http://www.aerlingus.com Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

The Loch Ness MonstAer

24th March 202624th March 2026 funtime65

And to mark the Irish national airline carrier’s opening of a new route to the capital of the Scottish Highlands we trust some will claim that they have seen the Loch Ness MonstAer.

Only there is no such creature, and there I’ve said it, although there are no shortage of fluffy merch toys.

As we found out on a visit to the Loch Ness Centre where the Son and Heir left the glove puppet soothing toy he carried everywhere.

Among all the other Nessies.

Of course, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was the fabled Loch Ness Monster which put Inverness and its environs on the tourist map.

When, in fact, word of the beauty of the Scottish Highlands had long been known.

From forays from friend and foe alike over the century.

With no less a chronicler than Samuel Johnson waxing lyrical about its beauties on his 1775 A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.

Walking in Boswell and Johnson’s footsteps

Johnson commented on the diction of the Invernessians, to this day praised as close to ‘Queen’s English.’

Saying ‘The soldiers seem to have incorporated afterwards with the inhabitants.

‘And to have peopled the place with an English race.

‘For the language of this town has been long considered as peculiarly elegant.’

Johnson and Boswell were much taken by Inverness Castle, reputed home of Macbeth, and a particular fort nearby.

‘It was no very capacious edifice, but stands upon a rock so high and steep, that I think it was once not accessible.

‘But by the help of ladders, or a bridge.

‘Over against it, on another hill, was a fort built by Cromwell, now totally demolished.

‘For no faction of Scotland loved the name of Cromwell, or had any desire to continue his memory.’

All of which will be music to newbie Irish visitors to Inverness.

With the famously warty religious zealot no friend of our Celtic cousins either.

When we got our Erse kicked

Castle in the Aer: Inverness Castle down below

Today’s Inverness Castle may be different than the one B&J visited but you’ll still be able to take in the atmosphere on your visit.

Johnson goes somewhat off track though here.

With the kind of demeaning and belittling descriptions of the Invernessians which would have him cancelled today.

Although he helpfully reminds us that the Highlands and Islands is the home of the Gaelic or Erse language.

And stop giggling there at the back.

‘There is I think a kirk, in which only the Erse language is used, he notes.

‘There is likewise an English chapel, but meanly built, where on Sunday we saw a very decent congregation.’

Go West

B&J seemingly don’t linger in Inverness, preferring to get on their journey to the remote Hebrides.

Saying: ‘At Inverness we procured three horses for ourselves and a servant, and one more for our baggage, which was no very heavy load.

‘We found in the course of our journey the convenience of having disencumbered ourselves, by laying aside whatever we could spare.

‘For it is not to be imagined without experience, how in climbing crags, and treading bogs.

‘And winding through narrow and obstructed passages, a little bulk will hinder, and a little weight will burthen.’

Bonnie Prince Charlie’s last stand

Why B&J chose not to visit the site of the last battle on British soil, at nearby Culloden in 1746, we never learn.

Although it might still have been too raw.

But you can, and learn about the fate of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and how he too fled to the Western Isles.

Or the Jacobite Train, or Hogwarts Express over Glenfinnan Viaduct.

Or why they missed too the Clava Cairns, prehistoric burial site.

And the site of The Traitors UK castle at Ardross.

We’ll give them a pass on not knowing about the Victorian Market.

Or Scotland’s second-oldest bookshop and old church, Leakey’s.

Or not heading out to Chanonry Point on the Black Isle for dolphin watching.

And they actually do exist.

Take the Aer

Aer Lingus’s Inverness route will commence from 21 May.

With the new service operating twice weekly on Thursdays and Sundays.

We found a sample return fare in May from €22.62.

Caribbean, Countries, Deals, Flying

Woah, we’re going to Aerbados

12th February 2026 funtime65

And with apologies to soft reggae revellers Typically Tropical… woah, we’re going to Aerbados, woah, Aer Lingus Airways.

Yes, you read that right… Ireland’s national airline carrier have stepped up to fill the gap.

Where floor fillers Typically Tropical gave us Coconut Airways.

Which Son and Heir and Daughterie will recognise the tune from being repurposed in Woah, we’re going to Ibiza.

Now the Balearic Island has always had its charms which we enjoyed on family holidays long before it became Rave Central.

Bridging the gap

But we have long hoped and believed that the Caribbean could more than match it.

Once we opened it up for Irish travellers with a direct route.

England’s loss here, and more specifically Manchester’s, will be Ireland’s gain.

When Aer Lingus opens up a temporary seasonal route connecting Dublin and Bridgetown from 31 March to 31 May.

With fares available from €229 each way, including taxes, fees and carrier charges and departing Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Now it might be a small window but there’s a world of fun waiting through it once you get out there to Bim.

Just promise us that should you get along to say Club Barbados and you see a dapper dude.

Suited and booted

In penguin suit and bow tie designed on to his t-shirt in the bar chaneling his Typically Tropical then say an Irie from us.

And he’ll be happy to let you join him at the mic.

Now Club Barbados is on Barbados’s prestigious Platinum Coast but you don’t have to be Midas to afford it like you might at next-door Sandy Lane.

And join the Club

Me-me and Dee-Dee: At Crop Over in Barbados

Club Barbados is all-inclusive and adults only and we found a Garden View room for £1830.14 (€2,102.45).

And an Aer Lingus return flight for the random dates of April 7-14 for €449.11.

America, Countries, Europe, Flying

Aer Lingus is sticking it to the rest with its new routes

13th December 202513th December 2025 funtime65

WHEN did we stop parading our destinations on our suitcases… pah, Aer Lingus is sticking it to the rest with its new routes.

Ireland’s national airline carrier has six brand-new ones launching next year.

Taking off in time for summer 2026, the airline will commence five short-haul services from Dublin and Cork..

With the flagship transatlantic route four times weekly from May 25, Pittsburgh.

Where new friendships will be renewed following the historic NFL game between Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings.

Touchdown Pennsylvanians

Flying high: Steelers touch down in Dublin

The gridironistas will be back again in 2027 when the Pitt Panthers fly to Dublin to face the Wisconsin Badgers.

In the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Week Zero of the College Football calendar.

The new route brings the total number of routes Aer Lingus operates from Ireland to North America to 24.

Do the Continental

If you want to stay closer to home then the national airline carrier has expanded its options to continental Europe.

Customers departing from Dublin will have access to new destinations including Norway’s capital city, Oslo.

Majestic Montpellier in the south of France, and Asturias, a hidden gem located on Spain’s Galician northern coast.

And not forgetting Corkonians and the south of Ireland.

Who will benefit from services to Nice on the French Riviera.

As well as to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, offering convenient access to the Camino de Santiago.

And there will be plenty of space in the overhead cabins for those rucksacks and walking sticks.

Becherovka all round

Czech it out: On the King Charles Bridge in Prague

Furthermore, Aer Lingus is extending its Cork-Prague service to operate throughout the year.

Which will give Czechiaphiles the chance to stock up on their Becherovka.

Which I do after the Son and Heir drained my Czech licquer with his pals on one of the occasions we left him with a Free House.

And he defensively told me that he would replace it after thinking that I would be duped by him and his Daft Pals leaving just a dribble at the bottom.

So if it’s Pittsburgh or Prague, Montpellier or Santiago be sure to get on board and get those stickers on your suitcase.

To show off, of course, but also to ensure your luggage stands out on the carousel.

America, Countries, Sport

No Scotland, no Boston Footie Party

7th December 2025 funtime65

It’s just another staging post on the Tartan Army‘s world tour, and no doubt we’ll be coming down the road singing No Scotland, no Boston Footie Party.

We have, of course, been here before in Beantown, where Scotland’s first two games against Haiti and Morocco will be played.

With Scots early pioneers out to the American colonies.

And it’ll surprise nobody that when it came to a drunken fight and cocking a snook at the English that we were front and centre in Boston in 1773.

When liquored up we went down to the Bay and started turfing crates of heavily-taxed imported tea into the water.

Among them Fifer and 19-yer-old apprentice clerk James Swan.

Boston Scottie Party

That I know this isn’t down to isn’t down to my American history studies.

Although my old Aberdeen University tutor Ted Rantsen would surely be impressed.

But because the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum attraction gives every visitor a character to play.

And obviously being a Scot I got to walk this Son Of Liberty’s footsteps.

A Scot’s Swansong

James, I discovered, was quickly identified by Samuel Adams and the leaders as important to the cause.

Through his work at the mercantile house Thaxter & Son and their dealings with the sale of tea.

James, or Swannie as he was probably never known but would have been if he had been a footballer, brought his Scottish ways with him to New England.

I learned that he became a member of the St. Andrew’s Lodge of Freemasons, the Scots Charitable Society of Boston, and enlisted in the Revolutionary Army.

Where this Scottish soldier rose to the rank of colonel for the Battle of Bunker Hill.

And also held positions on the Massachusetts Board of War and Legislature.

My own time working as a busboy at Guadalaharry’s in Quincy Market and an ice cream shop in Faneuil Hall.

And the Black Rose pub in State Street pales into significance in comparison.

Flying the American flag

Stars in Stripes: Boston, cradle of the Revolution

Swannie, of course, would have been too busy fighting the English, and no doubt some Scots with the Brtitish Army, to have concerned himself with such pastimes as football.

Although it was a game, having been played back in the Old World since the 1500s with the oldest ball housed in Stirling Castle, not far from Swannie’s Fife fiefdom, from 1540.

Coming down the road: SuperMac Scott McTominay

Even if organised or Association football, from where we get the word soccer, had not taken hold in Scotland until 1873, 43 years after Swannie’s death in Paris.

Scotland’s famous Tartan Army will, of course, get a warm welcome from Bostonians.

And we will doubtless repay our hosts by supporting the Boys in Stars and Stripes when they play.

Just as Greenock native Ed McIlvenny did when he captained America to victory over England at the 1950 World Cup.

And there’s a trivia question for you and money you can take from your English friends in a bet.

America The Bountiful

All of which trips down memory lane lead us neatly to our modern-day American friends at Brand USA.

Who hae put together a handy guide for footie fans for next summer.

With the launch of America the Beautiful Game, which is now live at AmericaTheBeautiful.com/Football.

It’s a go-to resource for discovering things to do, must-try local cuisine, and a set of sample road trip itineraries.

All of which connect the 11 US host cities with nearby destinations and experiences.

We, of course, are concentrating here on Boston.

On Brand

Where Brand USA kindly point us in the direction of the Museum of Sports.

Which celebrates this sports-mad city’s rich legacy.

Inside TD Garden, home of the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics.

And would-be sportscasters can sit at a replica New England Sports Network (NESN) desk, where visitors can ‘Be the Broadcaster.’

So you can practise: ‘And Andy Robertson makes history as the first Scot to lift the World Cup.’

For those of who will go native, of course, there is the hub of American soccer fans, The Banshee.

A 14 television sports bar across two floors where the Tartan Army will converge.

Because No Scotland, no Boston Footie Party.

The wailing Banshee

This is where, The Banshee, the American Outlaws (supporters of the U.S. national football team) congregate as well as fans of other major sports leagues.

And on special celebrity bartending nights, local athletes pour drinks at this mainstay Dorchester-based Irish pub.

Now what Swannie and his pals would think of the America of today we can only imagine, but we’d say pride would be their foremost emotion.

Particularly as the tournament coincides with America 250, and Brand USA is spotlighting 250 things to do.

Across the US through a themed content series.

And as with all else with transatlantic travel from these islands to the Oo Es of Eh, we always advise travelling through Ireland.

And Aer Lingus with pre-clearance where you can get a sample return flight for a week, covering both matches from £963.58.

Countries, Deals, Europe, Flying, Skiing, Sport

Norway where the Aer is cleaner

3rd December 20253rd December 2025 funtime65

Let the snowbirds fly south for winter, Ireland’s national airline is heading for Norway where the Aer is cleaner.

Aer Lingus launched its inaugural Dublin-Tromsø service today, December 3.

Giving customers a new way to experience the magic of the Northern Lights.

Flights to Tromsø will operate twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Sundays, until March.

With one-way fares starting from €101 including taxes, charges, and carrier-imposed fees.

Arctic awe

Won’t you ride my sleigh: Get in the festive spirit

Now the most popular spot to spot the Aurora Borealis, or Heavenly Dancers, is from atop Mount Storsteinen.

Which you can access on the Fjellheisen cable car to the summit of Mount Storsteinen.

Where you can see the city clearly lit up including Arctic Cathedral.

All white

Skiers too dot the Norwegian landscape at Tromsø Alpinpark, just 12 km from the airport.

Now our Tromsø venner (or friends) have put on a wide and varied range of ways to see the Northern Lights.

Of course, standing still and waiting is an option, with a warm gløgg mulled wine.

Get there how you can

But it looks more fun letting the Norwegians take you to the best vantage points on any numbers of Arctic transport.

Some of which even include whale as well as star watching.

Including night reindeer sledding with dinner, and don’t worry Rudolph is not on the menu. Or husky.

Seafarers will hone in on sailboats, catamarans, cruises, vintage vessels or if it’s your thang, kayaking.

For those who like to get somewhere on foot then you can even ski or snowshoe to your destination.

Or minibus, or whisper it Tesla it.

America, Countries, Flying

Rock me mama to Wagon Wheel to Raleigh

24th November 2025 funtime65

Nathan Carter has done more for Irish and North Carolinian relationships than anyone, so we expect the inaugural Aer Lingus flight will rock me mama to Wagon Wheel to Raleigh.

Raleigh becomes the 26th Aer Lingus North American route when it takes off from 13 regional British airports through Dublin next April.

We’ve yet to hear a song around that odyssey so there’s an opening there for us.

There is one though famously out of Maine in New England and on to Raleigh, North Caroline.

Which Nathan and Carolinian Darius Rucker popularised.

With stop-offs in Philly and in Roanoke, Virginia.

Up in New England

And all because the lovelorn hitchhiker wanted to run from the cold and poker losses in New England.

Though we can’t understand that because we’d run to it.

Although he is clearly missing his baby.

Now as romantic as it all sounds, a banjo-playing wannabe fiddle player going to these lengths to get to his guitar-playing baby.

A Breeze of an alternative

He could always have flown with Breeze Airways (no, us neither).

From £132 from Portland and be in her arms in just over two hours.

But then it would have been a very different song, and maybe Boeing Wheels doesn’t have the same lyrical sound to it.

Sweet Caroline

Now while our hero clearly had a warm welcome waiting for him with his baby you’ll more than likely need your own billet.

Our friends at Rome2Rio have kindly pointed us in the direction of a range of hotels and Black Friday deals.

And their three sample nights in March at the Raleigh Marriott City Center has grabbed our eye at £574 for two, down from £820.

Rock me mamma

Now you’ll want to know what you and your loved-one can do in Raleigh.

So we’ll fill in the gaps, or rather Getyourguide will.

As American history buffs we’re clearly all over the full-day Historian Guided City and Raleigh African American History tours.

While of the ghoulish, fiendish or downright criminal can choose between ghost and crime tours.

But our interest is piqued most by the four-hour Raleigh/Durham: Mystery Date Night in the Triangle Area.

Which our pals in the song would doubtless of availed of, particularly after the long hours of hitching.

America, Countries, Music

A front seat peek into the world of Vegas divas

8th November 20258th November 2025 funtime65

Mick and Macca are mean but Elton would give you the world and this your front seat peek into the world of Vegas divas comes free.

With your party-loving Bandanaman and our driver Crystal, not her real name, of course, because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Crystal has driven all the stars in her stretch limo.

And will share her insider knowledge and her champagne.

Your entertainment: The free Neon City Festival

As you sit back and take in the sights, sounds and smells of Neon City outside.

Everybody and anybody has played Vegas and of course the big ticket is the artists in residence.

The stars come out to play

Mariah Carey, with her Christmastime in Las Vegas show at Park MGM Las Vegasn November 28 & 29. December 2-13.

The Eagles at Sphere, and you can check out any time you like…

Jennifer Lopez, Def Leppard, Kenny Chesney, Styx, Kelly Clarkson and New Kids on the Block.

The King and I: With Elvis at the Graceland Chapel Vegas

Now you want to be Hangin’ Tough you’ll have to book well in advance.

But if you want your entertainment for free then check out the off Strip bars.

And you might find a burlesque Seventies and Eighties covers band, bar staff ringing bells and doing body shots and Cami from Utah.

While this month, from November 21-23 Neon City Festival is putting on a range of free concerts.

And all for my 60th birthday, you guys!!!

The stage is set

So Good Charlotte and De La Soul headline the Friday, DeadMau5 and Breaking Benjamin the Saturday.

And Two Friends and Fitz and the Tantrums the Sunday, no us neither.

Our Vegas buddies tell us that the shows will unfold under The Canopy, the main stage nestled between Golden Gate and Circa.

The 1st Street Stage, located between Circa and Binion’s and the third stage near Fremont, Four Queens and the D Plus.

While VIP options are also available exclusively at Downtown Las Vegas Events Center.

The Founding Properties are offering exclusive weekend packages, with food and drinks credits, and discounted room rates.

Fremont wheelin’

As a sample and because we have fond memories of being shown how to zipline through Fremont Street by a very accommodating Elvis.

There is 25 per cent off at the Fremont Hotel & Casino.

When you book three nights or more, with nightly prices from $41 to $107.

We found a sample return flight from Dublin with our tranasatlantic airline carrier of choice, Aer Lingus, to Vegas from $544.18.

And, of course, be sure to travel in style when you get there, in a stretch limo.

So ask them who they’ve had in the cab.

America, Countries, Sport

The first black pioneer of the NBA 75 years on

1st November 20251st November 2025 funtime65

IT seems unimaginable now that basketball that has created more Afro-American idols than any other was once a white preserve, so it is worth marking the first black pioneer of the NBA 75 years on.

Charles ‘Chuck’ Cooper may not have the global adulation.

Of a Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Steph Curry, Magic Johnson or Shaquille O’Neal.

But were you to ask any one of those black colossuses of sport for his contribution to the sport.

And their passage into it they would as one place him on the highest pedestal.

Because on this day back in 1950 the Pittsburgh native became the first Afro-American to play in the NBA.

Featuring in the Boston Celtics‘ 107-84 loss to the Fort Wayne Pistons.

That it was the Celtics that broke the colour barrier is a matter of great pride for Bostonians.

Because, of course, others were not always as welcoming to athletic achieving black Americans.

Best of Chuck

The towering 6ft 5ins Chuck though bore, as so many did in those days, the humiliation with heroic grace.

Not that Walter A Brown’s and Red Auerbach’s Celtics stopped there.

With Chuck going on to form a holy trinity of African-American basketball players.

With Earl Lloyd and Nat ‘Sweetwater’ Clifton, who would transform the parquet.

That the Celtics weren’t prepared to be dictated to by anyone who they would or wouldn’t play was clear when Brown hit out at the racists.

And said at the draft: ‘I don’t give a damn if he’s striped, plaid or polka dot. Boston takes Charles Cooper of Duquesne (College).’

The Holy Trinity

On a pedestal: With Red in Quincy Market in Boston

Even against, or perhaps because, of the maltreatment they would receive on the road they rose higher and greater.

Red’s Big Three faced discrimination in restaurants, hotels, and the very arenas in which they played.

Even when a new hotel on the exhibition circuit refused Chuck service or fans from a rival city shouted racial slurs.

The black and the green: The Celtics today

Chuck would also hold court for the Harlem Globetrotters, Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks.

And the team he faced in that historic first game 75 years ago today, Fort Wayne Pistons.

For the stattos out there, Chuck played a total of 409 games, scored 2,725 points for an average of 6.66 points per game.

He recorded 2,431 rebounds for an average of 5.9 per game, and had 733 assists for an average of 1.79 per game.

The pioneer

The most notable statistic though was that Chuck Cooper was the first, the first Afro-American to play in the NBA.

Chuck would be inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame as late as 2019, some 35 years after he had died at the age of 57 of cancer.

But he has, of course, left a legacy that far outlasts his life as the first Afro-American to trod the parquet courts of the NBA.

And for us, and the great sports city of Boston, that is a real slam dunk.

We found an Aer Lingus flight from our home airport here in Edinburgh through Dublin with pre-clearance for a sample week’s return dates this month from £668.40.

America, Countries

Why Oregon is the wheel deal for accessibility travel

29th October 202529th October 2025 funtime65

So in the state where they let ’er buck they never let ’er buckle… or why Oregon is the wheel deal for accessibility travel.

Now if you’re either hell on wheels yourself or have travelled with wheelchair adventurers you’ll know.

That disabled travellers are always prepared to go the extra mile.

And often have to because too many destinations still don’t cater for even the most basic accessibility needs.

Bang for your buck

Definitely not so, though, with the Beaver state, which has become the first in the Oo Es of Eh to get Wheel the World Accessibility Verified.

The designation elevates transparency and promotes inclusivity in travel experiences.

For those with visible and non-visible disabilities.

This milestone marks the improvements in the accessibility of tourism businesses across all seven of Oregon’s tourism regions.

From hotels and outdoor adventure experiences to cultural attractions and culinary experiences.

Your accessibility guide

Oregon is now the first state to offer disabilities travel itineraries as an online resource.

Now WTW has done the heavy lifting for us here.

Assessing more than 750 hotels, restaurants and tourism businesses in 43 communities.

With more to come, and all Travel Oregon Welcome Centers.

Evaluating mobility, visual, hearing, and cognitive features.

On the lake with Kaylee

Now to bring the story to life, Travel Oregon and Wheel the World partnered with accessibility advocate Kaylee Bays.

With Kathleen being the first wheelchair user to compete on So You Think You Can Dance.

Hat’s the boy: Bandanaman goes Oregon cowboy hat

We can only imagine our old pal and Yorkshire disability advocate from joint travels in Germany, Debbie, was busy.

Kaylee shares her journey with her 140,000 followers on Instagram.

Helping to inspire a wide audience with her experiences. Kaylee explored Oregon’s accessible offerings.

Kayak Kaylee

Experiencing the dramatic landscapes of Smith Rock.

And kayaking Hosmer Lake in Central Oregon with the backdrop of the stunning mountains.

“I used to assume nature wasn’t something I could really be part of. Oregon showed me that I was wrong,” said Kaylee.

Let ’er buck, not buckle

Kaylee, who has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a degenerative condition she was diagnosed with at 21 added: ‘It opened a whole new world for me.’

With accessibility data now visible and bookable online, travellers can explore detailed listings.

So let ’er buck, not buckle, it’s time to freewheel around the great state of Oregon.

We found return flights with Aer Lingus from Dublin with pre-clearance for a sample week next month from €875.09.

America, Countries

Chicago the best big city in the USA

8th October 20258th October 2025 funtime65

It’s our kinda town and has been for nine years, Chicago the best big city in the USA.

But don’t just take our word for it, well do.

But listen too to the readers of Condé Nast Traveler.

While UK readers registered their thoughts in the 2025 Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice.

Bestowing Chicago as one of the friendliest cities in the world, the only U.S. city to earn this recognition.

The rail thing

Because they’re our kinda people who smile at you.

And help visitors get around the city on their L rail.

Where don’t be surprised if you end up chewing the fat with the guard.

About The Average White Band, his Scottish term of reference.

Now our chums at Choose Chicago have set out nine ways the Windy City is best.

Now know we know 99, although technically it would be 77.

Play, pray and sashay

That being the number of neighborhoods in the great city of the Midwest.

Which, of course, you need more than a week to get around although we did try.

Now as you all know now we live by the maxim go where the locals play and pray.

Which has led us to our fair share of ballparks.

And now we can say, play, pray and sashay after enjoying life in and around North Halsted.

The Three Temples

And find all three come together, the three temples of Da Pope merch at Wrigley Park. (yes, we know he’s actually a White Sox fan).

And all coming back from Pride party in the gayborhood where it all started and on the L with Cubs fans.

Of course, the only way of discovering the 9, 77 or 99 reasons why Chicago is the best big city in America is to get out there.

Because Chicago is tuggin’ my sleeve,

Fly with Aer Lingus through Dublin with pre-clearance from €406.96.