SNOWBIRDS TAKE ON BLISS…Belgium, London, Ireland and Scotland!

We woke up to the news that our flight was delayed until 2:50PM.  (Bummer.)  We saw the whites of Mike’s eyes, (for the first time in two days), when we met in the lobby to wait for our courtesy ride to the airport.  Thank goodness, Mike was flight ready!   So thankful he had a couple of days to recuperate! On the way to the airport, Mike got a text saying, “Your flight has been delayed 685 minutes.”  It didn’t sound bad at first, until he did the math…TEN HOURS! Once at the airport, we got our flights taken care of and settled down to wait for their flight out.  (Their new flight left at the same time as their original flight, but they had a five hour layover at JFK.)  “No worries, Mike said, we’ll be home in our own beds tonight!” We bid farewell to Patte and Mike after agreeing that it was the trip of a lifetime!   John and I went down to our gate, where we sat for four hours until our flight was due to board!  (Thank goodness for Kindles,...

What to do?  What to do?  We had one last day in Ireland and decided at breakfast to head to the Croke Park to see if we could purchase tickets for the Galway Dublin Gaelic Football game!  After all, the Galway players were staying at our hotel and we felt the need to support them!  Mike, we were happy to report, was feeling much better this morning!  Patte joined us for breakfast, but decided to hang close to the hotel today with a recuperating Mike! It was another beautiful morning in Dublin, the rain of yesterday was replaced with blue skies and sunshine!  John figured out the bus system and we hopped on Bus 16, which transported us right to the stadium? Vendors were on every street corner, selling merchandise for the first game between Louth and Monaghan as well as merchandise for the Galway and Dublin game. Excitement filled the air!  We asked several people where the ticket office was located and we got several different answers!  But everyo...

We packed up our rental car, bid farewell to our host (we found out he and his wife were living in Dubai the same time John and I were there), and started the trek to Dublin (on the wrong side of the road 😳😳😳)!  We bagged our trip to the Blarney Stone and Castle (even though we had already gotten tickets online) because it was pouring down rain!  So we all decided two nights in a comfortable hotel near the Dublin airport sounded really good! After an hour of driving, (on the wrong side of the road 😳😳😳), we had not passed one single restaurant, so John pulled into a gas station where we got to sit down and enjoy eggs, toast and coffee (John had his last Irish Special Breakfast, or, in other words, The Big Kahouna)!  It was, surprisingly, quite nice! By the time we reached our hotel and got out of the car, Mike was shaking from head to toe.  My first thought was that it was the result of sitting next to John (driving on the wrong side of the road 😳😳😳 through t...

John and I woke up after a wonderful night’s sleep, drank some coffee, talked to our host about laundry options, and walked down the hill (mountain) into town.  We both had fallen in love with Kinsale during our brief stay three years ago.  It was wonderful being back to this charming coastal town! We dropped off some laundry at the local laundromat, and the sweet lady there told us we could pick it up by 3:00PM.  What could be easier?  We walked around town looking for the perfect spot for breakfast and a second cup of coffee! The Lemon Tree came highly recommended and it looked really good!  So, Lemon Tree it was! The cafe had a sweet area in the back where we chose to sit.  It was delightful. Will you take a look at John’s breakfast?  What a feast, (and a pretty one at that)!  John said the taste was even better than it looked! Meanwhile, Mike was doing their laundry in the parking garage of the local Super Value.  He went early—way before...

John’s BIG DAY began early!  (Notice anything different about our rental car?)  John manned up and took on the challenge with doing something he swore he would never do—drive on the WRONG side of the road! He practiced for a minute or two and then bit the bullet and off we went!  A low air alert came on for one of the tires so he drove straight back to Enterprise.  They took the car, filled the tire, and we tried again!  This time was a success! The Enterprise place told John that many of the roads in Ireland are very narrow, so getting hit by brambles on the sides of the car was okay. But what they don’t tell you, is that behind those brambles are stone walls!  Best to be very careful on those narrow roads! When we arrived at Cliffs of Mohr, we hopped out of the car and could not believe it—it was actually WARM outside!!!  And the sun was shining bright!  It was the PERFECT day to witness the beauty of the Irish cliffs! We continued our journey t...