Icelandair fly daily to Reykjavik. And it has 18 gateways to the US.
And looking at Icelandair’s list if what to bring I’ll have to leave a lot at home.
No, The Scary One’s coming with me… more baggage allowance, you see.
The bells, the bells
The wheel deal: Edinburgh
My first Hogmanay in Edinburgh I goosed a random lassie at the Mercat Cross at the Bells.
Which means at my first New Year in Edinburgh I kissed a random girl at the Market Cross when the clock turned midnight.
It was where people went then back in the early Eighties before it was turned into the big music party that it is now.
It’s still Hogmanay but it has lost a little bit of its identity, its old traditions of moving from house to house, flat to flat for a party.
And you would put yourself forward as the tall, dark man with the lump of coal and dram (short) of whisky which signifies health, wealth and happiness.
It has a castle too
Edinburgh is one-way from Ryanair from €14.99. I know it’s overdue but I will give you a city guide of the place I called home for ten years.
With apologies to Tottenham Hotspur fans everywhere this Saturday’s This Sporting Weekend comes to you by way of Bayern Munich bratwurst sausages.
Bayern, of course, are the pride and joy of Munich. And this being Bavaria they like to push their lederhosens.
Which is why their salt and pepper cellars are of a man and a woman in der lederhosen.
And why they have tins of white and brown sausages. Of course I dare say you can get steins too.
Which brings me in the kind of long-winded fashion of my fellow Scotsman Ronnie Corbett to tonight’s story.
I took a break from the drinking at the Oktoberfest to attend a Bayern Munich v Nuremburg match back in the mid-Eighties.,
It was a rather dull match which ended 1-0 to the home side.
But it was what happened afterwards that left a lasting mark.
Two Bayern women fans were giving each other pelters back at the Hofbrauhuis when gallantly I stepped in, only to cop a whack to the nose.
And my arse flying through the air and onto the ground outside courtesy of Helga the barmaid. For the second year running.
The next thing I knew I was getting my nose reset in the hospital before being sent out to get a taxi home. Only I didn’t know where.
Taxi fair
It was by sheer good luck that the cabbie figured that it must be where all the other saddos were camping and I was reacquainted with the Aussies and Kiwis who had become my bus mates.
I’ve found this wunderbar deal via http://www.lastminute.com for three nights for October 14 at the Novum Hotel Munchen Am Hauptbanhof including Ryanair flight http://www.ryanair.com from £218pp.
And look out for me at the airport… I’ll probably still be there, gasping my way up to the gate from the men’s loo three flights down.
Football crazy
Of course club shops, many of which are at airports, tap into the local culture.
And so in Scotland you will be able to buy Scotch whisky with the crests of their two biggest clubs Celtic and Rangers.
While across England you can choose from Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City, Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea paraphernalia.
Talking of our national airline carrier… they want to fly out for less.
Pitching their latest offer as ‘From Madrid to Munich, Malaga to Manchester, you can save up to 30% on winter flights’ got me thinking about being in two places at once.
Apart from the fact that I struggle to be in one place at once.
But while I was away in Austria I could have been in Dubai where I was invited to or Madrid which also cam my way.
Neither of which I have visited but hope to for different reasons.
In fact I very nearly did find myself in the queue for Dubai… those pesky abbreviations.
Qatar’s the star… and Sydney too
Opera in the buff. Photo by Mudassir Ali on Pexels.com
All the Middle Eastern airways will fly you out there to that metropolis and further afield such as Australasia.
Now you won’t see it in this picture but my mate Fugee lives next door to the Sydney Opera House.
Fugee, or Ian as he was my Sports Editor (no, it was actually pretty much always Fufee) was the best manager I’ve ever had.
On account of him pushing me to get on the slippery career ladder. Before the bloody thing was pulled away from me a couple of months ago.
Heck, every cloud and all that and that’s why you’re reading these tales now.
Of course it’s not just Ryanair who do red eyes but you’ll find the best fares bang in the middle of the morning so if you can handle not having any sleep.
Ryanair has up to €30 off return flights on a half a million sets to a bunch of destinations.
Including Athens from €14.99.
I’d have fancied that a couple of weeks ago instead of being stuck in Munich airport!
The offer is for travel, October to May 2020. The offer ends Midnight on Sunday.
It is usual to promote Edinburgh ahead of Glasgow, my home city, but both should have equal billing in my mind.
Which reminds me of the two Glaswegians who had a poke at their Edinburgh ‘friends’ when they turned up in the Scottish capital’s main street, Princes Street, in 1990.
They were wearing sandwich boards with arrows saying: ‘You are only 46 miles from the European City of Culture’.
Iconic sight: Yes, the Duke of Wellington statue, but mostly Mum and I
Glasgow and Edinburgh are €9.99 one-way. I guess you have to do the math for the overall package otherwise they’d be literally paying you to travel!
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.
Right, the world’s leaders aren’t going to stay in a caravan park but I do heartily agree with the G7’s choice of Biarritz.
In a former life, and former newspaper, when I had to compete with others (the cheek of it!) to be picked to go on a travel trip, I landed Biarritz.
The newspaper’s system, as far as I could figure it out, was that the first one to reply was rewarded, though I suspect that quality control came into play too.
It went down though like a fart at a funeral among the women in the office that I was being sent to a Thalassotherapy Centre for some water-based spa pampering.
Water everywhere: At the Sofitel
The Hotel Spa Biarritz Le Miramar – Sofitel is where you should go when you’re in town.
And I fancy that The Donald, The Boris, the Emmanuel and The Justin all like a pandering.
I’ve also got a soft spot for The Angela and have been concerned to see her shaking, so she certainly deserves some spoiling.
You too can avail of some treats, and God knows, you deserve it.
Jump in: The Sofitel, Biarritz
I can still feel the seaweed wraps and a shiver goes down my back thinking back on the water hosing I got from the assistant.
The previous time I’d been hosed down was by a life guard in a swimming baths in Glasgow for messing about.
There are some things that will scar your kids… seeing their Dad smoking a Shisha pipe is one.
It’s not as if they put any drugs in it, or at least I think they didn’t, more of a sweet-smelling tobacco. Still impressionable seven-year-old minds and all that.
Bodrum in Turkey was perhaps my favourite of our family holidays, possibly on account of the Turks making a fuss of our Ally (like Ali, they said).
And our Laurie befriending Shannon.
And me taking second place in the talent contest, doing a Highland jig in my kilt.
Click&Go has half-board Turkey holidays among a clutch of great offers.
A seven-night stay at the 4* Ambrosia Hotel from €399pps. Travel in October. With return flights from Dublin to Bodrum. http://www.clickandgo.com.
And if you’re looking for another Turkish treat my Istanbul trip this summer is in today’s Irish Sun.
I do hope the PR woman who was taking her first media group on what was then the inaugural Swansea-Cork Ferries trip was not put off by us all getting sea-sick.
And continued with her career.
It proved a thoroughly enjoyable introduction for another tyro, me, into the world of travel and Press groups.
Not least because it also included the use of Citroen cars for a spin around the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula.
These days, mainly because The Scary One has taken the wheel. I prefer to walk.
And that’s not because she throws me out of the car.
I’m off to Tenerife next month and am also trekking in Austria.
The beautiful Dingle Peninsula
And that means I won’t be able to avail of this intriguing walk in Kerry.
Courtesy of The Rose Hotel in Tralee this is a Walking Weekend organised for September 27 and 28.
Check in on the Friday evening and on Saturday guests will join Wild Water Adventures on a guided walk with a choice of three routes.
The Dingle Way (Easy 2.5 hours), Loch a Duin Valley (Moderate 4.5 hours) or Mount Brandon (Strenuous 6 hours).
The Walking Weekend package costs €160pp.
It includes two nights accommodation with dinner on one evening, guided walk, packed lunch and transport.
To book or for further enquires please contact The Rose Hotel visit www.therosehotel.com.
A little bit of sunny Scotland
Scotland, Barbados: Dwayne and I
I love finding Scotland abroad… in the world’s place names.
Here I am in sunny Scotland (obviously not the original) in Barbados.
Equally I have travelled in other lands where my Scottish forbears have gone before.
The Deep South of the US has a rich Scottish history with Ben Lomond and Banff revealing its Caledonian links.
But you can be deceived. Nevis in the Caribbean has no connection with Britain’s tallest mountain, Ben Nevis.
The Caribs first tried out Ouailie (Land Of Beautiful Water) while the early British settlers called the island Dulcina (Sweet Island).
Until they settled on Nevis from the Spanish Nuestra Senora de las Nievas (Our Lady of the Snows).
Does it even snow there though?
Tropical Sky www.tropicalsky.ie has savings of up to €1,200pp on seven-night stays at the 5* Nisbet Plantation Beach Club.
For travel completed before December 19, if booked before August 31.
The holiday now costs from €1,899pp. Includes return flight from Dublin.
Exotic: Thailand. Photo by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi on Pexels.com
You wouldn’t immediately associate Thailand with Halloween, it’s just that our holiday providers like to link dates and places.
In fact it isn’t Buddhist and Halloween is a Christian festival, but being Buddhist they do channel the spirits.
And go for miniature spirit houses outside their homes and businesses where they present gifts to their forefathers.
Emirates Holidays www.emiratesholidays.com is offering a ‘fangtastic’ (their words) seven nights at the 4* Santhiya, Koh Yao Yai from €3,729 per family.
That’s two adults, two children (under 11 sharing).
Including return flights from Dublin. Depart October 26.
Me, I’m a practising Boozist!
Malta pleasers
In neighbouring Gozo
It’s getting around to that time of year again when I made the besotted Miss F the happiest woman in the world.
I bent down to tie my shoelaces in Malta and she shrieked YES.
