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StumbleUponSt. Patrick’s Day Travel Insurance
Saturday, March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day. The celebrations traditionally involve a lot of events, parties and parades – and consumption of alcohol. If Ireland is the destination for your celebrations - or Irish Pubs anywhere else in the world – make sure you have your travel insurance with you. However, be warned, you won’t get much sympathy from your insurer, airline or anyone else if you get stinking drunk, crash your rental car, spend the night in the gutter rather than your expensive hotel, and then try to convince everyone leprechauns abducted you and made you miss your flight! For information about St. Patrick and the celebrations check out the following website: www.St-Patricks-Day.com.
Some members of the TIA team were in Dublin recently. It’s a great city. We were curious about the Guinness question and can vouch for the fact that Guinness DOES taste better there, fresh out of the tap! Women don’t often like the taste of Guinness and it has the reputation of being an ‘acquired taste.’ I always suspected men drank the stuff as some sort of ritual to prove themselves! My grandfather opened a bottle of the black, evil-looking grown-up stuff when I was small. He let me have a sip. I recoiled at the bitter taste with lips pursed, spitting and coughing and bore a grudge about it for a long time.
Anyway, we arrived in Dublin and headed straight for the famous Temple Bar area. Two of our group had been there before (though only one remembered it!). We found a suitable pub with live Irish folk music and dutifully ordered the traditional brews. The pouring of Guinness cannot be rushed. You have to wait while it settles and that lovely creamy head appears. It’s an art but definitely worth the wait! Being a ‘sissy girl’ I ordered a half, believing from traumatic childhood memories that I’d hate it, give it away, and order a nice glass of Merlot. I didn’t. I savoured every mouthful, and had to be stopped from attacking the bar tender when he tried to whisk the glass away before I’d drained the last drop. We ordered a few more rounds…
It was my first time in Dublin so next day with a few hours to spare I took myself off on a (fascinating but cold) open-top bus tour of the city. One of the stops was the Guinness Storehouse. The admission price includes a drink at the end of the tour at their Gravity Bar, which is at the very top and has magnificent views across the city. I don’t need to tell you what I ordered. What else could you order when you’re at the actual place where they brew the delicious stuff? Finding my way back to the bus afterwards was a bit of a challenge. You won’t be able to taste the brew, but you can look at it on their website: www.guinness-storehouse.com.
If you’re planning to visit Dublin, Aer Lingus flies regularly from Heathrow, Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Glasgow: www.aerlingus.com. Many other carriers go to Dublin so check your local airport for flights. We had a very nice flight from Norwich to Dublin with Flybe: www.flybe.com.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Holiday Destinations, Travel News, Traveller's Tales .You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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