Big Day? More boring pre-travel stuff.

Well, today was a pretty good day as far as the Ire-effort goes. I picked up my passport with a shiny new Irish work visa inside, which felt quite satisfying. After that I went and exchanged some cash for the trip. It cost me 291 dollars for 200 Euros, and 41 dollars for 20 pounds sterling. Yikes! I'm sure glad I'll be paid in Euros in Ireland! Also, with my visa came another SWAP kit, which included a few vouchers for accomodations in Dublin. After finding that many of the hostels suggested by the kit would not accept my vouchers, and deciding that the Irish have solid phone manners, I finally landed one with a private single room in downtown Dublin. Ashfield House is the name. I plan to stay there for the first night after I arrive, in order to sleep off the trip, and set myself on Irish time. If all goes well, I should be just exhausted enough to sleep for a whole 8 hours in Dublin after getting off of the plane. There were several cool looking hostels- it seems they make an extra effort to use neat old buildings for hostel purposes. More excitingly for me, I also managed to book the following four nights at a Ballinasloe B&B called the Curra Mor House. I'll be sleeping in style, I believe. The woman on the phone sounded pretty old-womanly, but I think that this will be a good thing when it comes to B&B's. She sounded like she'd made a crapload of breakfasts over the years, and that she really knew what she was doing. Here's hoping. I'm sorry, but I couldn't find a photo of the Curra Mor to show you all. However, I did find a cool shot of the Ballinasloe Train Station. It looks incredible. Just like in the movies. One thing I've noticed in all of the photos so far is that Ballinasloers seem to have a great love for all things stark and grey. Brilliant.

Last but not least, I plan to have a bit of an Irish beer sampling/going away party on Saturday night to make sure my comparisons in Ireland are sound and objective....

Cheers!

Luke

Don't read it, its about rubber boots and boring stuff!

Well, I recieved word today that my work visa is set to arrive tomorrow, meaning that I can plan to travel on Monday to Ireland. This is a big weight off of my shoulders, as I was afraid I'd have to postpone everything due to a late visa. Emerald Isle, here I come! Does anyone have any advice for me during my stay? I would happily take suggestions concerning things to do, places to see, etc. Nicole has sent away for her British Passport, lucky girl, and will hopefully be flying out in mid-to-late April to catch some Irish summer sun (ahem...). I sprayed down my rain gear today with waterproofing stuff, and am steeling my soul against the rain and grey weather that expect to find. Luckily I already have some high-end rubber boots, complete with steel toes, to wear on the site. I have no idea why, but they cost 60 bucks more than the regular rigger style steel-toed rubber boots, which were lined, and mine were'nt. I bought them for digging near Fort MacMurray last summer, because they were the only ones that fit.

We went out to my brother's house last night to visit him, as I won't see him again before I leave. He lent me his travel backpack. His girlfriend can actually fit inside of it! I hope I can fit all of my gear in it. I bought an extremely light and compressible sleeping bag to take as well, in case of emergency. I have room for about 150 more of them in my backpack... We ate strange but tasty pizza from a german fried chicken place.

Anyway, it seems that the cosmos are aligning to actually allow me to make it out there.

Cheers,

Luke

Letters to Londonderry

Hello,

Contrary to the title of this blog, it has nothing to do with Ireland today. Sorry. Really, I'm just bloggin' for fun tonight. My life is so exciting! I wanted to send a shout out to Soon-To-Be-Parents Davey Brown and Twyla Harriman. Missed you at BC. Also, I wanted to send people to a few fun websites I found:

www.panoramas.dk - a really cool 360 degree photo site.
www.thebanmappingproject.com - a really cool site about the Valley of the Kings.

I lied. I do want to talk about Ireland! I found an awesome website today that advertises Castle and Cottage rentals in Ireland, and thought we should all get together and rent this cool tower in co. Galway sometime! It would only be a few hundered dollars each for a week, and I think that is bloody cheap for a castle! I'll pay jeff to wear a padded suit with target on the chest and let me shoot arrows at him from the battlements! I can't wait. Look at it for yourself! The address is:

http://www.tourismresources.ie/cht/carrigan.htm

or, check out others at:

http://www.tourismresources.ie/cht/mayo1.htm

Happy St. Patrick's Day, from all of us.

Well friends, here we are at March 17th, and contrary to my initial hopes, I am not sitting in a Galway pub. That's ok. At least this way I was able to catch Nicole's fabulous premiere last night, and partake in the ensuing festivities. For those who don't know what premiere I'm speaking of, Nicole is portraying Mary Snow in La Troupe Du Jour's 20th Anniversary production Saltwater Moon. She was a hit! Those festivities were also a hit, unfortunately, and I think I've crippled myself for any St. Paddy's celebrations this evening. Maybe I'll be able to handle a spot of irish cream tonight, or a single Kilkenny. Alas, for all my Ireland training, I still am a lightweight. I had a great time trying to speak french with the cast and crew, and I think I'm improving quite a bit. I'm starting to learn quaint french translations for handy little prases like "move it!". Brilliant.

Today my Mom mentioned that a co-worker from the library knew someone digging in Britain who had to be inoculated against the Plague. I guess they were in danger of being infected because they were digging in Plague strata. I wonder if this is going to be an issue for me. Nothing like getting the Black Death from an old pile of bones in a hole in the ground. Looks like I may have to keep a 5th of Jameson's on hand at all times . . . for disinfectant purposes of course!

I realize these blogs will be far more interesting once I actually am IN Ireland, but I'll keep typing them anyway!

Have fun tonight, and as my uncle (who happens to be a bit of an irish whiskey connoisseur himself) says, Hold Tight To Your Shilelagh!

ETA: April 4th, 2006

Well, its a done deal. I bought travel insurance, a plane ticket, and finished my application for the Irish work visa, which was sent with my passport to the bureaucrats in Toronto. Here's hoping everything works out. To train for my trip, I've started ordering strictly irish beer when at the pub, and have found myself quite fond of Kilkenny. Sorry Dad (Ken!) nothing personal. The first time I tried Kilkenny years ago had really turned me off: the pint was flat as a pancake, so Jesse took it back up to the bar for me. The silly young Lydias bartender tasted it, told him it was ok, and gave it back to him!!! True class.

Anyway, moving along, I've decided to post some photos of archaeological stuff from near my destination, and of shining treasure, the likes of which I may happen upon in the mud.

Here we go!

Hello all,

Here is the first installment of my new blog. The idea is to document all of the fun stuff that goes on during my travels to Ireland, where I am headed to work on an archaeological excavation. So far this trip is just in the planning stages, but hopefully I'll be flying over in less than a month. It sounds like the excavation is somewhere near Ballinasloe, in County Galway. Ballinasloe is described by the lonely planet as "an agricultural centre", and apparently is home to one of Europe's biggest horse fairs. Hm. Apparently Napoleon's horse, Marengo, upon which he led the French at Waterloo, was bought there.

How about a photo?



Brilliant.

Here's another:



Well, lets cross our fingers and clutch our four-leaf clovers that all works out.

-Luke