www.ryanair.com Archives - Page 2 of 6 - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Flyday Friday – who’s going to fly our planes?

1st May 20201st May 2020 funtime65

Well the quick answer is me…

That’s because of my sterling efforts at mastering the simulator at Turkish Airlines http://www.turkishairlines.com in Istanbul.

I went out for the opening of the biggest airport in the world, the Istanbul Airport, last year.

You get an immediate sense of Istanbul being at the crossroads of the East and the West when you travel through Istanbul Airport.

That’s before you even get out onto the Bosphorus.

Or visit the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar or the hamam where Florence Nightingale, Rudolf Nureyev and John Travolta all visited… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/wham-bam-thank-you-hamam/ .

Hub of the world

And you see a troupe (I don’t know what the collective noun is) of Hasidic Jews travel through the terminals. Istanbul,

I discovered it is the biggest hub for Jews returning to Israel.

You could fly an airplane through our airports now (they’re so quiet).

Big enough to drive an F1 car in: The TA Business Lounge

Which I very nearly did after scraping the Statue of Liberty and coming down nose first at JFK in that simulator flight at Turkish Airlines HQ.

The crisis facing our airline industry has been somewhat subsumed.

By the bigger challenges of health and the economy facing the whole world right now.

Tourism driver

But the immediacy of the threat to the sector has to be addressed. Alas,

Travel has forever been treated as frippery and indulgent by politicians and Big Business compared with other industries.

Only tourism is at the heart of every country’s economy, before we even get onto its importance to business.

And while it is obvious that virtual tourism cannot replicate the joy of seeing a county or its people first hand.

And our providers have done a stand-up job in recreating their destinations this way during this crisis.

The same applies to business.

Dealing with real 3D people first hand over a beer or bottle of wine while sampling local cuisine is the best way to forge relationships.

Faceless bureaucrats

Oh, yes, there’s the conference meetings too.

But don’t we all just look at our watches or the time on our phones when we’re stuck in one of them?

We must fight against the high heed yins, or suits, who will want to stick with Zoom and other digital platforms.

In an effort to cut costs rather than fly their executives out to each others’ countries.

I can just see those faceless, soulless, personality vacuums, the numbercrunchers pushing for a retention of this contactless-free zone we all live in now.

And where do we stand today… with a third of British Airways http://www.britishairways.com staff worried for their jobs, their operation at Gatwick at risk.

Our crew and pilot friends

Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com planning to cut 3,000 jobs and reduce staff pay by up to a fifth?

And Virgin Atlantic www.virginatlantic.com furloughing its staff and raising the alert as to its futurez

And airlines around the world facing similar heart-wrenching decisions.

Every one of those employees is valuable and their struggles are ours.

I have come to know some of them professionally and personally and my heart goes out to them all as they too foresee an uncertain future.

Pointing to the future: In an airport in February

We are continuously having it drilled into us that ‘we will all get through this together’.

But let’s just think about the sectors and real people who are falling through the cracks.

Save our sector

We must have a Travel industry and an air sector to return to for the good of us all.

It cannot all be left to the Trade and the Public.

It is time for those politicians in their private planes to remember the rest of us.

MEET YOU IN THE SKIES

Countries, Deals, Flying, Ireland

Flyday Friday – what’s the deal?

17th April 202017th April 2020 funtime65

Now I’m told that there are, and I hope I’ve got this right, ‘middle seats’, in an area of the plane called ‘Economy Class’?

You see I’ve been socially conscious way before this crisis.

Always trying to keep my distance by going to the area of the plane where I’m 2m from my neighbour.

But ‘we’re all in this together’, to reprise a crisis cri de couer.

My social distancing

Empty space

And EasyJet www.EasyJet.com are talking about making Economy a bit more like Business…

By initially emptying the middle seats when we get back on planes.

Our old friend Michael O’Leary at Ryanair www.ryanair.com jumps in here to pooh-pooh such a notion.

He calls it ‘hopelessly ineffective’ on safety and price.

The challenges

Which brings us to how airline carriers will draw us back into the skies.

When more and more of us will have been let go from work, have less money.

Fun for all the family: At Turkish Airlines HQ

And airplanes and airports will impose even tighter restrictions on us.

While we’ll all be more fearful of being around each other at all and particularly in the close proximity of an airplane.

A true partner

Well, our airlines have been quick to send out circulars reminding us of how valued our custom is.

Now for those of us Travel professionals who have benefited from a partnership with them.

Open door policy www.united.com

And seen first hand how they work… Turkish delight: Airline that has it all and www.turkishairlines.com.

This is the time that we stand by them… In defence of… air travel.

A prophet from the past

And while we try to find precedents on every level for how our predecessors dealt with crises there is good news.

Eating by myself: In Business Class

Airlines have in the past reacted to a plummeting demand by rolling out bumper offers.

And here I take solace from a Business Traveller interview with former BA executive Richard Tams, of Tailwind Advisory…

Ireland’s call: Aer Lingus www.aerlingus.com

He takes us back to the aftermath of the Gulf War when confidence in air travel was low because of fear of terrorism.

Read his thoughts here and… https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=y7PLXuFAFLE

MEET YOU IN THE SKIES

Countries, Culture, Europe, Food, Food & Wine

Rome on €50

9th April 20208th April 2020 funtime65

Rome wasn’t built in a day… if it was there wouldn’t be so much to enjoy.

But if you’ve only got one day (and maybe the next morning)…

Then what to see and what to miss out?And how to do it for less than €50 spending money.

Bohemian Trastevere next door past the Circo Maximo is a better bet.And I recommend the welcoming and economical Hotel Trastevere although remember there’s a €4 a night city tax.

Walk the walk

*A family thing happened on the* way to the Forum

It’s free and it’s fun… to people watch, window shop and you can take pictures at your leisure.

You’ll pay for the privilege of eating and drinking near St Peter’s Square and the Trevi Fountain.

Instead grab a pezzo (slice of pizza) on the go for about €3, fill your water bottles from the ornate water taps that proliferate around the city.

Rather than buy it from the shops.

Or just go into a grocery or supermarket and buy a picnic of bread and cold meats. For about a fiver.

This is free

Walking boy the Colosseum and The Forum never loses its appeal but you don’t have to go in, the audio guides will only tell you what you can find out online anyway.

And he’s free

Il Papa’s home. Photo by Valentin Onu on Pexels.com

Book an audience with the Pope. It’s Mass but he plays to the gallery and the backdrop of St Peter’s can’t be beaten.

If you can’t get an audience, and you’ll need to book in advance, then attend Mass in St Paul’s Basilica – you’ll be in there anyway.

Or any of the churches in the city, they double as art galleries.

Other frescoes

The Sistine Chapel is a truly wonderful work of art but frescoes can only really be enjoyed if you’ve got time, space and quiet.

Besides every church in Rome has a stunning fresco.

The best fresco, of course, is in the Pantheon, the 7.8m diameter hole in the dome, because God made the view.

It changes every day.

When it rains on Rome stop whatever you’re doing and rush to the Pantheon.

Spend a penny

No, not that penny, although I can recommend the toilets in the oh-so English Barrington Tea Room, near to the Spanish Steps – Byron, Keats and Shelley lived around her.

More Babington Wee Room, if you like.

No, spend a penny by throwing one over your shoulder into the Trevi Fountain.

It’s a cliche, and a superstition but it’s everything that people say it is.

Of course, they know you’ll come back to Rome… how could you stay away?

Skulls and bones

When you’ve seen everything else – and definitely make time for the Castel Sant’Angelo (€10.50) https://www.castelsantangelo.com which is next to St Peter’s Square where rich Papal history was played out.

It also adorns the walls – then head for the Capuchin Crypt http://www.cappucciniviaveneto.it (€8.50), Piazzaa Belerini.

And join the monks at prayer.

I walked past a real live Capuchin monk on my way in before being reintroduced to some real dead ones.

You know, the 3,700 whose skulls and bones were used to build the Crypt’s four chapels.

There’s even a clock mode out of a monk’s boners, although the twist is that he doesn’t have hands.

Time stands still in here. But not for us.

They have left us a message. ‘What are you now, we used to be. What www are now, you will be.’

Que sera, sera?

Flights

Photo by Kristina Paukshtite on Pexels.com

Aer Lingus http://www.aerlingus.com and Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com both fly to Rome.

Where to stay

I found Hotel Trastevere, Via Luciano Manara, 24A. Visit http://www.booking.com. With a 15% reduction down from €121 to €103.

Save your money

Your protector at the Castel Sant’Angelo

Save your money

€10.50: Castel Sant’Angelo

€8.50: Capuchin Crypt

€5: Bottle of wine

€1: Souvenir fridge magnet (it’ll cost you much more t the airport)

€0.50: For the Trevi Fountain. Listen, it can be a one-cent bit, but I’m just keeping it at a nice round number.

€7: For an al fresco spaghetti carbonara (it’s a local Roman speciality) deal with Peroni in Trastevere.

€2.50: For sweeties for the family/work… they’ll suss out though if it slips your mind and you to bluff it and get Haribos back home.

€10: For the disfigure and displaced around St Peter’s Square.

= €50.

Culture, Deals, Food, Food & Wine, UK

I belong to Glasgow

30th March 202015th April 2020 funtime65

I belong to Glasgow
Dear Old Glasgow toon
And there’s nothing the matter with Glasgow
Even if you’re ball ain’t roon,
Murty’s take on the auld Glasgow music hall song.

Growing up just a Johnny Sexton (or back then more a Mike Gibson) kick over the stream (or burn, as we call them in Scotland) to the Glasgow High playing fields.

I would often jump over into the grounds and practise kicking over the posts.

*Robbie Burns is watching: George Square*

No, I didn’t become the next Andy Irvine (I am Scottish after all), but I did go onto play at school, report on the game, and become a lifelong fan.

For 51 weeks a year the oval ball game plays second fiddle to football in Glasgow but on May 25 it will have to share centre stage.

When Celtic Park will host the Pro 14 Final, Celtic will be contesting the Scottish Cup final with Hearts the same day at Hampden Park.

HOW TO GET THERE
Ryanair www.ryanair.com and Aer Lingus www.aerlingus.com both fly to Glasgow.

WHERE TO STAY
I found a standard room for two at the ibis Glasgow City Centre – Sauciehall Street (it’s actually just two minutes from Sauciehall Street on 220 West Regent Street).

For two nights from May 24-26 from €320. Visit www.booking.com.

*And, of course, the chippier, the Chip* *Chik* Inn in the West End https://www.chipchikinn.co.uk

Curry favour

WHERE TO EAT
Glasgow’s national dish is not haggis as you might have been told but ‘a cheeky wee Ruby’, no she’s not a good time girl from the Gorbals. A ‘Ruby’ or ‘Ruby Murray’ is Jockney slang for a curry.

And the best place to go for a ‘Ruby’ is the West End. Try the Shish Mahal www.shishmahal.co.uk 60-68 Park Road or the Koh-I-Noor www.hoh-i-noor-glasgow.com on 235 North Street.

And did you know that the Chicken Tikka Masala was invented in Glasgow.

When Ali Ahmed Aslam, the owner of the above mentioned Shish Mahal improvised by putting tomato soup and some spices into a chicken curry.

For a Glasgow bus driver who had complained that the original offering was too dry?

Not to be confused with the Chicken Tikka Mo Salah which has Egyptian spices and is served in Liverpool!

Best bar none

WHERE TO DRINK
The Park Bar, 102 Argyle Street is a popular hang-out for Heelanmen and women, or Highlanders to you and me.

Serving tips: don’t wear ‘colours’, that’s hats and scarves with the colours of your sporting team, greens and blues are particularly divisive on account of the two big soccer teams Celtic and Rangers.

A pint of heavy is what we know as a pint of ale or Smithwicks and even if it is pronounced the same they spell whiskey without the e. It tastes just as good though.

Best value

The Horse Shoe Bar, 17-19 Drury Street www.thehorseshoebarglasgow.co.uk, down an alleyway, or close.

Near to Glasgow Central Station, is where Rod Stewart goes to drink when he is in town.

Of course the island bar is why it’s called the Horse Shoe Bar. Upstairs you can get a three-course lunch for a fiver… you don’t believe me?

It’s all good wholesome stuff.

I’d opt for the soup of the day (tomato is a favourite) followed by the sausage and mash or Scotch pie, chips and beans.

While for dessert (get away, it’s called puddin’ in Glasgow) then it’s vanilla ice cream or a caramel apple betty for me.

Glasgow greetings

Slainte, enjoy the rugby if you’re there for that, or if you’re just in Glasgow for other reasons then have a rerr time.

Tell me how you get on and we can share.

And say hi to my maw!

Countries, Culture, Europe, Food, Food & Wine, Ireland, UK

Carole King… you’re Beautiful

29th March 202015th April 2020 funtime65

There are some mornings I wake up without a smile on my face to show the world all the love in my heart.

Today though is not one of them.

Today, I have the widest smile on my face.

Because today I am going to see Beautiful The Carole King Musical.

She’s Beautiful (as is my wife).

Carole King and her breakthrough 1971 solo album Tapestry has been something of a soundtrack to my adult life.

Since I first heard it in a record store as an 18-year-old and asked them to play it again…

You’ve got a friend

Before buying it there and then before going on to wear out the needle.

Will You Love Me Tomorrow? summed up my feeble attempts at wooing… of course, they didn’t even love me that night,

Then it was You’ve Got a Friend when She came along,

So Far Away was when she was pregnant with the Son and Heir in Aberdeen.

And trying to sell the house and me starting a new job in Liverpool.

And since then Home Again as we have taken an Oydyssean journey around these islands.

It is the beauty of this timeless album that I won’t be the only one for whom it tells a personal story.

Of course, it’s Carole King’s story that Beautiful tells.

It is a story that begins with her selling her first song while still at school.

Through the ups and downs of her marriage to songwriting partner Gerry Goffin.

To her grand redemptive performance at Carnegie Hall in her native New York.

*Hands on decks: Some ambient music at the Radisson Blu*

Along the way we thrill to the Sound of the Sixties which she and Goffin and their friends Cynthia Wiel and Barry Mann shaped.

With such classics as On The Roof, Locamotion, One Fine Day, Pleasant Valley Sunday and You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, On Broadway and a bunch of others.

At the end of a fast-paced joyful paean to Carole who has inspired generations of singer-songwriters and still performs to this day, she had performed Tapestry in full with her daughter Louise.

I feel the earth move

Up the road at Hyde Park in the summer, I’m up dancing and clapping wildly to I Feel The Earth Move.

While I’m here at the Aldwych Theatre in London’s West End to pay homage to Carole King there’s time enough for some other kings.

And some queens and princes too at the Tower of London.

William the Conqueror built it nearly 1,000 years ago to fortify the capital of his new kingdom, King Henry VIII had two wives beheaded here.

Near to where I’m standing by the Bloody Tower where King Richard III had his two nephews suffocated in their sleep,

Another queen, Lady Jane Grey, was also executed here…

She spent only five days as monarc.

Before she had to make way fro Queen Mary, or Bloody Mary if you will who then made way for Queen Elizabeth.

It’s another Queen Elizabeth we’re chiefly here to see, the current queen, Britain’s longest serving monarch at 64 years and counting.

Or more accurately we’re here to see her bling, the Crown Jewels.

Talking of counting, try counting the number of gems in her crown.

On your walk around or the number of salt bowls or how many drinks you could get out of that punch bowl.

All of which can make you quite thirsty.

Fat as a king

I feast like a king at my palace for the weekend, the Radisson Blu Edwardian in Mercer Street, Seven Dials, near Covent Garden.

Our breakfasts are king-sized.

Instead of choosing buffet or continental they do both while evening meal is a Peruvian/Italian tapas fusion.

It works and the DJ with his decks and his ambient music add to the vibe.

Fat as a king, I need to work off the half a dozen meat, fish and pasta tasting dishes and rich Peruvian chocolate dessert which means a stroll around the city of Westminster.

It is a ten-minute walk from Seven Dials across Waterloo Bridge and along the South Bank.

I try to ignore the garish and overpriced Dungeon and Shrek tourist traps and opt instead two read William Wordsworth’s thoughts inscribed on the walkway.

What a Wordsworth!

The great Romantic poet loved London and waxed lyrical about the Thames gentled gliding by.

I despair then at what today’s town planners are doing to this great old city.

With their London Eyesore and Gherkin (and who builds something in the shape of the bit of the burger nobody wants?)

I avert my eyes and, of course, am drawn instead to the Mother of all Parliaments. I cross Westminster Bridge and think on Wordsworth’s Upon Westminster Bridge.

And I consider knocking on Downing Street to give Theresa May a piece of my mind.

But Big Ben’s chimes tell me it’s too late, baby, it’s too late. I have an urgent appointment with another wordsmith.

HOW TO GET THERE

Fly to Gatwick airport with Ryanair… http://www.ryanair.com

WHO TO GO WITH

We had two nights on a SuperBreak https://www.wowcher.co.uk/travel/hotels/uk-hotels/ package in 2016 and took in the Beautiful: The Carole King Story at the Aldwych Theatre in the West End of London.

Don’t despair though there are one or two other offerings still running!!!

Visit https://www.nederlander.co.uk/aldwych-theatre

Save, save, save

Save 30% on theatre tickets with a hotel and ticket package from SuperBreak. http://www.superbreak.com. Also visit www.radissonblu-edwardian.com/MercerStreet‎.

This article was first published in the Irish Daily Mail in November 2016.

And don’t you know I only got to see the next best thing to Carole, Jessie Mueller, who sang three songs from the musical only centimetres from the American Travel Fair in Washington DC… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/obama-washington-dc/.

While for more Tales from the Thames… The London life

Countries, Europe, Flying

Holidos and don’ts – know your airport

19th February 202016th January 2021 funtime65

Now, it would be silly to suggesr an airport is as familiar as a train or bus station while it is considerably more complicated.

But knowing your airport can take the stress out of your holiday: start badly and it’ll set your break off wrongly.

And as I begin a new journey from a new (old) airport here in Edinburgh www.edinburghairport.com my first thought is that this does save the legs.

An old fave, Turkish Airport, at Edinburgh Airport

Anybody who has been through Dublin Airport (www.dublinairport.com) knows the long hike to your airplane.

It almost feels like you are taking the strain off the plane by walking halfway to your holiday destination yourself.

So leave yourself plenty of time. while it’s easy to mix up your Ryanairs and Aer Linguses.

So don’t leave yourself having to sprint between terminals: Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) Terminal 1 and Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus.com).

Apply this logic too to even bigger airports where it might involve buses between terminals, or even trains.

And ALWAYS read the small print on your information… you may be flying with an auxiliary airline from Munich to Athens.

And the main airline where you are is in another terminal in the airport.

Yes, guilty, and I am forever grateful and still terrified of the Lufthansa (www.lufthansa.com) reservations manager I had to break the news to… My Greek odyssey.

Countries, Culture, Europe

Crocus gold… Valentine’s in Amsterdam and Ireland

12th February 202012th February 2020 funtime65

When it’s Spring again we’ll sing again ‘Crocuses from Co. Waterford’.

Yes, I would and, when I can afford it, do cover my flower beds with tulips from Amsterdam.

And one we enjoyed on our visit to Amsterdam Pictures of Amsterdam and George Clooney and Amal’s Amsterdam hotel.

Dylan promise: At the Dylan in Amsterdam

Where we also took home ice cream tulips (think raspberry ripple colours) from the Amsterdam Museum https://amsterdamtulipmuseum.com.

And got a Spring out of them before we handed over the keys of chez notre maison in Ireland.

To someone we can only hope appreciates the opportunities as we did.

The history of the crocus is also captivating.

We can date the crocus back to the Egyptians, Greeks and Menoans.

With a few pounds of corn served as a loan of gold and jewels.

The best place to see crocuses in Ireland is the Mount Congreve Gardens in Co. Waterford.

The gardens will open early this year on Valentine’s Day, February 14.

To showcase more than 20,000 crocuses in flower at the beautiful gardens located just ten minutes from Waterford City.

Which is a two-hour drive south of Dublin.

Which we all know is served regularly by our friends at Aer Lingus www.aerlingus.com and Ryanair www.ryanair.com.

For more on what the gardens have to offer throughout the year visit www.mountcongrevegardens.com.

The crocus story doesn’t finish there.

The Crocus Project was launched in Ireland in 2005 by the Holocaust Education Trust Ireland.

Intended for pupils aged 11 and over it provides schools with yellow crocus bulbs.

To plant in memory of the one million and a half Jewish children.

And thousands of other children who died in the Holocaust.

The yellow flowers recall the yellow Star of David all Jews were forced to wear under Nazi rule.

Which Anne Frank had up on her wall of the attic house she, her family and friends hid away in from the Nazis during the War.

A giant: Anne Frank in Amsterdam. http://www.twitter.com

On this the 75th anniversary year of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, where Anne and her sister Margot died, and Auschwitz were liberated, pay tribute…

By either visiting those sites or the Anne Frank Huis in Amsterdam… https://www.annefrank.org/nl/.

And also make use of the wonderful city pass https://www.iamsterdam.com/en.

While all major airlines fly to Amsterdam I like to promote national airline carriers and recommend KLM www.klm.com.

Me, I’m off to buy crocuses and tulips for someone who deserves them… and also The Scary One.

And I’ll get back to you on Friday, Valentine’s Day, with more blooming marvellous places to visit for gardens and flowers.

America, Countries, Deals, Europe, Flying, Ireland

Flyday Friday – Shannon’s Irish Coffee?

7th February 20207th February 2020 funtime65

I’m indebted to one of my Bandaninis, (as I’ve Christened this site’s followers) Michael Kelly.

For raising the rival claim of Shannon Airport to Jackson’s Hotel, Ballybofey, Co. Donegal as the birthplace of Irish Coffee.

After reading Thirteen years an Irishman – My five Irish homes my farewell to Ireland as I return to Scotland.

The Shannon story, which is said to date from 1942, goes that a woman arrived in the middle of Ireland on a wintry night needing warmed up.

And chef Joe Sheridan came up with the bright idea of putting whiskey in her coffee.

The Jackson’s tale dates also from the War years and surrounds a merchant seaman, Joe Jackson.

Joe’s corner says he adapted a Mediterranean recipe and was already making it in 1946 after buying the hotel.

A last look at Belfast… hope it’s not an omen

And that an article in a Scottish newspaper, which hung in the hotel, backed this up.

So I’m happy to give both claims their due, particularly as it bigs up Shannon Airport.

And the excellent work Declan Power and his staff are doing there.

Shannon www.shannonairport.ie has two new routes for 2020, to Paris and Barcelona.

And you can check out some thoughts here on the Catalan city… Smooth sailing around the Western Med.

TAP into this

TAP Air Portugal tapairportugal carried 1.23 million passengers in January, 145,000 more than this month last year. Its biggest destination is, of course, Portugal but it also flies to Europe, North America and South America. Rio by the sea-o anyone? Of course we’re all big fans of Portugal around here… Secret Portugal.

Women’s Day in Iceland

Isn’t it just typical, I went and missed Bondadagur, the start of the Porri season (on January 24), again.

Bondadawhat I hear those of you who are not either Icelanders or Icelandophiles ask. Well it is Men’s Day and as luck would have it, for Herself, Women’s Day is still to come… on February 22. That’s Konudagur then and it’s when men pamper their women and give them flowers. Which maybe I’ll keep from The Scary One – she’s got Valentine’s Day coming. And I’ve already taken her out for a night this year… and it wasn’t even her birthday either.

Icelandair http://www.icelandair.com flies daily to Iceland while it also has 18 gateways to North America.

Aer we went

The good news (for me, heck and for you too) is that I’ll be back in Dublin in mid-March.

Don’t tell the Scary One but I’m hoping to be back a lot sooner. I’ll be flying Stobart Air, partners of Aer Lingus from Edinburgh and Aer Lingus, from Dublin to Miami. And when I can I always will. I’m only hoping that as a loyal Aer Club member and a proud kiltie wearer I can rack up enough points to earn me one of their super-duper new crew skirts. Anyhoos, back to their deals: London, Amsterdam and Paris from €27.99, Toulouse or Bordeaux and much more besides. Usual conditions apply. Visit www.aerlingus.com. And don’t you just know I’ve played and prayed all over these fab destinations… The London life, Pictures of Amsterdam and George Clooney and Amal’s Amsterdam hotel. And The Lourdes prayer and The Boat D’Azur.

And not forgetting Ryanair

Ryanair www.ryanair.com has just released its early bird summer fares. MEET YOU IN THE SKIES

Asia, Countries, Deals, Europe

Flyday Friday – Yoga and New Delhi

10th January 202010th January 2020 funtime65

No, seriously, this temple of a body isn’t made for yoga.

Which is why I sent another to India in my place, a yoga nut who then sent me nuts when she got her visa application mixed up.

And got narky with the Travel providers… a red line in my book.

And this is why, boo-hoo, I didn’t get to India back then and why I am still waiting…

Waiting too for the bottle of booze from the aforementioned writer who had left me with all her crap to deal with.

*That’s the way to do it.* Photo by Abhishek Saini on Pexels.com

And guess what? I have air miles which I won when Etihad kindly showed me around their business class at Dublin Airport last year.

Visit http://www.etihad.com. And you judge for yourself whether you think my yoga has come on since.

From my Portugal http://www.visitportugal.com and Tobago http://www.visittobago.gov.tt adventures.Visit https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/06/12/sportugal/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/12/05/robinson-crusoes-tobago/

*Look at that Lotus*, I’m so relaxed I’m almost sleeping

Something happened on the way to the Forum

The heavens opened on the way to the Forum… and just as in Classical Rome, I had to shelter in a bus shelter.

Of course where I most wanted to be was the Pantheon with its open Dome.

Which I informed the couple I was huddled in with… ‘sure there’s only one place you’d want to be in Rome when it’s raining, ‘ says I.

Saye he in his rich Northern Irish brogue: ‘Aye, the pub.’

*Throwing my money away: Well I did spend less than €50*

Rome is an eternal joy, particularly at Aer Lingus prices… http://www.aerlingus.com.

Among its January Sales deals it has Rome down from €66.99 to €39.99.

And here’s how you can save on your walk to the Forum, Colisseum or Spanish Steps…

And retrace the footsteps of the ancients… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/08/04/see-rome-on-e50/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/small-roads-lead-to-rome/

Ibiza beezer

*Party island. Ibiza. Photo by Sebastian Coman Photography on Pexels.com*

I don’t know what it was about Spain that turned my Dickensian strict Dad into…

A screaming liberal.

Maybe it was the sun, but Ibiza meant half a glass of wine for this seven-year-old at dinner.

And I remember vividly the waiter who served it to me, Pepe.

Of course it gave me a taste for the grape that has never left me, particularly when it’s sparkling.

And you’ll certainly have more money in your wallet or purse to splash out in Ibiza.

After saving on your Ryanair flights which are from €28.99 with the low-fare airline’s latest seat sale which ends Midnight Sunday.

They’ve also thrown in Malta at the same price https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/malta-easer/ where there was much Champagne flowing after I made Miss F the happiest woman in the world…

I went back years later to see if I could cash in on the unfinished bottle.

Check out all the deals at http://www.ryanair.com

MEET YOU IN THE AIR

Uncategorized

Flyday Friday – Philly charged

3rd January 20203rd January 2020 funtime65

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… I’ll always go where people play and pray.

And wherever you find sportsfans you’ll see prayers being sent heavenwards for the success of their sportsteams.

Philadelphia, a real blue-collar city is one of America’s great sports hubs.

And if you were around in the Seventies and Eighties in particular you would have seen the City of Brotherly Love’s teams win…

At baseball: the Phillies,

Ice hockey: the Flyers,

American Football: the Eagles,

Basketball: the 76ers.

But then Philadelphia forgot what it was and who they were and in a Tower of Babel moment they incurred the Curse of Billy Penn…

The city’s founding father.

Read how they won back Billy’s favour in Philadelphia Freedom and www.visitphilly.com.

Philly is the only American city on National Geographic’s top 25 places to visit this year…

Along with Grand Canyon National Park which I’ll always flag up… The grandest canyon.

Now I don’t need a reason to praise Philly but Aer Lingus has flights there from €189 as part of a return trip.

As part of a raft of special deals, both American and European.

For travel April 1 to June 15. Visit www.aerlingus.com.

Money back

Got your interest, well let’s progress.

Your flight is late and you just have to suck it up (how I hate that phrase).

And you know that if you’ve got a connection to make and that’s not going to happen.

Then you need to know your EU Regulation 261/2004… http://www.citizensinformation.ie.

And we have much to thank Sturgeon v Condor Flugdienst GmbH and Bock and Others v Air France SA last year.

Now I’m imagining it’s not the Sturgeon who wants Scotland to be independent and stay in the EU.But whoever you are we salute you.

It would be wrong though to knock our airlines because they are corporate Leviathans.

They are manned by real people and as tempting as it is in the stress of the moment.

Air France-KLM http://www.airfranceklm.com sorted out an oversight on The Scary One’s Dublin-Amsterdam tickets.

Which meant that she hit the canals smiling… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/pictures-of-amsterdam/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/george-and-amal-hotel/.

Lufthansa http://www.lufthansa.com and Aegean Airlines https://en.aegeanair.com also got me on the next connecting flight from Munich to Athens.

After things had gone Der pear-shaped…

Though this relic did see his old Greek relic in the end.

Ryanair www.ryanair.com are the passenger’s favourite whipping boy but they too will help you out.

I know first hand having had a booking moved.

Because I had again messed up on not looking carefully enough at the return flight from Tobago https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/12/13/flyday-friday-caribbean-island-hopping/

And http://www.visittobago.gov.tt to London.

Because it was going to return the next day. It’s easier than you think.

Anyhoos try out www.airhelp.com for a wee help out.

Paris match

We’ll be giving it plenty in 2020… Ryanair, I know you love a good sales pitch so you can have that one for free!

Because you do keep us interested with your seat sales the latest of which offers 10% off one way flights for travel January-May.

Paris which is from €21.99 is a city I’ve yet to crack properly.

Because of mes misadventures.

I recall being kicked awake while sleeping on Paris St Lazare railway station.

When I was a callow 17-year-old on my way down to the French Riviera with pals after my school exams.

I travel in slightly better style these days… http://www.atoutfrance.fr and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/the-boat-dazur/

And then on our family holiday a few years back I had the bell rung in my ear at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery http://www.parisinfo.com.

As we were rushing back from Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde’s last resting place.

If I wanted ringing bells I’d have gone to the Notre Dame, merci bien, Monsieur.

Alas, of course, that wonderful church was ravaged by fire.

But mes amis in Paris tell me that they are working furiously to try to revive it to its former glory.

The Glasgow tongue

Our language is continually changing and that’s no bad thing.

But sometimes we forget that old words and definitions still hang around for an older Fifty Something generation.

My home city Glasgow www.peoplemakeglasgow.com is a case in point.

Just in from Glasgow Airport: ‘January Sale: save 20% on parking and the Lomond Lounge.

‘Book until January 8. Valid for arrivals until December 31.’

And then to reinforce the urgency… ‘It’s there and then it’s GONE. POOF.’

Visit www.hello@e.glasgowairport.com.

MEET YOU IN THE SKIES