Mr. Waits in Europe - not quite PEHDTSCKJMBA

So I'm trying to figure out where I'm gonna go to catch Tom. I'm leaning towards Prague. Somewhere I won't have been by the time the shows roll around, and also somewhere I definitely want to go.

If anyone has any recommendations on places to stay or spots for food/drink in Prague, let me know.

EDIT: If anyone wants to meet me in Prague for the show that would be awesome! :) He's playing on Mon/Tues the 21st/22nd of July. I'm thinking I'll hit both shows :P. Tickets go on sale on Friday, 9am +1GMT...

Long Weekend

Today is a bank holiday in the UK, known as "spring bank holiday". So much meaning in the name! :) My parents were here for the weekend and took off at about 4am for Ireland. Got to hang out with them for the weekend and do some touristy things, like take photos of Big Ben and Houses of Parliament from the London Eye. I'm glad that I now can take Monday off to relax a bit before having to go back to work.

I'll be travelling up to Edinburgh, Scotland to meet my parents this coming Saturday and we'll be hanging out there through the following Tuesday. Have to make sure to visit a distillery while I'm there :), compare with the visit I made to the old Jameson Distillery in Dublin with Chris and Bonnie.

Got a Mobile!

Finally picked up a mobile phone. I've gone the last 4 months in the UK without a mobile phone. Really wasn't too bad, but it'll be nice to be able to get ahold of people (and be gotten ahold of) when not at home/office.

I can send/receive skype calls on my mobile, so any of you out there that are on skype and want to call me send me an email and I'll send you my skype name. Or you can search for me, I should be easy to find.

Road Trippin'

Went on a road trip the weekend following Dublin. Had lots of fun but then got lots of sick. Had a fever that turned in to a chest cold that is still with me today (over a week later). At least the road trip was fun. Went to Oxford, Swindon, Bath, Western-Super-Mare (small beach town), and finally Chippenham. All in the span of two days. ...and we didn't even start the trip until like 2pm on Saturday. No wonder I got sick...

Watch Out Dublin, Here I Come

So I arrived in Dublin on the ferry at 6am this morning. Had to walk through some form of customs on the way in. I say "some form" because it wasn't much. One old fella that was asking people "what's your nationality." If you replied with an EU member nation (and he believed you) he waved you in, otherwise you had to step aside and wait for those folks to filter through (didn't take long). I was the first in line for non-EU nationals. He greeted me and apologized for the wait, which was by normal customs standards almost non-existent. As he was looking over my passport he noted, "a lot of those folks [referring to the EU nationals] are drunk enough that I could have turned them away" (remember it's 6am). He followed this up with "I guess Ireland's the only place that lets you in when you're drunk. Have a nice stay, thanks for your patience." ha!

I went directly to the B&B I'm staying at to drop my bags and then intended to grab some breakfast. On the walk to the B&B, though, everything seemed to be closed (it was near 7am by now). I asked the guy manning the counter at the place whether he could recommend somewhere close by that served good breakfast. He looked at me quizzically and said, "It's too early."

Ok, no breakfast yet. Let's go for a walk to the city centre and see if we stumble across something open on the way. Luckily there was a convenience store open that had a coffee stand inside, so I at least was able to have an Americano. I continued on to the city centre and made it a point to check the signs on places to find out when they open. Many of them opened at "10ish." That is exactly their words, no paraphrase :). Even the breakfast at my B&B isn't available until 8:30.

After not having gotten much sleep last night and with the intention of hitting the pubs tonight this will probably end up being a good thing tomorrow.

Busy Couple Weeks

So I went to Amsterdam last weekend. Let's not talk about that one too much, it was a raucous time. There were twelve of us, mostly people from work. It was definitely fun, though I think I was still recovering from it until today. Just in time for my next trip...

Tomorrow at around 8pm I'm catching the train from London, Euston station to Holyhead in Wales. From there I take a three hour ferry ride into Dublin. I should be arriving in Dublin around 6am, just in time for a full Irish breakfast (and maybe a pint of Guinness :)). Yup, meeting up with Chris and Bonnie for a weekend in Dublin.

At the end of the month my parents are here, and I'll be joining them for some time in Edinburgh, Scotland. I have a feeling that I'm only going to be getting busier and busier as the summer draws nigh.