Chapter
1: How the tradition happened
I am
sure I don’t need to let you know that St Patrick's Day is a day celebrated the World over by drinking mainly pints
of Guinness (or any other alcohol for that matter) annually on 17 March. What
most people don’t know is that it is the death date of the most commonly
recognised patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461.)
Since 2003 my friend Laura and I have
celebrated St. Patrick’s Day (or Paddy’s Day as it’s affectionately known to
many) in a different place each year. It combines two of our favourite past
times. Drinking and travelling. So how did this tradition come about I hear you
cry. Well let me tell you.
Laura and I first met at University in
Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1998. We both were studying Travel and Tourism
Management and it was a super social course (often rudely branded a Mickey
Mouse course by other business students.) Bastards. We had various course
nights out and frequented the student union pretty much every week night
without fail. Into our fourth year it became apparent Laura and I would be lifelong
friends as our love of 80s nights and talk of travel deepened. We decided
during one night at the union that we would go travelling for 6 months once we
graduated.
Now it may have seemed to others that this
was merely a drunken conversation but true to our annihilated words we then
agreed that we would work the summer after our final exams and head off for a 6
month trip the following September. Having come up with a loose plan we then
headed to the STA travel agent that was conveniently located at our University
campus. How vintage actually going into a travel agent rather than just booking
everything online as we do now.
We asked about the best way to do a round
the world trip and the agent said the best fare would be one that went from
London-Bangkok-Singapore-Sydney-Christchurch-Auckland-Los Angeles-NYC-London.
This would come to the total cost of £1,000 which was indeed a deal. What it meant was that it would also give us
time to travel overland in each country before needing to get to our next city
for the onward flight. It was perfect and she made out a mock itinerary with
how long she thought we needed in each place and then actually held the seats
for each flight. She said they would be held for 72 hours when we would need to
either pay for them or let them go. Off we went with a printed copy of the
itinerary and went to think it over.
Everything seemed perfect except for one
thing. She had put us down to have 10 days in NYC. Now I think this would work
out quite expensive for any traveller let alone one that has been on the road
for just shy of 6 months so we decided we would go back and say that we were
happy with everything but wanted to shorten the last bit to 3 nights only. She
understood and started to make the change to the booking commenting that we
would be flying back on the 17th March to London. I instantly
thought that it was Paddy’s Day and perhaps we should stay just for one extra
night? The agent checked it on her calendar (the day was marked green) and
commented that it would be cool to spend Paddy’s Day in NYC. So there it was. Our
last day of our Worldwide Tour would be the 17th March and we would
come home to Blighty with a hangover the next day. What we didn’t know at the
time was that in that moment we were starting a tradition which I intend to
keep until my last Paddy’s Day on Earth.
Chapter
2: New York
Our Worldwide trip had pretty much allowed
us to follow the sun around the Globe. We left the UK at the end of the summer
heading to South East Asia where we spent a month covering Thailand, Malaysia
and Singapore all of which were hot. We then arrived in Australia in time for
the Southern hemisphere summer leaving New Zealand in early March for a few
days in L.A. which let’s face it is always warm. We had conquered a jungle
party on Koh Tao, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Kayaking for three days
in Noosa, Fraser Island, the Whitsunday Islands, bungee jumping in Queenstown,
sky diving in Taupo and now we had our biggest drinking challenge of the trip
to face.
So on the 14th March we touched
down in a rather chilly NYC. We hadn’t packed clothes for this so we would have
to make do with our fleeces as our main source of warmth. There wasn’t even a
sniff of a conversation about buying some warm outer clothes. All our pennies
were ear marked for sightseeing and alcohol.
During our travels we had been keeping in
touch with friends back home and some of them had arranged to come and meet us
in New York for a holiday. All of us (bar one) were NYC virgins so being short
of a known place to meet we had agreed to rendez vous in the easily located
Planet Hollywood in Times Square once we all had arrived. Could we have been
any more touristy (or have picked a more expensive place to have a drink on our
first night?)
We met up with Claire, Kathryn, Stuart and
Michelle in the Planet and instantly starting gossiping about where we had
been, where they were all working now they were in the real world and what
should we do over the coming 4 days. Sinking a few cocktails we then decided to
move on to a much more suitable drinking establishment in the form of a cheap
speakeasy. Heading outside Michelle loudly commented that Laura and I would
both be freezing if we didn’t have a jacket. Typical 22 year olds we thought we
would be fine, especially if we kept our beer blanket on at all times throughout
the day. We were all impressed by the city so far and even more so that steam
actually does come out of the manholes in the street. Just like the movies. Drunk
at 2am we headed for another most glamorous meal in McDonald’s before
adjourning to the comfort of the YHA hostel for a few hours rest.
Breakfast no doubt consisted of a can of
coke before heading out to see some of the sights. Unfortunately Claire and
Kathryn had both developed a stomach bug (suspected from the plane) and for the
rest of the trip would be on a vomit see-saw of one being ill and the other
fine before reversing roles for a few hours. So leaving them to recover Laura
and I went to do one of the must dos in the city and went up the Empire State
Building. It was fantastic views and we took some great pictures with our very
limited film camera. I do rather miss the anticipation of getting your film
developed once returning from a holiday. In a way it used to be like living the
whole thing again. The weather whilst we were atop the Empire State was perfect
for seeing right across the city and our photos turned out magnificently.
Post-summit we then took a walk across Brooklyn Bridge. This turned out to be
one of the highlights of our trip and is something I look forward to doing each
time I visit the city. It is such an amazing bridge and when the weather is as
perfect as it was that day the views combined with the mood of fellow walkers
cannot be beaten.
The next day with Claire and Kathryn still
not 100% they still braved the cold and came out take the Staten Island ferry
across the river so that we could catch a very distant glimpse of the Statue of
Liberty before heading to the Guggenheim for a quick tour of some art. I find
it interesting that the building is just as inspiring as the art within it. A
theme I came to also find when visiting the Guggenheim in Bilbao some years
later.
That evening we went for a meal in Little
Italy in an actual restaurant which was quite a novelty for Laura and I having
spent the past 5 and half months living on fairly basic street food. We
discovered that portion control was not in place in the restaurant and did our
best to each as much as we could. Post meal Kathryn and Claire had to give in
to the bug and head back to the hostel but the rest of us decided it would be
time to have just a couple of more drinks to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day Eve. We
went to a bar in Chelsea which I have no idea what it was called but it was
fun. Mainly due to the fact that (you guessed it) there was cheap beer and more
importantly a garden swing inside. We merrily sat on the swing, drank our
drinks and basically behaved like Brits abroad.
So the day arrived. Our first Paddy’s Day
abroad. We awoke fairly early and made our way to 5th Avenue where
we knew the parade was taking place. Short of something green to wear I went
for an orange top in a bid to still look a little like I was sporting the
national colours of the Emerald Isle. The atmosphere at the parade was great.
Families and groups had gone all out and were covered head to toe in green
“Irish” paraphernalia. The parade started and as far as the eye could see along
5th Avenue there were marching bands, police forces from other
states as well as the odd group of firemen. We watched and clapped along for a
good 2 hours making friends with those next to us. We found it amazing that
nearly all of the locals were claiming to be Irish when in fact surely what
they should have said is that they were of Irish decent somewhere along the
line (a very long time ago.)
We couldn’t deny that NYC were putting on
an impressive show but having watched for nearly 3 hours and there was still no
end in sight for the parade we decided it was most definitely time to line the
stomach and indulge in some alcohol abuse. We went to McDonald’s (typical
travelers) and had for the first and only time a super-size meal. It was an
outrage. There is never a need for that much Coke or chips ever. Onwards though
to a bar that Michelle knew called Scruffy Duffy’s. We got there and already it
was filled with people wearing free green t-shirts advertising the bar and it
had that definite Paddy’s Day aroma of sweat and Guinness. Immediately we joined in and found an area
that we could stand, sing, drink and gossip until the sun went down. We carried
on pint after pint acquiring more hats, stickers and other junk as the hours
went on. At one point the barman stood on the bar with a champagne bucket full
of $1 notes. He sang “If I had a million dollars” whilst throwing the money out
to the crowd. As skint travelers we were ecstatic at catching a few of the
stray flying notes.
We then moved on to what seemed like a very
classy cocktail bar. At this point we were very hammered so I have no idea
where in the city it was (or if it genuinely was that classy) but given the
state of us in the pictures it can’t have been as they surely would not have
let us in dressed the way we were at that point. We propped up the bar trying a
few cocktails and admiring the eye candy that was the barman (I am still
convinced he was the double of Freddie Prinze Junior or maybe even Freddie
himself but Laura denies me this) before
taking his advice of going to a nightclub called Splash as that is where he was
going after his shift. Following his instructions we immediately jumped a cab
over there to find it was quite a hardcore gay / drag club. Result for me. The
barman rode my bus. We got in the club and danced. We were without “Freddie”
but had an amazing time.
On our last day in New York Kathryn and
Claire were finally on the road to recovery (as we were about to leave) but we
at least had a lovely final few hours walking the entire length of Central Park
and stopping for a few pictures outside Tiffany & Co. and Bloomingdales. We
did not venture inside the former mentioned establishment but we did go into
the latter purely to buy some sweets which were then given to us in a “Little
Brown Bag” which was our goal. Mission accomplished.
Heading to JFK we were tired but were on
top of the world after having circumnavigated the planet as we had planned and
finished with a fantastic celebration. We asked the BA staff for an upgrade on
our flight back. We were quickly denied. We arrived back in England in one
piece after our first Paddy’s Day adventure.
Chapter
3: Dublin
One year later both Laura and I were living
in London. We had continued to work in travel and visiting new places was
always top of what we wanted to spend our money on.
In the January of 2004 our friend Mo was
returning from Australia and asked if he could crash for a few days at my place
on his way back to his parents in Dublin. We had met Mo in Sydney and had lived
with him there for a few months before we carried on with our tour. When he
came to London it was fun to catch up and go drinking (quelle surprise.)
During one of our nights we were talking
about going away for Paddy’s Day again and he said why not come to see him in
Dublin and we could stay at his parents place. Perfect! As we still didn’t earn
too much money it was a brilliant plan to get some cheap flights over to
Ireland on Ryanair and keep all our play money for just that. No need to pay
for accommodation. So we did it…booked our flights and Paddy’s Day ’04 was not
long away.
However; the week before we were due to go
we emailed Mo (pre Facebook days) to ask for his address and to let him know
what time we were arriving. He replied saying he was looking forward to seeing
us but we wouldn’t be able to stay at his parent’s house anymore as it was
already a little overcrowded since his sister had just had a baby. Cue meltdown
from Laura and me.
A quick search online and our suspicions
were confirmed that all hostels, B&B’s and cheap hotels were booked up long
ago and our options were looking pretty slim. It was either pay a fortune
(which we didn’t have) or stay miles out of the centre and pay a fortune on
cabs (which we didn’t have) to and from the city. It was looking like we may
have had to cancel our trip when the Irish Gods looked down on us in the form
of Laura’s housemate. She had recently started a job at Gulliver’s Travels and
they were allowed to give family and friends rates on the hotels they worked
with. After a quick check she got us an awesome rate at the Temple Bar Hotel. So
our trip was back on and we would be staying in the centre of town in a nice
hotel that included breakfast! As a young traveller this prospect was immensely
exciting.
We arrived in Dublin late as we had just
travelled straight to the airport after work. I had been to Dublin before with
my parents to celebrate my Mum’s 50th birthday so I had seen “the
sights” but I knew that this trip would be a little different! We actually had
a sensible night with just a couple of drinks before adjourning to bed. Sunrise
arrived and it was the break of another St Paddy’s Day. We enjoyed our Irish
breakfast and decided to start the day by watching the parade. I must be honest
that we were a little nervous about this given how long the NYC one had been.
Just imagine how long they might make it when actually in the country that
really should be celebrating St Patrick’s Day!
The parade started and it was most
definitely much more colourful than the NYC one in that there were floats and
many a local dancing club in vibrant costumes. However; after only 30 minutes
or so it seemed apparent that the end of the parade was approaching as a large
Cinderella style coach was nearing with the “top celebrity” inside to wave at
the crowd. As the coach came past us we gained a peak at the much anticipated
celebrity inside….Kerry Katona! WTF? For a start she’s not Irish and secondly
she isn’t exactly the world’s top celebrity now is she? I suppose she does like
a drink and was married to an Irishman at the time so perhaps that’s why she
got the job?
But that was it. The parade had finished
after only 40 minutes. The Irish certainly knew what the day was about. A quick
parade and then everyone head off to the pub. Well, when in Rome (Dublin) we
thought we better join in.
In a similar pattern to New York we went to
a place for lunch once we had met Mo. We slightly upgraded this year and went
to a Mexican Restaurant where it was actually table service. I know…how
upmarket were we now that we had a job?! We had some wine with dinner in order to not
let down the locals with the “eating is cheating” rule and then we were off. En
route to our first pub we stopped to have shamrocks painted onto our cheeks as
well as buying some hats to let the public firmly know we were celebrating St Paddy’s.
I was amazed we actually got Mo (a local) to join in this part and pose for
pictures at the Ha’penny Bridge. Perhaps he was hoping he would just look like
a tourist with a very convincing way of portraying an Irishman (i.e. with red
hair and a perfect accent.) Our first pub point of call was The Temple Bar. It
is one of the busiest bars in Dublin and today was absolutely packed. We
managed to find a space where we could have some Guinness and Cider whilst
listening to some of the classic songs that get played hour after hour such as
Whisky in the Jar and Danny Boy. Another University friend was working in
Dublin and she had said she would be in town to come and meet us for a few
drinks. She came to meet us in the pub and as a sober person entering the bar
in midafternoon her first words were “it smells of wet dog in here.” Now that’s
a sign of a busy exciting bar especially since there were no dogs in there.
This was also just before the smoking ban in public places came in so if it
smelt like that even with smoke masking the body aromas then Lord only knows
what it would have been like without it!
We had a few more drinks and then decided
it was time to go back upmarket and head to Buster’s bar which was actually
attached to our hotel. I had heard that Dublin bouncers were strict and this
was the point where they demonstrated it perfectly. We got to the front of the
queue (which in itself is ridiculous having to queue for your own hotel bar)
and the bouncer said to me that I was a little drunk and we should queue up
again. Rather ridiculously we actually queued up again and this time upon
reaching the front Mo was told he wasn’t coming in as he had a football shirt
on. Denied.
Not to be downtrodden we made our way to
another traditional bar where more Guinness was consumed and we slagged off the
bouncer and told each other we would be complaining to the hotel manager in the
morning. This complaint did not take place and was most definitely a
conversation that can be placed into the “I was talking bollocks” box and left
there forever. Then it was onwards to
The George which was a gay club (could this be a theme appearing for where we
ended St Paddy’s nights) before adjourning for a little night cap in the
resident’s bar in the hotel.
We were awoken the next morning with the
cleaner trying to get in the room to which she apologised when she realized we
were still in bed. Laura then asked what time it was in a slightly panicked
fashion. When I told her it was only 10am she was massively relieved; not because
we may have missed check out but because she thought we may have missed
breakfast!
Post fry up we went out to the city and
opted to see the city via the Viking Splash Tour. This was an amphibious
vehicle so it would include a bus tour around town as well as a river cruise.
Perfect as it meant we could do both without moving too much. However; when
boarding the vehicle we were all given a Viking helmet to wear. Pretty funky we
thought until the guide told us we had to yell like barbarians at any rival bus
tours that went past. OMG. How uncool was that? We opted not to yell too much
and blamed our lack of involvement on a hangover. I have no shame in saying
that the highlight of the tour for me was definitely going to the street where
the Spice Girls filmed the video for their song “Stop”. Spice Girls = awesome
and you know it.
We finished our day wandering through
Trinity College, St Stephen’s Green and visiting Molly Malone before heading to
the airport for a late night Ryanair flight back to London. It was an amazing
trip and was the point we decided that St Paddy’s would be an annual holiday
for us for evermore.
Chapter
4: London
In 2005 we were deciding where to celebrate
our now annual holiday and it came to a choice between Edinburgh and
London. Edinburgh would have been a more
expensive trip as we would need somewhere to stay. I had also recently read that the famous song
“It’s a long way to Tipperary” was in fact not about the town in Ireland but
about the oldest pub in London called The Tipperary. It is said that soldiers
in WW1 used to sing the song longing for the day they would be back home and
able to drink in the pub.
So we decided on London. Even though it was
our home time we took some days off work and were going to make a “trip” of it.
There is something about having time off when you are still at home that makes
it quite exciting. I find you finish work in the knowledge that you are off
home without the need to get up in the morning at your usual time and you can
feel secretly smug about it.
So Paddy’s Day came round and we met up for
a fry up at our local café to line our stomachs. Still in our mid-twenties the
main aim of the day would be to get shitfaced so we needed to prepare our
bodies for what we were about to put them through. We made our way into central
London via a few shops to buy green nail varnish and hair mascara in order to
fully accessorize for the day. It was a lovely sunny day so we stopped for a
sit down in Somerset House prior to heading to the pub (partly so that we
didn’t arrive at the pub a minute before 12:01 for our fist pint.)
Arriving at the pub we ordered our first
drink and got a table upstairs by the window. It was a wonderful pub and
happened to also be celebrating its 400th birthday that same year.
We painted our nails and coloured our hair whilst talking about all the things
that are important at the age of 24 (i.e. men, Big Brother as well as other high
level subjects that Heat magazine reported on.)
A few drinks in and the pub had started to
become quite busy with us occupying a prime spot. We were sat on a table that
could comfortably sit a few more so we invited an older Australian couple over
to sit with us. They were really fun and were in the UK as part of their
extended travels in Europe. We shared stories of where we had all travelled to
and gave them a few other tips about where to go in London and elsewhere in
Europe before heading back to Oz. They were also waiting for their niece who
lived in London to finish work and join them for a drink. When she arrived we
had managed to share quite a lot of Guinness with her Aunt and Uncle and
painted her Aunt’s fingernails green and colour her uncles beard a lovely shade
of emerald too. A little shocked at their appearance she joined us for some
drinks as well although what was discussed does now start to become a little
hazy for me.
I love days in the pub when you find new
buddies and for those few hours you are inseparable friends although I can’t
even remember their names now despite the lovely afternoon we spent together.
Of course I would recognise them and have actually seen the niece once since as
well. I was walking through Hammersmith about 2/3 years later and saw a lady
walking towards me whom I thought I recognised. Only as I passed her (without
her clocking me) did I realise it was the girl I once met on Paddy’s day.
London is a small village after all!
So having spent around 6 hours in The
Tipperary we decided now would be a good time to venture out elsewhere. We
walked out of the pub and along the river Thames only to be tempted into the
doors of the Walkabout at Temple. At the age I am writing this I would probably
judge someone if they asked me to join them for a night out in the Walkabout
but again at age 24 it was a perfectly suitable venue for a catch up, a date,
somewhere to talk bollocks or simply a place to down pints and dance. So there
we were with 6 hours of alcohol in us and the rest of the pub was just post
work and on their first drink. Chatting to a few people we had a quick dance
and then it was off to Covent Garden for a few more and a chance to slur at
some of our own work colleagues who were in the pub. Highlight of the pub was
bumping into someone wearing the same green t-shirt as me. Cue massive excitement
(from me) as we got our photo together before he left and no doubt had thoughts
about never wearing that t-shirt again just in case he ran into me.
So as the night went on and even the people
who had only started to drink post work decided to make their way for the last
tube home Laura and I were contemplating our next move and as habit had started
to suggest all roads lead to a gay club. So there it was. We spent the rest of
the night dancing in G-A-Y to cheesy music. We had strategically arranged to stay
at Laura’s place that night (well morning by the time we got home) as it was at
the end of a night bus route so if (when) we fell asleep on the bus home we
wouldn’t have far to venture when the driver woke us up. It was a marvellous
day.
The next day was hangover free and offered
more sunshine. I never get board of taking walks along the Thames in central
London so we walked from Embankment all the way up to Tower Bridge. We had
never been up to the viewing platforms of the bridge so ticket in hand we went
up to enjoy the marvellous view. It’s great being able to stand in the middle
of the river and see all the way along the greatest city in the world. Only a
few months later Laura and I would be back at the top of Tower Bridge having
won a Visit London competition to see the band Texas play an intimate gig at
the top. A real treat to be at the first (and to my knowledge the only) gig at
the top of one of the most iconic bridges in the world.
So there you have it….that’s how we “did”
St. Patrick’s Day in our home town.
Chapter
5: Barcelona
The following year we had started to think
about what we would like to do and feeling a little more flush (yet still
limited to what flights were on offer via easyJet and Ryanair) we were toying with either Basel or
Barcelona. Little knowledge of Basel we opted for Barcelona in the hope that as
well as culture it may also afford us some winter sun.
This time we had a few extras joining us in
the form of my sister and her boyfriend, two University friends (Claire and
Nicola) and my boyfriend Steven. Laura and I briefed the others that in
accordance with our holiday rules we would be drinking the majority of the 17th
March and each person must bring something green to wear on the day. The night
before we stayed at my parents’ house in Bishop’s Stortford since it was only a
15 minute car journey from Stansted Airport where our cheap and orange flights
were due to depart at 7am.
We arrived in Barcelona and the sun was
indeed shining. We went for some Paella al fresco prior to checking into our
hotel just off Las Ramblas. Claire and Nicola were flying directly from
Newcastle and were arriving a little later but met us at the hotel. Las Ramblas
has a reputation as one of the rifest pick pocketing areas in the world and to
solidify this Claire had her glasses stolen from her bag in the short walk from
the metro station to the hotel. Fortunately it was not her purse.
Nevertheless we enjoyed the afternoon
walking about the city before adjourning to the hotel to get ready for dinner
that night. Steven and I decided to opt for a very late siesta but made the
grave error of not setting an alarm on the off chance that we didn’t arise at
the required hour to meet everyone for pre-dinner cocktails. Only when my phone
rang with the others questioning our whereabouts did we wake up and have a
scrambled 5 minutes to get ready before heading down to the bar. A few
cocktails later we were looking for somewhere to eat. As can sometimes be an
issue as a larger group we were trying to find somewhere with a large enough
table to seat all of us. As we went into one place he said the restaurant was
full but to wait a second. He came back out and said that they had a long table
next to the open kitchen and we could sit there if we wanted. It was pretty
cool and a nice way to sit together and watched the controlled craziness of the
kitchen churn out meal after meal. On the table they also had plates of nachos
that were topped with sweet chili sauce. A topping not often associated with
this dish but one I would recommend.
The next day and Paddy’s Day was upon us.
We dressed in green and met up for some breakfast. We had decided to spend the
morning going to Parc Guell to look at some of the Gaudi works. Perhaps this
was a sign we were getting older (and wiser?) as we didn’t head straight for
the local watering hole. The park is absolutely stunning not only from the
Gaudi artwork but also because of the fantastic views across the city. As the
crowds point out it is a must see when in the city. On subsequent visits to the
city I have been early in the morning when it is less busy and your experience
is heightened even more. Definitely try it out; after all you are in Spain so
can have a siesta in the afternoon to make up for the lost hours of sleep in
the morning! For lunch we decided to grab a sandwich and sit in the park before
heading back into the centre of town. My sister and Claire were sat facing me
when they both developed a slightly perplexed look on their faces before saying
in unison to me “There’s your friend Toni from University.” I looked up and
could see her walking away so ran after her to say hello.
She had also been on our course and I had
lived with her during our second year so it was a real treat to see her again.
She was on holiday with her family (whom I had also met when I went to stay
with them in Norway during the summer of our first year) so it was also nice to
see them again too. I love that about travelling that no matter how big we
think the world is you can run into someone unexpectedly. We arranged to meet
Toni later on for some Paddy’s Day drinks.
So back into town we went and made our way
to a café in a square just off Las Ramblas. The idea had been to get a bit of
early dinner in the form of tapas and to have a couple of drinks. What we
didn’t know at the time was that this was to turn into an 8 hour session with
us not leaving our seats apart from visiting the bathroom. I blame this
entirely on the fact that it was 3 Euros for a bottle of cava. We just kept
ordering bottle after bottle with us getting louder and louder to the point
when Toni rang me to ask where we were to come and meet us I responded by
saying “we are in a crappy café.” Nice.
At about 10pm we thought we should really
move on and so went to another couple of bars in the area (including the token
Irish one where if you drink enough Guinness they give you a hat.) The end of
the night has vacated itself from my memory but I do remember Laura coming back
from the toilets saying she’d been sick and us thinking that perhaps it was
time for us to go home!
Another successful Paddy’s celebration let
to a little more subdued celebrations the following day with us again taking in
more sights and opting for a spot of lunch on the beach. On our last day we
took a nice long walk up “Olympic hill” in order to see the fantastic diving
pool where recently Kylie had filmed her latest video. The pool itself was
locked so we couldn’t really see in but again on a more recent trip to
Barcelona I was lucky to attend the World Diving Championships men’s
synchronized final at the pool and could see it being used in all its glory. We
topped of the trip with another tapas meal in the old town before boarding the
orange bullet back to Stansted.
On a subsequent trip to Barcelona I really
enjoyed heading up Mount Tibidabo and to the old fun fair at the top. My
ventures up the mountain were inspired after reading The Shadow of the Winds.
If only our Paddy’s Day trip had been a little more cultured I definitely would
have taken the rest of the group up here as it is one of the best places in the
city in my opinion. At least the city was not too far away from London for me
to enjoy more visits and not spend 8 hours in a café drinking (although that
was fun too!)
Chapter
6: Copenhagen & Malmo
After a successful Barcelona trip Laura and
I were fully engaged in our Paddy’s day adventures and had decided on two
things:
1) We would go on our annual trip
even when we are in our 70s
2) On the 10th
anniversary (2012) we would go to Chicago for Paddy’s Day
The reason behind the introduction of goal
number two was because we had read that in Chicago they dye the river green as
part of the St. Patrick’s Day parade and festivities and it would also be the
perfect base for us then to drive Route 66 (the mother of all roads) across the
US to L.A. post Paddy’s Day festival. A very exciting prospect that could only
be stalled by one tiny detail – neither of us could drive. Oh well – we still
had 6 years to learn and pass our test before we needed to have a licence so
there would be plenty of time for that!
For Laura’s Christmas present in 2006 I
actually bought her the flights for our next Paddy’s day trip the following
March. No consultation had taken place as to where we would be going! I gave
her the print out of the flights inside a copy of Hans Christian Andersen’s
Little Mermaid thinking it was an obvious connection but it seems that not
everybody has a wider knowledge of the origins of the fairy tale writer like I
did. However; after a quick explanation that I wasn’t just insulting her by
saying that the book was of the level of reading I thought she was and we were
both excited to be spending Paddy’s Day in Denmark.
In the summer of 2007 I was also planning
to do the London-Paris bike ride raising funds for Great Ormond Street
Children’s Hospital. In order to raise the rather large amount that was
required I decided to hold an event and theme it around St. Patrick’s Day. So
the week before the actual big day I had hired The Toucan pub in central London
and sold tickets to friends and family for £20 each. Included in the ticket was
a pint of Guinness (or equivalent if you were not partial to the black stuff)
and a present which came in the form of a lottery ticket for that week. Yes;
secretly I was praying nobody won that week or if they did I would have been
expectant that they would have shared some of the winnings with me? Getting
ready for the party I bought a shirt at lunch time and didn’t even have time to
try it on. I had always been a medium so just picked up my size and off I went.
I left work a little early to setup for the party and then went to change and
put my new attire on to the shock that it would not do up. OMG. Clearly a few
too many pints of Guinness were being consumed and whilst I could say that I
was full of iron I was also filling out over the edge of my jeans waistline.
Luckily there was a button missing from the shirt so I could say to a friend to
quickly run to the shop which was just around the corner and take it back due
to said missing button…oh and when they offer to exchange it please get me one
size larger. Fully dressed in the appropriate size the party kicked off. People
were really enjoying it and the raffle I put on added even more funds to those
raised by the ticket sales and the night finished suitably hammered in an
underground cheesy club called The Roxy. I love that club and was even more
impressed that my parents outlasted some of my friends on the dance floor!
So fully in the St. Patrick’s mood Laura
and I set off the following week to Copenhagen. Neither of us had been before
and were excited to explore the city. We quickly found that it is one of the
most wonderful cities (coincidence that the tourist board is called Wonderful
Copenhagen?) in Europe for a city break.
The statues of The Little Mermaid and Hans Christian Anderson are lovely
to see but we enjoyed nothing more than sitting in a café on the harbour in
Nyhavn (under a blanket) watching the world go by whilst eating an open
sandwich (smorrebrod.) I even spotted an
old colleague from work proving that Mickey Mouse was right and it is a small
world after all.
On St. Patrick’s Day itself we had read
that you could get the train over the extremely long bridge to Malmo in Sweden
meaning we could spend the day in two countries which was exciting. We got the
train and 15 minutes later we were in Sweden. Malmo is a nice city and has the
very impressive rotating tower block which would not look out of place amongst
the Dubai skyline. After an hour or so in the town we headed back to Copenhagen
in order to start the drinking.
Of course without fail we found various
Irish pubs serving Guinness and rammed full of locals (surprisingly) downing pints
and munching on a bowl of dubious looking Irish stew. We sampled the stew and
thought that we would leave it and opt for a more nourishing meal back at one
of the restaurants on our beloved harbour. Could it be that we were growing up
and didn’t just want to get hammered? Eating is cheating after all right?
None the less we enjoyed a lovely meal and
some more beers back on Nyhavn which was a lot more sedate that the Irish pubs
in town.
The following day we took a boat tour
around the canals and followed it up with a very lengthy walk to find Hans
Christian Anderson’s grave. I am pretty sure Laura was beginning to wish she
had never heard of him by the 40th minute of walking around a
cemetery to find it but it was worthwhile once we got there. It is a well-kept
impressive headstone and felt special to be so near to the spirit of the man
who wrote the greatest fairy tales that have ever been penned (in my opinion.)
So to date it was definitely the most sober
St. Patrick’s Day but was a lovely visit to a fantastic city and was the first
time we had been to two countries throughout the day.
P.S. Laura and I could both not drive at
this point.
Chapter
7: Jersey
So 2007 posed two tasks:
1) Choose were to celebrate in
2008
2) Learn to drive
First question was answered pretty quickly
when I had seen an email from the airline bmi advertising discounted flights
from London to Jersey. I had not been there before and whilst it wasn’t far
away from the UK mainland I had read brilliant things about the island
regarding its natural beauty and the ability to do many adventure sports there.
So after a short email exchange between Laura and I we were booked to head off
to the UK Channel Islands to live a tax free lifestyle for 4 days.
Following the successful St. Patricks’
themed fundraising party in the previous chapter I had unfortunately been
knocked off my bike in the last weeks of training for the bike ride and was off
work for a total of around 8 weeks recovering from two operations to repair my
now mangled elbow.
Once I was fixed I returned to work and realised that during
the extended time off I still was accruing holidays and therefore needed to use
them by the end of March. Perfect for my Paddy’s day trip but I had that many I
still needed to use another week up before then. What do to?
Idea flash – do an intensive driving course
learning to drive in a mere week and thus achieve goal number two and have us
well on the way to achieving the 10 year anniversary Route 66 trip. After
fairly little research online I found that intensive driving courses were in
abundance in Blackpool. I am not entirely sure why. I guess hotels in the
winter need to fill up somehow and the roads are not so busy so it makes a nice
and fairly cheap environment for the non-driver. So I signed up to go in mid-February for the
week. Upon arrival at my hotel in Blackpool the friendly manager said that I
was the first of the drivers to arrive which was a good job as looking at how
tall I was he was not sure I would be able to fit into the room they had
assigned to me. I know I am tall but how small exactly was the room? He quickly
moved me into a larger room which was perfectly adequate accept that the
heating didn’t work and I am pretty sure there was actually condensation on the
outside of the window. The manager then furnished the room with a plug in
heater so all was good. I spent the first afternoon in the Sea Life centre as
it was too cold to be outside and soon also discovered that there is a serious
lack of eating establishments in Blackpool outside of fish and chip / kebab
shops. That evening was the first spent dining in Frankie and Benny’s which
then became a nightly tradition for the entire week. I went to bed quite nervous of what lay ahead
for my first day of lessons; after all I hadn’t even sat behind the wheel of a
car ever (well apart from when your parents trust you to sit in the car whilst
they dash into the supermarket for something and you sit in the driver’s seat
and pretend to drive until the steering wheel locks and you jump back into your
seat before they return terrified that you have broken the family car.)
The setup for my lessons was that I was to
be paired with another non-driver and we would do our lessons all day together
with the same instructor. We would do a 40 minute turn driving and then swap
over with the theory being that we would be able to learn from the other
person’s mistakes whilst we were sat in the back. My driving buddy Chloe was a
17 year old from Sheffield who only had one outfit for the entire week versus
my entire backpack of clothes. Now I may like to change clothes a lot but one
tracksuit for the entire week? Bitch please! None the less she was a nice girl
and we both seemed to progress at the same level (although her saying “get in”
every time she got a maneuver right did start to grate a little.) At the end of
the week the instructor said that we were good enough to be put in for a test
but it would be 50/50 as to whether we would pass because of nerves.
So we
faced the option of either doing the test or rather than spending the last day
at test centres etc we could have an extra 6 hours of lessons and then do our
test when we got back home. I opted for the latter. Chloe threw a 17 year old
strop and opted to head straight home (in the same clothes that she arrived
in.)
So I returned to London able to drive to a
good level and then continued with a weekly lesson until a test date came up
(an agonizing three month wait for a date!) I wasn’t successful on my first or
second attempt but as the saying goes I was third time lucky. They say all the
best drivers pass third time right? So there we are….I was now ready for Route
66 and it was now Laura’s turn to learn to drive.
So onto Jersey it was. It was a very
relaxing journey to head out to Heathrow for the 20 minutes flight part way
across the channel (on a tiny plane.) We arrived and went to our hotel in St.
Aubin which had great views along the beach towards St. Helier. After checking
in we made our way on a long walk along the beach all the way to town where we
picked up information of what to do on the island as well as hiring bikes for
the rest of our trip. We cycled back to the hotel and feeling uber healthy went
for dinner in a pub in the village where we were staying later finding out that
it was the pub which featured in the TV series Bergerac. Just like being in
Hollywood eh?
The next day we had arranged to go blow
karting on a large beach on the other side of the island. The weather looked
nice outside so in combats and a hoodie we set off cycling around the coast
towards said beach. We stopped at some amazing views and went past a fantastic
lighthouse. At this point we got some great photos as the waves started to
become quite large and create a dramatic effect against the building and rocks.
Should have been a warning sign of things to come. We arrived at the beach and
saw three people unloading the karts on the beach so we locked up our bikes and
went over. We had assumed that all three worked with the company as they knew
what they were doing so we let them setup our karts. It then transpired that
there was only one instructor and the others were also paying customers who had
just got stuck in and helped out. Oops. So looking like the lazy city slickers
we then stood awaiting instruction of how to drive the things whilst it then
started to rain heavily. The young, outdoorsy fit instructor asked us what we
were planning to wear for the session and simply gave a half laugh / half smile
when we looked at what we were wearing to say “this.” So into the karts we went
and started zooming around the beach. It was super fun and being that low to
the sand and reaching high speeds was really exhilarating. After about 20
minutes though the rain and wind had really picked up and it was true to say we
were soaked to the bone in our very non waterproof attire. We re-grouped next
to the instructor and he agreed it was time we called it a day.
He said we
didn’t need to pack up and could head back to our hotel to get warm. “Where did
you park your car” he queried. “Oh, we don’t have a car. We cycled here.” Cue
more laughter from him as he knew we would have to make the hour long cycle
back to our hotel. Picking up our bikes it made no matter at all that the seats
were soaking as my trousers were already like they were fresh out of the
washing machine (in fact not that dry even) so on we went facing the elements
to our hotel. The one conversation we had on the road home was that once we got
back to the hotel we would have afternoon tea in the restaurant that overlooked
the coast. Home, showered and dry we enjoyed what turned out to be a bloody
good afternoon tea!
The next day was St. Patrick’s Day and not
to be put off by the day before we had decided to cycle around the other side
of the island to see Gory Castle and another lighthouse at St. Katherine’s.
This year I decided to paint my face like the Irish flag and Laura went for
shamrocks on her face. All made up we were ready for our road trip (albeit via
somewhat of a different mode of transport to what we would be doing on Route
66.) We had a fantastic day stopping in some villages for drinks, food and to take
photos. Jersey is a truly beautiful island and is under indexed when it comes
to places you should visit before you die. In the evening we went to another
great place for dinner (once we had watched the Dancing on Ice final) called
The Boathouse in St. Aubin where we enjoyed fresh mussels and of course a few
pints of the black stuff. Truly exhausted from all the cycling we returned to
our room meaning that this was most definitely the most sober Paddy’s Day we
had ever experienced.
In the morning we had a note at reception
when we were checking out from someone who had been staying in the hotel who
had recognised me from our school days in Belgium (many years before.) She had
been too nervous to come up and ask me but checked at the hotel if there was anyone
under my name. Alas she had already checked out so we missed each other but
another nice story about how travelling the world can indeed through up some
familiar faces in unexpected places.
Before heading to the airport (by taxi and
not bike) we had arranged to re-meet the previous said fit instructor for some
abseiling. I had not done abseiling before and whilst I am somewhat of an
adrenaline junkie I was nervous about it as I still didn’t feel that my arm was
very strong since the biking accident the year before. Laura had done it before
and executed her first abseil with precision and confidence. Then it was my
turn. I found it very hard to let myself fall back because I felt like I was
not secure or strong enough to hold myself (even though the rope does that for
you.) I climbed back over to have a word with myself and then gave it one more
go. I made it and Laura got some good pictures of me where it looks like I had
had no worries prior to going over the edge. Laura did a couple more whilst I opted
to bask in the glory of having done one. Heading back to town I commented to
Dave (AKA fit instructor) that I had enjoyed that to which both he and Laura
laughed out loud (or LOLd if I am to be trendy.) Cheeky bastards!
Dave suggested we go for a drink and a
snack at St. Brelade bay which was a fantastic recommendation. We sat
overlooking a perfect sunset over the beach for a last drink before heading to
the airport for the long haul flight of 18 minutes back to LHR.
P.S. Laura still needs to learn to drive.
Chapter
8: Zurich & Liechtenstein
Another year was rolling round and it was
time to decide what to get Laura for her Christmas present.
Unfortunately
Laura’s job had been made redundant in September 2008 and at the current time
she was temping whilst trying to find another role within the travel industry.
With that in mind we hadn’t discussed what we would do for Paddy’s Day as
holidays themselves were clearly not the priority. So I thought why not book
the trip for her. So I bought her return flights to Zurich. This would be the
first time for both of us in Switzerland. I also planned to drive us (that’s
right…me driving now) to the glamorous airport at Luton as our flight was at
some unearthly hour of the day.
When it came to booking a hotel we decided
to keep it to a budget as we had read that Switzerland itself was expensive so
we would prefer to keep our spending money. We opted for the Zic Zac Rock Hotel
which was a cross between a hostel and a budget hotel. We booked a private room
(with a shared bathroom) but the exciting part was that each room was focused
around a different rock star. On the journey over to Zurich we were talking
about which rock star room would we be in. Guns N’ Roses? Metallica? Bon Jovi?
Upon check in we were sorely disappointed to be informed we were in fact to stay
in the Joe Cocker room. Really? Is that the most impressive rock star they
could muster? Inside the room itself it was pretty plain with two murals of Mr.
Cocker himself. Impressive. A quick giggle and we then were off to explore
town.
Zurich itself was a lot smaller and town
like than I had expected it to be. Centered on a beautiful river (as most
cities are) it really felt like a lovely alpine place. The views from the hill
across the city are stunning and it’s nice there is a playground at the top of
the hill for the kids to play. May I take this opportunity to recommend the
swings as a new way of taking in the vista. We walked a lot stopping for some
local food and drink and even discovered a bar that was themed around an
airline. We loved it that much we decided that we would have a party for New
Year’s Eve and theme it as an airline too (albeit on a much smaller scale.)
Having researched the price of how much it is to hire actual airline seats our
guests were going to have to make do with the sofa!
On our second day in Switzerland we had
decided to venture further afield and had booked a day trip to take us to
Lucerne as well as Mount Titlis. We set off early and our group was very small
consisting of another couple and 4 American dancers who were on tour in Europe
(well that’s what we gathered from eavesdropping anyway.) Our first stop on the
way to Lucerne was to see the crying lion stone sculpture. The lion is carved
out of the cliff face and was completed in the 1800s to commemorate those lost
in the French Revolution. It is an impressive site to see and one of the more
unusual war memorials I have ever witnessed. Heading into Lucerne itself was
beautiful. Although we only had about an hour there is was a gorgeous place to
walk and take in the sights. The wooden bridge across the river is beautiful as
is the castle overlooking the town. Rumour has it Michael Jackson once tried to
buy the castle but was rebuffed (hurrah scream the parents of Lucerne.)
Travelling on we then made our way to the foot of Mount Titlis. We took the
cable car up to the top of the mountain which was absolutely spectacular. The
cable car revolves as well, meaning you get complete 360 degree of the mountain
as you ascend. Reaching the summit the views were like nothing I had seen
before. I have never been on a skiing holiday so being atop snow covered peaks
was a new thing for me. We walked along the rim of the mountain watching the
various snowboarders and skiers flying past us down the mountain. We then made
our way round to where they were offering snow tubing (essentially like a
waterslide but on ice.) The funniest moment was as we descended a fairly small
hill towards the queue for the tubes and Laura realised she was wearing knee
high boots that were uber fashionable but perhaps not so useful on snow and
ice. I have a lovely picture of her struggling down the hill holding onto a
rope for dear life. Can you tell we live in the city we wondered?! Safely on a rubber ring we enjoyed several
goes of snow tubing before it was time for us to go back down the mountain to
return to Zurich. On the way down in the cable car we happened to comment that
we found it strange that so many people skiing down the mountain were not
wearing helmets. Weirdly upon our return to the hotel that night one of the
news headlines was that the actress Natasha Richardson had fallen whilst skiing
and had died as a result of her head injuries. Spooky timing.
After that adventurous day we had decided
that Paddy’s Day should consist of Guinness, a cheese fondue and a little trip
to Liechtenstein. This would be the second time we would venture to two
countries on the one day. We went to the main train station and said we ideally
wanted to get there about lunchtime. Luckily there was a train that got us
there about midday which was perfect. The lady serving us then said do you want
to get the 1pm train home (i.e. 1 hour after we arrived.) Slightly puzzled we
said that we wanted at least a few hours there and could we not get a later
train. She obliged and booked us on one returning a massive three hours after
our arrival but warned us that there was nothing to do in Liechtenstein. We accepted her words but we were sure that if
we could spend 2 hours in the Finnish town of Nokia (where there literally is
nothing to do) then we could survive for three hours in one of the smallest
countries on the planet. The train journey was very scenic and before you knew
it we were in another country. First point of call was the post office where
you could pay 3 EUR to have your passport stamped to prove you had been to
Liechtenstein.
Like all tourists we queued up to do this even more excited that
ours would have 17th March as the stamp date. Fully inked we then
walked up the hillside to view the castle where the Royal Family lived. Who
knew there was a Royal Family from Liechtenstein? Not me. It was a lovely castle
and we stopped to have a nice spot of lunch in a café that afforded lovely
views of the countryside. Post lunch we walked around to the local winery and
vineyards where we learnt about the local wine and again were surprised to find
that they produced their own wine at all. With 45 minutes to spare before our
train home we stopped at the bar next to the winery with the intention of
having a glass of local vino. I ordered a glass of the local red, “sorry we
don’t have any sir” was the response. I’ll have a glass of the local rose then,
“sorry we don’t have any left sir” was the familiar response. Ok then I’ll have
a glass of the local white I asked, “sorry we have none of the local wine
left.” Were they kidding?! They were right next door to the place that made and
sold it! Defeated I had to opt for a beer. Still refreshing and would set me up
for the night I thought. We headed back to Zurich and went straight out for a
cheese fondue. Rookie mistake was that we ordered one each as we thought it
would be nice to try two different types of cheeses. The atmosphere in the
restaurant was cozy and the fondues tasted divine but it transpires that yes
you can overdose on cheese and one fondue would have been sufficient. Stuffed
to the brim we went to a bar around the corner from our rock hotel for a couple
of pints which now filled our bellies to busting point. A combination of the
over indulgence and the fact that is was 10 EUR a pint meant we called it a
night fairly early on.
All too soon the trip was coming to an end
but not before one last drink. We had read in the airline magazine that there
was a bar at the end of the runaway at Zurich airport set inside a vintage
plane. We couldn’t leave without a visit to this splendid bar (all research
purposes of course for our upcoming airline New Year party) before heading back
to London.
P.S. I drove us home from Luton and Laura
is still yet to learn to drive.
Chapter
9: Mauritius
Not long after our return from our Swiss
adventure Laura secured a job working at Virgin Holidays.
She was pleased to be
working back in the travel industry with the added bonus that one of her perks
would be being able to travel on standby on Virgin Atlantic. Essentially this
would mean that we would be able to travel for a very minimal fare to far flung
places (since Virgin Atlantic didn’t even fly anywhere in Europe.) Before even
fully settling into her role we started to talk about what to do for our annual
jaunt and where we should travel on standby. Immediately we both settled on
Tokyo. Japan was a place that we had both wanted to visit for a long time but
flights there had always been very expensive so this seemed like it was going
to be a perfect way to get there on a budget. Laura had access to the flight
system which allowed her to check how many seats were left available and thus
how likely it would be that we would be able to get on the flight. All was
looking good up until about 1.5 weeks before we had planned to travel. Seats
were filling quick and fast showing that it was a business route and many
people were clearly booking last minute trips. How dare they?! Only a couple of
days before we were due to travel the flights were now overbooked so it seemed
unlikely that we would be able to go to Tokyo this time. That’s the nature of
standby travel so we couldn’t really throw a hissy fit (well maybe just a small
one) and onto finding somewhere on the Virgin Atlantic network that had
availability it was. We started our search at North America but found all these
routes were full too. We looked at South Africa but that was proving
problematic too. Then Laura checked Mauritius and it was looking pretty empty.
Perfect! Since I first heard of Mauritius (when it was the star prize on game
show Going for Gold) I had always wanted to go so I was very excited when Laura
mentioned the prospect. So a mere 48 hours before take-off we booked ourselves
onto the flight and started searching for a hotel. It was exciting to be
planning such a last minute trip; particularly such a long haul one at that.
Sunday night rolled around and off we went.
Flying into Mauritius was an awesome sight.
As the airport is at the southern end of the island you pretty much fly over
the entire island before landing which was fantastic. I only wish I had had my
camera on me to take some aerial shots. Upon arrival we experienced that lovely
feeling of heat when they opened the aircraft door and we knew we were on a
tropical island. Footnote; I am always curious what flavour tropical drinks
are? Does anyone know? It is frequently described as a flavour yet surely each
drink must taste different based on its maker’s interpretation of tropical? End
of footnote! We transferred to the hotel on the northern coast of the island and
were completely overwhelmed when we arrived. When selecting the hotel we had
opted for a small hotel that was a million times cheaper than the larger and
more well-known resorts on the island. We weren’t sure what to expect but being
pretty well seasoned travelers we always knew how to deal with a situation if
it were not perfect when you are travelling i.e. laugh! I had requested a
double bed when booking the hotel as I thought that may have worked in our
favour as the hotel may assume we were on our honeymoon and upgrade us to the
honeymoon suite; particularly with Mauritius being such a popular post nuptial
destination. Upon arrival the property by far exceeded our expectations. It was
very small and centered around a small pool which lead down to a private beach.
The staff was very welcoming and explained to us that the drinks in the fridge
were all complementary including the alcohol. What a steal! We were taken to
our room and my plan had paid off in that we had a very large room and the bed
and bathroom were decorated beautifully with petals; presumably as they thought
we were a couple. We loved it and went along with the “show” as man and wife.
We changed and went straight down to the
empty pool for a quick dip and quickly discovered that they were playing
underwater music. Brilliant and totally unique. I love swimming underwater but
this just added to it. Laura is not so much of a fan of submersion swimming but
it made it more amusing for me to see her trying to sink in the pool whilst
holding her nose! There were only about 6 rooms in the hotel which meant that
it was never busy around the pool or the beach so we could really relax. We
walked along the beach which was stunning. One of our favourite things was
buying an entire small pineapple that had been peeled and was ready to eat
whole. Hard to describe so a picture tells a thousand delicious words:
In the evening we ventured across the
street where there were a few restaurants to sample the local creole food as
well as a small travel agent. With the trip having been arranged so last minute
we hadn’t really researched what we were going to do whilst on the island.
After a quick browse through the numerous brochures and leaflets we decided we
want to do the Mauritian famous underwater sea walk, a catamaran trip to a
nearby island and an eco-walk through the forest. An exciting few days lay
ahead!
St. Patrick’s Day was the very next day and
was to be the day of the eco-walk in the forest that lay in the centre of the
island. It was a beautiful morning so we had dressed in green and donned the
flip flops for what was described as a gentle walk. Upon meeting the guide he
looked at our chosen footwear and asked if we had anything else to wear. We had
packed our trainers just in case but didn’t really want to wear them as they
didn’t match our outfits. Reluctantly we put them on and arrived at our
starting point after a fairly short bus ride. The rest of our group consisted
of one young couple and what we assumed were their parents. The first part of
the walk was to cross a river. Sounds easy yes? No! On one side of the river
was a small waterfall which was slightly daunting in case you lost your footing
(although I often think why do we assume we will fall over when we are by a
cliff as we don’t worry about falling over every day?) but the main pain point
was the terrain. It was a very rocky river bed and when the guide told us to
walk across without shoes on so we could keep them dry nothing prepared us for
the slicing pain said rocks would inflict on our little feet (yes…I am only a
size 8 shoe despite being 6’3’’ tall.) We attempted to walk across hand in hand
and made the grave error of stopping half way across to laugh at the pain we
were in which rendered us able to move any further. Laughing we had to make a
dash for it across what felt like knives! Phew the hardest bit over surely? Not
really. Throughout the walk we were taken through thick bush and up and down
ravines through amazing vegetation but it was certainly a lot harder than the
brochure made out! We got to try some of the local berries growing along the
way and were astounded when we reached a beautiful waterfall that we could swim
underneath. Bitten by flies, mosquitoes and a little dirty we arrived back at
our hotel having fully enjoyed our “walk”. We dressed for the evening in a new
round of green and went to an ocean front bar next to our hotel for some
cocktails. This was the first (and only) time that we have not seen an Irish
bar or a pint of Guinness on Paddy’s Day. However; we had some lovely green
cocktails and the barman was uber friendly and even made us a new cocktail he
wanted to try out (it wasn’t good.) Upon leaving there was a tropical storm and
as we left lightening stuck a tree just in front of us. We jumped and ran back
in the bar petrified to make the short stroll to our hotel. We sat inside for a
moment contemplating whether to move and convinced ourselves that lightening
doesn’t strike the same place twice so made a run for our room!
On the following day post storm we were due
to be doing our underwater sea walk but due to the weather the sea bed had
become very murky from the sea bed so it was cancelled. It was a real shame but
we were given the opportunity to go parasailing instead which is something I
have also always wanted to do. It was great fun and we had a playful speedboat
driver who kept dipping us in the sea.
One day I would like to return to
Mauritius and try out the underwater sea walk as it is really unique. That
night we enjoyed a fabulous meal on our balcony in the hotel. The hotel against
surpassed all expectations when they told us that we could have breakfast and
dinner either at the pool or on our balcony. Each morning they set the table up
with precision and served delicious food. We had definitely found a real gem in
this hotel!
On our final day we made the catamaran trip
out to some of the other nearby islands. It was a wonderful sun filled trip and
the scenery was just stunning. We enjoyed swimming in the perfectly blue sea
and walking on deserted white sand beaches. Many people still kept asking us
when we got married….in some ways we should have taken advantage of the
situation and just replied with ridiculous stories about where we got
married…perhaps in St. Paul’s with a reception at Hampton Court Palace but alas
we were too honest and told the truth.
P.S. Laura still needs to learn to drive.
Chapter
10: Hong Kong
Returning from Mauritius we still wanted to
go to Japan for our Paddy’s Day trip so we decided that rather than relying on
the fate of the standby Gods in 2011 we would just book our flights and then we
would be guaranteed to get there. We
found some very reasonable flights on Finnair going via Helsinki and snapped
them up. So there we had it…we were finally going to be going to Tokyo. We
planned our itinerary which was to also have a few days in Kyoto and we were
going to visit Disneyland, Hello Kitty land, eat sushi and do karaoke. All was
set in place until 11th March 2011 (5 days before we were due to fly
out to Tokyo.) I was in Berlin and awoke in my hotel to the news that there had
been a huge earthquake in Japan that had been followed by an enormous tsunami.
The images and videos being shown already only a few hours after it happened
were devastating and I knew that the death toll would only increase as the hours
and days went by. The infrastructure damage was extensive including that caused
to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. One of the reactors was severely
damaged and was leaking radioactive waste which forced the government to
implement a 20km exclusion zone around the site. As history has taught us at
sights like Chernobyl the elements then play their part is the further spread
of nuclear particles meaning that there was a risk to other areas in Japan
inclusive of the large metropolises. I
have been to visit Chernobyl which still has a 30km exclusion zone 30 years
after the accident so travelling to a nuclear accident site one week after the
event would be unadvisable to say the least.
I arrived back in London later that day
already thinking that we may need to postpone our trip. This was of course
nothing compared to what the Japanese people were going through. Laura and I
decided to wait a few days to monitor the situation and then see what we should
do. By the end of the weekend the Foreign Office were advising against
unnecessary travel to Japan and Finnair were also offering a full refund on
flights to Tokyo or we could transfer to another Asian route on their network.
So for now our trip to Japan was off for a second year running but we opted for
the latter option from Finnair and we were now off to Hong Kong for 6 days. We
were still excited and then for the second year running we were booking a hotel
and planning our trip a mere 48 hours before arriving!
We touched down in Hong Kong in the early
evening of St. Patrick’s Day. We made our way to our hotel and after a quick
shower and change into something green we headed out for something to eat. Some
noodles and an amazing local dish in the form of a sweet pork bun our tummies
were lined and we made our way to the party area of town. First stop; an Irish
pub for a pint of Guinness. Having had a couple of the black stuff we may our
way down a strip of very lively bars and gradually started to feel ourselves
dancing with each subsequent drink. We then went to a club which was absolutely
heaving with locals and many expatriates. The music was kicking and the drinks
were flowing and this was definitely the most drunk we had been on a Paddy’s
Day trip for a long time. The youngsters of Hong Kong certainly knew how to
party as well as how to pull. Gazing over at the sofa next to us there was a
couple not only snogging but with the girl mounted on top of the guy with his
hands firmly up her skirt and inside her knickers. Gradually horrified faces
started to look at them from every angle until the bouncer went up to ask them
to stop. The girl looked at him in a “what of it” kind of expression and I
swear you could hear the crowd boo the bouncer due to the fact that he had
split up what I hope was a rare sight in the discos of Hong Kong! A fantastic
night and fabulous way to kick start our Asian adventure but we called it a
night around 3am as it had been a long day to get there via Helsinki.
Our first full day we decided to do the Big
Bus open top bus tour in order to get our bearings and to see some of the
sights. It turned out they had a deal for a 48 hour ticket which would allow us
to see all the major sights, ride the Star Ferry over to Kowloon as well as
taking us on a local sampan trip. Brilliant! We started off the main route and
were whisked in between the never ending skyscrapers which dominate Hong Kong.
It is an amazing city and I don’t think I have been anywhere so compact and
busy ever! The bus took us up to the peak where we could see spectacular views
of the city below. One of my favourite photo stops I have been to. Our love of
the Hong Kong food continued that night as we rode the longest set of
escalators to a street where we had fantastic dumplings. As touristy as it
probably was to do that we had a fun night. The food in Hong Kong was fantastic
not only in the restaurants we visited but also the night market which despite
selling a lot of tat had some great fresh (i.e. still alive when you ordered)
options.
The following day we took advantage of our
bus tickets and took the bus tour out to Stanley which was interesting but
didn’t quite have the buzz of central Hong Kong. We wandered around the market
spotting what I swear are the biggest t-shirts I have ever seen on sale. Some
were labelled XXXXL and was gigantic. Funny to take a picture of but less
amusing the fact that there must be people who actually require this size to
fit into. On our way back to town we were then told we could alight the bus and
take our sampan tour. Not wanting to waste any part of our ticket we did so
even though we appeared to be next to an industrial harbour which was surround
by some of the biggest apartment blocks I have seen (large things seemed to be
a theme on this trip.) A local lady beckoned us into her sampan and took us
around the harbour for about 15 minutes. Glancing at Laura I couldn’t help but
laugh as her face said it all….why are we on a tour of a manky harbour like
this?! After the aquatic adventure we got the bus back to central Hong Kong in
order to take another water adventure which this time was impressive. The Star
Ferry took us across the harbour to Kowloon. The views back to the city are
fantastic and photo opportunities are made even better by the traditional junks
on the water which make you really feel like you are in the Far East. We walked
along the front on Kowloon and were heading back to the ferry just in time for
the illuminations which happen every night. It was amazing to see this happen
in a city surrounded by real life. Usually these things only seem to happen in
theme parks so this was a totally unique experience.
Speaking of theme parks the next day we
decided to head to Hong Kong Disneyland. The morning was again beautifully
sunny so dressed in shorts and t-shirts we jumped on the specific Disney line
on the metro to reach the park. Being a week day the par itself was pretty
empty and within the first 30 minutes we had been on Space Mountain twice! As
the morning progressed the clouds draw in and the temperature dropped. In a bid
to stay warm we purchased Disney character hats which worked surprisingly well.
Funniest moment was when we queued up to meet Alice from Alice in Wonderland.
We had assumed that she would have seen two grown adults in Disney hats
(without a child) and thought here is the perfect moment to have a bit of adult
conversation but she was totally in character and was asking us had we seen a
white rabbit and she could not find him. Shocked we weren’t sure what to reply
and I am pretty sure our response was as imaginative as “no…we haven’t seen
one.” How fun were we to play with?! That night we returned to our favourite
area of town for nightlife and sampled yet more cocktails whilst mixing with
locals and the many English people who were either living there or on holiday
too. Favourite moment of the evening was Laura talking to an English expatriate
who asked her if she was on a “piss-up holiday” to which she replied that if
that were her goal would she travel so far from London simply for bars. In
response to her I did say that to be fair to him we had been hammered in the
same bars every night since we arrived although in our defense we were making
the most of the sights in the days too! It was during this night that we also
drunkenly said to each other how much we loved China and should do a long
weekend in Shanghai in the summer to make use of the Virgin standby flights
again. A drunken suggestion you may think but we stayed true to our word and
did exactly that trip the following summer. Shanghai = awesome too!
On one of our last days we had booked to go
on a deserted beach walk. This was something I had not considered was something
you could do in Hong Kong before. Most people seem to stop in the city for two
days on their way to somewhere else in Asia or Australia so I had not heard of
anyone doing this before. We met you guide in the city centre and travelled
with him on the metro out to the area where we started our walk. The weather
was fantastic and the beaches were indeed deserted. It was absolutely fantastic
and a real change from the bustling city centre. We stopped at a local café for
some great food at lunch time and then walked back over the hills seeing
amazing views across the see. It was just perfect and something I would highly
recommend to anyone visiting the city.
Upon our return to the city we had planned
to visit the (fairly) nearby city of Macau. We had heard it was a good night
out but we hadn’t realised how popular the ferries were going to be to get
there. We had assumed we would be able to jump on whichever one we wanted but
that turned out not to be true! The only ones we could get on was a departure
at 8pm and a return at 1am which meant only a few hours in Macau but would be
enough for us to gamble with our not so huge budget and a few more cocktails.
On checking in at the ferry the immigration department actually stamped you out
of Hong Kong and had taken Laura’s departure card but had left mine in my
passport. Now Laura is a very experienced traveller but I have never seen her
panic like this. She was worried they wouldn’t let her into Hong Kong again
which I said they would and not to panic. This didn’t seem to calm her down and
as we sat on the ferry just before it was leaving she was frantically flicking through
the guidebook and turned to me to say “have we really thought about this?” I
wasn’t sure why she was panicking so much and it would be fine. Looking back
now we laugh about it (a lot in my case.) Macau was amazing and it was exactly
like Las Vegas which I wasn’t expecting. The money being spent there is
phenomenal and I have since learnt that the money it generates is 7 times more
than Vegas itself which makes you think where the gambling capital of the world
really sits. We went to the Wynn hotel and played a little pontoon with the
minimal budget we set aside. We won a few times but then gambled with our
winnings and lost it all. Oh well….it was fun which is not what it was to some
of the tables who were placing bets of thousands of pounds at a time and
losing. Unbelievable. We had a few cocktails and then got the ferry back to
Hong Kong where Laura was safely let back into the country.
So Hong Kong was not planned but was a
fantastic trip and somewhere I would recommend going for longer than the
traditional 2 night stopover. We planned to go to Japan in 2012 and on our
third attempt we made it there – yay!
P.S. Laura hasn’t learnt to drive yet
Chapter
11: London revisited
2012 was to be the big ten year anniversary
so should have been Chicago and Route 66 but since Laura hadn’t learnt to drive
yet we decided we put that one off until she could. So the plan was to go to
Verona for a few days of culture and then head to Valencia for Las Fallas
festival which coincidently culminates on the 17th March. I have
been to some other festivals in Spain like La Tomatina (tomatoes make very
painful weapons and tall people make easy targets) and the running of the bulls
at San Fermin (very drunk but one of the bests fiesta atmospheres I have ever
experienced) and had no doubt that Las Fallas would be just as fun and
impressive.
We were all booked to go when only a few
weeks prior to our trip my Dad became seriously ill and was in intensive care.
I was spending a lot of time with my family and thus didn’t want to be far away
from home in case something happened.
So we stayed in the UK but still planned to
spend St. Patrick’s Day with Laura in London. Now with a million things going
on at home I was impressed that very quickly I managed to come up with a
surprise plan for the day for Laura to make up for the fact that we were not away.
Her support over the prior weeks had also been amazing so I was looking forward
to saying thank you in a big way.
So I told her to meet me at Earl’s Court
tube station ready for the day out. We met and then jumped back on the
Overground down to Imperial Wharf as I had booked for us to have lunch in a
hotel overlooking Chelsea Harbour. I gave her a card to celebrate our
anniversary (as it were) and a glitter green hat to wear for the day! We had
some lovely food, wine and gossip as we hadn’t seen each other as much as we
normally would have with me being at the hospital and my parents’ house so much
recently. Chelsea harbour is a lovely place to be to enjoy a quiet lunch over a
brilliant view. It’s nice to daydream about owning an apartment there one day
and to speculate over who your famous neighbours would be. At the time we were
aiming for top A lister but I fear that now you may run the risk of it simply
being a cast member of Made in Chelsea.
Post lunch we enjoyed a fantastic walk through
Chelsea, Kensington and Knightsbridge spotting the current display of Faberge
Easter Eggs that formed a hunt of about 260 eggs hidden around the city. Now we
only saw a handful but still it was fun and allowed us to be tourists in our
own city once again.
The main part of our celebration was to see
the reunion tour of The Commitments (as in the actual band from the film) at
the O2 arena. We made our way down there already a little tipsy and ordered
more black stuff as soon as we were in the arena. The audience was on top form
and we were not alone in being drunk. The atmosphere was friendly and one of
the most fun I have had at a gig. The band was fantastic and it was a brilliant
way to relive my youth as well as feeling like a truly unique St. Paddy’s Day
celebration. Post-concert instead of waiting for the queue for the tube to
clear we opted for a boat transfer back to central London as we loved being on
the river and it also had an open bar so would mean we wouldn’t need to
dehydrate (i.e. sober up) on our way to the next drinking hole. The journey
along the river is blurry but we arrived at Embankment and headed straight for
G-A-Y which was now in a new venue just around the corner. Were we heading back
to our beginning roots of being absolutely hammered and in a gay club?! Proof
that we still had it even ten years on! We danced the night away and then came
the announcement that Steps would be performing on stage. OMG! Seeing one of
the gayest bands ever just added to the excitement of what was a fantastic day
already. Steps were good and after they vacated the stage more dancing to
cheesy tunes followed until the draw of McDonald’s on the strand was too large
a force to resist and we sat and ate some dirty food to minimize the hangover
when we would awaken from our slumber in a few hours.
The journey home has escaped my memory but
I know I will remember that day out forever as it was a brilliant day out with
my best friend when I needed it most. Looking back at my Facey-B wall here’s
what I posted the next day:
Lunch in Chelsea harbour, Easter egg hunt
around Sloane square, cocktails, The Commitments at the O2 followed by Steps at
G-A-Y = a very fun St. Patrick's day!!
There you have it…we had celebrated our tenth Paddy’s
Day together. It wasn’t the original holiday (or back up) planned but there was
always next year for that and if you can’t have fun in London then where can
you eh?
P.S. Laura still hasn’t learnt to drive.
Chapter
12: Verona & Valencia
So planning for where to go in 2013 was
easy. Verona and Valencia it would be! Regretfully it would mean that we would
need to travel on Ryanair as they were the only airline to travel between the
two cities but for a two hour flight we could scrape through. It does still
amuse me that every person that travels a lot seems to adopt the mantra of “I
don’t mind who we fly with as long as it’s not Ryanair.” I have done my fair
share of flights with them and whilst I am grateful that they have allowed me
to travel around Europe extensively for a very minimal price I still don’t
enjoy the experience of travelling with them. They have firmly taken out the
glamour and excitement of air travel.
First world problems aside we started our
trip with a lovely little flight with BA across to Verona. I had wanted to go
to the city for a long time as it looked beautiful in pictures and being a fan
of Shakespeare’s work of course it played host to a number of his best work.
Arriving in the city we checked into our hotel which was a small boutique hotel
tucked away in a side road. We made the short walk to the town centre and sat
in the main square overlooking the stunning arena. We then indulged in what would be the first of
many pizzas and a glass of Aeperol Spritz. With this being a twin centered
holiday (as they call it in the travel industry) we had decided that the Verona
part of our trip would be the more relaxed part and once we got to Valencia we
would “get on it” as part of both the Las Fallas festival and of course Paddy’s
Day.
So the afternoon of day one in Verona was
very relaxing in that we walked the streets without really looking at the map
simply taking in the atmosphere and wonderful buildings that line each side of
the streets. It is only a fairly small city so we knew we wouldn’t get too lost
and would always be able to ask directions to the main square where our hotel
was within easy reach. We crossed the river at the spectacular castle and
walked along the other side of the river simply admiring the view and talking.
It also gave me a chance to plan out where I could run in the morning before
breakfast.
We spent the evening in another lovely
restaurant in Piazza delle Erbe this time opting for a pasta dish in order to
alternate between the two main Italian favourites from lunch time to dinner
time (a pattern we would adopt for the rest of the time in Italy.) One thing
was also a requirement….please bring us the bread basket as we will devour it
all without question (and before our drinks will even arrive.) Feeling full and
fully carb loaded we started the wander back through town with the idea of stopping
somewhere in the main square for a drink. However; before reaching our
destination we discovered a lovely wine bar which we dipped into for a few
glasses before bed time. This also became a nightly tradition for the rest of
the trip. The bar was filled with locals which was also a sign and as well as
selling fantastic wine we saw some people munching on bread sticks covered in
parma ham which we were uber jealous of. Note to ourselves was to save room to sample
some of those the next night!
I awoke fairly early to go for a run before
more carb loading at breakfast. I love running in cities especially in the
early hours as it gives you a chance to see the city start to awaken and also
allows you to have the streets almost to yourself sometimes. My run through the
old town and along the river was just what the doctor ordered and even meant I
built up a hunger before breakfast which I didn’t think would be possible given
how much bread I had eaten the day before. It also meant that I had explored
further along the river than we had walked the previous day and thus had some
ideas as to where we should walk to (and sample some of the lovely restaurants
I spotted along the way of course.) Post breakfast we made our way through town
to visit Juliet’s house which is one of the main tourist attractions in town
(i.e. very crowded.) Still; no visit to Verona would be complete with visiting
the site. The museum itself was not too informative and could be missed if I
were visiting again; however it is great to see the famous balcony which
Shakespeare used as inspiration in Rome and Juliet as well as looking at the
many padlocks, letters and graffiti people have left in the courtyard to
solidify their love for someone. The queue is long to touch the right breast of
the statue of Juliet which is said to offer those that do lifelong happiness
and luck in love. Laura waited her turn to do it and I was designated
photographer. Hopefully the legend will come true otherwise it just make it
look like Laura likes touching the breast of lady statues. Just saying.
Walking further along the river we then
stopped for another pizza and bread basket for lunch. The food in Verona really
was spectacular and every mouthful was like a taste sensation. What I loved
about each restaurant was that they really felt like an individual place and
the owner was always super friendly. As we made our way back to the main square
we went into the Arena to look around. It is a fantastic coliseum and one day I
would like to return in the summer months in order to see an opera there as it
must be amazing. At the time we were there the crew were getting the Arena
stage ready for the opera season so I could only imagine what it would be like
but one day I will find out for sure.
That night we ate yet more pasta but made
sure we had room for wine and breadsticks at our newly found local. They were
fantastic and we would certainly be returning there on our final night the next
day.
On our final day I started within another
sunrise run and more river action when we went for a morning walk by the river
and up to Castel San Pietro which affords stunning views across the city. We
sat up there on the wall of the castle for an hour just thinking and watching
the world below. After seeing the amazing views we went back to our hotel to
use the spa which we pretty much had to ourselves. After our time up on the
hill; two hours in a hot tub only added to the feeling of utter relaxation. A
lovely day and could only be topped off with three things: wine, parma ham
breadsticks and more pizza.
So Italy had been very good to us and
Verona did not disappoint. So onto the next part of our holiday in Spain. We
made our way to the airport; this time not the very handy Verona airport but
“Verona airport” which was actually located in Bergamo, this was Ryanair after
all!
We arrived in Valencia a little hungry as
we had both refused to pay the prices for a terrible sandwich on board the
plane and so we jumped on the train into town. We had opted for a hotel that
was situated part way between the centre of the city but not far from the beach
either. As it was coming to sundown our bodies had been accustomed to having a
glass of red wine so we decided to walk down to the beach to find a nice bar to
watch the sunset and enjoy a bowl of nuts to tide us over. It was lovely to
watch the waves come in and before long we had firmly moved our brains from
Italian food to Spanish and were ready for some tapas. We ate in a little tapas
bar not far from the centre of town and marveled at how inexpensive each dish
was and therefore completely over ordered. Needless to say we still made our
way through two bread baskets I believe! During our after dinner walk we
started to see groups setting up the Fallas in the street thus beginning the
taking of many photos of each monument as we continued to have new favourites
on every corner.
The festival itself is to celebrate St.
Joseph. Each neighbourhood in the city has a group of selected people who
fundraise (by holding fiestas and dinners usually serving paella) in order to
then make the falla which forms part of the festival and on the last night is
burnt. I had seen pictures of the festival before but seeing these structures
in real life really brought home how much effort each of these groups had gone
to. Some of the falla were fairly simple and small but the larger organisations
had ones that towered far into the sky and depicted such elaborate (and
sometimes naughty) scenes it was unbelievable to see.
So after a little beer we were now waiting
for the nightly fireworks that were due to take place at midnight. The streets
were packed with people waiting for the same show and already the bangs of
firecrackers that people were setting off was nonstop. We came to get used to
this sounds as it continued both day and night throughout our entire time in
Valencia. When we arrived back in London we were not used to the quiet and it
felt wrong not hearing fireworks during the day. The official fireworks were fantastic
and went on for a full 15 minutes or so. It was brilliant but after a long day
we retired to bed (managing to sleep despite the still constant bangs outside.)
The next day we visited the city aquarium
and walked around town taking in even more fallas. We also then got our first
glimpse of the Virgin Mary offering. This consisted of a large wooden frame
where each of the fallas groups would come and lay flowers and by the end of
the festival the entire structure would be covered. It was yet another amazing
site to see. For the evening we made our way back down to the beach for a long
walk and yet more food which was nice before more fireworks that night.
The next day was St. Patrick’s Day. We were
up and dressed in green and enjoyed a spot of breakfast. There was a bull fight
going on at the historical bullring in the center of town. We made our way to
our seats and got our first beers of the day. This was the first time I had
been at a bullfight. I had visited this and other bullrings in Spain (in Ronda,
Madrid and Seville) and I think they are beautiful pieces of architecture but I
don’t think I would regularly frequent the fights themselves. Whilst I see that
it is a skill that is very dangerous for the matador the human in me can’t help
but think that the odds are heavily weighted towards the matador and not the
bull. The bull is outnumbered at the start and thus is much weakened by the
time it is one to one with the matador. We stayed for a few fights but left
before the end in order to enjoy the much more humane elements of the festival.
We then joined a group for a walking tour of the fallas which was fantastic. We
learnt about the different groups taking part and were lucky enough to go
inside the closed off areas and get up close to the falla which made for
fantastic photos. At the end of the tour we also got to share a beer in the
club house of one of the groups and learn about the types of fundraising events
they had done in order to be able to afford being part of the festival year
after year. Many fireworks and beers later we ended up in a fantastic tapas bar
which had come recommended by our walking group tour leader. There was a queue
for a table (made up of entirely Spanish people which is a good sign) so we
made friends with some people who were doing a local lemon flavoured shot at
the bar. Joining in we did a few of the shots and then were ready for our table
where we had some of the best tapas ever (and that’s not just the alcohol
talking.) Full and having fully enjoyed the day a close was brought to yet
another successful St Paddy’s Day trip.
Our final few hours the next afternoon
before our flight home were spent having a picnic in the park by our hotel for
our last indulgence in bread, dips and meats before returning home to go on a
diet.
We landed back in London very late but I
had mysteriously felt quite nauseous on the plane journey home. Before you ask
we were not flying Ryanair again so it can’t have been that. I made the car
journey back home but was pretty violently sick all night and the next day
meaning I couldn’t go to work. On the positive side it meant no diet was
required as all excess weight had now been duly lost and that it indicated I
was allergic to coming home and thus must get on to planning another trip
immediately.
P.S. Laura has learnt to drive. Just
kidding….it is still on her to do list.
Chapter
13: Paris & Disneyland
In November 2013 Laura and I had saved a
few days holiday from work so that we could go away just before Christmas. We
hadn’t decided where to go but would make use of the standby deals we could get
through Laura now working at British Airways.
We toyed with the idea of a long weekend in the Caribbean but rejected
it based on too many people already being booked onto flights. Bastards. We
looked at east coast USA but decided against the freezing temperatures they
were experiencing. We then started looking at places in Europe and came up with
a little jaunt to Disneyland Paris. I had been once before for the day around
Christmas time and they had a Christmas parade which was fun and so we looked
on the site and saw that whilst the Christmas parade would be running over that
weekend we spied that they were also planning an entire day of celebrations on
St. Patrick’s Day. We were sold. We would save our little Paris and Disney trip
until the following March and for our weekend in 2013 we decided to go to Vienna
for culture and Christmas markets.
We decided to make it a twin centre trip
(again) and we were going to travel to Paris on a Friday evening after work and
have a couple of days staying in Paris itself before heading to Disneyland for
a couple of nights including of course the big Irish day. Laura and I met at St
Pancras and had arranged to firstly have a glass of champagne to toast our trip
prior to boarding the train. Now the champagne bar in the station boasts that
it is the longest champagne bar in the world. Whilst it indeed serves nice
champagne (of which we had two glasses before boarding) it is in fact a bit
misleading in that the actual bar is not that long….it is that the bar space
runs for most of the station length. Still; we could say we had done it.
One the train we were in the premium
economy section meaning we got a little bit of food but more importantly
unlimited drinks. We order wine, some more wine and then a tiny bit of wine to
finish off the journey ultimately arriving in gay Paris fairly sozzled. It was
already fairly late so we had made the plan to jump on the metro to our hotel
and then go for just a few nightcaps locally. In the metro station we found out
that public transport was free all weekend due to the pollution in the city which
is something I have never known before. Even when I lived in Athens and the
smog over the city was awful it never meant that public transport was free; it
just meant that they implemented a congestion zone restriction. I must tell you
about the beauty of this before I continue with our French adventure. In Greece
they started a rule whereby you could only drive in the centre of the city
dependent on your number plate. For example on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
only cars with a number plate starting with an odd number could drive into town
and on Tuesday and Thursday those with an even number could pass the congestion
lines. So what did that mean in Greece? Simply have two cars or two number
plates to swap over each day and thus still continue to drive to work. Madness!
Anyway I digress. Excited by the prospect of not having to pay for the metro we
made our journey to our hotel.
We found a fantastic cocktail bar right opposite
our place and we propped up the bar until the small hours taking
recommendations of what to drink next from the barmen and gossiping about life.
Waking up in the morning we could
definitely tell that our throats had not had anything remotely hydrating for
some hours and so headed for breakfast to refuel. We had both been to Paris numerous
times so didn’t need to “do” the main sights but we had booked a tour around
town in a 2CV. We took a leisurely stroll along the river to where we met our
driver and jumped in the back of the very French car. Our driver was cute and
was sporting a beret just to add a dash more to the stereotype!
The tour took
us along the Champs Elysees and down to the Eiffel Tower which was fun.
Stopping at traffic lights we still gained attention as the car is so iconic so
it was nice to feel like a celebrity for 30 minutes or so. Leaving the tour
Louis (our driver) gave us some other leaflets and two mini bottles of
Chartreuse which excited me because it was something green to start St.
Patrick’s Day with!
The weather in Paris was fantastic and we
wandered around Isle de la Cite, Shakespeare and Co book shop, the Tulleries, the
Pere Lachaise cemetery (a must when visiting the city) and the canal. We
happened to be at the canal at dusk time and many young groups were sat by the
water drinking (Desperado which if you haven’t had it then try it…it’s like
dynamite) and getting ready for their Saturday night. We decided it was time
for us to have a little drink (but not Desperado) and we found a little shop
right on the banks of the canal that served both cheese and wine. Perfect. We
ordered a cheese board and a glass each to have whilst we watched the world go
by. It was great and made us feel tres Parisian!
So after 48 hours of immersing ourselves in
real French culture it was time to move on an enjoy culture of a different
form. Disneyland. Now I have found that people seem to either love or hate
Disneyland and there is no real in between. Most people seem to like
reminiscing about childhood favourites and as friends my age have children of
their own now want to see the excitement on their faces. I never get tired of
it and am not ashamed to say so. I think it is a great place to have fun and
yes I know it is all very commercial but it is excellently done so why not just
enjoy it. I will admit that the Paris park is the poor relation in terms to all
the other ones but this didn’t stop this trip being my 5th visit to
it.
St. Patrick’s Day was our first full day in
the park so we dressed in green and donned our glitter hats (purchase in the
fashion capital of the world…Paris) and made our way onto the rides, watched
the shows and parades and fully enjoying every moment of it. We couldn’t
believe how much of an effort the park had put into Paddy’s Day. They had a
special parade marking the occasion as well as having many of the characters
dressed in Irish colours. The Chip n’ Dale show even had the two chipmunks
doing Riverdance which I thought would be lame but in fact they executed it
perfectly. Who knew chipmunks could dance so well? We spotted Chip at the meet
and greet area and so waited briefly for our turn to have a picture with him.
Now in the modern age we just took it as a selfie so all three of us were in
the picture together. An English family who had just been before us started
laughing and asked if they wanted them to take another picture as they hadn’t
realised we were by ourselves and a selfie wouldn’t turn out that well. Thanks
but no thanks….we are experts at showing no shame when it comes to having our
Disney pictures thank you very much. Do you remember our Alice encounter in
Hong Kong?
So selfies with Chipmunks firmly done we
thoroughly enjoyed our day in the park and were ready for what the Disney
village had to offer for night time entertainment. We changed into another
shade of green and watched the St. Patrick’s Day fireworks which were great and
then made our way for dinner and the first proper alcohol of the day. Now I had
drunk the Chartreuse whilst getting ready for the evening (Laura chickened out
of that drink) but I was ready for a beer. We had read in the Disney day
planner that The Commitments were playing at one of the bars in the Disney
village so we went to check them out. Arriving in the bar they were already on
stage and I knew they were not the real ones (which we had seen just two years
before in London.) None the less they were a great band and they had the crowd
going. Song after song (and beer after beer) we joined in. They even had the
families dancing who had rather inappropriately brought their very small
children to the bar in buggies to let them sleep at the side of the dance
floor. Who does that?!
The band then left before coming back for
an encore and it was only at this time when they introduced the band that we
realised two members (the guitar player and piano player) were in fact members
of the band from the film. Very exciting for me as it is one of my favourite
films from my youth. They played a little more to raucous applause. It was
fantastic. We sat at the side of the bar after the gig ended finishing our
drinks when the two said members of the band walked past. Spurred on by quite a
lot of Corona (no Desperado as I am classy like that) I asked if we could have
our photo with them. It was that time again for another selfie so we could all
be in it together. We stayed and chatted with them for a while and may even
have seemed like real groupies when we said we had been at the St. Patrick’s
Day gig in London exactly two years before. Enter security and we were kicked
out. Just kidding. They were super friendly and were very humble characters
indeed.
On the contrary to the sober band members
we also made friends with a young group of guys who worked at Disney and 75% of
them were absolutely shitfaced. The 25% that wasn’t came in the form of an
English man called Simon who had worked in the Disney parade for 4 years. He
was very friendly and told us about the parade he was in the next day at the
studios park and we agreed we would be there (with me wearing a Donald Duck hat
for easy spotting) to watch him as we hadn’t seen the main parade that day. The
remainder of the group were somewhat more hammered (one even having a toy doll
with him whom he said he took everywhere) and when they informed us they were
also on duty in the park at 11am I thought really? I was not convinced they would
be making it in time for their parade given the inebriated state they seemed to
be in (and that was from my drunken eyes!) None the less they were friendly and
fun to be drunken buddies with for an hour or so and we would find out if they
made it to work in 11 hours or so!
When the bar closed Laura and I returned to
the bar at our Disney hotel. We wanted one more night cap and I was super
excited they were serving Guinness as I was yet to have one since the bar we
had just been in had run out. WTF?! We were chatting to ourselves when we
noticed a woman sat on her own also at the bar drinking a flashing cocktail.
Like moths to a flame Laura and I were very excited by this and asked her what
it was (I can’t remember) but then asked her to join us. She was called Sue,
was English but lived in Vancouver and was in Disney with her two kids and her
Mum. Within a few minutes we realised that she was a very wealthy stay at home
Mum that she found it incredibly hard work running the family home despite
having a nanny and a cleaner hence being at the bar on her own for a rest. Hello?
What do you do then all day when the kids are at school and how do you think
other families cope with no help? She proceeded to then tell us that she didn’t
like Disneyland Paris and that next year she would “just” take the kids to
Dubai because that’s cheap and easy. She also let us know that for her
daughter’s tenth birthday they hired the top Disney hotel in Los Angeles for a
party on the balcony. Erm – how much money did she have and she was still
wearing a tracksuit at the bar? We bade her farewell and as soon as the lift
doors shut Laura and I both commented that perhaps it was a mistake to invite
her over and perhaps she was an alcoholic. Bitches aren’t we but it is weird we
both thought the same thing.
The next day we made our way to the studio
park in plenty of time for the character meet and greet where our “friends”
said they would be at 11am prior to the afternoon “Stars and Cars” parade. I
spotted a ride which was like a pirate ship but a car and wanted to go on that
but Laura’s hangover meant we needed to wait a little while before a rough ride
so to speak and so we went on the slinky dog ride in Toy Story Play Land
surrounded by very young kids and their parents. Turns out it was worth taking
the shame as it was a good ride and quite a hidden white knuckle contender. Ok
so that last part of the sentence was a lie but it made Laura confident enough
to go on the car ride and not be sick. We never found our friends at the meet
and greet but spotted them in the parade so they did prove us wrong and made it
through vomit free. Perhaps it was a pre-requisite to be able to get hammered
and still turn up to play nice with the families in order to work at Disney?
Sadly another year of celebrating came to
an end and we boarded the Eurostar for a dash under the English Channel back to
London. We had had another brilliant trip and giggle all the way home which was
good as I had suddenly really begun to miss Sue. Why couldn’t she be a
permanent fixture in my life? Again you have caught me lying but on a serious
note one day I would like to work at a Disney park and become a fully-fledged
cast member. I can dance, love Disney, like meeting new people and don’t get
hangovers so I guess that means I am qualified?
P.S. Laura hasn’t learnt to drive yet so can’t
be in the “Stars and Cars” parade or drive Route 66.
Chapter 14: Antigua
On Paddy’s
Day people drink a lot. Pirates in the Caribbean used to drink a lot. Montserrat
is the only other country in the World besides the Republic of Ireland to have
St. Patrick’s Day as a public holiday. Therefore it was a match made in heaven.
We would head to the West Indies for our inaugural trip to the Caribbean Sea
together.
We decided on Antigua as we were both travelling on staff British Airways standby tickets and
the flights there had plenty of seats left. It was an island I of course had
heard of but I didn’t know anyone who had been and it’s one I hadn’t read much
about.
We opted out
of staying in an all-inclusive resort and booked a cottage that was by the
beach. I had jested with Laura that we should stay at Sandals (the all couple
resort) but she saw through my piss taking and agreed to the cottage. We hired
a car (so this would kind of be like driving Route 66 right) which would enable
us to travel the island and would also be my first time driving an automatic.
It couldn’t be too hard right? Either that or I would be doing emergency stops
all the time.
The plane door
opened to a very warm rush of wind. Everyone loves that feeling when you have
flown from much colder climes. We picked
up our car and made it to our cottage in time for sunset and without doing one
emergency stop. Our cottage owners Doug and Gabi were super nice. Both
Europeans but having lived on the island for 35 years. There were only 6
cottages set by a lake with the sound of the waves close by. It was beautiful.
Doug and Gabi welcomed us with a beer and gave us a bottle of wine for our
room. Perhaps they had heard about us before?
They showed
us around our room and in a rather sexist fashion Gabi showed Laura all the
features of the kitchen whilst Doug showed me the BBQ and how to use the safe.
I fear they may have guessed the nature of our relationship incorrectly. That
done they then said they would give us 10 minutes to freshen up before they
would take us to the supermarket to get our supplies. Surely we could go
another day and just get something in a local restaurant tonight after a long
flight but they said that it wouldn’t be wise to be trying to find somewhere
now it was dark so it was best to eat in. I feared they were saying we were
actually more cut off than we thought but after a panicked question of “but
there are restaurants around aren’t there” from me they clarified that yes
there were.
So ten
minutes later Gabi drove us into town and showed us where we should go for the
sights. She took us to the supermarket where we stocked up on alcohol,
breakfast materials and dinner for the BBQ that night. I am 90% sure she
thought we were crazy buying so few items and her usual guests would stock up
for the week. She had also accompanied us around the shop and had said that she
would have one of the locals pack our bags for us and that she would pay the
tip given that she would take the loyalty points from our shop. Bet she regrets
that now as she probably only got one point from our measly shop.
We made our
way back to the cottage and we had some beers and I cooked the meat on the BBQ
in the most manly way I knew how. I dropped a couple of the sausages on the
floor so they had to go. Perhaps a real man would have just thrown them back on
the BBQ? I am sure Bear Grylls would have. So all in all it wasn’t the most
rock n roll Paddy’s Day we had seen but still a lovely one and a good start to
our trip.
Doug came to
see us in the morning and spent an hour telling us what to see on the island
and the best routes to drive there. A few facts that I learnt from him that
morning:
-
Admiral Horatio
Nelson had spent some time in Antigua
-
The locals
did not like Horatio as he had prevented trade with the US
-
The English
fired canons at ships to hit below the waterline so that the ship sank
-
Others fired
so that the ship was blown to smithereens and huge splinters would wound pirates causing a long and painful death
-
Montserrat
was visible from various points on the island and has been known to recently
through ash up to 35,000 feet in the air. If it does that then maybe our flight
will be “stuck” here similar to the Icelandic ash cloud crisis of 2010? At
least this time I would be stuck somewhere slightly more glamorous than Glasgow
like last time eh?
-
In
yesteryear sugar was the main trade of the island and at one point was worth
more than gold
-
Drink
driving and speeding were not an issue in modern day Antigua. He once heard of
two people being stopped for speeding as the police had new toys in the form of
speed guns. The culprits simply went to immigration to tell them their plight
who then “stamped them off the island” for the date in question so that when
the court date arrived they could legitimately say they were not on the island
so therefore the speed offence must be incorrect. Sneaky.
So loaded up
on information via from Dougapedia we then made our plans for the next few
days. We went into St John’s to check out the shops and then drove down the
coast to stop at a café called The Nest which was set on an amazing beach. The
sea was the most brilliant blue and was very inviting. After a spot of lunch
and a coconut shake we walked along the beach and had a dip in the sea. After a
few rays on the beach we carried on along the coast road and stopped in another
beach side place called OJs. I don’t believe it was related to the former
football player. It was an even better setting than the Nest and we enjoyed
watching the waves crash over the rocks in front of us.
That evening
we drove up to the north of the island to where we were told on Wednesdays and
Fridays a couple set up a fish and chip van by the side of the road. We managed
to find it. We order a mix of scampi and cod. It was lovely. There were mostly
locals around. Although could that be Doug and Gabi from our cottages with the
residents of the other five cottages? A group night out without us?! How rude.
To be fair it wasn’t rude at all and we exchanged pleasantries with them. The
food was great and it was fun to be eating somewhere quite original. However; a
few hours later Laura was keeping up with a semi tradition of all Paddy’s Day
trips and was hugging the porcelain throughout the night. This time though it
wasn’t alcohol related and more down to a rogue scampi we think. A shame but
she was fine by morning.
We spent the
next day on our local beach which was attached to a small all-inclusive resort.
The beach was lovely and the sea was again uber blue and offered huge waves to
play in. We were also lucky enough to watch a couple get married on the beach
and took advantage of a few free coconut rum and cokes (which is just as
healthy as pure coconut water surely?!)
We explored
the island further over the coming days heading down south to Nelson’s Dockyard
which reminded me of a Portsmouth in the sun and on to Catherine’s Café for a
wonderful lunch. A gorgeous setting right on the beach and excellent food. We
treated ourselves to three courses. I rounded off my meal with Ile Flotante
which always reminds me of my youth. My Mum used to make it so it was a real
treat to have it again although it didn’t surpass my Mum’s cooking. Nothing
usually does beat your own Mum’s cooking though does it? We stopped at Shirley
Heights on the way home which offered brilliant views across the island. Truly
one of the most magnificent views I have had the pleasure of seeing.
Sadly we
were coming to the end of our trip so we wanted to make the last few days
really count. What to do? Ziplining was the answer. There was a three hour zip
line course through the jungle in the centre of the island. We signed up and
swung through the trees for a few hours. It was fantastic. The guides were very
funny and even at times surprised us by wearing gorilla masks which was a
little shocked as you arrived at the next tree. They were also know to shout
“no I haven’t attached you yet” just as a zip liner had made the jump off the
platform. Mean (if they did it to you) but hilarious for those left watching.
The views of the lush hills was spectacular and something I would do again and
say don’t miss it if you get the chance.
For our last
night we had booked into a restaurant called Sheer Rocks. Gabi had told us it
was one of her favourite places and was a really romantic spot. She even went
as far to say that it could be known as the baby maker restaurant due to the
romance one felt whilst there. She definitely got our relationship wrong but we
didn’t correct her. Or the other guests for that matter. As we dressed up
nicely for our evening the other older guests of the cottages were so excited
they asked to take a picture of me and my lady. Not quite sure what they are
going to do with the photo but it’s nice to please your public eh? So onto the
restaurant we went. We got there early to have some more coconut rum and coke
whilst watching the sun set. It was a good plan. The sunset was beautiful and
was the perfect way to spend our last evening. The food post sunset was equally
ravishing and the restaurant is a must if you are on the island. It is a
romantic spot but it is equally good if you are there with friends. Laura and I
decided not to make a baby that night although if we had it would be the
perfect storyline for a b grade Hollywood rom com I think.
So our time
as pirates came to an end and we had to get ready to leave Antigua. We had a
final swim in the infinity pool and made our way to the airport. Laura tells me
the flight home was turbulent for 7 hours non stop but I didn’t witness it as I
was in a slumber. I arrived in London feeling ok to head straight to work.
Laura was no quite so fresh after the roller coaster ride.
However; we couldn’t
complain after such a wonderful trip. Being tired at work for one day would be
worth it. Our Paddy’s trip was over for another year.
I can sum up
our trip to Antigua for you in two short words. Visit Antigua.
P.S. Laura
still hasn’t learnt to drive.
Chapter 15: London
I know what
you’re thinking. You live in London, why are you celebrating there again? When
is this illusive Chicago trip actually going to happen?
Well this
one was slightly complicated. We were all set to head to Chicago when
unfortunately Laura’s Mum took sick a week or so before our departure and was
enduring a short stint in hospital.
Fortunately
Mummy Hamilton recovered from her emergency operation and was back home
fighting fit not long after (which was our main priority) but it did mean we
cancelled our Paddy’s Day trip.
So Chicago
was not to be once more but I do feel that we are getting ever closer don’t you
think?
So for the
first time in many years I didn’t get to see Laura on St. Patrick’s Day which
was a real shame. I still wore green on the day and had half a pint of Guinness
at my desk before calling Laura that evening so it wasn’t all bad.
We
re-arranged our own Paddy’s Day to take place on 22nd July when we
could enjoy a full day out together in London. The day went like so:
-
We lunched in
South Kensington
-
We walked
through Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park & Green Park
-
We enjoyed
the sunshine
-
We didn’t
catch any Pokemon (current craze) & just accepted we were too old for
Pokemon (for the second time in our lives)
-
We had a
Mimosa at Shoreditch Grind on silicon roundabout
-
We had
cocktails and a manicure at Barbour & Parlour in Shoreditch
-
We went to a
pop up food market for cake and beer (no full meal as eating is cheating remember. Especially in East London)
At this
point we were just approaching the edge. You know the one I mean, where you
aren’t yet drunk but you have enough self-awareness to know that you aren’t
exactly sober either.
We went to
the Ace Hotel for espresso martinis. An uber trendy establishment that had we
known beforehand we should have taken our Mac Book with us in order to fit in.
We went to
an underground bar that had kid’s dolls stuck to the ceiling and a roundabout
horse to sit on.
We went to
another bar where the cocktail menu was the barman who created something based
on your likes and dislikes (it seems this list should be limited to alcohol and
flavour rather than my actual hobbies.)
We made the
conscious decision to miss the last tube because now Uber had changed our life.
We waited for our Uber a few hours later. I told Laura I was drunk. She told me
she wasn’t. I continued to chat away in the back of the taxi. Laura wound down
the window. I knew what was coming.
“I feel a
bit sick” she said.
“Don’t you
dare ruin my Uber rating by being sick in the car” I caringly replied.
We made it
home without a vomming incident and with my rating still intact.
It was a
super day and one of my favourite days of 2016. It was worth the wait.
So next year
Chicago, I promise!
P.S. Laura
still hasn’t learnt to drive.
P.P.S. Laura
had been drunk. The reason I know (besides the comment in the car) is that when
we went to secret cinema to see Dirty Dancing the following day she couldn’t
drink and her only achievements from the day before meeting me had been to get
up and get ready to come out. A sure sign of a hangover if ever there was one
eh?
Chapter 16: Chicago (finally)
So, after many years of trying we were off to Chicago. Ok, we weren't going to do Route 66 after but we were still off to the city that apparently knew how to celebrate Paddy's Day better than the Irish. In fact, a colleague of mine from Chicago informed me that the Dublin celebration organisers had actually just employed the Chicago organisers as consultants to help improve the Dublin activities. Ironic I think you will agree.
The weekend before leaving for our trip I was on my way to Laura's house to meet for lunch when aforementioned colleague messaged me to say that she had noticed her friends back home all posting pictures of the green river and I wasn't there.
WTF?
It seemed Chicago had decided to hold the green river ritual and parade a full 6 days ahead of St Patrick's Day. Why I ask you? Nobody had a good answer. In this respect I would say fire the consultants quickly Dublin. Get out while you can.
So on the 16th March Laura and I finally arrived in Chicago. It was chilly but our downtown hotel allowed us to be in the midst of everything and once freshened up we took a quick walk to the river.
"It still is a little green" Laura remarked.
"It's a river Laura, it should be green" I said.
"No, more Green than usual I think." She retained.
She was optimistic I will give her that. For you as a reader I will spill the beans. There was no green left at all. Returning the next morning Laura had to concede and admit that this was just the river's natural colour. Perhaps we will still see it one day? Maybe our 20th Paddy Day anniversary?!
That aside though the trip was an absolute blast and went something like this:
We had a gigantic pizza pie at Uno on the first night and nearly burst
We shopped on the magnificent mile
We queued three hours to reach the summit of the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower)
The queue was worth it.
However, we did have to air our grievances when one girl was taking approximately 20 selfies on the glass floor deck keeping a further queue not moving.
We obviously aired said grievance to each other and nobody else. We are English after all you know.
We dined like Real Housewives of (insert city here but since we are in Chicago let's go with that one) at the Ralph Lauren Cafe.
We had a mani and a glass of prosecco at Polish and Pour in the Old Town making us glamour ready for the actual St Patrick's night out.
We drank Martinis, beers and a pint of Guinness.
Laura got ID'd yet didn't understand the question so just fist bumped the doorman. Surprisingly he actually let her in rather than assume she was shitfaced.
We found an Irish bar that was playing hip hop. We didn't stay for long.
Our Uber driver home told us he thought we would find more bars we would enjoy in a different area of town as the Old Town was for much younger people.
Bastard. 3 stars rating from me.
We went to see Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the theatre.
Amazing show. Beautiful theatre.
Ridiculous ticketing system. They wouldn't accept mobile tickets and told us to go to an internet cafe to print them out.
Sadly we didn't have the delorean to hand in order to go back to the 90s when internet cafes existed meaning we had to wait to 5 minutes before the show for them to hand write them for us.
We took selfies by the famous bean.
Laura took photos with her iPad as her phone is from the stone age.
Please buy a new phone Laura. One that works.
We enjoyed art at the city hall. Including several pieces mocking the recently elected Mr Trump. It seems Chicago shared my feelings.
Our hotel had an amazing hot tub themed like a ski lodge.
I enjoyed it to myself one night as Laura was chilling in the room.
The tunes by the tub were kicking. The Doors & Jamiroquai amongst others.
I felt like I was in some sexy music video. I am sure it looked like it too.
Lovefool by The Cardigans came on. It reminded me of the scene in Romeo and Juliet when they are in the pool together. I remember seeing that film at the movies in Dundee and being aware for the first time that I was entirely encapsulated with the male character and not the female.
Thanks Leo for helping me reach my gayness ;-)
We drank in Pops, the champagne bar.
I did an 18 mile run along the shore of Lake Michigan. It was a stunning.
We walked to the start of Route 66. One day I tell you. One day.
We loved this city. It lived up to our expectations and was worth the wait.
P.S. Laura is still without licence.
Chapter 16: Chicago (finally)
So, after many years of trying we were off to Chicago. Ok, we weren't going to do Route 66 after but we were still off to the city that apparently knew how to celebrate Paddy's Day better than the Irish. In fact, a colleague of mine from Chicago informed me that the Dublin celebration organisers had actually just employed the Chicago organisers as consultants to help improve the Dublin activities. Ironic I think you will agree.
The weekend before leaving for our trip I was on my way to Laura's house to meet for lunch when aforementioned colleague messaged me to say that she had noticed her friends back home all posting pictures of the green river and I wasn't there.
WTF?
It seemed Chicago had decided to hold the green river ritual and parade a full 6 days ahead of St Patrick's Day. Why I ask you? Nobody had a good answer. In this respect I would say fire the consultants quickly Dublin. Get out while you can.
So on the 16th March Laura and I finally arrived in Chicago. It was chilly but our downtown hotel allowed us to be in the midst of everything and once freshened up we took a quick walk to the river.
"It still is a little green" Laura remarked.
"It's a river Laura, it should be green" I said.
"No, more Green than usual I think." She retained.
She was optimistic I will give her that. For you as a reader I will spill the beans. There was no green left at all. Returning the next morning Laura had to concede and admit that this was just the river's natural colour. Perhaps we will still see it one day? Maybe our 20th Paddy Day anniversary?!
That aside though the trip was an absolute blast and went something like this:
We had a gigantic pizza pie at Uno on the first night and nearly burst
We shopped on the magnificent mile
We queued three hours to reach the summit of the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower)
The queue was worth it.
However, we did have to air our grievances when one girl was taking approximately 20 selfies on the glass floor deck keeping a further queue not moving.
We obviously aired said grievance to each other and nobody else. We are English after all you know.
We dined like Real Housewives of (insert city here but since we are in Chicago let's go with that one) at the Ralph Lauren Cafe.
We had a mani and a glass of prosecco at Polish and Pour in the Old Town making us glamour ready for the actual St Patrick's night out.
We drank Martinis, beers and a pint of Guinness.
Laura got ID'd yet didn't understand the question so just fist bumped the doorman. Surprisingly he actually let her in rather than assume she was shitfaced.
We found an Irish bar that was playing hip hop. We didn't stay for long.
Our Uber driver home told us he thought we would find more bars we would enjoy in a different area of town as the Old Town was for much younger people.
Bastard. 3 stars rating from me.
We went to see Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the theatre.
Amazing show. Beautiful theatre.
Ridiculous ticketing system. They wouldn't accept mobile tickets and told us to go to an internet cafe to print them out.
Sadly we didn't have the delorean to hand in order to go back to the 90s when internet cafes existed meaning we had to wait to 5 minutes before the show for them to hand write them for us.
We took selfies by the famous bean.
Laura took photos with her iPad as her phone is from the stone age.
Please buy a new phone Laura. One that works.
We enjoyed art at the city hall. Including several pieces mocking the recently elected Mr Trump. It seems Chicago shared my feelings.
Our hotel had an amazing hot tub themed like a ski lodge.
I enjoyed it to myself one night as Laura was chilling in the room.
The tunes by the tub were kicking. The Doors & Jamiroquai amongst others.
I felt like I was in some sexy music video. I am sure it looked like it too.
Lovefool by The Cardigans came on. It reminded me of the scene in Romeo and Juliet when they are in the pool together. I remember seeing that film at the movies in Dundee and being aware for the first time that I was entirely encapsulated with the male character and not the female.
Thanks Leo for helping me reach my gayness ;-)
We drank in Pops, the champagne bar.
I did an 18 mile run along the shore of Lake Michigan. It was a stunning.
We walked to the start of Route 66. One day I tell you. One day.
We loved this city. It lived up to our expectations and was worth the wait.
P.S. Laura is still without licence.
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