Blogs from Douglas, Isle of Man, Europe

Our plane back to Dublin wasn't scheduled until about 4 p.m. and we were able to leave our luggage in the lounge at the Edelweiss and wander the city a bit more, walking along the Promenade, which we'd said all week we'd like to do! Rode the bus to the airport (said goodbye to the Fairy Bridge), flew to Dublin, found the shuttle to the Hilton, had dinner and a great shower. In the morning, caught an early shuttle to the airport so I'd have time to retrieve our checked luggage from Terminal One, move some stuff around for weight/space, check the luggage, and get through security. We stopped at the Duty Free shop to fulfill a friend's request. The great thing about flying out of Dublin is that American Customs has space there (the only ... read more

We had signed up for an Isle of Man Trike Tour. We chose the East Coast tour which went north, up the east coast to Ramsey, with a couple stops, then returned via part of the TT course. The Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) is the ultimate 'must see it' event for motorsport fans across the globe. Every May and June the Isle, a tiny country between England and Ireland, turns into motorcycle nirvana as the world's greatest road racers gather to test themselves against the incredible 37.73 mile 'Mountain Course' (https://www.iomtt.com/tt-info). We were NOT there to see the race but were interested in it because it's such a big event for the island. There were several cycle enthusiasts staying at our hotel earlier in the week, just come over to ride the course before ... read more

Dear All Greetings and a Merry Christmas! I am writing this entry after my first venture off the island of Great Britain in nearly two years! Yay – how wonderful, and I feel truly blessed to have been able to do this. Whilst Great Britain is certainly a beautiful island, and I have very much enjoyed exploring more of it these last two years due to the circumstances, it is still an island, and for a travelling soul like myself, I haven’t felt completely myself being island-bound for so long. The great wide world out there has been beckoning, and I feel more confident in being able to explore it again. Alas, I did not venture far this time – just a short hop over to the nearby Isle of Man, but it was certainly a ... read more

Yesterday (which seems like about ten years ago) mostly involved not getting covered in food, spending all our money on a couple of sarnies, not getting married and getting very judgy. After a swim and pushing up, we drove to Gretna green. In part so Seth could tick Scotland off his list of countries but also to see what it was all about (not to get married!) In short... It was less tacky than I expected, the food was soooooo expensive I could have done with a second mortgage and some of the people were.... interesting. One old guy ruffled Seth's hair (Seth's was quite taken aback but proclaimed it was his first time having his hair ruffled by an old man ?.) We were also sat by the bar and this bloke ordered 4 double ... read more

I can't believe the sensation of racing motorcycles going full throttle past the grandstand down to Bray hill. Now imagine this: Stand beside your busy interstate or freeway. Not on the shoulder, but on the white line right beside traffic. But instead of vehicles traveling at 120km/h, they go by at over 300km/h! I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start with getting here. Watching them load the ferry from Liverpool is fascinating! It's a rear loading ferry with a ramp system to turn cars around so they can drive around a circuit and not have to reverse off like typical drive on ferries. They installed posts where motorcycles are lashed to, avoiding the tedious task of pull down straps to anchor the bikes to the deck. Alright, back to racing! The Ilse of Man TT ... read more