Ireland Road Trip, Day 1, September 21

 The TSA had to “pat” me down twice, once at National and once in Boston because we had to switch terminals after in Boston. The way they “frisk” you these days there is no need to scratch your testicles. The flight from Boston to Dublin wasn’t too bad except that the passenger in front of me had his seat reclined enough that I could count the hair in his scalp. That caused me to be a contortionist in order to exit my seat to walk around or go to the restroom.

Everyone, except me, packed for wet cool weather. It is 72 and sunny so I’m glad that I opted for layering and packed mostly what I wear at home except that I packed no shorts.

We rented a 9 passenger van that is as big as a tour bus. Jason is driving and doing an exceptional job of it. I can’t get used to driving on the other (wrong) side of the road. There is also a really strong possibility of me becoming Irish road kill because I forget to look to the right first before crossing the street.

We are staying at a hotel called the Beresford. Room one had 5 million stairs to get there. After Katy lugged most of our luggage down there, and after much consultation, it was decided that I couldn’t negotiate the steps as often as I would need to do so. Katy said it would be best if Babs and I took their room. Jason came and moved our luggage and we all left for a walk and breakfast. 

 After breakfast, we decided to buy a two day pass for the Dublin sightseeing bus and just ride the entire route to decide what we will stop and see tomorrow.

At this point, no one had really been in our rooms for any length of time. Turns out that the room we got from Katy had problems she didn’t know about. The room’s air conditioning didn’t work and both the warm and cold faucets in the room only produced scalding hot water. The only advantage of that was that if you sat on the toilet and flushed, you’d get a butt facial. We relocated.

Everything in this room works except for the air conditioning. However, I’m not reporting it until tomorrow because with all of our other experiences, I also learned that there are no maintenance people here on Sunday.

We all were ready for dinner. We had a little way to walk and we had to take it slow because I somehow “lost” my adjustable hiking stick in a bar somewhere. All the pubs were rocking because Dublin had won it’s Gaelic all Ireland Football Championship. It is something akin to winning the Super Bowl.   There were THOUSANDS of “party hardy” people everywhere. We went into a pub for dinner and the owner wouldn’t seat us “because we wouldn’t enjoy ourselves in here with all the drunks”. He told us to go next door, which he also owned. The place had good food and you could still hear the celebration in the adjacent building. Babs and Katy took a peak on the way out of the restaurant. They said that there was live music with a violin, flute, accordion, and guitar. She said the scene resembled the part of the Titanic movie where the people in steerage were dancing the “jig”.

Ireland Road Trip, Day 1, September 21, 2013

 The TSA had to “pat” me down twice, once at National and once in Boston because we had to switch terminals after in Boston. The way they “frisk” you these days there is no need to scratch your testicles. The flight from Boston to Dublin wasn’t too bad except that the passenger in front of me had his seat reclined enough that I could count the hair in his scalp. That caused me to be a contortionist in order to exit my seat to walk around or go to the restroom.

Everyone, except me, packed for wet cool weather. It is 72 and sunny so I’m glad that I opted for layering and packed mostly what I wear at home except that I packed no shorts.

We rented a 9 passenger van that is as big as a tour bus. Jason is driving and doing an exceptional job of it. I can’t get used to driving on the other (wrong) side of the road. There is also a really strong possibility of me becoming Irish road kill because I forget to look to the right first before crossing the street.

We are staying at a hotel called the Beresford. Room one had 5 million stairs to get there. After Katy lugged most of our luggage down there, and after much consultation, it was decided that I couldn’t negotiate the steps as often as I would need to do so. Katy said it would be best if Babs and I took their room. Jason came and moved our luggage and we all left for a walk and breakfast. After breakfast, we decided to buy a two day pass for the Dublin sightseeing bus and just ride the entire route to decide what we will stop and see tomorrow.

At this point, no one had really been in our rooms for any length of time. Turns out that the room we got from Katy had problems she didn’t know about. The room’s air conditioning didn’t work and both the warm and cold faucets in the room only produced scalding hot water. The only advantage of that was that if you sat on the toilet and flushed, you’d get a butt facial. We relocated.

Everything in this room works except for the air conditioning. However, I’m not reporting it until tomorrow because with all of our other experiences, I also learned that there are no maintenance people here on Sunday.

We all were ready for dinner. We had a little way to walk and we had to take it slow because I somehow “lost” my adjustable hiking stick in a bar somewhere. All the pubs were rocking because Dublin had won it’s Gaelic all Ireland Football Championship. It is something akin to winning the Super Bowl.   There were THOUSANDS of “party hardy” people everywhere. We went into a pub for dinner and the owner wouldn’t seat us “because we wouldn’t enjoy ourselves in here with all the drunks”. He told us to go next door, which he also owned. The place had good food and you could still hear the celebration in the adjacent building. Babs and Katy took a peak on the way out of the restaurant. They said that there was live music with a violin, flute, accordion, and guitar. She said the scene resembled the part of the Titanic movie where the people in steerage were dancing the “jig”.

Florida Trip......Relatively Speaking Day Five

This morning, Jane fixed us wonderful tasting blueberry pancakes made with fresh blue berrys.

Florida Trip.....Relatively Speaking, Day Four

Before leaving John and Sharron's we enjoyed a great breakfast at the Soup to Nuts Diner which was made over in the Television show Restaurant Impossible. Once again I busted my diet!

Around two hours later we were at Denny and Jane's house in Clermont, FL where they move to after selling their Pensacola home. They were still in the throws of moving in. We again sat around and reminisced old times, all the while being entertained by their dog Daisey.

Around 5 p.m. we drove over the Denny and Jane's daughter Terry's house where Babs and I were introduced to Terry's new daughter Brooklyn who is adorable! Denny and Jane's daughter Jennifer was also there and cooked us all a great burger meal. We all sat around and told tales until around 9:30, well past my bedtime before leaving.

Back at Denny's, Babs, Denny, and Jane continued to reminisce and I went to bed.

Florida Trip......Relatively Speaking, Day 3

Before leaving Savannah in the rain, Babs wanted to ride down the water front road to look at the water. After traversing a rough cobble stone road, we were only able to get a short glimpse of the water, some of the buildings, and the "Ghost Tour-mobile".

After the water front ride, we continued our trip down I-95 to my cousin John Spadaro' home in Eustis, FL. The entire 5 hour ride down I-95 South was in tornado watch storms with wind that knocked the car around.

We arrived at John and Sharron's at around 3 p.m. and spent the afternoon talking about old times. The nicest thing about my cousins is that our conversations are like we never left the last time we visited.  John and Sharron treated us to mouth watering pork loin that John cooked on the grill, complemented with fresh green beans, and mashed potatoes.

Tomorrow, Orlando and Bab's cousin Denny's and his wife Jane.