Ireland is known for hospitality, pubs and craic (pronounced crack it loosely translates to fun or to have a good time).  Unfortunately, too many travelers miss out on the craic.  Allow me to help you find it and make your Irish holiday one filled with fond memories.

Photo by Jody Halsted www.havekidwilltravel.com

10)  Drive yourself. This is truly the best way to tour Ireland.  The pace is your own.  You can follow the intriguing sign for hot tea and scones or try to find the castle you think you see in the distance.  In Ireland, getting lost is half the fun.  Really.  The only time to avoid driving is in the city of Dublin (they have fabulous public transport) or if you want to do the Ring of Kerry (though I recommend skipping that and driving the Dingle peninsula).  Think of it this way; do you want to meet the Irish or other tourists?

9)  Get off the highway.  Unless you are in a hurry to catch your flight, get off the highway.  Many of the greatest sights in Ireland are far off the beaten path (Glendalough, the medieval town of Kells and the Burren to name only a few).  Sure, you may get lost (see tip #10) but in Ireland you don’t remain lost for long- it’s not that big!

8) When you visit a pub sit at the bar.  It’s a fact- locals sit at the bar; tourists sit at tables.  So grab a seat and say hello.  You’ll surely make a few friends if you buy them a pint and you’ll be invited to join in on the craic.  If you’re traveling with kids (as we do) sitting at the bar isn’t the best option.  Pick a table as close to the bar as possible and order your drinks from the bartender.  Strike up a conversation.  If you’re lucky the craic might move to your table! Read More »

Travel Expert

According to travel writer Judy Grimes 2010 is the year of the travel deal.  However, she may be kidding. (video below)

While Grimes is focusing, relatively, her focus on the upcoming year don’t let that keep you from taking a trip this fall or winter.  Travel deals are pretty good in 2009, too.

Also, please note that I believe the part about living alone.

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Friends, there are only 90 shopping days until Christmas!

Yes, I know, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. But in the interest of being a good Girl Scout and being prepared (that applies to Girl Scouts as well as Boy Scouts, right?) I thought I would offer some gift ideas for the traveler in your life. Or, some ideas to add to your own Christmas wish list!

This Passport Travel Tote is pretty awesome – durable, with pockets for just about everything, yet small and light and easy to carry – plus a detachable “boarding organizer” that holds plane tickets, ID, and passport. $44.95 from Memorable Gifts.

Sassy luggage tags with attitude put the fun back into wrestling for your suitcase at the baggage carousel. Tags are bright neon colors with messages such as, “Nothing worth stealing here,” and “I’m pretty sure this isn’t your bag.” $9.99 for a pack of six from Wishing Fish.

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I’m getting ready for a beach vacation and went over my packing list for the beach.  Upon doing so, I realized I almost forgot my toothbrush.

Again.

While every vacation, business trip, or overnight stay will have unique packing needs, there are a few basic things that you can expect to have to pack every single time you go on vacation.

Because I love you – and figured I might as well make a post of this since I’m having to make a packing list right now – I’ve compiled a list of things I’ll you’ll want to put on your vacation packing list.

Vacation Packing List

(according to Britt)

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Did you know that there is travel in them there Internets? It’s true!

Here are just a few of the items that have shuffled across our inbox lately:

If you have a kid, a camera and access to water you could win a $500 Best Western gift card at Babble Playground.  How’s that for a photo contest?

Holy cow, Jet Blue! All-You-Can-Jet for $599! Shamwow! Read More »

Along with the title of Editor comes great responsibility.  I don’t carry the burden lightly.  Actually, I can’t even lift it.  Sometimes I roll it around so it can get some fresh air, but most of the time it just sits on my desk and mocks me. Openly.

Stupid burden.

Which brings me to this, a real “Letters to the Editor” post! Just like in the movies about newspapers! Read More »

When I’m taking a road trip with the family, my primary concern is keeping my kids amused.

But there are times when I take roadtrips on my own and I find that I’m just as easily bored in the car as my four year old.  I don’t mind traveling alone once I get to my destination, but spending hours in the car in order to get there can be torture for someone with my attention span.  Playing travel games is frowned upon by most law enforcement agencies, and tic tac toe is not much fun with one player anyway.

So what do I do to entertain myself when I’m driving alone for hours?

5 Things To Do On  A Road Trip Alone

1.  Listen to audio books.

My parents called them “books on tape”, but I haven’t driven a car with a cassette player since high school.  Now I download audiobooks to my iPod and use the long hours of silence in the car to catch up on reading I never find time for at home.  If you don’t have an mp3 player that works well in the car, you can get audiobooks on CD as well.

(Editorial note here – I highly recommend Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father.  Regardless of your personal politics, there’s something highly entertaining about driving down a highway and listening to the now president of a major superpower use the F word.  Repeatedly.)

2.  Sing.  Loudly.

I always make sure I am heavily armed with music before I head out for a long road trip.  I organize the playlists on my iPod and fill the middle console of my car with CDs.  I dig out the soundtracks to my favorite Disney movies and old broadway musicals.  I prepare for every possible musical mood I may encounter on my drive with a selection that covers classic rock and 80’s bubble gum pop.

And when I’m just far enough down my street that I am positive my family won’t hear me, I turn the volume on the radio up as loud as I can stand it.  Now, I can’t do this for hours on end.  But I can usually amuse the heck out of myself for a good 45 minutes at a time with some spirited car karaoke.

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This view was what started the whole ordeal.

Some would blame the 2 hours of sleep I was going on – I’m open to that being one of the catalysts for not one, but two airlines, and their passengers being upset at me.

It was kind of my fault.

That being said, how in the world I can go through 2 checkpoints, my shoes and belt being removed, laptop out of its case, bag scanned twice and then swabbed for residue, a pat-down and half of my toiletries being thrown away and still manage to board the wrong airplane is beyond me.

Seriously.

Not that I blame the nice, healthy-looking staff of the Redmond, OR Airport, but somewhere along the chain of command couldn’t one of them raised a hand and, at least, suggested they leave little signs indicating which tiny plane went where?

See, this is where my sleep-deprivation comes in; I should have asked. And I didn’t. I chose the plane that looked most like it was about to make the 30-minute hop over to Portland.

I ducked into the machinery that surely didn’t fall under the ‘if you lose one engine, you can still fly on the other’ category and the attendant immediately could tell my bag wasn’t going to fit into the overhead.

“Why don’t you go ahead and take your seat and I’ll put it down below for you?.”

I took my seat – 3C, as requested, for a view of Mt. Hood at sunrise, followed by the ruggedly gorgeous Oregon Coast.

More filed in and I laid my head back. A man sat down in front of me and quietly asked the same attendant (there was only room for one) something to which she sweetly shrugged off:

“Oh, this happens a lot, don’t worry.”

I didn’t worry and closed my eyes again.

And then we sat.

And sat.

When a murmur begins in a cabin that small, everyone can feel it. For some reason, we weren’t going anywhere.

“We’re almost ready to go,” crackled the redundant intercom.  “Just a few more minutes and we’ll be getting you on your way to Salt Lake City.”

I didn’t want to go to Salt Lake City. Ever. But especially not this morning, as I had a connecting flight to Honolulu.

I repeated most of this to the attendant.

“You’re supposed to be on the Portland flight, right?”

Yes I was.

“They’ve been trying to find you.”

Trying to find me? In this day in age? Anyone could look at my blog, my Facebook, my Twitter and tell you exactly where I was, but the airline lost me?

In my twenties, there was a phrase having to do with a walk, and shame. I’ll spare you the origin of that, but just know that the exiting off of flight #1 and then the stroll to #2, was anything but confidence boosting. When the pilot’s face carries the same expression as the now late passengers, you know you’ve screwed up.

I got on the wrong plane this morning and have to admit that I’m kind of impressed.

If only I could say the same for the rest of those involved…

Aric Q. is traveling to Hawaii and he’s trying to do it on the cheap.  We will be following his adventures here on UpTake and we will be wishing him well, but we will NOT be wiring him money.