Ireland - The Burren

Sunday - July 26

* Posting from a laundrette in Dublin - (We finally found one!) - check back later for pictures*

* I have posted some pictures for now that I borrowed from the internet, but will place my own later when I get back to the hotel*

We left the wind whipped Cliffs of Moher, following the hairpin turns down to the next little town - very little! The Stonecutters restaurant and pub was our oasis for lunch this day, an adorable yellow cottage holding strong against the winds near the edge of the ocean. The wind was really blowing, and the waves broke so far out from shore that the whitecaps rolled in for at least 300 feet. I'd say it was a surfers dream, except I don't surf! But I thought of Julie and Doug and wondered if they might like to give it a try. Hopefully I took a decent picture of it and can post it when I get to a place where I can reach my pictures.

Lunch was finally the closest to pub cuisine since our meal in Kilkenny. I had lightly pan fried fish cakes on a bed of mixed greens, Austin had seafood chowder (not as good as our night in Kilkenny at Fields' pub), Emma had a panini (ok, not so ~Irish~) and Mike had Guinness beef stew - amazing! The restaurant uses only Irish beef, so you can't get more authentic than that, right? We were stuffed, but topped it off with a traditional bread and butter pudding, complete with warm custard - YUM! I also had my first cider - a Bulmer's pear. Loved it. Regular cider comes back to haunt me, but this stuff was good! I had another one today... (Monday).

With our bellies full, we wound our way to the Burren, an area of Ireland that is of vast wild and rock. The formations are amazing and very different from anywhere else in Ireland. Nestled in the nooks and crannies of the rock are darling little plants of all kinds, with delicate flowers of yellow, white, and purlple to name a few. It's the most amazing rock garden you will ever see!

Stopping along the route, we saw the Poulnabrone Portal Tomb ruin, the most recognizable dolmen ruin outside of the druid Stonehenge, and it's actually much older, by a couple of thousand years.

Thinking back to the first time I saw this amazing man-made formation, me and the same girls who piled out of the tin can car at the Cliffs of Moher, pulled up to the side of the road and walked out over the rocks and right up to the dolmen, without even knowing it's significance. We weren't even looking for it, we just happened to see it and think it looked pretty cool. I do remember thinking at the time that anyone could come along in this vast empty, quiet place and do something to ruin this unique formation. Now it is only protected by a small rope which rings the tomb with the signs that request no entry. There is now a parking area and a designated historical park, complete with kiosks that explain the history and formation of the area, and the significance of the tomb. I found it all extrememly interesting. The kids of course, just enjoyed jumping across the rocks and crevices.

We beat it out of there just as we saw the rain coming (at least we can see it coming!) .

Of course we saw the stray castle and church in various states of crumble, with cows grazing among the ruins like it's no big deal.

Ireland - Sunday July 26

We arrived in the town of Ennis on Saturday, and will be leaving on Monday for the trip back to Dublin. (That's for my bro, Scott!)

Today we visited the Cliffs of Moher - spectacular of course. My how it's changed since I was here 20 years ago. It was just a gang of girls piling out of a car and walking up to the edge. Not any more. There is a whole visitor center and all sorts of steps and railings, which although likely necessary, takes away from the awesome feeling that you've just discovered where the edge of the world really is.

All the railings do help with the agrophobia, I will admit. I've been having anxiety over this day for a while. Mike likes to tease me with that, getting close to the edges of things and even pretending to fall, when he's really jumping to a lower ledge that you can't see from your vantage point. Being anxious about it was reasonable, under the cirucumstances!

All was well until 3 members of team Baxendell decided to go beyond the designated area. Eventually I joined them, figuring this was my Travel-Dare Pit Stop Challenge! Thankfully I wasn't there for Mike scootching up to the edge on his belly and hanging the camera over the edge for a couple of shots. But they weren't expecting to see me over the barrier at all, and so I got a little video of them as they walked back from the edge. Travel Dare completed, as far as I'm concerned!

Yup, that's really THE edge... 725 feet above the crashing waves...

Observations...

Ok, before I forget, here are some observations about our time in the United Kingdom - in no particular order!

• All of the outlets have on and off buttons - this is not specific to hotels either. If you plug in something, like your TV, then you still have to turn the outlet on. I'm confident that there are zero deaths by electrocution in the UK each year. Even the outlets in the bathrooms will only fit the plugs that come on the end of an electric razor. Forget trying to dry or curl your hair in the bathroom - not going to happen.

• Speaking of electric, in hotels you have to keep your room key card in a slot by the door in order to make the outlets and lights even work in the first place. If you take the key card out, the lights will go out after so many minutes. On the outset this seems like a good idea - not only do you save electricity if you're not using it, you don't usually misplace your room card! After a while, it gets annoying when combined with the observation above.

• NOTHING is open on Sunday, except the pubs and restaurants. Oh, and the Churches.

• Hotels do not have ice buckets, and if you ask for one, it's because they think you want to chill your bottle of wine. If you want ice, you have to go to the hotel bar and ask for it. Most hotels do not have ice machines, and if they do, it's by the cup, not the bucket.
  

• The bathtubs are much higher, or maybe it's that they're deeper. Either way, it's quite a step up to get in.

• The bathroom trash container is the same little silver bin in all the hotels, and they're a pain because you have to step on the little pedal to open them. Convenient! But annoying because they are so small and light that when the top opens, it springs back a little too far and ca-changs into the wall. Did I mention it's' metal? Silly, I know... I've started taking the plastic liner out and just using that.

• There aren't McDonalds and Starbucks on every corner - refreshing! There seem to be more Burger King's than Micky D's.
  

• Pubs stop serving food after 6pm. Restaurants are not as plentiful as pubs. Did I mention there aren't McDonalds on every corner? Sometimes you can find the occasional fast food joint open late in areas that accommodate the pub crowds (aka: drunks) when they let out - like KFC in Camden. When you're hungry, you'll eat anything...

• Shops close at 6. If you want to do any shopping for local trinkets, do it before 6pm. Some "bigger cities" might keep their shops open until 8, depending on how much foot traffic is around. Needless to say, it's been tricky to get any fun shopping done, since we're always looking for food first!

• There are no laundraumats in Ireland, except in the big cities like Limerick and Dublin. If you have clothes you need cleaned, you take them to a dry cleaning and laundry shop, where you drop off your stuff, they wash it, and the you pick it up....the next day. They close at 8 pm, and they're not open on Sunday's. Today is Sunday and we're doing our first load of laundry in the hotel bathtub. Thank goodness this hotel has heated towel racks!

• And speaking of electric and heated things, the hotels have these really weird pants press contraptions. They work great for drying the clothes you just washed in the tub! The only problem is, in order to cut down on the number of electrocutions in the UK (wink, wink), they are set on a timer of 15 minutes, and that is only after you figure out how to: turn on the power at the outlet, turn on the presser, then turn on the timer. If you can get past those 3 things and still get electrocuted, then you must want to die.

• They have these great hot pots in hotel rooms to make tea or coffee with - I wish I could get these at home. They plug into a base that automatically starts the pot heating - superfast and super hot - you'll have a boil in the matter of 1 minute (not that you want boiling water for your tea or coffee). At home you can get something similar, but it would never get this hot this fast. It's surprising to me, what with all the electrical safety measures in place over here, that the heat on the pots aren't "regulated" (a word used quite often on the news).

Blarney Castle

Blarney Castle - Friday

Started raining as soon as we arrived, and poured (luckily) just before we started up to the castle, so we were able to stay (relatively) dry at the gift shop.

It's a harrowing climb to the top - the stairs spiral and get smaller the higher you get. The only railing is a thick rope running the length of the spiral from top to bottom. There are many cubbies and small rooms you have to weave in and out of before you make it to the top portion, and the "inside" of the castle is hollow - meaning there are no floors in the center. Once you get to the top, there is nothing but the outside castle wall on the one side of you, and a sheer drop down 3 stories on the other side. With all the cubbies and rooms, it'd be a great place to play hide and seek!

I've read there can be up to an hour wait to "kiss" the Blarney Stone, but luckily (again!) for us, there were no crowds and we more or less just walked right up to the kissing spot. Emma started to get anxious, but not because you have to lie prone and bend backwards 4 stories high with your head through a gap between the floor and the wall of the castle to reach the stone with your lips, but because she was afraid of... getting swine flu!

I finally persuaded her that she wouldn't get sick, after all, is anyone in line coughing or sneezing? And so she joined the rest of us with getting the "gift of the gab". I have to admit it was scary, both leaning back like that and the thought of catching swine flu, but we didn't drive all the way there to chicken out at the last minute! (check out that gap! There may be bars down there, and some guy holding on to you, but everything in your brain is telling you that this is not right!)

Ireland - It's Green Because It's Raining!

(Internet is ever elusive and very slow when I can get it, so words will most likely make it to the blog before pictures do - check back and hopefully there'll be something pretty to look at)

Two trains, a ferry ride, a rental car and 12 hours later, we finally arrived at our first destination in Ireland - Kilkenny. I think my teeth are worn down to nubs however, as riding on the left side of the road with Mike driving is infinitely worse than when he's driving on the right side! But we made it in one piece. All joking aside, Mike is doing a great job driving. As tiring as it is for me to grip the seat cushion, it's that much more exhausting to be the driver!

Kilkenny is an adorable town with it's own castle. Our hotel was right across the river from the castle, which was closed by the time we made it to town, and not open before we left today!

After checking in, the first thing we did was look for food. As a matter of fact, think all we do is either look for food, buy food, think about food, and eat food. By the time we find the food, we're so hungry that everything tastes great and we've stuffed ourselves silly. Two hours later, we're looking for food again - snacks, water, ice cream - food in any form. I'm going to rename our trip The Baxendell's Amazing Hunting and Gathering Tour.

The problem with finding food is that although pubs may be open, they don't serve food after 6pm if they're not also a restaurant. Naturally, this is a problem when you're hunting and gathering at 8pm! What we think of as grocery store, they call Supermarkets, and are only in the bigger cities. Adding to the thrill of the hunt, most of the little shops that sell snacks close at 6pm, which makes for lots more hunting than gathering. Hopefully this will benefit my waistline in the long run!

We had an awesome dinner at a restaurant/pub called Fields. Mike had his first Guinness, complete with shamrock foam. I had an amazing seafood chowder, and Emma had Hobo Hash - in case you're wondering, Hobo Hash is basically homefries with sausage, canadian bacon, cheddar cheese, topped with a fried egg, and very yummy!

The B's Have Landed

We made it to London! and with our last 12 hours in this town I finally found free internet to blog with - although we've been able to update our status and make comments via FaceBook, I have been desperate for some real internet. So where do we finally find it - not at Starbucks, but at the game arcade, of all places!

We were staying in Camden Lock until today, when we moved hotels because we added a day way back when and couldn't get the same hotel for another night. Camden is a very unusual and eclectic place - I call it Punk Bohemian, in that most everyone has one or more combinations of the following: hair with two or more colors, black leather clothing with studs, fishnets of some kind, and copious piercings. Needless to say, I would've loved this place in high school, and can appreciate it now, but most of the peeps seem to be under the influence of something at all times. But the people are really harmless, and the place has an overall carnival feel (I mean that in a horrified curiosity kind of way...)

So here is our adventure so far, working backwards from today - feel free to scroll past the drivel and just look at the pictures!


Wednesday July 22 - The London Eye and Madame Tussuad's:
It's just after 2 pm our time and we just got off the London Eye. They call it a flight, and it's pretty cool. The ride is sweet! - Smooth and roomy! Nice views of Parliament and Big Ben (which is really just the bell inside the tower), and Westminster Abbey, among many other sites.

This morning we went to Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum, which was a lot of fun despite the crowds which seem to be clueless as to any sort of order or manners. Pretty much par for the course here in London - since everyone seems to be from out of town. The figures are just placed about in different rooms based on themes, and people just wander willy nilly up to one to have their picture taken. Imagine this though with hundreds of people... Most of the celebs look really good and realistic, like Samuel Jackson, Tom Cruise, the Queen... Nicole Kidman's is really amazing, and Jim Carrey was picking Emma's nose. I got to whisper my phone number to George Clooney...we'll see if he calls or not!

Tuesday - Windsor Castle
Missed the 7:45 am alarm, so got a late start to Windsor. The weather was drizzling on and off, starting as soon we got off the train and to the castle. They give you an audio tour, in which you enter the stop number you're at and it gives you all sorts of good info. Prince Charles even welcomed us to the castle - via audio, that is!

It is gorgeous there and the castle is at the top of a hill of row shops. St. George's Cathedral is just stunning (no pictures allowed) and the Queen's parents are buried in a small chapel off the knave there. King Henry VIII is also there, and surprisingly, not in any fancy burial vault of any kind.

Saw a changing of the guard at a guard shack, and although it wasn't all the pomp and circumstance of the guard changing at Buckingham Palace, it was still interesting and amazing to watch the precision of this seemingly ordinary military maneuver.


Monday Buckingham Palace Changing of the Guard and Tower Bridge -
Our first full day! Operating on fumes ... and only 3 hours sleep in 36 hours...
First off; the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. We procured our place at the front of the golden gates early enough to get front row, only to be smashed like mushy peas (mashed green peas - yummy!) against the fence when the crowds started to build. Poor Emma was really smashed, but she held on long enough to get a good view.

The military band played, and that was quite a sight to see the changing of the guard band. Once they were in their general place in front of the gates, they were put to company rest and ordered to get their music stands, which happened to be directly in front of us. It was quite funny when the soldiers approached the gate to gather the stands, and the crowd gasped with oooo's and ahhhs! How the soldiers must feel like they're in the zoo at times - being the gorillas that break out of their normal behavior to beat on the glass and startle the masses. They must secretly roll their eyes at us.

The lead tuba player walked up to the conductor and told him the song to perform, at which time the tuba player walked the inside of the horseshoe formation to tell each musician which song to prepare for. Of course it featured the low brass section, and I'd like to think they chose it especially for Austin! The band sounded AMAZING, and with only one flutist (a woman!) I was amazed at how well I could hear her playing above all the brass. It was quite a spectacle, indeed!

We booked it right to the Tower of London and went on the Beefeater's tour - that was pretty cool. So much historic death and mayhem, I'm surprised the walls don't bleed!

The Yoeman Warders are all retired military service men, and had to have served at least 15 years in one the Queens forces and be of a certain rank; our guide having served 18 in the army (and not looking old enough!).

Get this for perks: you get to live in the Tower with your family, and when you retire, the Queen buys you a house in the country! The yoeman's only have to conduct a tour once or twice a month; the rest of the time they have security service elsewhere - either in the Tower or "Wherever else the Queen deems our service."

Every day a secret password is issued to the guard workers and they can get into the Tower any time up until midnight. Good luck trying to leave the Tower after midnight if you don't have the password... Like our guide said, it's the safest place in Britain to raise your 16 year old daughter!

Toured the Tower Bridge (that's the FAN-cy one that most people call the London Bridge) - you go in one tower, walk up a ton of stairs, cross over the pedestrian bridge on top, and walk down the other tower. The bridge opened up for a tall-masted sailboat while we were up there. Couldn't see much of that, but we got to see it lift again to let the sailboat back out when we back down to street level and looking for the Tube stop.

Found dinner someplace (don't ask me where because I can't remember!) but it wasn't pub food; as we have yet to have any authentic pub grub yet! Boo!

"Order early to avoid disappointment"

These words rang all to true to me recently, after anxiously awaiting my many-pocketed "Spy Jacket", which was going to all-but-replace the need for a purse. The phrase first made me chuckle having read it when applying for the Ceremony of Keys tickets; oh-so politely urging me to send in my dates of request, and to "Order early to avoid disappointment." How charming, those Brits, and so polite!

Well, we all know that the British have a different way of saying things than we Americans do, and the epiphany I had that fateful day last week upon opening my package was the American translation of that phrase to mean; "Get your sh** together, or your going to be sorry!", because sorry, I was.

I've had my eye on this jacket for many months, and in my effort of trying to be prudent about spending $120.00 (crazy, I know!) on a (really cool!) multi-purpose pocketed jacket (it's slimming, and the sleeves zip off!), I waited and looked around for something like it. After reading numerous reviews, deciding there was nothing like it (and there really isn't....), and after measuring myself three times, I finally bit the plastic bullet and ordered it. Now I couldn't get the brick colored one, so I settled with the cement color, but the good news is that after searching for a coupon code online, I saved $20 and shipping! I was feeling so ahead of the game, that is until it showed up last week.

"Order early to avoid disappointment" is an understatement, and charmed, I am not. This thing is HUGE! A smaller size is not going to help this situation, and of course I didn't order early enough to get a replacement, thus major disappointment on top of regular disappointment. I understand that you have to take into consideration the pockets and the items going into them, but really, this jacket could make an elephant look pregnant. Needless to say, I am very disappointed (I can hear you laughing from here, Lori!). This is not how it looked on the website - and they claimed it was slimming!

I have decided to put all vanity aside and post the pictures for you to see for yourself; just in case you're having one of those days where you need a good laugh (and just for the record, I am not pregnant...!). There was no way in H-E-double-hockey-sticks that I was going to trek around Europe even ONE day in this thing! After having already looked all over Tarnation for something like it, I knew then and there that it was time to institute Plan B. My pink two-pocketed Nike wind breaker would just have to do. Maybe I can add pockets? Nah, mesh inside. Oh well.

And so, like my bathing suit top that finally arrived on Tuesday with a nice big hole in it, my advice to anyone ordering items online is, "Get your sh** together early - very early!"

What exactly is slimming about this jacket?
My pregnant looking bottom half makes my arms look like sticks!
(just to reiterate, I am not pregnant!)

Packing...and Re-packing

I've packed my suitcase a total of 15 times now. Just to be clear, this is all by design - call them 'test-packs', if you will. That's when you throw in some stuff with the thought that you are going to need it on your trip. A few days later when you open your suitcase to add some more stuff you're going to need, you see the stuff you already need, then decide that maybe you don't really need it after all because now there is no room. I think that's where the term 'pack-rat' comes from. I knew one carry-on was going to be a challenge!

The challenge is the weather. I don't like to be cold. I HATE being cold. London and Dublin are predicted to be the low 60's this week - and this is during the daytime, people! Ok, maybe not bad for traveling, but by contrast, Italy is in the upper 80's, and Tunisia, a scorching 95! I feel test-pack #16 coming on...maybe a pair of jeans after all...

Kimmie was nice enough to let me borrow some skirts. She went to Europe last year, including Italy where she said, "Only tourists wear shorts. Everyone else wears skirts." Ok, well it can be pretty hot in Italy, so maybe a skirt would be a good thing. Plus, I have to wear something more fancy for the dinners on the cruise - a two for one! Not being a big skirt fan, I decided to do a 'test-wear' for the day. Well, suffice it to say, I'm still not a skirt fan, at least not for every day casual wear. Although I got compliments from Karen's daughter Sierra, (who told me to "pack it!"), It's just not my thing. So count those two out. But the reversible organza-ish one, now that looks promising! And so it's been packed in my suitcase...until today. Realizing that although it's reversible and is essentially two outfits, I didn't want to have to wear the same top with it each time. So instead, I found a black skirt for which I can wear the many shirts I already had packed, and viola! 5 or more outfits, easily!

So with that decision made (again), I've closed the suitcase for now. I'm sure I'll rethink it all again when the clothes I have in the wash are ready...

The Route

From red, to blue to purple...

Anticipation - almost

We've made some progress in our trip planning - just check out that calendar! If you look closely though, you'll notice there still are some blank spots. One would think that everything should be in place by now, what with only just over two weeks before blast-off! Ha ha! That's the beauty of planning it all yourself, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

My immediate goal however, is to get to the place in our planning where all we have to do is excitedly wait; much like the many weeks you spend as a child pouring over the toy catalogs, writing your list, visiting Santa at the mall, and then WAITING for the presents on that Christmas morn. The days seem like weeks, and you can't sleep with the anticipation. This is all very ironic, of course, given that Mike never experienced this annual childhood angst trip. I'm sure he must've experienced something like that...but maybe not. Lucky! (also very ironic...)

Although there still are many more holes to fill, I'm feeling a bit more on track now that the hotel in Vernazza is booked, AND twice confirmed - at least through email. No fancy online booking going on here. Just a simple, "We're booked for those dates, but I have a friend who rents his house" kinda reservation. Which explains why we still have to call 4 days ahead to confirm (again!). NOT a real confidence builder there, but oh well, that's why it's an adventure! Just look at this place - gorgeous!

Constructive Panic

I'm well within panic range. Only four weeks before we leave on our trip. Flattery may get you everywhere, but panic gets you nowhere, quickly. Dan Zadra has a great quote: "Worry is a misuse of the imagination." How true that is.

Speaking of flattery, the order for my Sherpani Iris backpack, not mentioned by name in the last post, was cancelled by the purse web site - they didn't have the Pebble color I ordered. Bummer! At least they gave me $10 off my next order. I decided I'd look around in real-life a little more before placing an order for a different color. For $55.00, the cuteness can wait. Besides, in the meantime I had ordered a new camera backpack...not quite the Caddillac of camera backpacks, but close...the Lowepro Fastpak 250!

Why is it so great? Well first and foremost, you can carry it like a backpack, but sling it off one shoulder and hold the pack sideways to open the camera compartment in a jiffy. My current backpack is really too small to hold my Cannon while it's wearing the wide-angle pants, and I have to take the pack off all the way in order to get the camera out, or to change the lens - a royal pain in the toucas. As a result, most of the time I end up having 4+ lb. camera tugging around my neck even when not in picture mode, just to have it at the ready. (That, and it looks goofy! Bermuda shorts and visor, anyone?!)

The other most important feature for me is that it holds a laptop, which I will need to process my pictures while on the road, and of course, to blog! The Fastpak is the only camera backpack that I could find that had both of these important features. I was sure I made the right choice by choosing the "smaller" of the Fastpack models.

So excitedly I waited for my new camera backpack to arrive, and the one thing I knew for sure as soon as I saw it - Mike is going to be carrying this baby because...it...is...HUGE! Jeepers, it's a good thing I ordered the smaller one! I was sure I had made the right choice after reading all the reviews, and even watching a video on YouTube (ok, so it was in a foreign language!!). Emma asks me the obvious; didn't I look at the measurements? Well, yeah, but it didn't seem like it would be that much bigger than the one I already have.

Now I'm second guessing my choice, since even though the laptop compartment fits a widescreen laptop, we're only bringing a mini notebook. That's alright though, cuz we'll need room for the lappy power pak, along with all of the other gear for the Cannon - extra batteries and charger, card reader, filters and lenses, the video camera and cords, phone, ipod, kitchen sink...even though we won't want to carry all that stuff around all the time, it all still needs to get there in the first place.

I tell myself it'll be fine. Mike will carry the backpack. I most likely will still have the camera tugging at my neck, but at least the new pack will hold all of that other junk, so that we can lose it all at once.

As I've so aptly illustrated, second guessing creates panic. Panic is worry on steroids, and "Worry is a misuse of the imagination." No sense in worrying about it. You can do your best, but you can't plan for absolutely every situation, such is Life. Carpe Diem anyway.

Perhaps the Sherpani in the Canyon color...

The Final Countdown

It's the Final Countdown - it's just over 6 weeks (already!) that we leave on our trip and my anxiety dreams have already started. Probably because there is still so much to plan, book, confirm, purchase, reserve, print, rent, figure out, research.... agh! Funny how months turn into weeks...excitement to alarm!

Have you ever noticed how six weeks seems to be the standard amount of time polite people and businesses use with which to calculate how far in the future something is to take place? Why is that the magic number?

For instance, Emily Post suggests that you send out your wedding invitations 6-8 weeks in advance. Very polite - it gives people a chance to plan; then they wait until the last minute to RSVP and buy your present anyway. Shower invitations are usually sent 4-6 weeks in advance. Super plan-y (organized) people like to receive an invite 6 weeks in advance - however, most people send them by 4 weeks. Seems like it depends if it's a wedding shower or baby shower.

Then there's when you order that awesome $2.59 toy after saving 535 Mallow Cup coupons, and the order form tells you it will be '6-8 weeks for shipping and handling'. All that anticipation and waiting before you're disappointed by it. Maybe it's faster if you're expecting something in the regular mail. Our Ceremony of Keys tickets were supposed to take '6-8 weeks for processing' - surprise! They came in half the time. (Those Brits, so very polite!)

So with two weeks of things to do before I really panic (4 weeks ! Panic Time!), I'd better get down to it. If I get enough done in that amount of time, maybe I can sleep at night. At least I have a fashionable backpack on the way - and I don't have to wait 6 weeks for it!

The Carry-On Challenge - This one's for The TITLE!

It's every man every man, woman and child for themselves when it comes to luggage on this trip. We need to hit the ground running, and more than one bag each will be nothing but a big fat anchor on the Baxendell Fun Boat. Checked baggage takes too much time to retrieve. It gets lost. And it's usually heavy - Heck, if you're going to check it, you're going to (over)pack it. We'll save it for the trip home.

My friend Lori thinks I'm crazy. I told her that I was going to pack in one carry on for the entire 31 days. She says it can't be done. I wonder myself, since I am a very HEAVY packer under normal circumstances. Knowing that we are two of a kind when it comes to being prepared and wanting to be stylish as well (ha ha!), our recent conversation about my trip went something like this, with of course, the most important questions first:

"What, are you kidding? Aren't you going to pack any shoes? You know how big our feet are! That alone takes up half the bag!"

"I already have fancy flip flops - they pack flat," I retort. "I'll wear my heaviest shoes on the plane."


"What about your hair stuff?"

"I'm getting my hair cut short next week so I only need to bring a blow dryer. I'll just pack one little bottle of shampoo and styler gel and use the hotel stuff."

"What about jewelry!?" as she waves towards her ears.

"Not bringing any. I have a silver Tiffany ring I'm going to wear as my wedding band, and a pair of silver hoops. If I need anything or see a necklace I like, I can buy it, like a souvenir! "

"Well, yeah, but...!" she stammers. "But what about your makeup?!!"

"Eh, I'll take one of each of blush, eyeshadow and stuff, and if I need something, I'll buy it - you never know, I might discover something new that I can't live without!"

For the kicker, I told her I also have to stay under 22 pounds with my bag - I thought she was going to faint.

"What about your clothes? Jeans are heavy! A jacket?"

"I'm packing shirts with light materials, like this one." where upon I reveal my very stylish and sheer blouse, which can be worn both casual and dressy, washed by hand and dry by the next day, thankyouverymuch. She acquiesces a bit (ie: hesitates) that is, until I tell her about the jacket with 112 pockets. And zip off sleeves.

"Pockets? What the heck are you going to put in 112 pockets?"

"My papers and stuff! My camera lenses, a pen." Ok, that sounds lame.

"You're going to be in the same outfit in every picture!" she jokes. "Yeah there's that shirt again! Now it's in France! And there's the jacket...without the sleeves!"

"Nah, I'll turn them inside out for a different look!"

"WHAT?!! Inside OUT?"

I'm kidding. Her face is priceless. I'm laughing, but now she's breaking me down - she might actually have me on this one. I can wear less makeup (sunglasses!), cut my hair short (styler gel!) and do without my favorite pair of jeans (skirts, capris, and cargo pants - cute!) but to be documented in the same shirt in all of my blog pictures? This was going to be THE true challenge, and anyone who knows me knows why!

On certian airlines, vanity has it's price - Ryan Air (which we're taking from Dublin to Glasgow), have very specific luggage allowances; and they're not generous:

Strictly one item of cabin baggage is permitted per passenger (excluding infants). Handbag, briefcase, laptops, shop purchases, camera etc must be carried within your permitted 1 piece of cabin baggage. (AGGH!) It should weigh no more than 10kg and not exceed the maximum dimensions of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm.

That translates into 21.7 x 15.7 x 8 inches and 22lbs, otherwise pay up: Of course trying to actually figure out how much it would cost according to their Table of Fees is about as easy as reading the Periodic Table of Elements. Huh? It's the 22lbs max each bag that's going to be tricky.

Even packing lightly, we're going to have electronics, camera, a tripod, a teddy bear, and trolls to contend with. I already know we'll have to check at least one bag (the bag with the dirty clothes!) because of my camera gear and laptop being carried on with me, so this is where that jacket with the 112 pockets will come in handy! Pocket camera, ipod, passports, Nintendo DS Lite, GPS - all in my jacket! Who's laughing now?

Luckily for us (me!), the Ryan Air flight is in the first week of our trip. That leaves us (me!) three good weeks to collect crap for the checked bag home!

{I found this cute little straightener that works awesome, so it's coming with me...}

To the Tower!

"But not off with me head, I beseech you! ...I have a little neck..."

We received our tickets to the Ceremony of Keys on Friday! We got our first choice, Monday, 20th July - our first 24 hours in London.

The history behind the Tower is fascinating, especially the stories of Henry the VIII and his six wives. It gives us a whole different perspective when visiting in July, that's for sure! If you have a chance to watch the video in the link above, it's really interesting. The political and religious story behind Henry is much deeper than the dramatic sibling rivalry depicted in the movie The Other Boleyn Girl.

Our Ceremony of Keys ticket came on Friday. That was quick! We got our first choice, so we will be visiting on Monday, July 20.

Luck 'o the Irish

As if it weren't hard enough to find an affordable hotel room in Dublin at the height of the tourist season, U2 had to go and have a concert, (no make that two concerts!) in Dublin this summer. Hailing from Dublin originally, this is a REALLY big deal to Dubliners; the Holy Grail of concerts.

I love U2. They are the anthem band of my youth. Under a Blood Red Sky is one of my favorite albums. Any songs from War and The Joshua Tree instantly take me back to those first tastes of freedom in high school and college. In the words of William Wallace, "Frr-r-r-eedom!" (Ok, so he's Scottish... and do NOT confuse the Irish with the Scottish, or English or Welsh, for that matter; EVER.)

Now I've never seen U2 in concert. On their 2005 Vertigo tour, I contemplated going, until I calculated that it would cost approximately one month's mortgage payment to go see them in Toronto or Boston, then I realized that's why they named it the Vertigo tour. Ok, I don't live in a McMansion, but jeez! I don't even like The WHO that much. Well, ok, maybe I do.

As our luck would have it, they will be playing in Dublin July 24 AND 25 - the same time we're going to be there. Wow! Cool! Great! What better place to see U2 for the first time than in their hometown of Dublin!

Sure, us and 80,000 other fans; make that 164,000 fans. This is not just any venue either - but the Croke Park Stadium, which holds as many as a concert at Rich Stadium including field seats, and then some, and is the fourth largest stadium in Europe! Yikes, kiss any hotel room goodbye for that matter. Both concerts SOLD OUT in an hour...such swift sales that they will likely will be adding a third night...oh dear.

So, just in case they didn't make enough $ on their most recent "You're Not THAT Old Yet, Tour", U2 kicks off their second "Baby-Boomers and Gen X'ers Relive Your Semi-Punk Adolescence In Case You Missed It Last Time, Tour", this time officially dubbed the 360° Tour. Full Circle, I guess. To be fair about the grinding sound of the money making machine here:

"In keeping with U2 manager Paul McGuinness pledge to allocate at least 10,000 tickets at each venue at a cost of €30 each, the cheapest tickets will be priced at €33.50 which includes the booking fee.


Tickets for both concerts will range from €33.50 to €131.50 and are limited to six person/transactions."

How very thoughtful.

We were enlightened to this amazing clash in the time-space continuum when every and all hotel rooms, from every and all hotel search engines, were sucked into a vacuous black hole in a matter of minutes of plopping in our travel dates.

Our epiphany went something like this:
"Hmm...there must be something big going on in town that weekend, (understatement of the century) ....hmmm, hopefully the Pope's not in town, ha ha!... Ok, Google....Dublin...July 24. Uh, it's much worse than the Pope being in town. It's ...please tell me it's not...a....U2..... CONCERT?!? Aghh!"

I think it would be easier to find a hotel room in Dublin on St. Paddy's day - with the Pope in town.

Happy Traveling Rule #1 (aside from having a DVD player with earphones for the kids) -

Don't Panic!

We were able to find a really nice and CHEAP hotel (Bewley's, as recommended by Samantha Brown of The Travel Channel!) for the 27th, so that is booked and we can rest assured that we have at least one night in Dublin with a bed, pillow, and private bathroom (THAT is a whole 'nother story).

Happy Traveling Rule #2 - Be Flexible!

Our only travel restriction is to be back to to Dublin by the 28th for our flight out to Glasgow. Instead of visiting Dublin as soon as we come over and then heading out two days later, we'll pick up our rental car and bee-line it to a location halfway between Dublin and Cork before the masses infiltrate on the 23rd. When we come back and drop off the car, then we'll do the touristy thing in Dublin, when all the other "tourists" have gone...hopefully.

Oh yeah, and...

Happy Traveling Rule #3 - Always Google for events in the town you're visiting, just in case you need to avoid them!

The Master Itinerary - In Ink!

Yea! We've made our Master Itinerary!

....now we need to work on some of the other minor details; like accommodations!

The Planner, The Bookie, and the Financier

Hurray! Another major leg of the tour has been booked today...and what a relief it is, since now I have one less week of daily plans to make!

Mike says I'm the Planner, he's just the Financier. But he's also the Bookie, and so Mike booked the week-long Med cruise with MSC. I was a little apprehensive about this cruise at first because I didn't know much about some of the ports of call, and even though we would be spending three other weeks traveling at our whim, the thought of giving up places that I wanted to see (Tuscany!) for those I probably wouldn't otherwise visit, (Malta?) suddenly left me feeling...greedy! I took that as a sign and the perfect reason to book the cruise - at what other time would we consider Malta or Tunisia to be on our destination list? (it helps that I did a lot of research on Malta and Tunisia!)

So why not just book a Med cruise with all the ports of call we would want to visit? That's easy - Price. Kids 17 and under cruise FREE on MSC. That, and the itinerary fits perfectly into the plans. MSC also offers travelers the option of getting on the ship at different ports in the itinerary, which makes for more flexibility. So the Bookie/Financier found a cheap flight from Edinburgh to Pisa (Florence) and for $60.00/person we're not only to our embarkation port, but we're close enough to Italy's Cinque Terre to visit for three days before we cruise!

The last little bit of the frame will be figuring out how to get from Italy to Paris to catch our flight home on August 18. Most likely we'll take a train, winding our way through France, but now that the majority of the skeleton is in place, filling in the blanks feels like a cinch!

Valetta, Malta, Maltese Islands
An ancient city


Click for a live web cam shot of Valetta Grand Harbor









This is a nice little video describing Malta and the Valetta Water Front in particular

Have You Ever Seen an IRC?

The Secret Life of IRC's

IRC's are a well kept secret. In the US they are called International Reply Coupons, and are used when you need someone from another country to send something to you in the US, without them having to pay for the postage to send it. Here we call it a self-addressed stamped envelope, and being that I needed something sent to me from England, they don't use our stamps. You'd think you could just send them a bunch of their stamps on an envelope, but that won't work either...thus, the IRC's. Simple enough, you would think.

Now why would I need these things anyway? My quest started when I read that you could request *free* tickets to a *very special* and *exclusive* ceremony that takes place at the Tower of London every night, called Ceremony of the Keys. (How special could it be, if it's every night?...)

Promptly at 9:30 every night, for the past 700 years, there is an official locking up of the Tower. Turn the lights out and lock the door, it's time for bed! At one time Ceremony of the Keys was public, but now you have to request tickets in writing many months ahead of time, especially if visiting in July or August (...so that's what makes it special!).

First you must submit your letter to the Resident Governor and Keeper of the Jewel Tower with your exact date of visit (with a back up date, just in case!), include all the names of those in your party, include a SASE, or in the case of those living outside of Britain, 2 IRC's, send it off and hope for the best.

Well trying to find a "Coupon-Response International" was a small adventure on its own. After my fair share of Googling, I finally found some information on what it was, and was fairly forewarned that many-a-post office clerk would not know what it is. If they did, then be prepared to be told that they are no longer being sold, and haven't been for years. Bollocks! (practicing my cockney there...) I'm here to tell you the USPS does still sell them, you just have to do some digging. Oh, and it helps if you ask for the right thing...

And from the US Postal Service

What are international reply coupons?
International reply coupons (IRCs) provide a convenient method for you to prepay replies from foreign countries. You can send your correspondent one or more coupons. Your correspondent exchanges the coupon for postage in his or her country. One coupon in the United States is exchangeable in any other participating member country for a stamp or stamps representing the minimum postage required for an unregistered airmail letter. If you are sending something that requires more postage than a standard letter, you should inquire with the appropriate foreign postal administration about how many IRCs will be needed to complete your transaction.

For a very funny take on the whole matter of IRC's, you must read this thread. I find British humor very entertaining!

So after making 5 phone calls, talking to 4 different people, 2 of whom had no clue as to what they were, I was able to get them from the HUGE main PO distribution center on Henrietta Road. It didn't help that I was calling them "Coupon-Response International", as is stated on the Tower of London website and clearly on the coupon itself, but go figure, we call them IRC's in the US. Had I Googled IRC, I would've found the info right away. I hightailed it over to the BIG Post Office before they changed their minds about having them, and $4.21 later I have my two IRC's in hand and I'm feeling mighty smart for having figured it all out!

They are very pretty, these IRC's, and remind me of the beautiful foreign money you see in other countries. So I thought I'd scan it to show you. Now you know what to look for. Hopefully I've saved someone else a little time.

Sidebar: Ironically enough, the term "Ponzi Scheme" was coined in the US after the "investment" in IRC's in the 1920's.

I've drafted my letter to the RG and KotJT, and shall be sending it off tomorrow. With any luck, we'll be accepted and get our tickets...now I'll just need to remember to pack them...

Travel Agents...Our Second Career, perhaps

Me thinks by the end of this trip, both Mike and I could be travel agents. Not that Mike doesn't work in this capacity on some level already - he's the go-to man whenever friends or family need a cheap airline ticket.

The latest development in the itinerary has the last fourth of our trip sketched out, and fits in perfectly with our schedule. We're looking at a week-long cruise of the Mediterranean, starting in Genoa and hitting ports in Marseille (France), Barcelona, Tunisia, Malta, Sicily, and Rome - a port a day! We found a cheap flight out of Edinburgh to Pisa/Genoa, which allows us to roam the Cinque Terre (oooo!) for a few days before departing from Genoa.

We cruised with MSC and rang in 2008 on their ship, the Lirica. Most Americans haven't heard of MSC, as they cater to the European market, but it's one of the biggest and fastest growing cruise lines and is just beginning to target the US and Canada. They have a brand new ship being launched in July, the Splendida. It's the sister ship to the Fantasia, which launched in Fall 2008. The Spendida will be right out of the wrapper - by the time we board the ship on August 8, we'll be the 5th public sailing. Not sure if that's a good thing....

The thought of a week of (relative) relaxation after 2 1/2 weeks on the road makes me absolutely giddy! Even though there won't be any relaxing days "at sea", and the cruise itinerary is a busy port-a-day, not having to drive or ride a train to get to a hotel will be great! Dinner will be ready, the beds will be made, the towels will be clean, and we'll have the best views of the coast you can have. That, and we were really confounded as how to visit all the places in Italy we wanted without a bunch of back-tracking. Not sure yet if we can get a reasonable flight from Genoa to Paris, but we can always take the train to the City of Love before our flight home 3 days later.

However, it's not booked yet...I'm having a tiny anxiety attack over whether the ports are worth visiting. So with that being said, I'm off to do some research on Tunisa. Now, have you ever heard of La Goulette?