Word for the Travel Wise (10/25/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Ireland is a place you can most certainly get around with knowing one language and that is the English language. However, if you should fancy learning Gaelige you can do that too and with a certain amount of ease I assume. Check out the info below and while you’re at it head to Neil’s recent piece on IRA tours.

Today’s word is a Gaeilge word used in Ireland:

síocháin – to keep the peace

Gaeilge is the first official language of the Republic of Ireland and has official recognition in Northern Ireland. There is a estimated total of 250,000 fluent Gaeilge speakers mainly in the west and north-west. According to Wikipedia, EU foreign ministers decided to make Irish an official language of the European Union, where the new arrangements will come into effect on January 1, 2007. Other much recommended background and history of the Irish lang can be found in the wiki as well. To learn online, start with English to Irish dictionaries or visit this beginner’s guide to Irish Gaelic pronunciation. Interactive Irish on the Internet offers some serious lessons and has some audio as well. Head over to nightcourses.com and search for a course that’s best for you. They seem to offer many. If channel surfing is a leisure activity of yours pause on TG4 to sample some Irish TV. My last recommendation is always my favorite and that is to take a trip to Ireland and go for full on emersion. Know of any others? Please share.

24 Hours in Vegas with the Pogues

by Neil Woodburn on

Sometimes a band is good enough to jump on a plane and fly somewhere to see them. When that somewhere is Vegas and the band is the Pogues then fun is guaranteed for all.

Although I had tickets to see them in Los Angeles, a friend who really wanted to see the band couldn’t make the show. Plan B, concocted two days before they were to play in Vegas last weekend, was to catch them live in the City of Sin.

We bought tickets online Thursday, booked a flight and Saturday morning we were on the way.

Vegas is the perfect 24-hour city for me. Any longer and I begin to hate it. So we booked our return ticket for Sunday and crammed in the perfect Vegas weekend.

I won’t bore you with the details, but it was the ideal balance. We flew in, checked into our hotel, grabbed lunch at the ESPN Zone and watched the UCLA game, headed off to gamble, quit while we were ahead, wandered to the House of Blues for the concert, ate some bad pizza afterwards, gambled some more, crashed for the night, then flew out the next morning. Perfect!

Now the question most of you might be asking here, is who the Hell are the Pogues and why are they worth flying all the way to Vegas to see?

Well, I ordinarily wouldn’t spend any time writing about a band on a travel site, but this isn’t just any band. The Pogues are an Irish band who take the quintessential elements of traditional Irish music and punk it up. It’s not every day that you see a slam-dancing mosh pit grinding away for a band that incorporates the accordion, tin flute, banjo, mandolin, saxophone, and harmonica–along with the more contemporary guitar, bass and drums. The result is a cultural explosion unlike anything you’ve ever heard before.

Lead singer Shane MacGowan, is reason enough to see the band. He is perhaps the ugliest musician in rock and roll and the drunkest – two rather extraordinary accomplishments considering the rock and roll world. He is, however, brilliant. His boozy, sped-up renditions of Irish ballads and scrappy original compositions are utterly unique. And, his alcohol-infused performances are a controlled train wreck that you just can’t look away from. Spend a few minutes surfing YouTube.com for Pogues videos to get a feeling for the music.

And if you find that they are worth flying across the globe to catch their next show–and they are–then book a ticket to Glasgow and catch them in Scotland on December 12.

To Dingle or Not to Dingle?

by Iva Skoch on

One of western Ireland’s favorite tourist destinations (as well as surfing destinations?) is in a battle for its very name. This small coastal town, formerly called Dingle, has been officially renamed An Daingean (pronounced “on dang-un”). No more are the “Dingle” signs.

It just so happens that the town is in a “Gaeltacht,” a designated Irish-speaking area, so the cultural affairs minister renamed the town, shelving its English name.

However, the townsfolk, who understand that tourism is the town’s number one industry, are upset and are voting in a referendum to change the name back to a bilingual name: Dingle An Daingean Ui Chuis. Although they’re without power to force the change, they hope to win a moral victory over the minister.

But in this conflict of the traditional versus popular, only the sign-makers–and favorite local son Fungie the Dingle Dolphin–will be happy.

IRA Tours

by Neil Woodburn on

It was only a matter of time.

Now that “The Troubles” are basically over in Northern Ireland, a local agency is offering tours of the infamous hot-spots where the Irish Republican Army squared off with the British.

Led by former political prisoners who fought for the freedom of Ireland, the Coiste Falls Road Walking Tours wind their way through Belfast neighborhoods and past the numerous wall murals, army posts, the “Peace Line barrier,” Sinn Fein’s office (the political arm of the IRA) and even visits the gravesites of those who fell during this struggle.

Too soon? Perhaps.

I wandered around these neighborhoods myself a few years back and discovered a very strange place where curbs are painted orange or green and heart-wrenching wall murals cry out in pain. It was truly fascinating and I sure wish at the time that I was with someone knowledgeable about the events to educate me a bit more. A political prisoner from the era would have been really worthwhile.

SmarterTravel: Best & Worst Travel Destinations for Women

by Adrienne Wilson on

As a woman, traveler, and the type that tends to like parachuting into off-the-beaten track destinations, I long for articles that point out where women should go and where they should exercise extra caution when going. Well, USA Today features a fine piece for the solo women journeying this big bad world on her own with the best and worst places for women to travel. The list, compiled by Jessica Labrencis and RaeJean Stokes of SmarterTravel, doesn’t suggest women should free up and lose all inhibitions in so-called safe places or completely avoid named worst destinations. Instead of rambling on about what the list does suggest let’s take a look at their best and worst and share some of our experiences. (You’ll want to go to their site for all the specifics.)

Best travel destinations for women:

  • Amsterdam
  • Ireland
  • Costa Rica
  • India
  • Vietnam

Worst travel destinations for women:

  • Middle East & Northern Africa
  • The Mediterranean Coast
  • The United States
  • Latin America & the Caribbean
  • States of the former U.S.S.R.

If you ask me the worst place destination list looks to include a heavy number of places. Considering the U.S. has 50 states (some worse than others) and the former U.S.S.R. has some 14 states (including my next destination -Tajikistan) it’s safe to say women have to watch their backs almost everywhere. What’s your take? Ladies?