Back to Ireland
Our blog
Our Timeline
Firstly, this page does not meet the first part of that definition of regularly updated, so let's call it a Timeline. Or even content that does not fit well on other pages.
Raffle for Pub, Fastfood Takeaway & Spacious Living Accommodation
Gamble $28 to own your piece of Ireland
Tickets at £20 (about $28) You win 2 full functioning profitable businesses outside Waterford, Ireland and £15,000 to stock the businesses or make any changes to put your own stamp on things.
Details, photos and how to buy a ticket
Learn more about being an expatriate or global nomad HERE or find inspiring quotes HERE
"They told me to grow roots, instead I grew wings." --Louis de Bernieres
Karin and I first relocated to Ireland from Oregon in the USA in 1996. Our travels to and life on the Greek island of Paros included 2000- 2011. See Paros Paradise Blog Then back in Ireland briefly before ever-increasing stays in Prague: our blog and tour guide for Prague and the Czech Republic is CzechMates As of 2016 we are back in Ireland and into our habit of travelling all the byways as well as many of the highways.
We hope you enjoy our photos and descriptions
as we travel Ireland as insiders. Karin as been
described by a friend as an evocative photo-journalist.
A recent example is an April weekend at a spa hotel in
Ennistymon, Co. Clare. Click on the photo to reach
Google Photos. To see descriptions you may need to click
on the Info symbol. Or direct link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3w2Gu9cHKpozzUqn6
Guinness is Good for You
I have been a
Guinness stout fan since my first trip to Ireland over 30
years ago. When I moved to West Cork some
of the locals tried to convert me to Murphy’s but like the
rest of the world I stuck to the oomph of Guinness.
Perhaps part of it was the creativity of the ads that
would be seen everywhere. Such as this one
on the left.
Even though under
modern advertising guidelines the brewery had to quite
promoting the Guinness is Good for You slogan there are
numerous studies verifying the many health benefits of
Guinness and its ingredients. The latest
links iron deficiency to hearing loss, so you can improve your
hearing by eating a well-balanced diet or by drinking a pint
of Guinness. You choose.
Just as caffeine can
be toxic but drinking coffee can be healthy there are many
factors at play in good health and longevity.
I define the whole lot as an integrated lifestyle.
Others call it Blue Zone living. You
can search the internet for more information or you can read
some of my lifestyle articles. Feel free to
sip at a Guinness while doing your research; you will be happy
you did.
Remote Ireland -- Working
Old station house: For sale on myhome.ie
Yes, Ireland has many
remote corners, some with broadband, some without, but here we
are talking about working remotely from a company or
government office. The Irish government has
long had goals of delivering high speed broadband to every
remote farm, hut and boat. Now in
2021 they are talking about requiring formal procedures to
facilitate home work.
I have been writing
about working at home on the beach since I started doing it
about 20 years ago. In 2020 I wrote
Coronavirus
Will Create Nomads
and
Digital Nomads in Demand
about the many incentives being offered around the world to
attract remote workers. So this post is an
update bringing Ireland onto the bandwagon.
Hitch your star . . .
Inspirational quotes for Digital Nomads
Official Ireland
Publications on Remote Working
Greek island
Work-on-the beach creative ideas
Articles about what’s
required to be an Expatriate
Top Tips for Driving in Ireland
More Driving Tips
Here -- But please return to our
Car Rental page to get a quote from
The Return: Ireland Adventures: 2012
We
landed at Shannon Airport early in the morning on 10 May, picked
up our rental car and headed to Ennis to see the house that we had
rented over the internet. It turned out to be a mixed bag of
good, bad and ugly; perhaps we will write more later. For now I
will just say we spent the first two nights at the comfortable
West County Hotel.
I was up very early the next morning to return the rental car and catch the bus back to town to pick up the van I had hired over the phone. It was twice as large as I expected. We drove three hours to Bandon in West Cork to retrieve our 35 boxes of junk and treasures that we had shipped from Paros and Prague. They barely covered the floor of the van.
Karin rewarded my hard driving with a great pub supper at the Poets Corner.
Trad Music Festival
About
the time we were tired of house cleaning the annual Ennis
Fleadh Nua started--nine days of
music, dancing and more. Most of the events are free but a
few of the major concerts with well known stars are €12-15 per
person. On the weekends at least nine pubs had live music
sessions and during the day street entertainment at a "gig rig".
That's where we saw this young group that were surprisingly
good.
Neither
Karin nor I are great fans of trad music but we do love seeing
the musicians enjoying themselves. Most sessions are so
inclusive, everyone truly welcome to show what they can do, good
or bad. The a cappella solo singers are truly heart
warming. Though we did notice all the male singers were
old and all the young singers were female, so maybe it is a
dying art. The old-timers certainly talk how different it
was before microphones, TV and the like.
Karin does love the dancing. At the afternoon sessions she was able to stay on her chair when the dance floor started filling but at night after a half pint she always connives to get out on to the floor.
We also took advantage of the festival to get a free walking tour that normally has a fee. We were impressed with the number of major events in Irish history that are connected with Ennis. I will write more on that in the future. The tour guide was a local girl who told all the fun stories as well as the official history.
When we lived in West Cork we travelled every road there--more than any of of the locals did--as well as most other parts of Ireland. Now in Co. Clare our first excursion was to Galway. Find Karin's photo journal here: Galway
So not much of a blog, I know. Yet we have lots of personalised Ireland travel information throughout the site. Find it on our sitemap . . .