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Give us this Day – We are what we wear

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It’s their stage when holy men get a chance to dress up and play the diva.

Still there’s probably some religious significance there too.

And fancy dress is clearly one of the upsides of the role.

It also includes a job for life and care right up to the end.

And you’ll get straight entry into heaven, and life everlasting.

These were many of the reasons why I flirted with becoming a Catholic priest when I was a boy.

OK, I didn’t make it to the seminary probably because I wanted to make it with girls.

That’s something which you can do if you want to go on to become a vicar or minister, rabbi or imman.

With Catholic priests, of course, you get to wear the dress too.

I was sorely tempted too to buy the vestments I saw for sale in the window of a shop in Medjugorje.

Where I’d gone on a Marian Pilgrimages http://www.marianpilgrimages.ie tour just last month…. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/10/18/medgugorje-whats-your-story/

Clothes maketh the man, some might say, and I have been drawn to all kinds of cultures because of theirs.

Jesus in a skirt, yes. In a church in Tenerife https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/tenerife-walk/ with http://www.CanariaWays.com.

While I also witnessed a promised Land of Hasidic Jews (if that’s the collective noun) passing through the world’s biggest through hub for Jews and the world’s best airport, Istanbul. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/wham-bam-thank-you-hamam/

With Turkish Airlines’ business lounge being the jewel in the crown… http://www.turkishairlines.com.

Crossroads of history

Istanbul is one of the world’s great cities for any number of reasons but definitely because it is a crossroads city where cultures and religions meet.

Like the beautiful Sarajevo https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/10/21/sarajevo-the-scot-that-was-heard-around-the-world/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/10/24/sarajevo-revisited/

Which the Bosnian city has had its Catholic and Orthodox visitors where you’ll see both religious and secular dress.

Jordan is another crossroads where you only have to stand by the river with Muslims on the side of Jordan country https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/petra-jordan-jesus-and-the-sands-of-time/.

While also seeing white robed Russian Orthodox Christians douse themselves in the river in deference to Jesus who they believe was baptised at that spot.

Which I witnessed on my G Adventures trip to the Middle East… http://www.gadventures.com.

Talking of Orthodox Christians then you an always turn up in Greece, while waiting for a lift.

In an InterContinental Hotel in Athens http://www.intercontinental.com on an Attica Region trip and http://www.athensattica.com and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/09/22/give-us-this-day-greek-orthodox/.

He was beautifully adorned in his black vestments and donned a beautifully coiffured white beard.

Now there’s a look I can definitely pull off.

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Holiday Snaps – Going solo

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When nobody else will go with you, or you don’t want to go with anyone, then you go solo.

It doesn’t make you Johnny No Mates, in fact you leave with more friends.

Our friends at Travel Department www.traveldepartment.ie like to do their homework before setting on programmes for us. Obvs!

And so they have conducted a survey into ours and our UK neighbours’ habits.

Pilgrims on the Camino

Irish people are three times more likely than the British to go solo.

And four out of five solo travellers are female.

Wendy, or Mrs Always Right, a nickname she revelled in and one I think she gave herself at the bank she managed, is one such solo traveller.

Who I, another solo traveller, met ten minutes into my Camino.

I always find a cat on my Caminos

When I asked if she wanted me to take a photograph of her at a bridge.

We went on to spend the next four days with each other and a range of international friends we picked up along the way.

And that despite me swatting a wasp she alerted me too onto her foot and stinging her.

Just 12kms into the 100km CaminoWays http://www.caminoways.com trek… A pilgrim’s prayer.

With Francesca on the Via Francigena

While I only spent a couple of days with Elke I almost hugged her when we first met.

A friend in need

I had been three days on the Via Francigena http://wwwviafrancigena.com, had got lost obviously and hadn’t come across a human being for three days.

Other than at my billets. Until I met Elke.

We broke bread together, washed our feet in the stream and arranged to meet one another above Rome.

Which inevitably I missed and found myself in another grove. Still I got there and this is how… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/small-roads-lead-to-rome/

Splash hit: Thanks for the pic, Elke

Even when you are supposed to be on a couples holiday you can sometimes find yourself going solo.

I had been invited out to Barbados with Tropical Sky http://www.tropicalsky.ie to stay at Club Barbados http://www.theclubbarbados.com.

And while the invite was for me they had given me the option of a plus one at our own expense.

Which I had put to the Scary One at the time but which she returned to a week before I left… my mistake for not having it written down in triplicate.

Ruby’s rules: Her kitchen at the Club Barbados

Of course everywhere I looked there were couples. on the dance floor, in the swimming pool, on the terrace, at the bar, and the turtles in the sea.

Still, again, there is no such thing as a stranger in the Caribbean, only a friend you haven’t met yet.

And there was Andy, Ben, Jena, Patsy, Geraldine, Ruby, Bubba, Maradona (no, not that one), Lyndon and a host of others.

Here’s how a Scotsman in Barbados got on… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/my-kiss-with-rihanna/

Lean into it: Me and Andy in Barbados

Go solo with Travel Department. They have new 2020 Solo Traveller tours on offer.

These include a Danube River Cruise, a Bavarian Winter Break, a Milan City Break, a 12-night South Africa adventure, including a safari, and a Nile River Cruise.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

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My Sporting Weekend – Women’s football

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Back when she was Michelle Akers-Stahl I interviewed the Golden Shoe winner in a windswept field in stormy Aberdeen in midwinter.

I’d never heard of her and my complete knowledge of women’s football was then the square root of nothing.

Michelle, though, had the legendary status in women’s football of a say, Sir Stanley Matthews, whom I also met.

And who told me that even at the age of 77 he would get up at 5.30am to do his exercises.

The Magnificent Seven: At Quinta do Lago

I do the same, at 25 years younger, but only to go to the toilet!

It has been a big week in English football, what with the record crowd for an England women’s football match.

The 77,000 that watched England play Germany.

Followed by the 1,000th England men’s international when a raft of former and current greats marked the occasion.

Curl power: Michelle Akers

Now these would be occasions I would normally try to avoid in the past as a proud Scotsman.

But as a sports writer and editor I would find myself drawn into.

While many footballers I met were one-dimensional and spoke in cliches, Sir Stanley, who played professional football at 52, lived up to his legend.

There is hope for me yet.

But I was also in the presence of greatness with Michelle, who has now dropped the Stahl after remarrying (Steve Eichenblatt).

King of the dribblers: Sir Stanley Matthews

Michelle Akers-Eichenblatt would be a bit of a mouthful, I guess.

Now this weekend the women have it all to themselves because there are internationals in the men’s game.

So today and tomorrow are billed Women’s Football Weekend… and as I need my football fix, and it’s pretty good, I’ll be looking in.

Sports camps of the type Michelle and Sir Stanley were there to promote have become increasingly popular around the world.

Who needs a racket? With Strictly legend Judy Murray

Awesome Algarve

I saw first hand what they do out in Quinta do Lago, Portugal, where Judy Murray coached us tennis (and dancing).

They have a Paul McGinley Golf Academy, padel classes (a cross between squash and tennis). gym, aquatics, cycling… and it goes on.

But don’t just take my word for it, the top professional rugby and football teams use its facilities.

In fact do take my word for it… www.quintadolago.com. And https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/06/12/sportugal/.

Hopefully you’ll meet a legend or two, along with me.

MEET YOU AT THE CAMPUS

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Flyday Friday – the Northern Lights

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The Northern Lights of Aberdeen

Are home sweet home to me

The Northern lights of Aberdeen

Are where I long to be

I’ve been a wanderer all of my days

And many’s the sight I’ve seen

But hark the day I’ll be on my way

To my home in Aberdeen

Pick a colour, any colour. Photo by Tobias Bjørkli on Pexels.com

In nine years in the Granite City I saw bright lights (more nightclubs than libraries) but never the Northern Lights.

It wasn’t an Aberdonian at all who wrote the Northern Lights but Londoner Mary Webb who had never even been to Scotland’s third city.

She wrote the song with her husband Mel for a homesick friend Winnie, at the hospital where they worked.

While I’ve been a wanderer all of my days I did get to return to my home in Aberdeen A light in the north.

House about that?

But not to Iceland where the Heavenly Dancers have a shindig almost every weekend from the looks of it.

I’ve kept up close links with the Icelanders since I started this scribbling lark.

And sent many a scribe to the Land of Fire and Ice, and many then onto the Oo Es of A.

Our friends at Icelandair www.icelandair.com have given us the lowdown on all things aurora borealis.

The best time to see them is between October and March.

Green for go

But they have also been spotted as early as August and as late as April.

To save me more verbal diarrhoea let me just point you to these websites…

For the aurora forecast from the Veorstofa Islands, the Iceland Meteorological Office https://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/aurora/

Icelandair fly daily to Reykjavik. And it has 18 gateways to the US.

And looking at Icelandair’s list if what to bring I’ll have to leave a lot at home.

No, The Scary One’s coming with me… more baggage allowance, you see.

The bells, the bells

The wheel deal: Edinburgh

My first Hogmanay in Edinburgh I goosed a random lassie at the Mercat Cross at the Bells.

Which means at my first New Year in Edinburgh I kissed a random girl at the Market Cross when the clock turned midnight.

It was where people went then back in the early Eighties before it was turned into the big music party that it is now.

It’s still Hogmanay but it has lost a little bit of its identity, its old traditions of moving from house to house, flat to flat for a party.

And you would put yourself forward as the tall, dark man with the lump of coal and dram (short) of whisky which signifies health, wealth and happiness.

It has a castle too

Edinburgh is one-way from Ryanair from €14.99. I know it’s overdue but I will give you a city guide of the place I called home for ten years.

And here’s one I prepared earlier of the Dear Green Place, Edinburgh’s great rival, Glasgow, from €9.99 one way, where I spent the first 17… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/04/15/sportstraveltraveltravel.

And Hogmanay? Well, maybe it’s not as Scottish as we think.

Glasgow for the World Bagpipes Championships

And that Mary, Queen of Scots, who was brought up in France introduced it.

The drinking she left to the locals which after much practice they perfected.

And while we’re at it just off the blocks… Ryanair have a saving of up to 25% off selected flights.

If you book before midnight on Sunday.

MEET YOU IN THE SKIES

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Holiday Snaps – Berlin Walls and Philly Bells

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I’m indebted to reader Mark Konig @_markkoenig for his comments on my thoughts on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In my blog https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/11/10/when-the-berlin-wall-came-crashing-down/

Mark questioned ‘how could the Walll be a symbol of USSR?’

And, yes. it is important to say that this was the GDR and that the greater political bloc was the Soviet-driven Warsaw Pact.

Berlin fixture: The Brandenburg Gate Photo by Adrien Olichon on Pexels.com

Mark also rightly pointed out that I had focused merely on the exodus to the West through Hungary and that I had missed a lot of history/change before.

And he helpfully pointed me in the direction of http://www.the-berlin-wall.com for video clips and chronology on the key dates and events leading up to the Fall of the Wall.

Like I always say the best way to find out about a city, country, resort is to listen to the people on the ground… and to go there!

Dresden history: Ingrid and I

Like I did in Dresden where Ingrid led me by the nose… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/dresdens-renaissance-martin-luther/

If you want to know more about Berlin then put yourself in the hands of Click & Go http://www.clickandgo.com who are offering a City Break from €159pp in January.

Philly state of mind

What a cracker: Liberty Bell in Philly

I’m an impatient old sod.

Which is a bit off when I ask you to be so patient while I go off on all manner of tangents.

Which I did when I went to Washington DC for the American Travel Fair, IPW 2017 http://www.ipw.com,

And I also had a day out to hit Philadelphia.

Knowing I would only have half a dozen hours there I kept looking at my watch as I stood in the queue.

And I regaled the driver with my compelling need to make up time on the road when he eventually got going.

It wasn’t as if the Bell was going anywhere.

But I was as excited as an American Literature and History grad I was as excited as a kid at Christmas.

Rocky and Jocky: In Philly

It was crackin’…

And I also got bristly with the locals.

When I asked that they didn’t take the flag down at the Town Hall until I’d taken a selfie.

The answer is to spend longer there and Cassidy Travel http://www.cassidytravel.ie agree…

Flag happy: In Old Philly

They’ve got a three-night stopover in Philadephia in March from €825pp.

You’ll be staying in the 4* Home2 Suites by Hilton Convention Center.

Before jetting to the Big Apple for three nights in the 4* New Yorker Hotel.

Its Midtown West location puts you in the heart of Manhattan, just steps from Times Square.

There’s always something new in New York https://www.nycvb.com… and old https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/08/21/old-new-york-hamilton/

New York, Old York

Flight from Dublin departs 6 March. Call Cassidy Travel on 01 8786888 or book in one of their nine stores across Dublin.

Card happy

Also check out the City pass in Philly and New York… https://www.citypass.com/philadelphia and https://www.citypass.com/new-york

Mark and the rest of you, who I value more than any other Blogger out there will have noticed that this Holiday Snaps is on a Thursday.

Rather than a weekend.

Well, there’s so much out there I thought I’d snap to it and bring you more snaps whenever and wherever.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

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Hungry and Thursday – Drink Canaria dry

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It was a challenge, rescheduling our wine-tasting meeting in Tenerife from early evening to late morning.

But I’m always up for a challenge.

The problem was that we had a woman and a man down on our climb up to Aver the previous day.

And that meant postponing that night’s drinking.

But the Canarian wines dulled their senses and eased their pain (and mine).

Bentayga winery

I return to Canarian wine and that memorable CanariaWays.com http://www.canariaways.com trek https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/tenerife-walk/ and introduction to the magical multi-faceted North and West of Tenerife.

Because someone else has had the idea too… https://www.hellocanaryislands.com/ and they pinged me their latest news.

Ears to Tenerife

We’ve been drinking Canarian wine since the 15th Century while they’ve been drinking it since God put grapes in the ground.

And St Andrew stopped off on the island and got drunk, leaving a lasting legacy… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/09/02/tenerife-and-scotland-wave-the-same-flag/

There are 135 different varieties with the volcanic malvasía a particular favourite of William Shakespeare who references it in his plays.

El Grifo Winery

And which I tasted on that fact-finding mission.

You can find it in the off-sales Merchant of Vinos. OK, I made that last bit up.

There are many other native varieties such as the baboso, listán or vijariego, among others.

Vines at Camino La Faya

And needless to say I couldn’t pronounce any of them after drinking my fifth, sixth, seven, eighth… hic!

What distinguishes these wines is the salinity of the sea and volcanic minerals.  

And the islanders have been working hard to recover little-known native varieties that have gone on to prove very popular. 

Half a bottle to go… in Tenerife

The islands have 11 certificates of origin. Tenerife has five of these seals of quality:

Ycoden Daute Isora, Abona, Valle de Güímar, Tacoronte Acentejo and Valle de la Orotava. 

Islands’ vine lands

And the beauty is that each island is different:

Lanzarote is known for its volcanic malvasía and La Palma for the aromatic malvasía.

Is that all I’m getting?

There are also other peculiar wines such as wines from the whistling island La Gomera, made with the forastera variety.

The baboso reds hail from El Hierro, a variety recovered from the brink of extinction, as well as the more extended whites of Diego or Verijadiego.

It’s wine o’clock and guess what I have a bottle of malvasia in the rack and The Scary One’s off work tomorrow!

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Grazie to Aer Lingus – New Italy + more USA

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I felt a heel when I had to let colleagues know that I was sending someone else to sunny shores.

Sometimes it might even have been me.

But my pal Mary Conroy always delivered.

And I always enjoyed presenting her stories and pictures and I’m sure you enjoyed them too.

Now Mary’s travels sprang to mind today when I heard of Aer Lingus’s latest plans.

With two new routes in Italy and increased flights to their North American destinations.

Pretty Puglia

I remember that Mary’s trip to the heel of Italy, Puglia, was ‘Trulli Magical’.

And that Seattle was ‘Nirvana’… an out’ new headline always kept me happy.

So, back to our busy national airline carrier http://www.aerlingus.ie…

They are opening up Brindisi, Puglia and Alghero, Sardinia from next summer.

La bella vita: Sardinia

The Dublin-Brindisi service will run twice a week kicks off on May 23 with one-way fares from €79,99.

And here’s what you need to know about Puglia https://www.viaggiareinpuglia.it/spostarsiinpuglia.do?r002=spostarsiInPugliaMezziPubblici&r019=en

While the Dublin-Alghero service begins on May 24 (also twice a week) at €79.99 one-way. And this is Sardinia… https://www.sardegnaturismo.it/en

You know already how much I love Italy, Il Bel Paese, but here’s a reminder…

My Roman holidays https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/08/04/see-rome-on-e50/, https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/small-roads-lead-to-rome/

And the frescoes up north… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/09/15/padova-city-of-frescoes/

Orlando, here we come

Orlando Minnie-break

They’re also all over Orlando, my American playground. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/aaawlando-orlando-the-rollercoaster-capital/

The Floridian fantasyland https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/disney-why-i-love-the-donald/ will now get two extra flights per week bringing it up to six flights per week.

We all think we know Orlando but there’s much more to find out… http://www.visitorlando.com.

Ole… in Miami

Miami http://www.miamiandbeaches.com I’m yet to get around properly.

After having had only six hours proper time in.

And going around in a circle, missing Little Havana altogether (yes it’s possible).

The route to Miami will grow from two to three flights per week.

Coming back to that mini-Miami stay I did meet a little Havanan and their restaurant in Biscayne and here’s the evidence in the picture above.

And then there’s Seattle http://www.visitseattle.org which is very much on my to-do list.

Aer Lingus is making it even easier too, with daily service in the summer.

I’m listening

Increasing from five flights per week to a daily service.

Now we’ll likely be seeing a lot more of Seattle next year too.

With Kelsey Grammer hinting that the greatest television programme ever made, Frasier, will be making a comeback.

See you in Cafe Nervosa, Frase.

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Thanksgiving – In America and Ireland

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There’s a lot to give thanks for.

Celtic are top of the league, I’m off to Tobago next month, The Scary One, of course. And, best of all, did I mention that Celtic are top of the league?

Thanksgiving is one of the world’s great festivals, mainly because it’s completely inclusive.

There are no religious barriers with Thanksgiving being a celebration of family and friends. And we all have them, good or bad.

Dig in. Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

I got talking Thanksgiving with my friends from Massachusetts https://www.visit-massachusetts.com/state/, Bradley Airport, Connecticut https://bradleyairport.com and VisitUSA http://www.visitusa.ie this week in Dublin.

Where I was reminded that 2021 is the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving Harvest celebration.

Between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

I’ll carve then. Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Massachusetts has always been close to my heart from spending a summer working in Boston after University.

Although I didn’t venture further afield bar one day in Manchester, New Hampshire.

So this pilgrim is looking to Plymouth Ho. Get the turkey on.

Southern Hospitality

Around this time of year, I found myself in the Deep South where they were full of Christmas cheer and unseasonal snow.

I think that might have had something to do with our charming host who sang Let It Snow and other festive favourites…

Mr Happy

Here’s my American Trilogy… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/the-promised-land-martin-luther-king/, https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/the-story-of-the-blues/. And https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/07/04/the-king-of-kings-jim-murtys-traveltraveltravel/

Of course Ireland and America being such good buddies we have embraced Thanksgiving too.

And I will be celebrating the last Thursday of this months with my American buddies.

Warm welcome at Ashford

You can get into the spirit of it all down at the Lodge at Ashford Castle.

Now earlier this year I won a prize draw for a night for two at Ashford and was told to get in touch when I was ready.

But life got in the way and I haven’t yet which poses the question is it too late? I’m almost too embarrassed to ask. ALMOST.

Let’s dance

Anyhoos. You’ll gather in the Harbour Room at The Lodge at Ashford Castle for a festive three-course meal.

Jonathan Keane will serve you up a warming pumpkin soup, roast turkey and sweet and sticky pecan pie.

And what’s a get-together without a jig? Carmel Dempsey, Brenda Curtin Diviney, lead fiddle player with Lord of the Dance, and Mike Stewart will get you in the mood. 

The welcome mat

The festivities begin at 6:30pm with a welcome reception and enjoy a festive ‘Fall Cider Cocktail’ or ‘Spiced Pumpkin Eggnog’ by the peat fires at The Lodge. Dinner at 7pm.

Thanksgiving Dinner at The Lodge at Ashford Castle costs €70pp.

An overnight stay at The Lodge including Thanksgiving Dinner and breakfast the following morning overlooking Lough Corrib from €259 based on two people sharing. Visit http://www.thelodgeac.com.

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Cruiseday Tuesday – pedalloes and fireworks

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Come what may, April would be late or go in the wrong direction – she was delightlfully ditzy and I felt I had found my kindred spirit.

April may have had an excuse on account of her diabetes which made her drowsy but she never used it as an excuse.

It all came to a head when we went out on the pedalloes in Majorca.

On my first cruise, from Nice to Palma, Majorca, via Barcelona.

Majorca. Photo by Kai Pilger on Pexels.com

When despite the huge expanse of the Mediterranean she almost bumped me (and others, mostly Scandinavian or German) in Soller in the north of the island.

We played it safe and gave her a story when we got invited to the bridge to see the captain and play with his wheel.

Majorca is much, much more than Magaluf and TUI know it.

They have Hidden Gems, seven nights all-inclusive Cork to Majorca on June 23 on Marella Dream from €11149pps.

To Book: Visit https://www.tuiholidays.ie. Call 1850 45 35 45 or visit a TUI Store / travel agent.

A Grandiosa old ship to sail with

River of lights: MSC Grandiosa. Photos : Vallbracht for MSC Cruises.

Hamburg is one of the world’s great port cities… it’s where the Beatles grew up after all, and don’t just take my word for it. John Lennon said that.

The German city on the Elbe was where it was at last weekend when Sophia Loren christened MSC Grandiosa to a lot of fanfare (it is Sophia after all).

I wasn’t on the 93m-long Mediterranean prom deck (the Scary One had chores for me at home) but many of my colleagues were.

We’re on that ship: In the fjords

This being MSC though they like to include everyone even if they aren’t there.

And this being Hamburg, the Hamburgers love a ship (and I know from having been on MSC that their ships love hamburgers and their passengers too).

So the locals 5,000 of them, celebrated too in the MSC Village on the banks off the river.

The main event was the special blue lightshow and fireworks as Grandiosa passed by the Elbphilharmonie.

It’s got me all nostalgic for our unforgettable trip up the fjords https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/the-call-of-the-fjords/

And our stop-off when we decided to take in Hamburg… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/hamburgers-and-ships/. And https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/09/09/the-beatles-in-hamburg-with-stefanie-hempel/

The MSC Grandiosa starts her seven-night programme in the Western Mediterranean on November 26 with six embarkation ports.

Calling Genoa, Civitavecchia, Italy; Palermo, Sicily; Valetta, Malta; Barcelona, Spain and Marseille, France. Visit http://www.msccruises.ie

MEET YOU ON THE SEAS

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Holidos and Don’ts – the aisle seat

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You know that annoying dude who won’t shut up on your long-haul flight or falls asleep and their head flops near to your shoulder.

No, it’s not me, and by the way I’ve noticed you’ve been getting a wee bit bold.

Well, the answer is an aisle seat.

I won’t go into the tale of the Californian woman sat in the middle seat next to me from Dublin to LA.

So, you miss the view!

And who discovered while we were still on the runway that I too was a writer.

She hadn’t worked out though that it might not be a great idea to eat the eggs in the concourse.

And I’ll get onto that in another Holidos and Don’ts and why you’re better off with AerClub www.aerlingus.com.

But ten minutes into the nine-hour flight.

And while I was just getting into Laurel And Hardy on the infotainment than she was only passing me her bag of sick.

My pal Paula on way back from Orlando

Now I’m not saying that that wouldn’t have happened if I’d been in an aisle seat.

Although she would have turned to the middle-seat passenger.

My usual seat please

But I would have been able to alert the steward earlier.

Fair play to the Aer Lingus crew though who granted my request to get moved to another seat.

And who looked after the poor woman royally and provided a wheelchair for her when we got to LAX Airport.

In a galaxy far, far away

The kicker was, I suppose, that I got food poisoning too in LA.

The old aisle seat will also allow you first access to the steward when they are serving up the food.

You won’t have your neighbour stretching over you, and you might be asleep.

Ditto when you, or they, want to get to the toilet.

Back to that California trip and I had a whole day wiped out, and the chance to go to Warner Bros Studios Hollywood https://www.wbstudiotour.com and sit in Sheldon’s seat.

Though thankfully they recreated the Big Bang Theory lounge set on the plaza in Anaheim at the American Travel Fair www.ipw.com.

For more California adventures visit www.visitcalifornia.com and here are my adventures in the Golden State…

https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/06/22/my-weekend-with-marilyn/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/07/03/stair-wars-3/