Time to go back :’(
December 28, 2006
After a few short days I am back in Dublin Airport (stealing electricity & free WiFi). The last time I was here there was a multitude of fog, but now the skies are a bit clearer up here 8 days later. So it was a hectic week and a day, meeting people, spending quality time with the parents, and trying to find that special Christmas gift for L. Also factor in some pretty heavy nights of boozing (I’ve had G&T for the first time in my life), enjoying the Beamish & the Guinness (I also tried the Guinness North Star special brew, which is a little more spicy, like cinnamon and nutmeg tasting), so it’s been all go. Last night was great fun, with the annual Noel Doherty Stir Fry, kudos to him for putting up with us again ! This hectic social life has left me pretty tired and looking forward to being in Munich and resting.
It was great to see everyone for the first time in a year. Thankfully I got to see everyone at some stage.
Funny it always seems that when I travel back to Ireland I’ve got some kind of illness, and currently there is nice green stuff being coughed up and my throat feels like I’ve eaten barbed wire. I guess that is due to the intensive partying.
Now it’s time to check in them bags !
Declaring a Republic of Connaught
December 24, 2006
Looking around the net today I came across this : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Connaught. Apparently in 1798 the Republic of Connaught was declared with with French military support during the Irish Rebellion.
So just imagine if it had been successful and grew even larger, we could been speaking French instead. From Wikipedia “The republic was proclaimed following the victory of French and Irish forces at the Battle of Castlebar under the leadership of French General Humbert. The president of the Republic of Connaught was John Moore”.
But sadly “Ultimately defeated by Cornwallis at the Battle of Ballinamuck the republic ceased to exist and the Kingdom of Ireland was absorbed into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801″.
Other countries that could have been can been seen here, like poor Lajtabánság that existed for 32 days.
Thinking of getting fit ?
December 23, 2006
You’ll have to check this out, plain weird !
It’s time to start thinking about getting fit in the New Year.
New Years Resolutions 2007
December 22, 2006
Just trying to get 5 things that I am going to do next year
- Call the landlord and explain to him that he needs to fix the mould and the windows. I’ve been procrastinating this for the past year or so.
- Learn to ruffle shuffle properly, and play some more poker.
- Finish the website and think of doing a few more, with wordpress & phpbb and other nice things.
- Take more photos and post them up here.
- Buy a German newspaper at least once a week and aim to read most of it.
- Spinning twice a week and gym at least one other day. Time to get some abs
- visit my friends and family in the UK
more to come once I mull over them…
I’m back … with the help of Aerlingus & Ryanair
December 20, 2006
There’s been a few reports of fog in Ireland and the UK. I somehow made my way home through the fog yesterday. It involved the following events, in no particular order.
- eating 2 panninis (one in Germany, the other in Ireland), drinking 4 coffees (1/3)
- getting a flight from Dublin, at 11:30am, which was delayed 50 minutes due to weather problems (see pics below)
- landing in Dublin and waiting for 6 hours for a flight to Cork
- getting a fright seeing that Aer Arran had cancelled all their flights to Cork and to many other destinations.
- stealing some free WLAN at the airport as well as some electricity, near the check-in section I could get a good reception, but it was disrupted by people standing in front of me.
- seeing a young lady (21 or so) breast feed her kid opposite McDonalds and the look of disgust/intrigue from people eating their Big Macs.
- landing in Cork and surprised by the fact that there is a Starbucks and a Subway there !
The pics of fog, after landing in Dublin yesterday:
During out flight the captain of the Ryanair flight mentioned that conditions in Cork were just below the minimum to land the 737-800, and we might have to divert. Thankfully 15 minutes later were were safely braking on Cork Airports runway. The weather doesn’t seem to be getting better, today there is 160/400 flights cancelled by BA alone in the UK !
So the trip back took 12 hours, where as before when there were direct flights between Cork & Munich it took only 4.5 hours to go door to door. Maybe when aerlingus get to read my other blog post they will put the Cork/Munich route back into operation.
Angry Little Paul vs. Aerlingus
December 13, 2006
Today I get the following email today from AerLingus.com
You can now simply logon to www.aerlingus.com and click on “Manage Booking” from the home page to pay your baggage fee in advance.
You will need to know your Booking Reference as well as the Departure Airport, Arrival Airport and the email address of your booking.Baggage Policy
Short-haul Flights (UK/Europe):
If you are travelling on or after the 17th January 2007 and your original booking was made on or after the 9th August 2006 then new baggage fees and rules will apply to your journey.Details are as follows:
Checked-In Baggage:
Pay online prior to day of departure:
4 euro fee for every bag checked in for each flight.
(Facility to pay online available now.)Pay at the airport on day of departure:
8 euro fee for every bag checked in for each flight.Cabin Baggage Allowance (no change):
A maximum of 1 Bag per passenger weighing no more than 6 kgs.
Thank you for booking Aer Lingus.
to I sent my response which was
Dear Sir/Madam,
I find it disappointing that you would inform me of such extra charge 2 months after I have booked with you. It would have beem fine if you stated it at the time of booking. But I am more than annoyed that you would come along and tag on some extra nonsense charges like this.
Let me tell you that this will probably be the last time I fly with aerlingus due to your underhanded techniques for extorting money from customers. Do you want me to pay you the extra baggage fees that I have previously flown too ? I guess if there was a way you could, you would.
What happens when I get to Munich airport and refuse to pay this fee ? Will you refuse to accept any of my baggage ? As far as I see it, we have a contract and it is up to you to withhold it. Failing to honour your commitment, or holding me to a ransom, shows alot about how you treat your customers.
and the part of your email
“This email is generated by computer and does not accept replies.
Please do not send email to this address as they will not be responded to”fails to impress me, so hence I am sending this to your “Customer Service” in Munich, Germany who I have gotten a reply on a query in the past.
Please feel free to submit this email to someone who can at least explain WHY you are doing this. Rather than just saying
You can now simply logon to www.aerlingus.com and click on “Manage Booking” from the home page to pay your baggage fee in advance.
Which doesn’t really tell me anything now, does it ?
Regards,
P
Let’s see if they will respond. Frankly I think it’s poor out of them to do this. And I want to register my indignation.
In a bar…
December 12, 2006
I went to Tollwood Christmas Market yesterday with Lauren and I was at the bar ordering 2 beers to go along with dinner (which was lovely). So the guy gives me the beers and the following conversation goes (in german of course ;))
Me : eh, there is something on the glass
Male Waiter : oh, let me see. okay I’ll get you a new one
Female Waitress : it’s only a little lipstick
Male Waiter : and yes, because of that he wants a new one !
So I guess there was some in fighthing going on there. So I enjoyed my lipstick free beer and pasta. (funny my little conversation doesn’t really sound as funny now that I put pen to paper). And wandered around the nice market for a bit.
The update with me is that I’ll be back in Ireland in less than a week, 19th –> 28th. Which is the first time I am back all year. I did get to meet all facets of my family, just not at home. I’ve already planned another trip back to the Mutterland (Motherland) at the end of Jan, for my dad’s 60th. Which will mean I’ve come home 100% more times than last year.