tammy gets a chance to operate. Live music gives way to a DJ, but thankfully he mixes dance music with some guitars. We dance (?!) ... read more
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