We just got back from a UK/Ireland tour vacation. I have some English/Irish roots. It wasn't a homecoming thing, it was something that's been planned for months. We just wanted a good, historically rich place to go. It didn't disappoint. The Edinburgh Castle was cool, plus we saw the old Trim castle they used in the movie Braveheart for scenes.
BTW, "Dia dhaoibh ar maidin" is Irish Gaelic for "Good Morning" to a group of people. It's literally "God to you this morning" but that's the generally accepted phrase for "Hello to you this morning". Sorry, that's all I got. Gaelic looks cool in writing, but pronouncing it is more akin to russian. Letters don't get pronounced the same as you would think.
One of the highlights of the trip, at least for me, was while in Belfast, we got to write a hopeful message on the "Peace Wall" between the two main factions (we could have written anything we wanted to on the wall). We were also blessed with a tour from a guy who grew up during "the Troubles" and he had many interesting stories about how he survived it all. If you want a highlight of where not giving in on either political side ends up, the Irish had been doing it for YEARS.
The absolute low point was the fact that two days before coming home, we got the Covid. My slight fever has broke last night finally, but it's so far like having the flu. But horrible time to have it while travelling. Especially the 8+ hour plane flight back from Dublin in a test tube. A whole slew of people were hacking and yakking, including us. It's one thing to do that flight when in good health, but doing it with the crud is miserable.
We travelled around on a big azz luxury tour bus. Great accomodations, but I told the wife that the two ladies on the bus that were hacking and yakking from day 1 were going to infect us all. And SURE ENOUGH. The petri dish effect came into play. Some got it earlier than others. We decided to put on masks after we started feeling ill. Not to protect us from others, but to keep us from blowing cheese on others nearby out of respect. Science has already proven most masks don't really work.
BTW, "Dia dhaoibh ar maidin" is Irish Gaelic for "Good Morning" to a group of people. It's literally "God to you this morning" but that's the generally accepted phrase for "Hello to you this morning". Sorry, that's all I got. Gaelic looks cool in writing, but pronouncing it is more akin to russian. Letters don't get pronounced the same as you would think.
One of the highlights of the trip, at least for me, was while in Belfast, we got to write a hopeful message on the "Peace Wall" between the two main factions (we could have written anything we wanted to on the wall). We were also blessed with a tour from a guy who grew up during "the Troubles" and he had many interesting stories about how he survived it all. If you want a highlight of where not giving in on either political side ends up, the Irish had been doing it for YEARS.
The absolute low point was the fact that two days before coming home, we got the Covid. My slight fever has broke last night finally, but it's so far like having the flu. But horrible time to have it while travelling. Especially the 8+ hour plane flight back from Dublin in a test tube. A whole slew of people were hacking and yakking, including us. It's one thing to do that flight when in good health, but doing it with the crud is miserable.
We travelled around on a big azz luxury tour bus. Great accomodations, but I told the wife that the two ladies on the bus that were hacking and yakking from day 1 were going to infect us all. And SURE ENOUGH. The petri dish effect came into play. Some got it earlier than others. We decided to put on masks after we started feeling ill. Not to protect us from others, but to keep us from blowing cheese on others nearby out of respect. Science has already proven most masks don't really work.
