So this week’s blog continues with the fifth and final leg of my 1991 European Interrailing/ backpacking trip.  You can read about the first legs covering 1) Dublin/Paris/Brussels (click here), 2) Brussels/Berlin/Prague (click here), 3) Prague/Munich/Florence (click here) and 4) Rome (click here).  

So this week’s blog continues with the third leg of my 1991 European Interrailing/ backpacking trip.  You can read about the first legs covering Dublin/Paris/Brussels (click here), Brussels/Berlin/Prague (click here) and Prague/Munich/Florence (click here).

So this week’s blog continues with the third leg of my 1991 European Interrailing/ backpacking trip.  You can read about the first legs covering Dublin/Paris/Brussels (click here) and Brussels/Berlin/Prague (click here).

So this week’s blog continues with the second leg of my 1991 European Interrailing/ backpacking trip.  If you haven’t read the first leg covering Dublin to Paris to Brussels you can catch it here.  The second leg covers Brussels to Berlin to Prague.  The late 1980s and early 1990s was a time of great change in Europe – the Berlin Wall had only come down less than two years before our trip, there was an end to communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, an end to the Cold War, and the removal of the Iron Curtain between Eastern and Western Europe.  The war in the Balkans was starting and the former Yugoslavia was breaking up.

­­Thirty years ago this week (9 Sept 1991 to be exact), I set off on a European backpacking/ Inter-railing adventure with my friend, Trish, and her friend, Martina.  The Interrail Pass is a train ticket that allows you to travel on almost all trains in Europe, with access to 40 railway and ferry companies in 33 countries.  Nowadays of course you can download the rail pass onto your smart-phone….but back in the day we had a paper ticket that got stamped. ​  

My first time in San Francisco was when I went to visit my friend, Catherine, in 1988 (here).  I vowed that that I would “Return to San Francisco” like the Merle Haggard song.   I never thought then that it would be another 21 years before I would do so and that Charlie would be with me.  After five memorable nights, we then flew on to Las Vegas where we stayed five further nights, taking in a visit to the natural wonder of the amazing Grand Canyon….and the man-made wonder of the Hoover Dam.  So my blog this week describes that great trip…. what we saw, where we stayed.  We took literally hundreds of photos so the ones below are only some.  After all, some of “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!”  Enjoy!

One of my earliest memories involves snow.  I was about 3.  It was the Feast of St. Blaise and I was walking home through crunching snow to Mass Road; hand in hand with my mother, Peggy.  We were coming from the Franciscan Friary having just had our throats blessed.  Just past The Grotto, we met our lovely neighbour, Biddy Sheehan, and she asked with concern why I was whimpering.  Peggy told her I was afraid of the snow.  I remember thinking “No, I’m NOT afraid of it, I JUST DON’T LIKE IT!”  Looking back, I think what I really didn’t like was the way it went crunch and gave way under my feet when stood upon.  Clearly, I was a child who needed to know I was standing on solid ground😊.
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Fast forward about 25 years later when my friend, Trish, suggested I go with her on a skiing trip to Pamporovo, Bulgaria.  A large group were travelling to Bulgaria from Trish’s adopted home of 

Alaska was on my Bucket List since I had visited Canada in 2007 and realised that a holiday featuring snow and ice was not a bad option at all (click here to see Canada Blog).  Once wrapped up it could be quite cosy.  As the saying goes “there’s no such thing as bad weather; just unsuitable clothing”.   Alaska is quite tricky to get to overland so a cruise seemed the way to go.  I had been on a number of cruises before with my Mam, Peggy, so knew what to expect ….but this would be Charlie’s first one.  I knew he was a bit apprehensive about being out at sea on a “boat” and wondered if it would feel claustrophobic or if there would be enough to see and do.  As you will see in this post, he needn’t have worried.

​In terms of breath-taking scenery, there’s Canada – and there’s Canada in winter.  The awesome sight of snow on the Rockies is not just the preserve of skiers and their ilk, it is a Winter Wonderland of open spaces and elk. In 2007, Charlie and I were blessed to travel trans-continental in the comfort of “The Canadian” train, through the plains and prairies and the mountains magnificent in their pristine white snow cloaks.  From Toronto on the East to Jaspar in the Rockies and onwards to Vancouver on the West Coast, we saw indescribable beauty on an unforgettable journey.

"Keep a cool head, girl...with the odd look back!"  ​So many times as a child I heard my Dad, Mickey, give me the above advice.  It became our little joke whenever I’d ask him “What would you do if you were me? " Before he had a chance to answer, I’d jump in with “Don’t tell me.  Keep a cool head with the odd look back??”  😂

Although I’d laugh, in looking back now I can see just how sound that advice really was.  On so 

Miami during spring break is not for the faint-hearted.  Having spent a few days there winding down at the tail end of a Caribbean cruise in April 2019, as I stepped onto the seaplane I was eagerly awaiting the take-off into the clear blue Floridian sky for some peace and tranquillity.  But also some adventure.....landing in a seaplane is No. 2 on my bucket list.

The seaplane trip was a birthday gift to my other half …..so although a bit pricey I reckoned he/ we were worth it and it would be a “once-in-a-lifetime-experience”.  And that’s exactly how it turned out.  I booked it online with Miami Seaplanes through Viator.  As promised in the booking, we were to experience the tropical splendour of southern Florida from the air on a two-person flight from Miami with a seaplane landing at Islamorada in the Upper Florida Keys for a lunch excursion.