I’ll be conflicted when Scotland face Ireland in the Rugby World Cup on September 22 in Yokohama as I’m of the Irish-Scots variety.
But I’m thinking that a draw would suit both just fine.
One thing is for sure that when it comes to the party then the Scots and the Irish will be clinking glasses.
Two thousand Green Army foot soldiers will be flying with Emirates http://www.emirates.ie to Japan. And but for a pesky raffle ticket number I’d be too.
My numbers were too low, but congratulations to the winner (no, really).
Talking rugby: Wayne and Tommy
I had spent lunch with Tommy Bowe who was doing a Q&A session with Wayne Barnes ahead of him refereeing the Ireland v Wales game at the Aviva this afternoon.
The pair shared some good bonhomie as they recalled past matches including the iconic 2009 Ireland Grand Slam match with Wales.
How Tommy Bowe had come on as a replacement only to have to go off again with a broken leg which elicited the reply from the ref: ‘Oh, Tommy.’
This will be Wayne’s last Rugby World Cup and I wish him well. I’ll share more nuggets like this in your weekly This Sporting Weekend column tomorrow.
But for now check out Emirates’ best deals to Japan which you’ll fall in love with when you see the rugby action on TV.
Winter warmers
I Amsterdam… and so is she
I thought my friends at Aer Lingus http://www.aerlingus.com knew me better because they posited that we needed to avoid the temptation to hibernate for the next six months.
As if.
Aer Lingus won’t be putting their feet up either.
They have 2 million seats on sale until September 23.
They have European fares from €29.99 one way for travel from October 1 to December 16.
And fares from North America from €159 each way when booked as part of a return trip and valid from November 1 to March 31.
I’ll put it all together in a jumble of words, or story, as some people have so generously called them.
But here are some more morsels for you.
Pressed into action
On potatoes, in your weekly food column Hungry and Thursday.
But now I’m on the subject of columns, where is our weekly cruise feature Cruiseday Tuesday I hear your scream?
Put off until this weekend because I was halfway up a volcano.
But it will be worth waiting for.
As I will give you the lowdown on the Viking Sun which stopped off in Dublin for day 5 of the Ultimate World Cruise.
Here’s where the magic happens
But back to potatoes, and more specifically the wrinkly variety.
Now the Canadians love their wrinklies (which might be why they took to me).
These are small new potatoes which are unpeeled and boiled (originally in sea water but these days in salt).
When they are boiled the potatoes are briefly removed before being left on the pot.
To dry off until they become wrinkled with a fine salt crust.
I have a variation on that theme, my very own burnt potatoes.
It’s all in the olive oil
The Tinerfeni have their boiling technique down to a fine art.
You’ll be encouraged to dip the potatoes in a sauce called mojo rojo.
Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit
I was sure they were a Stock, Aitken and Waterman act of the 1980s but it is actually a child pepper garlic sauce, either green or red.
The Papas Arugadas (wrinkly potatoes) are an accompaniment to meat dishes, usually rabbit stew.
And you’ll never run out of either the wrinklies or the wrabbits (there are 30,000 of them on the island, one for every three people although they are seen as pests.
Don’t call us, we’ll call you
We were enlisted into the secret society of Elaboration mojo rojo (red sauce) and mojo verde (green sauce) makers in Santiago del Teide.
Being let loose with a chopping knife, a pestle and a board.
How to make the sauces
Now it couldn’t be easier – the mojo rojo is a couple of pinchfuls of palm tree paper, garlic, oregano, salt, spicy pepper and olive oil.
While the mojo verde is even easier, coriander, garlic, salt and olive oil.
So why did it all look like a slurpy mess while my esteemed Travel colleague Tom Sweeney www.tomsweeneytravels.blogspot.com and his team looked as if they had made a produce worthy of Dragons Den?
Of course, you’re not going to see my finished product.
I don’t want you suing me for bringing on nausea and sickness!
For more information on how to get to Tenerife, Aer Lingus http://www.aerlingus.com flies seven times a week from Dublin and up to two flights a week from Cork during their winter schedule.
I’m here in Tenerife this week roadtesting the new CaminoWays frontier the Canaries. With flights from Dublin with Aer Lingus seven times a week and twice a week from Cork.
Fares start from €69.99.
And I’ll uncover, and share more, as I go.
And to get into the spirit if walking in Spain and what CaminoWays does here’s my Camino to Santiago
Our national airline carrier is offering up to 20% off destinations across Europe.
Fashion capital: Milan. Photo by bruce mars on Pexels.com
Prices start from €39.99 for Bordeaux, Lisbon, Faro, Paris, Milan, Paris, Toulouse and Vienna. Travel between 23 September and 24 October and rise but not by much.
The sale ends Thursday midnight.
These are all good cities I think you’d agree, although Faro is more of a thoroughfare.
One whose airport is a pleasure to rest awhile in and where you bump into the most unlikely of people.
Faro is certainly one place I need to investigate more rather than just jump in the taxi, coach, or hired car.
Too early for the mistletoe
But if it is your starting point then Aer Lingus offers this package: €297pp with seven nights at the. 4* Estrella do Vau.
It’s not surprising that Andy Murray has had to have his body reconstructed from spare parts.
Because it’s not easy carrying the sporting hopes of an entire nation, Scotland, on your back.
And yes, we know he’s also British.
But, of course us Scots love to joke that the English media call him British when he’s winning.
But Scottish when he loses.
Or golf
To us Scots though he’s always a winner, and we will miss him not playing at the US Open in Flushing Meadow which starts this weekend.
He won the title here, the first of his three grand slams, in 2012.
I had the pleasure of spending some quality time with Andy’s mum, Judy, the world-renowned tennis coach.
And Strictly Come Dancing sensation.
Judy was giving a group of British and Irish journalists a coaching class at The Campus sports complex in Quinto da Lago in Portugal.
Or cycling
Of course it was a great privilege although there is always a class joker who has to be brought to heel.
Coaching schools are increasingly popular holiday packages for the whole family.
And as well as Judy’s classes, The Campus offers the best in golf technique and expertise at the Paul McGinley Academy.
And beautiful courses.
If it’s cycling you like then this part of the Algarve is unspoiled, quiet.
Or yoga
And for this cyclist whose bike is in the shed because it’s so hilly around Co. Wicklow in Ireland, Quinto most importantly is flat.
Portugal has become a great favourite for sports fans with golf holidays long established.
But if your game is of the crazy variety then you might prefer a kick about instead.
Even if you’re not Premier League standard, and top English teams go to The Campus on training camps, then there are plenty of other football courts around.
A daily five-a-side game was something I got up looking forward to in Cabanas.
Or football
With Duffers, Ray and the local Portuguese kids.
The banter was great between Manchester United fan and Paul Scholes lookalike Terry and Leeds United fan Ray.
Terry still had the skills that saw him have trials at Chelsea although age had caught up with him.
While your diarist got to sport his green and white hooped Sporting Lisbon top although no Cristiano Ronaldo me.
Only one man walks on water in Barcelona. He’s everywhere – in every shop window, on the backs of every family of tourists.
Or parading his skills before 100,000 worshippers at the cathedral of football, the Camp Nou.
Only on the day I visited the Spanish city, he’s not.
Messi and Murty: On Oasis of the Seas
The ubiquitous Lionel Messi is back in his native South America on international duty playing for Argentina rather than curling in free-kicks for his adopted Barca.
Barcelona has a vacancy for a sporting hero then… and I’m thinking that if I nail it I might just my name off the back of the football top that fluffy bear is wearing.
He’s sitting in a sports car in the shopping area of a cruise ship in port at the bottom of La Rambla. Such are the trappings of fame, and I want some of it.
And I have the chance.
To walk on water on Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas’ surf simulator FlowRider.
And I only have the best in the business to get me up to speed, Irish surfing superstar Geared McDaid.
That’s Gearoid, not me
We’re lucky to have Geared here, his feet rarely touch the ground.
Geared is not long back from a couple of months surfing in Chile, was in Indonesia before that and is on his way to Portugal.
Geared is not what I expect though, no man bun, goatee beard, beard, tattoo sleeve.
Just a regular Sligo boy, although he is pals with Kia Egan!
Thankfully there is one Fifty-something who keeps up appearances with his bandana and windswept beard.
That is me
But boy can he surf. Gearoid, that is.
The simulator is on the 15th deck of the €1.4bn Oasis of the Seas cruise ship which is on it way to Majorca, France and then Italy with 6,300 passengers.
Each enjoying five pools and numerous bars, restaurants and shows. And a park. ‘Central Park’, you’ll forget you’re at sea.
Keep your shorts on: With Kai, my instructor
But alas without us who will have to get off kicking and screaming before sail time.
If they can’t find us hiding away down in the staff quarters.
The idea of the simulator which is 40ft long, is that a rush of water shoots out to build up the swell which you then surf against.
It’s all in the knees, back and arms – and the trick is to sway and not panic.
I’m not the only one who is bushy: In Central Park on Oasis of the Seas
Too late, the road went that way and the bandana and everything under it the other way.
It’s official. I don’t walk on water (but my family could tell you that!)
Maybe I’ll have better luck on my knees.
Eureka or ‘goooooal.’ as Lionel Messi might shout. I manage to master those waves in the prayer position on a boogie board with more than a little help from Mauritian teacher Kai.
Zip slidin’ away: And I’m off zip lining
Suddenly I feel indestructible. And here I was worried that I’d be caught with my shorts down, and quite literally I almost was at half mast.
I hadn’t pulled the cord tightly enough before the surfing class and the waves carried me away.
To be avoided – particularly if you’ve booked up for my next challenge, the 82ft zipline
No-obe nine deck below on the Boardwarl want to have Stars and Stripes board trunks land on them, believe me, when they’re out there shopping.
Or having an early-afternoon drink or are on their way to lunch.
Cocktail hour: And a photobomb
Thankfully, I can’t do much damage in the Spanish restaurant, other than embarrass myself and my party by getting my maracas out (steady!).
Well, once in we weighted into the plats of tapas and a big jug of sangria (when in Spain).
That sangria is’t going to last long
Fuelled with patatas and shrimp al ajillo we swagger off the ship.
Only taking time to pas by an eight-year-old boy twisting and turning on the other simulator and onto Barcelona’s famous La Rambla shopping and market thoroughfare.
Christopher Columbus is still there where I remember him from the last time I visited Barcelona 15 years ago and drew back the curtains of my balcony cabin.
He is proudly guarding the city and pointing out to sea.
To be fair, the arm is right, though I’d maybe bend the elbow and those legs are way too straight.
Sorry, Chris, but you’d be no use on a surfboard either.
Travel facts
Oasis of the Seas: Sail the Western Mediterranean for seven nights on Oasis of the Seas from €1,049pp based on two sharing. Departing Barcelona. Visit Palma, Marseille, Florence/Pisa, Rome (Civitavecchia), Naples and arrive back at Barcelona. See http://www.royalcaribbean.ie. Flights not included.
Where to stay in Barcelona: Hotel Concordia http://www.hotelconcordiabarcelona.com is a central hub and has a rooftop pool that will tempt you to linger. Pride was on when we visited and the neighbourhood was jumping. €135 per night.
There is no better way to sign off your trip to Universal Orlando than to sit back and join everyone’s favourite ogre and his sidekick Donkey as they battle the evil Lord Farquaad.
Shrek is a 4D cinematic experience, you’ll go on a thundering gallop through a haunted forest ride on a fire-breathing dragon.
You’ll plunder over a waterfall.
All in the quest of Princess Fiona.
You’ll have ‘spiders’ fly out at you and be sprayed in the face and be tilted back forward and back in your seats.
Kick-ass entertainment and few do it better than Shrek and the magical cast of Universal Studios.
Relaxing: The Loews Portofino in Orlando
Fly me there
How to get there: Aer Lingus fly from Dublin to Orlando four times weekly; Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Fares start from €259 each way including taxes. Visit aerlingus.com for more information.
