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120 years of the Boston team party

14th October 202314th October 2023 funtime65

Our Beantown pals never knowingly underplay themselves and why should they as this week we celebrate 120 years of the Boston team party.

In the beginning they were known as the Boston Americans which was what they called themselves in 1903 when they won the first World Series .

Against the National League winners Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 in a nine-game series.

The pride of the American League (ours, at least) Boston run through the history of the diamond game.

Taking on the Red Sox mantle in 1908 during the stewardship of John I. Taylor on account of their red stockings it has marked them out in the years since.

As has their Fenway Park ground which they moved into in 1912 and which is the oldest in baseball.

While its 37ft Green Wall is storied in baseball since the days when George ‘Babe’ Ruth kept clearing it from 310ft away in home plate in the 19teens.

The Curse of the Bambino

Ruth, of course, looms large in the Boston story with even non-sports fans aware of the ‘Curse of the Bambino’.

When Boston failed to add to their roll of five World Series wins after they had traded the Babe to the New York Yankees in 1920.

The curse was broken in Massachusetts not by magic but by good play.

Now because we love these sporting curses and check out ‘the Curse of Billy Penn’s peak’ we bring you a Bostonian contribution.

When a “reverse curve” road sign over the Storrow Drive was graffitied to read “Reverse The Curse.

Officials left it in place until the Sox won in 2004 World Series.

And it was edited to read ‘Reversed Curse’ in celebration.

Fenway for fans

The best way to immerse yourself in Boston Red Sox culture (other baseball teams are available) is a tour of Fenway Park.

Where, of course, you can see them show off their nine World Series triumphs.

Their most recent in 2018.

This year, alas, the Red Sox will not be making it ten.

As the winners will come from..

The holders, Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers, the Arizona Diamondbacks or the Philadelphia Phillies.

We don’t know of the Sox having brought down any curses on themselves through trading a hero.

Although Roger Clemens who we cheered on at Fenway in our summer in Boston in the Eighties only won his two World Series at those damned Yankees.

He had been at the Toronto Blue Jays but just saying.

Now even though our Red Sox won’t be there this year we’ll expect it to be referenced over this year’s games.

120 years of the Boston Team Party.

And, of course, our friends at Ireland’s national airline carrier Aer Lingus fly to Irish Boston with pre-clearance from €199.69.

America, Countries

San Antonio is not my first rodeo

26th May 202316th June 2023 funtime65

San Antonio is not my first rodeo and God willing it won’t be my last American Travel Fair so gracias Texas, it’s been excelente.

And as I while away the time in San Antonio airport I’m relieved, as always, that I managed to stay on.

Buckin’ hell: The electronic one in Denver

It probably helps that my bull this time was plastic but I’m taking that as a victory anyway.

Particularly after the ignominy of my feeble efforts out West to stay on the electronic bull inside Denver Broncos’ Mile High Stadium.

With my fall being relayed to everyone in the stadium on the big screen.

More action

But then they do say in showbiz you should always leave the audience wanting more.

We could all do with more of the type of entertainment and experiences San Antonio has to offer.

And the lasso artist twirling his rope as we entered Alamo Plaza was certainly giving us that.

We’d been here before with lassoing albeit under very different circumstances.

Good ol’ Southern Boys

When we witnessed a Good Ol’ Southern Boy in the bar where we were eating, lassoing along with the action on the screen.

And while we’re talking about southern boys a shout-out to the musical acts which have been entertaining us all week.

And in particular the cowboys, Bryce Leatherwood at the Aztec Theatre and Dierks Bentley.

Both of whom brought the house down.

See y’all next year y’all

Now as I make my way back across three flights I’ll console myself with the knowledge that San Antonio is not my first rodeo.

And the beauty of the American Travel Fair is that you meet people who will tell you where you can get your next rodeo.

And that’ll be Let’s Rodeo San Antonio where the crackers (that’s Texan for cowboys) will be riding out from next February 8-25.

Here’s a glimpse of this year’s action… so see y’all next year y’all.

America, Countries, Cruising, Culture

Friday nighters’ splash in San Antonio

24th May 202324th May 2023 funtime65

So I dipped my toe in the water today on my Texas trip… and happen if I stay to the end of the week I’ll be joining the Friday nighters’ splash in San Antonio.

I got my feet wet but never my trademark Bandana with an early-morning swim in the open-deck pool at the Westin Riverwalk Hotel.

Before taking to the Riverwalk again… on foot.

Obvious you might think but weekend revellers have been known to end up in the drink.

Which we discovered on our excellent Go Rio Cruises jaunt down the San Antonio River.

Margarita time

Most of which I’ve forgotten… you’ll forgive me but booze had been taken, Margaritas in one of those plastic yard glasses.

So beloved in Sin City Vegas.

Now despite being named for a saint, San Antonio’s citizens and visitors here know how to sin with bars hugging the riverfront.

Just as well then that the river was named and blessed by a priest.

With its bridges a favourite vantage point for weddings and Jennifer Lopez and Sandra Bullock chickflicks.

Feathered chicks proliferate on the river, sleepy ducks, well you would be in this 30C heat.

And if you’re lucky you might get to see Mother Turtle and her offspring.

Or the caricature version for the kiddies.

Cruise San Antonio

The riverboat cruise is an absolute pleasure with the knowledgeable guides breezing through San Antonio history.

And pointing out buildings which were physically moved from one point to another on stilts.

This being a river then naturally it has been at the mercy of the elements.

And you’ll learn of the challenges of a flood which rose to 10ft.

It pays then to have God on your side.

And San Antonians built ornate churches by the river complete with gargoyle grotesques carved into the exterior.

Some of which look like me after a night of post-partying at IPW, the American Travel Fair, more of which later.

Fun on the water

Back at the pool: At the Westin Riverwalk

And with that I must return to dry land, another riverside bar or restaurant.

And listen to another mariachi band and keep an eye out for a floral parade which is sure to pass by.

Now taking a bend in thus here tale, much like the San Antonio river did I not set you some homework.

To tell me about a famous fortification where we will bring this party to an end tonight.

The Friday nighters’ splash in San Antonio will have to wait.

Tonight, I’ll get someone to hold my drink, I’m off to fight at the Alamo.

America, Asia, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, UK

Where to wave your palms

2nd April 20232nd April 2023 funtime65

Thank God that Jesus isn’t making his triumphant entry today, it would be all big foam fingers… but I digress, here’s where to wave your palms.

First things first though and a little background on Judean palms.

The kind which the Judeans waved at Jesus as he entered Jerusalem on his donkey.

His little donkey: Jesus greeted by palms

Which usually we would be brandishing only this year our new Nigerian priest could not lay his hands on.

Understandable as palm trees are in short supply in the frozen north of Scotland.

Gigha a palm tree

Although you can find some in parts of the west of Scotland.

And the tiny isle of Gigha, warmed as it is by the North Atlantic Drift.

And which boasts a Palm Beach and without the crowds in the three in America, the seven in Australia.

One in Jamaica, Aruba, Algeria and Malawi.

And we’ve been lucky enough to recline by palm trees from the Caribbean.

To the Canaries through Portugal, Turkey and Jordan to the Maldives.

Our Easter Judean palms, and remember Palm Sunday is always the Sunday before Easter, are actually date palms.

Unbeknownst to us but educated now, thanks to the enlightening site Vividmaps, there are ten widespread species.

The most common of which is the coconut and which proliferate in Barbados.

Although despite the abundance of roadside stalls selling coconuts and coconut water it is surpassed.

JBy Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Trinidad & Tobago in that region.

The most populous palm tree country is somewhat surprisingly Colombia with South America dominating the list.

And Brazil, Ecuador and Peru occupying second, third and fourth spots.

Papua New Guinea (or should that be Palmua?) is in fifth.

While America is only seventh although in states like Florida and California they’re on every beach.

Now we’ve all got things to do so I’ll leave you with Vivid Maps to fill in the other countries.

Suffice to say that the palm tree will always retain a special place in every tourist’s heart for exotic climes.

So whether getting your holy leaf out today inspires you.

Or it just warms you to see them gently fluttering in a summer breeze on a clip.

Then we’re happy to share where to wave your palms.

America, Countries

Aermerican Black Friday dream

22nd November 2022 funtime65

Now we all know that it was an Irishman who discovered America which explains the love affair with the States and why there’s an annual invasion to live out the Aermerican Black Friday dream.

What, you thought that America wasn’t on our radar until Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.

Well, St Brendan the Navigator might have something to say about that.

The Irish saint having crossed the big ocean around 800 AD.

Negotiating as he went sea monsters, volcanoes, icebergs, and other adventures.

All of which is chronicled in a ninth-century tome, Navigatio.

Saints above

Irish saints these days go transatlantic in style… on the side of Aer Lingus planes.

Every plane is splashed with holy water and given a saint’s name.

And which other airline can claim that.

All of which perigrinations the likes of which St Brendan could associate with brings us to our Aermerican Black Friday dream.

The price is right

The offers the national airline carrier are tempting us with for our trips to the States.

Customers can bag €100 off return economy class flights to North America or €200 off return business class travel.

Book before midnight on Tuesday, 29 November, for travel between 1 January – 28 March 2023.

And remember there are 15 direct routes from Ireland to choose from.

Including Boston, New York, Newark, Chicago, Orlando, Miami, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Hartford, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Toronto.

And would you believe there are three/four I haven’t even been to yet?

And Europe too

For those who prefer to travel a little closer to home, Aer Lingus is also offering up to 25% off return flights to many popular European destinations.

Sun-seekers can lap up Lanzarote, Fuerteventura or Malaga, while ski enthusiasts can take to slopes from Lyon, Verona, Geneva, and Munich.

Fare savings are valid for travel between 1^st December 2022 – 28^th March 2023.

America, Countries

Boston Tepee Party

30th April 20221st May 2022 funtime65

If you’re going to throw the King’s best tea into the harbour you’d better disguise yourself which is why this act of sabotage was more like a Boston Tepee Party.

The patriots who hurled the crates of best leaf into the New England bay were we know now patriots.

But to the 55-strong British Crown crew on the three boats they looked like Indians.

The parties who file through the Boston Tea Party Museum would, of course, be strange to an 18th-century Bostonian.

But such is the attention to detail of the museum that our guides look, and sound, as if they’ve walked off the pages of history.

Oyez, oyez

We assemble, or are called oh-ye, oh-ye style, to a gathering in the Meeting House to discuss the tea tax imposed on Bostonians.

Historians, of which I am one, will recognise the speaker at the lectern as Samuel Adams.

While anybody who has spent any time in Boston will recognise him from his statue in the old town outside Faneuil Hall.

In the tap room and in his beer which you’ll see in our supermarkets now.

Say it again, Sam

King George III would turn in his grave as he wanted to haul Sam’s treasonous hide over to England for his part in the destruction too.

He was after me too as it transpires… me a Scot Son of Liberty, James Swan, An insider in the tea industry.

Or at least it says so on the card, Mrs Storey, the feisty wife of a well-known physician, informs me.

She talks us through how we should respond to Sam’s oratory.

The usual cheering, stamping of feet and booing and hissing.

But also putting our thumbs to our noses and waving the other fingers at the object of our displeasure.

Fieing and blinding

While shouting Fie (pronounced fee).

All quite sedate and a much tamer f-word you might think but this could get you killed in 1774.

Liquored up though on rum punch shared in bowls down at the Green Dragon Tavern, near Quincy Market, the patriots are fired up.

Which might come as a surprise to a modern-day audience but Caribbean rum was popular then.

And the Crown had preceded the hated tea tax with a molasses tax, molasses being the sugar cane extract used for our fave drink.

The Boston Tea Party will give you a fuller, interactive and family-friendly reenactment of the Boston Tea Party.

All aboard

You’ll board a boat, the Eleanor, and even get the chance to throw a crate over, though obviously it’s on a rope so won’t pollute the harbour.

While they also put on an entertaining film on Boston’s part in the Revolution.

And Adams and George III duke it out.

As they burst out of their framed pictures through that tech wizardry beloved of Harry Potter.

You’ll also get the chance to finish things off by sampling all five of the East Indian teas which were thrown into the harbour.

All without milk or sugar of course and all pretty insipid it must be said.

And which was another good reason to throw it into the water.

I’ll have a Sam

Better head off to Samuel Adams’ Tap Room (he was a brewer).

Or of you have the good fortune to be staying at the Envoy Hotel just five minutes across the bridge.

As the last stop on your mini-New England tour sponsored by Aer Lingus and Amtrak.

You can retreat to your room and drink a can or two of his diverse range of craft beers.

Huzzah, as they say in these parts, at least in recreated 1774 Boston. For the Boston Tepee Party.

America, Countries

Tracks on Route 66

23rd February 202222nd February 2022 funtime65

OK it’s a forced rhyme but here goes, get your Tracks on Route 66.

With our old pals Travel Department who are offering this kickstastic journey on America’s most famous highway.

Now we can give you the prosaic history and description of US Highway 66 and its 2,448 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica.

Chuck it our way

But that’s not the romantic king of the road spirit which would have engaged Jack Kerouac or Chuck Berry to sing its praises.

It’ll take you anything between two weeks and a month to traverse between Illinois and SoCal, Southern California.

But just a couple of minutes on Chuck’s odyssey.

Great eight states

Now you go through Saint Looey/Joplin, Missouri/And Oklahoma City is mighty pretty/You see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico, Flagstaff, Arizona/Don’t forget Winona, Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino…

Won’t you get hip to this timely tip/When you make that california trip/Get your kicks on Route Sixty-six.

Of course some of us even cheat by getting the de rigeuer photo at the end of the route on Santa Monica pier.

TD’s the day

Tis Grand: With Tara and Tryphavana on the Grand Canyon

TD’s trip, a 15-night adventure is from €3,799pp inc. flights, transfers, B&B stays and guide. Dep. September 4.

Oh, did we mention that you’ll get to walk the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Now you’ll make your own Route 66 story but for everyone else’s visit the Route 66 Museum & Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma.

TD also flags up a walk in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln on a guided tour to his home in Illinois.

And a trek high above the Sandia Mountains on a breathtaking ride on one of the world’s longest aerial tramways.

Back to the future

See you on the other side: United Airlines

Now I’ve been to the end I’m backtracking.

And I wish I could in time too to September 2018 when I should have been with my pal Martina and my go-to flyers United Airlines.

Only a selfish oul’ woman banjaxed my plans by going and turning 90.

And yes, that wee Irishwoman, my Mum, who had already enjoyed the charms of the Windy City.

And much more on her Tracks on Route 66.

America, Countries, Deals, Flying

Happy Quacksgiving Day

25th November 202125th November 2021 funtime65

And the most famous Donald on Earth is certainly celebrating today because duck isn’t on the menu.. Happy Quacksgiving Day everyone.

We all know about the Other Donald, the one with the tuft and the big mouth who doesn’t make any sense.

I’m more interested in My Donald though – Donald Duck – and of course we go way back to when we had a quacking time out in Disney World in Orlando.

And if my luck holds out then I’ll be dancing with the duck next year at the American Travel Fair, IPW, next year.

But many of us can’t wait until then and have been working with Visit USA to get out there before then.

So, it’s just as well then that our old friends, Ireland’s national airline carrier are there to help us.

Aer we go to Orlando

From this Saturday customers will be able to travel directly to Florida, following the lifting of travel restrictions to the US earlier this month.

From this weekend, Dublin to Orlando will operate three flights per week to connect families, friends, and business in the run up to the holiday period.

This weekly schedule of direct flights to Orlando will fly on Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday with fares starting from €169 each way, including taxes and charges.

Those looking to visit the Sunshine State can avail of the great Black Flyday offers on flights to the US with Aer Lingus.

Flyday Friday

You’ll get €100 off return fares to North America and €200 Business Class fares to the US (travel 1st January to 31st May 2022). Book by November 30.

With 13 direct routes between North America and Ireland, including New York, Chicago, Boston, LosAngeles, San Francisco, Orlando, Washington, Seattle, and Philadelphia, offers, which run until November 30.

That includes €100 off return flights to North America and €200 off return business class tickets.

They’ll be valid for travel from 1st January to 31st May 2022. And remember there’s pre-clearance.

Very VerifLY

Now if you want the best advice on how Aer Lingus flies then it helps to have access to the people who fly us.

And fortunately I am and they gave us the rundown on how they, and us, travel these days.

And their super-duper VeriFLY travel pass app.

Most importantly… Aer Lingus customers cannot check-in online ahead of flights to/from the USA unless they use VeriFLY.

The app allows users to upload and ensure that their travel documentation is checked and approved before travelling to the airport.

This will allow customers to get their online boarding pass and go straight to bag drop/boarding gate, and avoid queuing at check-in.