Continental airlines scabs

Anyone know why it takes 6 weeks to get mail here in Cyprus from continental Europe? Where does it go? Do they gather it at some port, maybe Marseille, and send it every day. It seems like they might be holding it somewhere until the container is full. But that should get full quickly I would think as there must be much mail coming here. I buy a lot of books and it regularly takes 6 weeks. Just know how that is possible when it might take 2 days to drive it around Europe and should be a ship coming here every week. Doesn't this impact business here negatively?
I'm from the USA. After the 9/11 attacks they banned airliners carrying the mail. That's how the mail used to get delivered across the US. Don't know if any airliners carry mail here.
Thanks in advance.

中文	英文	國家	毛利
大眾汽車公司	VOLKSWAGEN AG ST O.N.	德國	68,503,623,100
路威酩軒集團	LVMH	法國	65,426,395,980
克里斯汀·迪奧	CHRISTIAN DIOR	法國	65,426,395,980
羅氏公司	ROCHE I	瑞士	50,951,670,520
雀巢	NESTLE N	瑞士	50,680,865,800
英國石油	BP ORD USD0.25	英國	47,724,756,113
灣汽車廠股份公司	BAY.MOTOREN WERKE AG ST	德國	41,088,928,980
斯特蘭蒂斯公司	STELLANTIS NV	荷蘭	39,680,556,740
斯特蘭蒂斯	STELLANTIS	荷蘭	39,680,556,740
殼牌公司	SHELL PLC ORD EUR0.07	英國	39,095,753,173
梅賽德斯-奔馳集團股份公司	MERCEDES-BENZ GROUP AG	德國	38,221,412,460
法國國家石油公司	EQUINOR ASA	挪威	37,487,866,391
法國國家電力公司	ENEL	義大利	35,913,492,120
諾華	NOVARTIS N	瑞士	35,081,073,317
阿斯特捷利康公司	ASTRAZENECA PLC ORD USD0.25	英國	34,693,179,753
歐萊雅	L'OREAL	法國	33,516,499,962
	TOTALENERGIES	法國	31,907,028,374
西門子股份公司	SIEMENS AG NA O.N.	德國	31,345,889,770
拜耳股份公司	BAYER AG NA O.N.	德國	30,781,101,120
百威英貝	AB INBEV	比利時	30,419,537,882
賽諾菲	SANOFI	法國	29,246,902,520
諾和諾德	NOVO NORDISK B A/S	丹麥	28,634,605,281
聯合利華	UNILEVER PLC ORD GBP0.031111	英國	27,872,811,431
德國電信公司	DT.TELEKOM AG NA	德國	27,826,389,140
葛蘭素史克公司	GSK PLC ORD GBP0.3125	英國	27,053,796,000
德爾海茲國王大道	KONINKLIJKE AHOLD DELHAIZE N.V.	荷蘭	26,234,796,060
思愛普	SAP SE O.N.	德國	24,947,835,220
英美煙草	BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO ORD GBP0.25	英國	24,370,312,000
意昂	E.ON SE NA O.N.	德國	22,514,088,520
迪塞諾紡織工業有限公司印地克斯	INDUSTRIA DE DISENO TEXTIL S.A. INDITEX	西班牙	19,324,391,850
森特里卡	CENTRICA ORD GBP0.061728395	英國	18,803,483,000
巴斯夫	BASF SE NA O.N.	德國	18,298,905,460
依視路盧索蒂卡	ESSILORLUXOTTICA	法國	17,748,139,200
國家電網	NATIONAL GRID ORD GBP0.12431289	英國	16,543,486,200
開雲集團	KERING	法國	16,475,526,980
力拓	RIO TINTO ORD GBP0.10	英國	16,366,021,361
施耐德電機公司	SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC SE	法國	16,169,791,000
家樂福	CARREFOUR	法國	16,112,396,520
沃達豐集團	VODAFONE GROUP ORD USD0.2095238	英國	15,834,160,748
克諾倫	PKNORLEN	波蘭	15,336,362,430
阿斯麥控股	ASML HOLDING	荷蘭	15,271,346,640
埃尼	ENI	義大利	14,869,585,280
歷峰集團	RICHEMONT N	瑞士	14,828,366,912
沃爾沃	VOLVO, AB SER. A	瑞典	14,737,982,700
達能	DANONE	法國	14,399,392,040
聖哥班	SAINT GOBAIN	法國	13,966,725,960
霍爾西姆	HOLCIM N	瑞士	13,265,868,060
戴姆勒卡車控股公司	DAIMLER TRUCK HLDG JGE NA	德國	13,218,390,240
帝亞吉歐	DIAGEO PLC ORD GBP0.28 101/108	英國	13,031,903,100
恩吉	ENGIE	法國	12,986,604,840
默克集團	MERCK KGAA O.N.	德國	12,879,542,060
伊莎貝爾德羅拉之家	ACCIONES IBERDROLA	西班牙	12,569,391,120
喜力	HEINEKEN	荷蘭	12,517,515,340
英美資源集團	ANGLO AMERICAN USD0.54945	英國	12,070,977,647
ABB有限公司	ABB LTD N	瑞士	11,942,742,853
喜力控股	HEINEKEN HOLDING	荷蘭	11,917,080,780
嘉能可有限公司	GLENCORE PLC ORD USD0.01	瑞士	11,842,605,032
雷諾	RENAULT	法國	11,130,114,160
利潔時集團有限公司	RECKITT BENCKISER GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.10	英國	11,117,109,000
空中巴士公司	AIRBUS SE	法國	11,085,964,560
漢高股份公司韓國航空協會	HENKEL AG&CO. KGAA	德國	10,863,009,080
萬喜	VINCI	法國	10,510,916,020
雷普索爾有限公司	REPSOL, S.A.	西班牙	10,453,521,540
愛立信，電話。	ERICSSON, TELEFONAB. L M SER. A	瑞典	10,304,674,800
愛馬仕國際	HERMES INTL	法國	10,047,345,220
阿迪達斯股份公司	ADIDAS AG NA O.N.	德國	10,044,034,000
阿克英國石油公司	AKER BP ASA	挪威	9,986,006,309
液化空氣集團	AIR LIQUIDE	法國	9,800,438,582
諾基亞公司	NOKIA CORPORATION	芬蘭	9,757,061,600
德國郵政公司	DEUTSCHE POST AG	德國	9,753,750,380
特拉頓股份公司	TRATON SE	德國	9,731,675,580
陸地輪胎	CONTINENTAL AG O.N.	德國	9,721,631,546
阿西奧娜,	ACCIONA, S.A.	西班牙	9,527,483,680
HNNES & MAURITZ AB、H&M	HENNES & MAURITZ AB, H & M SER. B	瑞典	9,494,934,800
歐姆伏股份公司	OMV AG	奧地利	9,487,749,040
海倫公司	HALEON PLC ORD GBP0.01	英國	8,795,157,000
米其林	MICHELIN	法國	8,638,972,980
康帕斯集團有限公司	COMPASS GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.1105	英國	8,624,498,700
橘子電信	ORANGE	法國	8,514,250,360
意法半導體	STMICROELECTRONICS	荷蘭	8,461,442,139
威立雅環境。	VEOLIA ENVIRON.	法國	8,222,863,000
西門子健康公司	SIEMENS HEALTHINEERS AG	德國	8,149,106,810
英國航空航天系統公司	BAE SYSTEMS ORD GBP0.025	英國	8,060,636,000
英飛凌科技股份公司	INFINEON TECH.AG NA O.N.	德國	8,048,683,260
保樂力加	PERNOD RICARD	法國	7,903,502,040
恩德薩有限公司	ENDESA,S.A.	西班牙	7,738,321,140
帝國品牌有限公司	IMPERIAL BRANDS PLC GBP0.10	英國	7,669,473,600
阿特拉斯·科普柯	ATLAS COPCO AB SER. A	瑞典	7,293,436,500
悅刻集團	RELX PLC GBP0.1444	英國	7,212,818,000
J·馬丁斯	J.MARTINS,SGPS	葡萄牙	6,899,478,740
海德堡材料	HEIDELBERG MATERIALS	德國	6,841,642,764
沃爾沃汽車公司	VOLVO CAR AB SER. B	瑞典	6,810,990,900
義大利電信	TELECOM ITALIA	義大利	6,538,555,760
倫敦證券交易所集團	LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE GROUP ORD GBP0.06918604	英國	6,524,125,000
泰納瑞斯	TENARIS	盧森堡	6,307,022,983
國際聯合航空公司	INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATED AIRLINE ORD EUR0.10 (CDI)	英國	6,273,181,711
義大利郵政	POSTE ITALIANE	義大利	6,243,857,180
凱捷	CAPGEMINI	法國	6,229,508,560
自然能源集團股份有限公司	NATURGY ENERGY GROUP, S.A.	西班牙	6,045,183,980
樂購奧德	TESCO ORD GBP0.0633333	英國	6,032,531,700
翠鳥	KINGFISHER ORD GBP0.157142857	英國	5,918,019,000
安賽樂米塔爾有限公司	ARCELORMITTAL SA	盧森堡	5,895,852,842
拜爾斯多夫股份公司	BEIERSDORF AG	德國	5,790,220,040
絎縫機有限公司	QUILTER PLC ORD GBP0.08167	英國	5,759,052,000
德康	ADECCO N	瑞士	5,616,248,156
愛爾康	ALCON N	瑞士	5,607,933,770
費森尤斯	FRESENIUS SE+CO.KGAA O.N.	德國	5,582,716,920
亞薩合萊公司	ASSA ABLOY AB SER. B	瑞典	5,570,529,300
任仕達公司	RANDSTAD N.V.	荷蘭	5,488,899,020
弗瑞森醫療集團	FRESEN.MED.CARE KGAA O.N.	德國	5,445,209,680
泰瑞茲	THALES	法國	5,260,866,336
英國聯合食品有限公司	ASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS PLC ORD 5 15/22P	英國	5,254,467,600
維旺迪公司	VIVENDI SE	法國	5,222,897,680
你好新鮮	HELLOFRESH SE	德國	5,187,798,748
德意志交易所股份公司	DEUTSCHE BOERSE AG	德國	5,176,761,348
麥德龍股份公司	METRO AG	德國	5,139,571,580
達梭系統公司	DASSAULT SYSTEMES	法國	5,078,859,610
嘉年華公司	CARNIVAL PLC ORD USD1.66	英國	4,999,407,636
環球音樂集團	UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP N V	荷蘭	4,986,697,320
雷克塞爾	REXEL	法國	4,972,459,074
山特維克公司	SANDVIK AB	瑞典	4,888,216,200
羅格朗	LEGRAND	法國	4,855,241,886
ENBW 能源巴登符騰堡股份公司	ENBW ENERGIE BADEN-WUERTTEMBERG AG	德國	4,846,963,836
山道士集團	SANDOZ GROUP N	瑞士	4,839,431,236
經濟特區	CEZ	捷克共和國	4,835,242,106
撲撲娛樂有限公司	FLUTTER ENTERTAINMENT PLC ORD EUR0.09 (DI)	愛爾蘭	4,833,716,340
EDP​​-葡萄牙能源公司	EDP-ENERGIAS PORTU	葡萄牙	4,794,584,751
漢莎航空公司	LUFTHANSA AG VNA O.N.	德國	4,728,422,160
瑞士電信	SWISSCOM N	瑞士	4,655,940,800
阿伏坦	AVOLTA N	瑞士	4,626,009,752
嘉士伯公司	CARLSBERG A A/S	丹麥	4,613,432,841
勞斯萊斯控股公司	ROLLS ROYCE HOLDINGS ORD GBP0.20	英國	4,556,067,000
GBL	GBL	比利時	4,517,055,950
埃西蒂公司	ESSITY AB SER. A	瑞典	4,454,034,900
阿克蘇諾貝爾	AKZO NOBEL	荷蘭	4,448,072,200
馬莎集團	MARKS & SPENCER GROUP ORD GBP0.01	英國	4,398,194,460
赫拉	HERA	義大利	4,361,870,106
西班牙電信公司	TELEFONICA,S.A.	西班牙	4,272,577,540
英國電信集團	BT GROUP ORD GBP0.05	英國	4,225,285,800
西卡恩	SIKA N	瑞士	4,195,929,098
瓦能源公司	VAR ENERGI ASA	挪威	4,167,917,257
前列腺素E	PGE	波蘭	4,160,904,720
扎蘭多有限公司	ZALANDO SE	德國	4,062,756,566
斯沃琪集團一	SWATCH GROUP I	瑞士	4,027,626,340
彪馬SE	PUMA SE	德國	4,011,984,526
一體化	VERBUND AG KAT. A	奧地利	3,951,319,664
普睿司曼	PRYSMIAN	義大利	3,944,766,760
威科集團	WOLTERS KLUWER	荷蘭	3,938,144,320
AENA，S.M.E.	AENA, S.M.E., S.A.	西班牙	3,861,193,775
摩爾股份	MOL SHARE	匈牙利	3,851,530,540
福維亞	FORVIA	法國	3,829,094,808
奧鋼聯股份公司	VOESTALPINE AG	奧地利	3,822,706,251
海克斯康公司	HEXAGON AB SER. B	瑞典	3,819,981,236
辛德勒	SCHINDLER N	瑞士	3,818,584,100
史密斯與侄子有限公司	SMITH & NEPHEW PLC ORD USD0.20	英國	3,790,166,138
贏創工業股份公司	EVONIK INDUSTRIES AG	德國	3,742,782,340
庫恩納格爾國際公司	KUEHNE+NAGEL INT N	瑞士	3,736,630,040
可口可樂HBC	COCA-COLA HBC AG ORD CHF6.70(CDI)	瑞士	3,720,729,696
萊茵集團	RWE AG	德國	3,717,396,320
聯合銀行	UCB	比利時	3,688,699,080
法荷航	AIR FRANCE -KLM	法國	3,672,142,980
SES	SES	盧森堡	3,602,607,360
帝斯曼芬美意股份公司	DSM FIRMENICH AG	瑞士	3,540,797,920
S.E.B.	S.E.B.	法國	3,505,257,492
經濟股份公司	CECONOMY AG	德國	3,461,969,750
法雷奧	VALEO	法國	3,451,394,980
電信公司	TELENOR ASA	挪威	3,423,853,125
赫伯羅特股份公司	HAPAG-LLOYD AG	德國	3,381,197,116
挪威海德魯公司	NORSK HYDRO ASA	挪威	3,349,043,775
法拉利	FERRARI	義大利	3,282,819,666
美聯社穆勒-馬士基	A.P. MOLLER - MAERSK A A/S	丹麥	3,268,618,758
賽峰	SAFRAN	法國	3,262,655,440
奇華頓	GIVAUDAN N	瑞士	3,229,465,060
威普集團	WPP PLC ORD GBP0.10	英國	3,206,687,000
D.S.V.	DSV A/S	丹麥	3,205,438,065
ACS，建築和服務活動	ACS,ACTIVIDADES DE CONSTRUCCION Y SERVICIOS,S.A.	西班牙	3,200,063,448
沃諾維亞	VONOVIA SE	德國	3,187,821,868
艾法奇	EIFFAGE	法國	3,186,497,380
史密斯(DS)	SMITH(DS) ORD GBP0.10	英國	3,171,905,000
投資者公司	INVESTOR AB SER. A	瑞典	3,164,815,500
潘朵拉	PANDORA A/S	丹麥	3,163,843,602
哈爾信託	HAL TRUST	荷蘭	3,119,941,858
下一個	NEXT ORD GBP0.10	英國	3,116,315,900
傑德·皮特	JDE PEET'S	荷蘭	3,109,235,580
GALP Energia-NOM	GALP ENERGIA-NOM	葡萄牙	3,078,330,860
凱傲集團股份公司	KION GROUP AG	德國	3,069,721,688
依維柯集團	IVECO GROUP	義大利	3,035,285,000
酒精性肝臟疾病	ALD	法國	3,025,572,088
尤尼佩爾	UNIPER SE	德國	3,001,069,060
恩泰恩	ENTAIN PLC ORD EUR0.01	英國	2,992,695,700
星獅集團	FRASERS GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.10	英國	2,982,595,660
表示	SIGNIFY NV	荷蘭	2,934,844,660
索迪斯	SODEXO	法國	2,910,019,640
安全公司	SECURITAS AB SER. B	瑞典	2,898,424,200
通標公司	SGS N	瑞士	2,873,143,060
異或	EXOR	荷蘭	2,859,188,802
索諾瓦	SONOVA N	瑞士	2,829,166,230
D.C.C.	DCC ORD EUR0.25 (CDI)	愛爾蘭	2,828,214,660
塞恩斯伯里(J)	SAINSBURY(J) ORD GBP0.28571428	英國	2,816,191,300
蒂森克虜伯	THYSSENKRUPP AG O.N.	德國	2,809,745,220
DWS集團	DWS GROUP SE	德國	2,804,603,340
施羅德集團	SCHRODERS PLC ORD GBP0.20	英國	2,779,722,800
阿什泰德集團	ASHTEAD GROUP ORD GBP0.10	英國	2,757,909,780
第一集團	FIRSTGROUP ORD GBP0.05	英國	2,756,548,830
送貨英雄	DELIVERY HERO SE	德國	2,642,463,934
薩西爾，	SACYR, S.A.	西班牙	2,638,267,515
林德·T·N	LINDT N	瑞士	2,614,334,514
建築和合約的促進措施，	ACCIONES FOMENTO DE CONSTRUCCIONES Y CONTRATAS, S.A.	西班牙	2,597,221,631
益百利公司	EXPERIAN PLC ORD USD0.10	愛爾蘭	2,597,062,585
伊普森	IPSEN	法國	2,592,464,512
格里福爾斯有限公司	GRIFOLS S.A.	西班牙	2,563,658,002
安託法加斯塔	ANTOFAGASTA PLC ORD GBP0.05	英國	2,561,460,023
科思創股份公司	COVESTRO AG O.N.	德國	2,545,224,440
阿爾特爾非洲有限公司	AIRTEL AFRICA PLC ORD USD0.5	英國	2,533,519,618
S.K.F.,	SKF, AB SER. A	瑞典	2,514,185,100
雅高酒店集團	ACCOR	法國	2,511,008,500
倍耐力	PIRELLI & C	義大利	2,484,764,874
布倫塔格股份公司	BRENNTAG SE	德國	2,478,006,674
雨果博斯股份公司	HUGO BOSS AG	德國	2,474,234,091
SNAM	SNAM	義大利	2,451,406,540
耐斯特公司	NESTE CORPORATION	芬蘭	2,442,576,620
陽獅集團	PUBLICIS GROUPE SA	法國	2,434,850,440
JSW	JSW	波蘭	2,426,214,024
聚苯醚酮	PEPCO	英國	2,391,307,686
英奇凱普	INCHCAPE ORD GBP0.10	英國	2,390,694,000
蘇格蘭電力	SSE PLC GBP0.50	英國	2,379,529,020
根瑪布	GENMAB A/S	丹麥	2,356,674,183
歐拉澤集團	EURAZEO SE	法國	2,354,761,962
法羅維爾	FERROVIAL SE	荷蘭	2,350,966,200
賽奇集團富騰公司	SAGE GROUP GBP0.01051948	英國	2,341,824,000
德曼特公司	FORTUM CORPORATION	芬蘭	2,327,787,660
巴寶莉集團	DEMANT A/S	丹麥	2,285,771,166
泛歐交易所	BURBERRY GROUP ORD GBP0.0005	英國	2,272,971,900
盟可青睞	EURONEXT	荷蘭	2,272,765,117
H.靈貝克公司	MONCLER	義大利	2,271,861,154
伊萊克斯，	H. LUNDBECK A/S A	丹麥	2,266,232,130
合作夥伴集團	ELECTROLUX, AB SER. A	瑞典	2,265,066,300
海拉有限公司韓國航空協會	PARTNERS GROUP N	瑞士	2,260,863,090
生物梅里埃	HELLA GMBH & CO. KGAA	德國	2,232,030,489
SSAB公司	BIOMERIEUX	法國	2,225,470,962
康樂寶	SSAB AB SER. A	瑞典	2,217,295,500
巴黎機場	COLOPLAST B A/S	丹麥	2,216,445,000
海斯坦普汽車有限公司	AEROPORTS DE PARIS	法國	2,214,102,440
OMV 石油公司	GESTAMP AUTOMOCION, S.A.	西班牙	2,202,911,620
通力公司	OMV PETROM S.A.	羅馬尼亞	2,178,112,603
奧地利電信公司	KONE CORPORATION	芬蘭	2,177,127,150
阿科瑪	TELEKOM AUSTRIA AG	奧地利	2,172,092,992
酵素連結免疫吸附試驗	ARKEMA	法國	2,163,330,400
邦茲爾	ELIS	法國	2,160,681,424
龍贊	BUNZL ORD GBP0.32142857	英國	2,158,116,900
安百拓公司	LONZA N	瑞士	2,156,935,840
世界線	EPIROC AB SER. A	瑞典	2,149,389,900
阿爾斯通	WORLDLINE	法國	2,133,087,924
瓦倫紐斯威爾森公司	ALSTOM	法國	2,130,770,460
愛迪生	WALLENIUS WILHELMSEN ASA	挪威	2,126,360,266
皮爾森秩序	EDISON R	義大利	2,124,699,500
聯合網路公司	PEARSON ORD GBP0.25	英國	2,118,272,000
埃內亞	UNITED INTERNET AG	德國	2,111,640,048
吉查德賭場	ENEA	波蘭	2,108,213,364
史特勞曼	CASINO GUICHARD	法國	2,108,143,400
港口能源	STRAUMANN N	瑞士	2,105,930,721
港口能源	HARBOUR ENERGY PLC ORD GBP0.00002	英國	2,091,196,772
六線譜	CURRYS PLC ORD GBP0.001	英國	2,086,548,200
森科	SIXT SE	德國	2,085,944,981
特利亞公司	SYENSQO	比利時	2,071,719,980
布伊格	TELIA COMPANY AB	瑞典	2,049,308,100
遠距表演	BOUYGUES	法國	2,046,333,960
GEA 集團公司	TELEPERFORMANCE	法國	2,040,815,260
迪特倫集團	GEA GROUP AG	德國	2,010,653,357
阿法拉伐公司	D'IETEREN GROUP	比利時	1,993,464,814
阿托斯	ALFA LAVAL AB	瑞典	1,986,238,800
艾瑪迪斯 IT 集團有限公司	ATOS	法國	1,972,383,380
德拉克斯集團有限公司	AMADEUS IT GROUP, S.A.	西班牙	1,954,723,540
瑞士蘇德扎克股份公司	DRAX GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.1155172	英國	1,943,234,500
荷蘭KPN康恩	SUEDZUCKER AG	德國	1,929,317,525
能多基首字母	KPN KON	荷蘭	1,917,196,380
霍赫蒂夫股份公司	RENTOKIL INITIAL ORD GBP0.01	英國	1,905,681,000
莫維阿薩	HOCHTIEF AG	德國	1,895,792,654
賽默瑞斯股份公司	MOWI ASA	挪威	1,894,272,125
LPP	SYMRISE AG	德國	1,893,102,840
芬歐匯川集團	LPP	波蘭	1,892,810,808
金巴利	UPM-KYMMENE CORPORATION	芬蘭	1,864,216,860
BPOST	CAMPARI	義大利	1,830,221,668
美卓公司	BPOST	比利時	1,826,027,456
豪頓細木工集團	METSO OYJ	芬蘭	1,809,029,860
維納伯格股份公司	HOWDEN JOINERY GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.10	英國	1,787,164,700
嗡嗡聲	WIENERBERGER AG	奧地利	1,779,898,850
克諾爾制動股份公司	BUZZI	義大利	1,777,117,425
亞索斯公司	KNORR BREMSE AG	德國	1,763,635,241
安德瑞茲股份公司	ASOS PLC ORD GBP0.035	英國	1,762,270,300
殷拓公司	ANDRITZ AG	奧地利	1,759,251,186
富世華公司	EQT AB	瑞典	1,744,490,571
羅技	HUSQVARNA AB SER. A	瑞典	1,738,797,900
賽多利斯股份公司	LOGITECH N	瑞士	1,735,566,397
尼貝工業有限公司乙	SARTORIUS AG	德國	1,729,670,954
S.P.E.E.H.電力公司	NIBE INDUSTRIER AB SER. B	瑞典	1,713,135,900
途易汽車公司	S.P.E.E.H. HIDROELECTRICA SA	羅馬尼亞	1,706,502,017
易捷航空	TUI AG NA O.N.	德國	1,700,342,434
A2A	EASYJET ORD GBP0.27285714	英國	1,681,966,300
希臘機油有限公司(CR)	A2A	義大利	1,677,684,800
莫塔·恩吉爾	MOTOR OIL HELLAS S.A. (CR)	希臘	1,664,787,598
萊茵金屬股份公司	MOTA ENGIL	葡萄牙	1,664,543,672
崔維斯·帕金斯	RHEINMETALL AG	德國	1,663,336,180
斯特拉巴格股份公司	TRAVIS PERKINS ORD GBP0.11205105	英國	1,661,392,300
RS集團有限公司	STRABAG SE	奧地利	1,641,782,345
摩比科集團	RS GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.10	英國	1,632,642,540
記錄數據	MOBICO GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.05	英國	1,572,155,000
塞文·特倫特	RECORDATI ORD	義大利	1,570,207,014
緯騰科技集團股份公司	SEVERN TRENT ORD GBP0.9789	英國	1,565,551,020
奧克拉公司	VITESCO TECHNOLOGIES GRP AG	德國	1,558,812,002
DRAEGERWERK AG & CO KGAA	ORKLA ASA	挪威	1,549,201,500
特爾納	DRAEGERWERK AG & CO KGAA	德國	1,547,825,374
吉博力	TERNA	義大利	1,545,898,244
內克西	GEBERIT N	瑞士	1,538,123,300
瓦魯瑞克	NEXI	義大利	1,536,796,804
普羅蘇斯	VALLOUREC	法國	1,534,890,645
百樂嘉利寶	PROSUS	荷蘭	1,529,895,811
白麵包	BARRY CALLEBAUT N	瑞士	1,524,782,788
必維國際檢驗局	WHITBREAD ORD GBP0.76797385	英國	1,521,959,520
艾瑟瑞諾克斯,	BUREAU VERITAS	法國	1,518,635,866
英特魯公司	ACERINOX, S.A.	西班牙	1,516,470,328
ACCIONA Energias 再生能源公司	INTRUM AB	瑞典	1,496,390,700
RICHTER GEDEN 分享	CORPORACION ACCIONA ENERGIAS RENOVABLES S.A.	西班牙	1,492,256,480
吉頓·里克特	RICHTER GEDEON SHARE	匈牙利	1,490,986,640
塞班	SAIPEM	義大利	1,490,049,000
凱勒集團有限公司	KGHM	波蘭	1,483,103,520
S.N.G.N ROMGAZ 媒體	KELLER GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.10	英國	1,471,078,800
海倫尼克能源控股有限公司。	S.N.G.N ROMGAZ MEDIAS	羅馬尼亞	1,469,067,408
瑞德亞公司	HELLENIQ ENERGY HOLD.SOC.ANON.	希臘	1,466,021,684
索爾維	REDEIA CORPORACION, S.A.	西班牙	1,461,955,506
國際分銷 SVCS PLC	SOLVAY	比利時	1,460,248,020
世邦離岸	INTL DISTRIBUTIONS SVCS PLC ORD GBP0.01	英國	1,450,360,800
巴勒特開發公司	SBM OFFSHORE	荷蘭	1,449,716,197
葛萊恩	BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS ORD GBP0.10	英國	1,438,243,830
維美德公司	CLARIANT N	瑞士	1,425,288,000
迪諾普	VALMET CORPORATION	芬蘭	1,422,720,860
洲際酒店集團	DINOPL	波蘭	1,421,864,422
ASM 國際公司	INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP ORD GBP0.208521303	英國	1,407,103,019
朗盛股份公司	ASM INTERNATIONAL N.V.	荷蘭	1,406,009,133
格雷格	LANXESS AG	德國	1,399,542,320
比鄰星	GREGGS ORD GBP0.02	英國	1,399,154,300
WH史密斯有限公司	PROXIMUS	比利時	1,398,438,580
瑞典孤兒 Biovitrum	WH SMITH PLC ORD GBP0.220895	英國	1,389,899,000
斯道拉恩索公司	SWEDISH ORPHAN BIOVITRUM AB	瑞典	1,387,031,100
蒙迪公司ORD	STORA ENSO OYJ A	芬蘭	1,380,778,740
NOVONESIS（諾維酶）	MONDI PLC ORD EUR0.22	英國	1,379,524,252
史密斯集團有限公司	NOVONESIS (NOVOZYMES) A/S B	丹麥	1,378,538,199
希克瑪製藥公司	SMITHS GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.375	英國	1,368,424,200
伊甸紅	HIKMA PHARMACEUTICALS ORD GBP0.10	英國	1,368,187,506
賽多利斯·斯泰德生物	EDENRED	法國	1,364,222,640
萊昂納多	SARTORIUS STED BIO	法國	1,361,463,290
潔定公司	LEONARDO	義大利	1,344,355,320
希臘電信	GETINGE AB SER. B	瑞典	1,325,639,700
電腦中心	HELLENIC TELECOM. ORG. (CR)	希臘	1,323,494,634
RTL集團	COMPUTACENTER ORD GBP0.075555	英國	1,315,263,600
斯堪斯卡公司	RTLGroup	盧森堡	1,304,620,680
進化公司	SKANSKA AB SER. B	瑞典	1,300,372,500
威爾集團	EVOLUTION AB	瑞典	1,294,468,643
蘇爾壽	WEIR GROUP ORD GBP0.125	英國	1,293,113,400
英特卡斯	SULZER N	瑞士	1,288,222,804
佩吉集團有限公司	INTERCARS	波蘭	1,287,024,279
卡爾蔡司醫療器材股份公司	PAGEGROUP PLC ORD GBP0.01	英國	1,282,079,036
商業銀行	CARL ZEISS MEDITEC AG	德國	1,274,602,124
陶朗佩	BIC	法國	1,267,174,093
法國人	TAURONPE	波蘭	1,260,849,480
德龍	LA FRANCAISE DES	法國	1,257,049,486
IMI	DE'LONGHI	義大利	1,256,197,399
序號核電有限公司	IMI ORD GBP0.28571428	英國	1,240,665,800
莊信萬豐	S.N. NUCLEARELECTRICA S.A.	羅馬尼亞	1,223,335,230
布瑞爾	JOHNSON MATTHEY ORD GBP1.109245	英國	1,219,733,700
福斯公司	BURELLE	法國	1,218,256,336
多瑪卡巴尼	FUCHS SE	德國	1,207,491,560
倫德伯格福泰根公司	DORMAKABA N	瑞士	1,203,467,590
瓦克化學股份公司	LUNDBERGFORETAGEN AB, L E SER. B	瑞典	1,198,514,100
康瓦泰克集團有限公司	WACKER CHEMIE AG	德國	1,195,350,420
歐洲汽車協會	CONVATEC GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.1	英國	1,186,308,688
布里登集團有限公司	ACEA	義大利	1,182,886,988
1&1 股份公司	BREEDON GRP PLC ORD GBP0.01	英國	1,172,942,200
卡哥德公司	1&1 AG	德國	1,167,061,564
888控股	CARGOTEC OYJ	芬蘭	1,163,010,838
貝克特爾公司	888 HOLDINGS PLC ORD GBP0.005	直布羅陀	1,161,739,800
SSP集團有限公司	BECHTLE AG	德國	1,161,684,143
IG集團控股	SSP GROUP PLC ORD GBP0.01085	英國	1,151,274,830
GN商店	IG GROUP HLDGS ORD GBP0.00005	英國	1,147,967,160
特瑞堡公司	GN STORE NORD A/S	丹麥	1,146,142,089
微量元素分析	TRELLEBORG AB SER. B	瑞典	1,138,603,200
克爾卡	MFE A	義大利	1,137,293,696
瓦錫蘭公司	KRKA DD NPV	斯洛維尼亞	1,133,219,792
KWS SAAT	WARTSILA CORPORATION	芬蘭	1,128,022,280
薩博公司	KWS SAAT SE & CO. KGAA	德國	1,116,724,699
布雷博	SAAB AB SER. B	瑞典	1,111,362,000
獲取連結	BREMBO	荷蘭	1,110,244,340
杜爾股份公司	GETLINK SE	法國	1,105,947,480
阿茲姆	DUERR AG	德國	1,105,892,293
普羅西本薩特1媒體	AZIMUT	義大利	1,105,334,904
曼集團	PROSIEBENSAT1 MEDIA SE	德國	1,100,428,780
快板	MAN GROUP PLC (NEW) ORD USD0.0342857142	英國	1,099,875,286
耐吉森	ALLEGRO	盧森堡	1,097,609,540
豪邁	NEXANS	法國	1,084,976,420
維拉利亞	HALMA ORD GBP0.10	英國	1,082,714,070
因陀羅·西斯特瑪斯	VERALLIA	法國	1,081,334,078
尤尼貝爾	INDRA SISTEMAS S.A., SERIE A	西班牙	1,081,330,767
米提利諾斯	UNIBEL	法國	1,073,387,150
喬治費雪	MYTILINEOS S.A. (CR)	希臘	1,069,867,323
伊默瑞斯	GEORG FISCHER N	瑞士	1,067,778,260
城鎮周圍	IMERYS	法國	1,065,881,718
電信2公司	AROUNDTOWN SA	盧森堡	1,064,446,856
德高集團	TELE2 AB SER. A	瑞典	1,055,201,700
貝瓦	JCDECAUX SE	法國	1,053,299,082
博利登	BAYWA AG	德國	1,051,533,098
史派克	BOLIDEN AB	瑞典	1,041,778,500
EMMI	SPECTRIS ORD GBP0.05	英國	1,040,932,100
岩棉	EMMI N	瑞士	1,038,499,281
工業貿易	ROCKWOOL A/S SER. A	丹麥	1,036,744,524
BKW	INDUTRADE AB	瑞典	1,034,474,700
巴伯科克國際集團	BKW N	瑞士	1,033,808,896
阿迪恩	BABCOCK INTERNATIONAL GROUP ORD GBP0.60	英國	1,028,078,880
阿爾根克斯	ADYEN	荷蘭	1,027,886,572
德西尼普能源公司	ARGENX SE	荷蘭	1,021,507,806
伊薩卡能源公司	TECHNIP ENERGIES N.V.	法國	1,018,972,768
瑪爾‧特尼蒙	ITHACA ENERGY PLC ORD GBP0.01	英國	1,012,998,451
米切爾斯和巴特勒斯有限公司	MAIRE TECNIMONT	義大利	1,011,470,647

 MITCHELLS & BUTLERS PLC ORD GBP0.085416 英國 1,001,373,700 2,568,000,000 2,645,587,962,550.22 

Never thought I would be lucky enough to be on this plane.

Shortly before 9:00 pm on October 10, 1933, Joe Groff, a Chesterton, Indiana farmer, was engrossed in a game of hearts with his neighbors when a thunderous explosion overhead shattered the tranquility of the quiet evening. Startled by the deafening sound, Joe and his companions scrambled towards a window, their gazes drawn upwards to witness the horrifying spectacle of a burning airplane disintegrating in the night sky, showering the ground below with fiery debris.
The earth shuddered as the flaming wreckage slammed into the ground. Joe and his friends raced towards the crash site, driven by the desperate hope of finding survivors. But as they drew closer, the inferno's fury pushed them back. Fred Rhode, another nearby farmer, who had also witnessed the crash, arrived to find a scene of utter devastation. Twisted fragments of the fuselage littered the field, and lying within the smoldering remains was , “a decapitated woman, her body charred, and her limbs reduced to smoldering stumps.”
"We were startled by a terrific explosion. We ran outside. We saw the plane burning in air, about 1,000 feet up. It was falling like a rock, flames shooting out on all sides. It came down faster and faster. We could hear the motor running. The plane zigzagged as if in a tail spin. Then it hit the ground with a roar and a sound I hope to never hear again. Flames shot up at least 200 feet. I heard what I thought were people crying out. We tried to throw water on the flames, but couldn’t get near enough to do any good. We had to stand on, helpless." -Joe Groff
The aircraft was identified as United Airlines Flight 23, a ten seat, twin-engine Boeing 247, bound for Chicago, Illinois. The ill-fated flight had originated in Newark, New Jersey, and made a routine refueling stop in Cleveland, Ohio. There, a pilot change occurred, and two additional passengers joined the manifest, bringing the total onboard to seven.
Now piloting the aircraft was 25-year-old Harold “Hal” Tarrant, a two year veteran of United Airlines, and his co-pilot, 28-year-old A.T. Ruby, a graduate of the University of Illinois. Hal was the son of a wealthy Illinois merchant. Recently engaged, his fiancé, Bessie, was waiting for him at the terminal in Chicago.
Also aboard was 25-year-old stewardess Alice Scribner. Alice was the daughter of a former Wisconsin state legislator. After graduating from college, she became a teacher, and later a nurse at Bellin Memorial Hospital in Wisconsin. Meeting United’s height and weight restrictions at the time, less than 123 pounds and not any taller than 5 feet 2 inches, she had joined the airline only recently. Her fiancé, Evan Terp, was also waiting for her at the airport in Chicago.
25-year-old Dorothy M. Dwyer was flying to meet her fiancée in Reno, Nevada. She was supposed to be on an earlier flight, but missed it due to a flat tire on the way to the airport in Newark. 44-year-old Emil Smith, a former army officer and grocery store owner, had also boarded in Newark, heading back home to Chicago.
Warren Burris, a radio operator for United, was one of two additional passengers picked up in Cleveland. Warren was being shuttled to Chicago to crew another flight. Also added to the manifest in Cleveland was 28-year-old Frederick Schoendorff, manager of a company that made refrigerators in Chicago.
Hal's routine radio transmission at 8:39 p.m. Central Time suggested normalcy; despite the slight drizzle over North Liberty, Indiana, the flight seemed on course. Yet, twenty minutes later, when his next scheduled check-in was due, silence echoed across the airwaves. An hour later, the airline’s station manager received a brief teletype message confirming their worst fears; Flight 23 had crashed.
Meanwhile, in Chesterton, fire crews, police, and local volunteers converged, their desperate attempts to quell the raging inferno a futile battle against the wreckage's relentless flames. As the fire burned into the night, a grim reality settled in; there were no survivors.
Evidence suggested a midair explosion had ripped the aircraft in two, sending the main fuselage, housing both the passenger cabin and cockpit, plummeting to the ground, inverted, at an estimated 150 miles per hour. Meanwhile, the severed tail section, just forward of the lavatory, fell about one-half mile from the scene of the crash, nearly entirely intact.
The bodies of Hal and his co-pilot, A.T. Ruby, were found near the airplane’s mangled cockpit. The bodies of stewardess Alice Scribner, and passengers Dorothy Dwyer and Fred Schendorf, were found nearby, amongst the wreckage of the cabin. The bodies of Emil Smith and Warren Burris weren’t found until the following morning, in the weeds about half a mile from the main section of the plane, near the tail section.
At first, it appeared to be a tragic accident; A fuel leak, possibly. Structural failure also was suggested. Some believed the plane had been struck by lightning, and there was even a theory it had been hit by a meteorite. Mounting evidence of foul play, however, led to an FBI investigation, headed by Melvin Purvis, the head of the Chicago office who would later gain fame as the G-man who “gunned down John Dillinger.”
A full-scale investigation promptly unfolded, hampered initially by the disturbing reality of looted wreckage. Drawn by morbid curiosity, onlookers from miles around had pilfered souvenirs from the crash site, hindering initial efforts. For example, the propeller of one engine was missing a blade, and investigators never found it. Decades later, in a 1999 interview as part of a project conducted by the Westchester Public Library in Chesterton, local resident Howard Johnson finally disclosed what happened to it:
“Donald Slont, who later ran Flannery’s Tavern, was on the local fire department. Of course, the fire truck went out there immediately when the alarm was sent out. When they picked up their stuff from the fire truck to come home after they had done everything that they could, one of the propellers was lying on the ground. It had broken off. Don was one of these guys that just laid his hands on anything that he could see, and he grabbed it,” Johnson recalled. “When they were investigating the thing, they couldn’t find that propeller so they thought the propeller had come off and that’s what made it crash. And here Donald had it all the time. I think it had red, white and blue stripes around it so that when the propeller turned, it looked like a circle of red, white and blue.” -Howard Johnson
United Airlines sold the remaining majority of the wreckage to a Hobart, Indiana junk dealer for $75. He hauled it away just days after the crash. However, despite the missing pieces, amidst the remaining debris agents stumbled upon several unsettling clues; Shrapnel holes were found on the inner-side of the remains of the rear lavatory door. Airline blankets stored in a cubby in the lavatory also bore the same holes.
In a bombshell development on October 14th, the FBI, after consulting with the Crime Detection Laboratory at the Northwestern University in Chicago, announced the cause of the crash was a “high-powered onboard explosive containing nitroglycerin, dynamite of high percentage strength, TNT, or some similar substance."
The meticulous examination of the wreckage pinpointed the blast zone towards the rear of the aircraft, most likely originating in the lavatory or the blanket compartment. “The investigation centered upon a piece of blanket, part of the plane’s equipment, and several pieces of the metal surface of the plane. Both had been pierced many times by small bits of metal. Only a high explosive could produce a force great enough to force metal through metal.“ This revelation transformed what was initially seen as an accident, into a confirmed act of sabotage.
In the wake of the news, a swift search for the culprit was launched, and the FBI quickly zeroed in on passenger Emil Smith. Emil, who boarded the aircraft in Newark, reportedly purchased life insurance just one day prior to the flight. The two dollar purchase promised a payout of ten thousand dollars should Emil’s plane crash. Additionally, eyewitness accounts noted him carrying several peculiar items onto the plane, including a firearm and a brown paper sack he stashed in the overhead compartment.
A thorough investigation into Emil’s background, however, revealed a seemingly normal life. The 44-year-old Army veteran, who served in Hawaii during World War I, resided with his aunt, Anna Reidl, on Argyle Street in Chicago. Previously, he co-owned and operated a grocery store with Anna until its sale in 1930. Financially secure after the sale, Smith enjoyed a leisure lifestyle filled with hunting, fishing, and attending baseball games. Anna described him as a quiet individual who often joined her in the evenings for pinochle games.
Emil’s aunt told investigators he had flown to New York City for the World Series games on October 3rd and 4th, residing at the Roosevelt Hotel on 45th Street and Madison Avenue. While his stay at the hotel was confirmed, investigators couldn't verify his attendance at the games. His activities during his remaining days in the city were also equally unclear. On October 9th, Emil purchased his plane ticket and flight insurance directly from his hotel desk. His final known movement prior to boarding the aircraft occurred at 2:10 p.m. on October 10. Emil sent a telegram to Anna reading, “Leaving New York today by plane. Everything O.K.”
During a later examination of the wreckage, Emil’s brown paper sack was recovered from among the airplane debris. The contents of the sack were never disclosed, but authorities determined it posed no threat. As a result, Emil was cleared of any involvement in the incident.
The following months saw a flurry of investigative theories, including potential "mob involvement" due to the recent travel of Joseph Keenan, an Assistant Attorney General tasked with investigating organized crime, on United Airlines just days before the crash. However, this theory was swiftly dismissed as implausible.
Pilot dissatisfaction was also explored. A United vice president relayed an indirect threat regarding potential aircraft damage if "scab" pilots were used during a labor dispute. Additionally, the brother of co-pilot A.T. Ruby reported ongoing issues with certain union members. However, after interviews with the alleged source of these threats, and confirmation that labor tensions had subsided by the time of the crash, no evidence of employee sabotage was ever found.
Also interviewed was J.J. Lavin, an American employed by the Chinese Consulate who facilitated wheat shipments from the U.S. to China. Lavin drew suspicion when FBI agents learned he was originally scheduled to be aboard the crashed flight, but had rebooked to a later one. He was reported to have made comments about a bomb causing the crash, supposedly before such information became public. Lavin denied these claims to investigators, though he acknowledged the possibility of such discussions while under the influence of alcohol. He was later eliminated as a suspect.
The investigation continued for two years. Then, on September 20, 1935, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, declared “all undeveloped leads in this case have been exhausted, and the investigation has not developed any facts which would justify presenting this matter to the United States Attorney. Therefore, this case is being closed.”
The crash of Flight 23 is known as the first proven act of air sabotage in the history of commercial aviation. In addition, the death of Alice Scribner was the first instance of a stewardess dying as a result of an airline crash. When Alice’s younger sister, Velma Scribner, walked down the aisle in 1940, she wore a “handmade peasant frock that had been imported from Paris. Described as eggshell in color, with a bodice smocked at the neckline, it was trimmed with embroidery on the sleeves and front.” The dress had been intended as Alice’s wedding gown.
In 2017, the FBI declassified 324 documents related to the investigation. Unfortunately no new leads were developed. Whoever was responsible for the crash, and their motive, remains a mystery.
Sources
Photos- https://imgur.com/a/PzaAk4z
https://simpleflying.com/united-air-lines-trip-23-cabin-crew-perspective/
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/80-years-later-plane-bombing-remains-a-mystery/1964534/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Air_Lines_Trip_23
https://www.historynet.com/what-happened-to-ual-flight-23/
https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/september-2011/united-flight-23-to-chicago-the-first-airline-terrorism/
https://www.nj.com/inside-jersey/2013/09/the_mysterious_crash_of_united_23.html

In the spirit of being hired into United my father found this business amenity kit. Tic Tacs expired in 2007 so at least 17 years old!

UA2654 on Apr 23. Pretty neato!

Hi, I'm looking for a good credit card to open for my LLC in the US. It's a property management LLC and it manages my rentals. I'm the sole member of the LLC. I'm going to be spending quite a lot for my LLC (utilities, buying appliances, paying for renovations) so I really want to open a CC soon so I can benefit from points.
I also end up having to travel a lot (not for business necessarily). I fly back and forth from Maui Hawaii to San Francisco about 3 times a year, usually on Southwest but am open to flying a different airline if the card is better for that. I also tend to fly either Korean Airlines or Japan from Hawaii to Singapore quite frequently too, as well as random other domestic airlines like American for continental US travel.
For my personal credit card, I have the chase sapphire reserve. To be honest I haven't really cashed in on any of the miles in years.
Does anyone have any recommendations? Thank you!

A few weeks ago, I posted a quick review of our short trip to Ireland, and the help this community. It got a lot more views and shares than I ever expected, plus a number of DMs asking for more specifics on a few things- so I decided to expand it into a full-blown travel guide.
I hope everyone enjoys this, and it can be a resource for other people who want to visit Ireland without breaking the bank. There is a version of this with pictures and links posted on the irishtourism "blog" megapost; I don't want to run afoul of the sub rules, but if you'd like to see all of the pictures associated with this, take a gander there!
My wife and I have birthdays that are within just a few days of one another, at the end of February and the beginning of March, so every year we try to eke out a weekend away with each other in celebration. Usually, we don’t travel too far away from our home in Appalachia, but this year I really wanted to do something different.
But, as a working family, we’re always on a budget. We can’t afford to break the bank on any vacation- so if we were going to make it work, it had to be as affordable as we could make it.
So I went onto Google Flights, selected the time frame we were looking to travel (Tuesday afternoon to Sunday) and looked at all flights from the three closest airports to us- Washington, DC (IAD); Richmond, VA (RIC); and Charlottesville, VA (CHO)- ranked in order of price, from lowest to highest. I didn’t particularly care where we went, as long as it was cheap.
Sadly, my initial plans to take advantage of the $68 roundtrip flight to Johnstown, Pennsylvania were quickly dashed by my wife- and with it, my lifelong dream to see the steepest vehicular inclined plane in the world. Alas. So I continued to peruse the remaining results… and was surprised to see that one of the top results was a nonstop Aer Lingus flight to Dublin, Ireland from Washington Dulles, at a stunning $360 roundtrip for a flight that can cost as much as $1000.
I was taken aback, because this was cheaper than most of the domestic flights available, and at least a hundred dollars cheaper than any of the international flight selections available at the time. And if I wanted to do something different for our birthday trip, then Ireland sure fit the bill.
Now, I recognized immediately the reason that the flight was so inexpensive: it was going to be in the end of February, far from prime weather season. A cursory glance at the usual weather for Ireland that time of year confirmed this, as it said we’d likely have rain and weather just above freezing on average for our trip.
So I booked the ticket- and we were headed to Ireland.
STAYING ON BUDGET
Now, one of the easiest things to do when you’re trying to travel on a budget is to save money on one area- like airline flights- and watch as it balloons in another. It takes some sincere patience and paying attention to keep that from happening, and even then, Murphy’s Law often makes an appearance.
My plan was:
- Keep our hotel expenses under $175USD per night, but only stay at hotels with an aggregated Google review ranking of 4.0/5 or higher
- Look for hotels that offered free breakfast and dinner, if possible, and have one meal a day somewhere decent and inexpensive to enjoy unique Irish cuisine.
- Find a route with cheap and/or free things to do in winter that wasn’t so crammed full we couldn’t enjoy ourselves.
We also packed light, and eschewed checking a bag so that we could save an enormous amount on checked bag fees. If anything, I reasoned, we could check a bag on the way back if we found a souvenir we absolutely couldn’t part with. I brought my trusty travel backpack, which I bought as a combination diaper bag/textbook receptacle when I started college in 2008, and one normal sized overhead bin bag; my wife packed similarly, and even with our warm/rain weather gear, we had no problems.
There were some things that lent themselves to making this easier in Ireland, and some that didn’t. For instance, in the Ireland and the UK, you are much more likely to find hotels that offer meals- dinner and breakfast, even if they’re not bed and breakfast hotels- than in the United States. Or, if you want to save some money, many will have what is called a “self catering” option, which basically means you can skip those meals being offered and figure out food for yourself. Also, a lot of the hotels we stayed at offered a discount if you booked directly on their site, as opposed to a hotel aggregator like Priceline, Expedia, etc.
However, while Ireland has a pretty decent public transportation system, particularly compared to the US (granted that’s a pretty low bar to clear), if you want to truly see Ireland, to give you the ability and flexibility to see what makes it great, you have to rent a car. There is simply no way around it.
This was hammered in for me when a quick search on things to do in Ireland gave me the Wild Atlantic Way. The Wild Atlantic way is a seaside road route curving along Ireland’s rugged and remote west coast; a beautiful 1600 mile route from Derry to Cork.
So finding a decently priced rental car was now on the list of musts- though that would entail driving in Ireland, which is even more of an, ahh… intriguing proposition for first time visitors than I recognized. But, first things first: I had to figure out what part of the Wild Atlantic Way that I wanted to be able to see. We’d be arriving at 5am on Wednesday and leaving at noon on Sunday; precious little time to see something that would take two weeks or more to do properly.
I wanted a flexible schedule that wasn’t too busy. For those of you in healthcare, and for anyone who’s had a baby before, you’ll probably understand the old saying: “the length of your birth plan is the same length as your c-section scar”. Attempting to plan every eventuality down to the barest minutiae rarely works out; fate and nature rarely care about convenience, and trying to cram an itinerary to the gills only makes a “vacation” into a “trip”.
My wife told me one of her musts was she wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher. So, using that as a starting point, I came up with the following plan for each of our nights there:
Galway: Famous because of Ed Sheeran’s hit song- no no, I’m only joking, please don’t ban me- Galway is a lovely city on the west coast of Ireland, easily accessible via motorway from Dublin and with a wide range of shops, pubs, and restaurants to visit and experience, as well as conveniently located near dozens of different things to do (such as the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands).
Westport: A sleepy village to the north of Galway, and in an easy day’s driving distance from Galway along the Wild Atlantic Way, allowing one to curve through Connemara National Park and the Leenaun to Louisburgh road on the way there.
Enniskillen: Initially, I’d planned on stopping in Donegal this night; again, it was an easy drive from Westport and went by a number of more things to do and see, like Downpatrick Head. However, I thought it would be interesting to see “another country”, as Northern Ireland is part of the UK, and so we scheduled a stop in Enniskillen, in the Fermanagh Lakelands.
Dublin: Finally, we wanted to spend at least one day in Dublin, and planned to drop our rental car off at the airport before continuing back into Dublin, in order to maximize the time we had on Sunday morning to sleep and enjoy ourselves before heading back home.
Once I had that itinerary in mind, it was time to nail down the details.
RENTING A CAR AND (ominous music) DRIVING IN IRELAND
First thing was first: we had to secure a rental car. After playing around with Priceline and Expedia, as well as the individual corporate sites for each rental car company based out of Dublin International Airport, I found that visiting the Ireland based website- the .ie version- I found not only cheaper and better deals, but they generally came with insurance included, which the American versions of these sites did not.
I’m going to echo the advice on driving in Ireland that you’ll find if you do even the most cursory of searches on it: get the smallest car you think you can get away with, and get an automatic transmission. I have no problem driving a manual and had initially figured on saving a few bucks this way. My first car was a 1985 Mitsubishi Montero that was pulled from a barn in Mishicot, Wisconsin. It lacked first gear entirely and had to be held in third and fifth gear. The first time I drove it, my dad took me to the bottom of the biggest hill he could find and told me to drive to the top. Even so, I’m absolutely glad I decided not to skimp on the upcharge for an automatic transmission.
Ultimately, I found a Renault Captur (the selection was for a “VW Golf or similar”) at Sixt for €109 base price for the four days we were in Ireland. To this, I added a €14/day upcharge to the insurance coverage already on the vehicle- and even this total was cheaper than the base price found on American rental websites. The €20 I would have saved on a manual absolutely wouldn’t have been worth it.
The next thing I had to do was mentally prepare to drive in Ireland. Sure, it take some mental concentration to go from driving on the right side of the road to the left. But I was initially mostly unconcerned. In the US Virgin Islands, which is a favorite getaway of my wife and I, the roads are all left-hand drive, and after a moment of orientation, I never had a problem driving there.
Let me assure you that there is no comparison to driving in the US Virgin Islands, or anywhere else in the world, to driving in Ireland. This is for two reasons: Irish drivers, and Irish roads.
First of all, I want to be explicitly clear here: the Irish people we had the good fortune to meet on our journey were incredibly friendly, warm, and welcoming. It was one of the most amazing parts of our trip. Truly, I cannot express that any more emphatically. Even when I disagreed with people- more on that later- it was all with good humor and sincere caring and generosity that I’ve found rare in this day and age.
Irish drivers, on the other hand… calling them near suicidal is, perhaps, on the barest of exaggerations. In fact, the only time I drove fastebetter than the Irish folks are when we got caught in the extremely rare Irish snowstorm (more on that later). The speed limits seem to be a mere suggestion; not quite a minimum, but damn close.
Now, that being said, I never had anyone feel aggressive at me for driving at the speed limit, though; I’d get over when I was able to let people by, and they’d pass. No fuss. So I never felt pressured to drive anything other than how I felt safe, and you shouldn’t, either.
Now, the Irish roads? Well, as my Minnesotan grandmother used to say: ooofta.
Roads in Ireland are “rated” by the letter in front of them. The “M” motorways, for instance, are the best in Ireland. They are vaguely equivalent to a US Highway than an interstate, other than around big cities like Dublin. However, as the letters go “down”, to “N” and “R”, it gets even sketchier to US equivalencies.
The roads are generally all “two lane”, in the sense that there’s a line drawn down the middle of the road, but in the United States, many of the “R” roads would absolutely be considered one-lane and you’d only find them in the hollers and hills of Appalachia or through the back of the Sierra Nevada. There is, perhaps, inches of space to the side of the lane from your car. Understand when I say “perhaps” there, I mean “under the best of circumstances”.
Not only that, but instead of a ditch or a field to one side, as you might find in America, you’ve got a stone wall that was probably built in 1287AD and looks like it would crumple your car at the slightest provocation. Either that or make you guilty of demolishing a structure that existed literally ten generations before you were even born. And that’s not even mentioning the potholes and divots in the road that, when there is the slightest rain, are able to do a pretty convincing impression of the Mariana Trench.
Research shows that the time that US Navy pilots are the most nervous or afraid isn’t when they’re literally being shot at- it’s when they’re landing back on their aircraft carriers. Driving the R477 on the way to the Cliffs of Moher made me immediately remember that story. Have you ever seen the word “aaaiiiieeeeee!” written out in comic books? Until this trip, I couldn’t really visualize how that would sound in real life. We rounded a curve to discover a box truck barreling towards us at full speed (and then some), with inches of space to spare on either side, and my wife helpfully demonstrated exactly how that exclamation sounds.
My last notes on driving in Ireland: it was immensely helpful to have perused Google Maps before we left. Google Street View lets you peruse the turns and route, and even just spending a few minutes looking through the route leaving the Dublin Airport, for instance, was well worth it.
But even more critically, I would not have been able to navigate anywhere in Ireland as readily as I was without the full-time assistance of my wife, who watched the Google Maps GPS and helped pay attention to things I might miss. Especially if it’s your first time visiting Ireland, I cannot stress enough how important it is to have that second pair of eyes enabling you to concentrate on driving.
FLYING TO IRELAND
We arrived at Washington Dulles at 2pm, three hours before our 5pm departure. Having flown from Dulles many times before, I was almost aghast to see that at 2pm, the airport was almost empty and we made it through security in about thirty-nine seconds. On reflection, I suppose that makes sense as a “lull” time of the day.
The service was good; the flight attendants were very pleasant, and we were airborne with a minimum of fuss. We were feted with food and drinks on a very reasonable schedule; a snack not long after takeoff, and a full meal within 75 minutes. I thought the food was decent for being airline food; I had been a little worried because Aer Lingus had gone viral not long before for the poor quality of their food. The snack was a standard pretzel offering, and the meal consisted of chicken and rice, a pasta salad, and a chunk of Irish soda bread and butter, with a mousse dessert and coffee or tea. I had no complaints.
THE FIRST DAY: GALWAY
Our flight was scheduled to land at 5am, and I’d also mentally prepared to not get out of the airport/customs/car rental center until 7am. Instead, thanks to the jet stream catching the plane just right, we landed at 4:30am. Then we made it through customs and to the Sixt Rental Counter, where the employees were only just opening for the day. I was fully prepared to wait until they officially opened at 5am, but instead they stopped what they were doing to get us on their way. I’ll definitely be renting from them the next time we go to Ireland.
This was a cozy car, but more than perfect for our purposes, and I had no problems with it whatsoever.
got through customs, got to the Sixt rental as soon as it opened at 4:55am, and we were out of Dublin entirely by 5:30am, taking the M4/M6 to Galway.
It was immensely helpful to have perused Google Maps before we left, to scope out the turns out of the airport. I figured we wouldn’t be early enough to miss rush hour traffic, but it turns out that we were- and by 5:30am, we were entirely outside of Dublin, on the M4/M6 headed to Galway, hours ahead of schedule. The open road was perfect for practicing my left-hand driving skills, as well. Initially, I kept edging the rumble strip on the side of the motorway because I was used to “centering” the car differently in America, but it only took a few times of doing that to figure it out, and by the end of the first day that was all over.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to have that second pair of eyes paying attention, so you can concentrate on just driving.
I drove about 5kph over the speed limit and was passed frequently; I made sure to stay in the left lane, though, and we had no problems. On the assumption that we wouldn’t leave the airport until 7am, I planned on stopping in Galway to have lunch at that point. But our GPS indicated we’d be in Galway well before 8am, so I decided to detour to Kinvarra- a little town south of Galway, on the coast and on the way to the Cliffs of Moher- for some desperately needed coffee and breakfast.
We had a lovely chat and excellent coffee/breakfast with the proprietor of Wild Beans. The caffeine was sorely needed- the flat white I had was delectable- and we stopped into the Eurospar for some soda, tea, treats, and miscellaneous things to keep in the car for our road trip.
And this is when I decided to take the R477, instead of the “faster” way, to the Cliffs of Moher from Kinvarra.
The road was in what can only charitably be described as “questionable” shape. I came across a puddle, for instance; I generally avoid puddles, even here in the United States, because you never know what they’re hiding. I had to slown down get all the way into the right lane just to hit this particular puddle by about 10–15% of its width- and almost sent my wife and I into the roof of the rental car, as the puddle had been concealing what I can only assume was once a mining borehole or meteorite crater. The “passenger seatbelt” warning blared loudly, and I was afraid I’d shredded our rental car within hours of renting it. Thankfully, everything was okay.
On the plus side, it kept me awake! Despite the barrenness and the weather, however, this was still a beautiful drive. Stopping to read that rugged terrain was the very same as my home in the hollers and hills of Appalachia- indeed, had been the very same mountain range!- was even more fascinating.
Finally, however, we got back onto more “normal” roads, through the quaint village of Doolin, eventually arriving at the Cliffs of Moher… where we could see absolutely nothing.
We parked the car, shut off the engine- and we both almost immediately passed out. Again, I’d worked 7pm-7am on the day we’d left to go to Ireland, so by this point, I’d been awake for almost two days. Ninety minutes later, I jerked awake, jostled by a particularly rough gust of wind, to discover the weather had only worsened. Thankfully, that nap was exactly what I needed to refresh myself. After a short discussion, we decided we’d have to punt seeing the Cliffs to our next visit to Ireland.
Instead, we drove to the Burren Perfumery, a lovely little family-owned shop selling perfumes, lotions, and the like. Beautiful even with the weather, we were able to find a number of reasonably priced multipacks of small perfumes and lotions to take home as gifts before we headed into Galway.
Arriving in Galway, we checked into the Skeffington Arms Hotel, which cost us €123, including a €10 fee for parking at the nearby Q Park parking garage. It was within easy walking distance of everything we wanted to do in Galway- right across from Eyre Square, close to the Spanish Arch and the city center. This was good because, although the winds we’d faced earlier at the Cliffs of Moher had mostly disappeared, the rain/sleet had continued, and it was a cold and bitter rain.
One of the first stops we made was at Xian’s Street Food. About a year ago, I’d become aware of one of Ireland’s greatest culinary innovations: the Irish Spice Bag, a fusion of Irish and Chinese cuisine consisting (per Wikipedia) of “deep-fried salt and chili chips, salt and chili chicken (usually shredded, occasionally balls/wings), red and green peppers, sliced chili peppers, fried onions, jalapenos and a variety of spices.” There are sometimes small modifications to this, but every spice bag we saw on our trip was pretty close to this. Xian’s had a small upstairs section to sit and enjoy our newfound delicacy.
After the spice bag, it was time for us to get our inaugural pint of fresh Guinness at Tigh Neachtain. This is when I learned that pouring a proper pint of Guinness requires a rest period to let the foam settle. I watched, confused, as the bartender put my pints down and left to do something else, and I stood there wondering what I’d done wrong. Nothing, except not having been blessed enough to have had a real pint of Guinness before.
After that, my wife and I decided to visit Sheridan’s, a cheesemonger about a block away. We’d opted to share small eats with one another rather than to sit down to one big meal. Could’ve eaten Irish charcuterie/cheese every meal in Ireland, honestly. It was really good. Had I known about the incoming snowstorm (foreshadowing!), I would have paid to get a day’s worth of charcuterie and barricaded ourselves at a place in the Irish mountains.
Last, but certainly not least, we decided to visit Murphy’s Ice Cream. Now, admittedly, I was a bit skeptical about this given the weather, but came to discover they also sold hot chocolate, which was so thick, rich, and warm it was almost like drinking a very thin pudding- but absolutely hit the spot. We also tried the Micil Irish Cream- an alcoholic ice cream!- which was similarly incredible.
DAY TWO: WESTPORT
In the morning, we woke up and went to Esquire’s Coffee, directly across the square from the Skeffington Arms Hotel, and enjoyed the best cup of coffee I had the entire time I was in Ireland. I also had an excellent Croque Madam, which I ordered knowing we were headed to a decent day of hiking in Connemara National Park.
We arrived, and began the hike up the Diamond Hill loop, rated one of the best hikes in all of Ireland. Both my wife and I were looking forward to the hike, which is a well maintained and rated a “Moderate” on AllTrails.com. However, as we approached the halfway point- or the turn for the “lower” loop for people only doing half the hike- it began to sleet again, hard. They say there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing, and they’re not wrong. As the weather had improved at the beginning of our hike, my wife and I both had declined to suit up in our full all-weather gear, my wife leaving her rainproof hardshell in the car.
So much to our dismay, we had to turn around. Just to spite us, of course, as soon as we approached the bottom of the hill, the weather began to spite us by clearing off. Had my wife’s down softshell not been thirty pounds heavier due to the precipitation, we would have turned around and given it another go. But in Ireland, the weather giveth, and the weather taketh away.
Leaving Connemara, we took the R335 Leenaun to Louisburgh road on our way to Westport. And let me be explicitly clear here: if you are driving through this part of Ireland, you have to take this route.
Starting at Killary Fjord, and stretching through the Doolough Valley, the stark beauty is a sight to behold. The sheep sleeping in the road or on the side of the road who were unamused at our presence. My wife made me stop so she could take pictures and try to approach one. It made a noise that echoed my exact sentiments when she’d told me her plan: “Think again, lady”, and she wisely retreated.
In a more somber note, make sure to stop at the Doolough Valley Famine Memorial, to learn more about the reason that Ireland has only recently recovered from the population decline it faced in the wake of the famine in the mid-10th century.
Arriving at Westport, we checked in to the Westport Plaza Hotel. For €132 a night, we got a Queen suite overlooking the courtyard, free parking, and free full breakfast the next morning. Along with that, we decided to make use of the on-site spa, where we enjoyed an “Aroma Bath Salts Spa Bath”, which is a “blend of VOYA organic essential oils, organic lemon, lime, clove, basil & mandarin combined with bath salts.”
Staying near the center of Westport made for easy access to the entire village. While the restaurant at the hotel looked more than decent, and was actually fairly reasonably priced, we wanted to get out and about- even considering the weather- and I’m so glad we did.
The best meal of our entire trip was at the Olde Bridge Restaurant in Westport. It’s a very unassuming place, but well rated, and the reviews I read all said it was decent food at a decent price. An eclectic mix of Asian (predominantly Indian) and Irish cuisine, my wife ordered the Tikka Masala and I ordered the “Five Spice Chicken”, which appeared to be a Chinese/Thai inspired dish.
I can honestly say I’ve never had any Thai or Indian food in the United States that could compete. I’m sure it exits somewhere, but I’ve yet to find it. And the “Five Spice Chicken”- we have plenty of Five Spice flavored or accented dishes hereabout, but I’ve looked desperately at every Asian cuisine restaurant within a hundred miles of my house, and not a one seems to put them together like that. I’m now on a quest to attempt to recreate it.
We then headed to Matt Malloy’s and The Porter House Pub, both offering live music, a fire, and fantastic pints of Guinness. I asked the bartender for “something different”, and he suggested I also try a Smithwick’s, which was really good, but I don’t think anything beats a real Guinness in Ireland. We ended the night trekking back to our hotel, preparing to wake up for an early morning hike.
DAY THREE: ENNISKILLEN
Our plan was to hike the nearby Croagh Patrick. Croagh Patrick is one of the taller mountains in Ireland and is the place St. Patrick was said to have spent forty days fasting at the summit. There has apparently been a church on the summit continuously since the 5th Century AD. The views are said to be second to none, and I wanted to try and catch them at sunrise. However, it was all for naught, as overnight the entire area had been blanketed in one to three inches of snow.
Instead, I looked for other things to do. We were set to spend the night in Enniskillen, a small town in the Fermanagh Lakelands of Northern Ireland. My wife had never been to the UK, and I thought it’d be cool to, quote-unquote, “go to another country”. There were a few things to do in-between Westport and there, and after she woke up, we conferred- and decided to visit Downpatrick Head.
The included breakfast with the Westport Plaza Hotel was excellent; we each got a made to order dish and then access to their breakfast buffet; definitely enough food to be able to skip lunch if we wanted. We headed out after breakfast, thinking the overnight snowstorm had slackened. Google Maps gave us an alternate way to Downpatrick Head, and, thinking it had taken into account the weather, we headed north.
Wrong.
Despite Google’s failure to anticipate the road conditions- why, it certainly wasn’t my fault to consider them- we made it to Downpatrick Head without too much undude delay or fuss. By then, the snow had stopped falling, and apparently it had stayed warm enough near the ocean they missed out on the whole affair. What they had instead was gusts of bitterly cold wind of over 40mph.
We drove through Sligo, and then across the border and into Belleek, stopping for lunch and tea at the Lemon Tree Coffee House. We had skipped the opportunity to have afternoon tea that day- there are a number of castles in-between Galway and Donegal that aren’t too expensive relative to the kind of experience you got, but neither my wife nor I felt like €50 a person was something we wanted to splurge on, in line with our budget.
While we didn’t get a “full afternoon tea”, Lemon Tree has great lattes, and we got to have scones and cream. Irish cream isn’t the traditional clotted cream you’d get in the UK (even though we were technically about 50 feet inside the UK); it’s more of a whipped cream type experience. But on a scone with some jam? It’s still great.
The road to Enniskillen along Lough Erne was still very snow-laden, with a few trees down in the road that necessitated careful traversal, but it was beautiful all the same. It reminded me a lot of the foothills of the Blue Ridge, stretching into the Piedmont in Virginia- just with a lot more castles.
We stayed at the seemingly unassuming Belmore Court and Motel, actually the most expensive stay we had on the trip at exactly €175, at our budget limit. However, it also included free breakfast, a bottle of wine, and a two-course meal you could choose to have at a number of local restaurants. Considering the meal alone would have cost €40–50, I though the value was well worth it, and the staff was incredibly polite. I’d definitely recommend staying here if you want to stay in Enniskillen.
We had dinner at the Crowe’s Nest, which was a great choice; the meal was fantastic and the service was even better. I made an offhand comment when we got there about it being my wife’s birthday, and without any further prompting, they brought her a dessert at the end with her name written in syrup on it.
After dinner, we went out to a couple of pubs advertising live music- except the weather foiled our plans once again, as the live music had canceled. Instead, we enjoy a couple pints of Guinness next to a fire and struck up a conversation with the locals before we ended up calling it a night.
DAY FOUR: DUBLIN
The next morning started our last full day in Ireland. We woke up and availed ourselves to the complimentary breakfast. I would have been certainly with standard continental breakfast fare, but the breakfast buffet the Belmore Court offered was exceptional.
After that, we took off back to the Republic of Ireland and headed to Trim Castle. Originally, we had also wanted to stop at Newgrange, which is a prehistoric monument not far from Trim Castle, supposedly built around 3200 BC- making it older than the Pyramids and Stonehenge! But you needed to buy advance tickets, which I neglected to do. So we’ll have to save that one for next time.
Trim Castle was magnificent to behold; considering the age and engineering techniques of the time, the fact anything is still standing here is nothing short of amazing. You can read about how “it took thirty years to build the castle” online or in a book, but when you get there and see the extent of what has survived for most of a millennia after being built by hand, you instantly go “Oh. That makes perfect sense.”
Since we couldn’t go to Newgrange, we decided to just hoof it back to the Dublin Airport to return our rental car. I’d decided that there was no point in keeping a car to drive around Dublin- which turned out to be an excellent conclusion- and it saved us almost an entire day’s rental, plus whatever it would cost to park in Dublin. We took a taxi to downtown Dublin, which cost €40; there are buses for a fraction of that price, but I figured a taxi would be quicker. And it was, but not so much I’d avoid the bus to the city center the next time we’re in Ireland, which was much cheaper and very efficient.
We stayed at the Wren Urban Nest, right in the heart of downtown Dublin- in walking distance to the Book of Kells and Trinity College, the Guinness Storehouse, the Temple Bar district, and innumerous pubs and restaurants. We got a “Cosy Nest” for €161, and it was absolutely “cozy”, but not claustrophic in any way- and very well appointed and high tech. I felt like it could’ve passed for a hotel room on some Disney+ Star Wars show, with the climate and light controls and way it was laid out. I would definitely stay there again, although we lucked out for price, as they can go far higher during busier times of the year.
When we leaving the hotel in Enniskillen that morning, knowing what our schedule for the day would more accurately be, we started to book our itinerary for the day. Both the Book of Kells and the Guinness Storehouse require buying tickets in advance to visit, and I’d presumed that visiting in winter would afford us some leeway on how far in advance we’d need to buy them.
Cue the sad trombone noise, because the Book of Kells was completely sold out by the time we’d checked not long after 9am, and the Guinness Storehouse tours were worrying close to being sold out. When we got settled in our hotel, we wandered over to Trinity College to see if we could somehow still sneak a peek or find our way into a tour via a last-minute cancellation or no-show. But our hopes were sadly dashed.
Instead, with some time to kill, we decided to head over to The Temple Bar. If you look up any trips to Ireland, or particularly to Dublin, you’ll see pictures of The Temple Bar everywhere. However, every time we got near it, it was packed to the gills with people; and when I say “packed”, I mean shoulder to shoulder. We took a few pictures for posterity’s sake, and we also stopped in front of their 24-hour webcam that streams on YouTube, so our kids at home with grandma and grandpa could see us waving to them.
Instead, we stopped into PI Temple Bar, offering wood fired Neapolitan-style pizza. We each ordered their signature pizza, the Nduja (“Crushed Tomato, Fresh Basil, Healy Family Honey, Scamorza, Nduja, Grana Padano”), and discovered why it is ostensibly the best pizza in Dublin. I’ve been to Naples, and I hope to be welcomed back someday, but I’m going to risk saying this pizza was so good, it is virtually indistinguishable from the real deal.
After that, we walked to the Guinness Storehouse. From The Temple Bar, this was probably was an easy 30-minute hike. Just make sure you’ve got walking shoes on.
Now, the Guinness Storehouse is clearly a sort-of “tourist trap” place. I’d bet good money there wasn’t a single local amongst any of the tour groups visiting that day, unless they were dutifully tagging along with visitors from out of town (or, more likely, out of the country). I had pretty much sussed that out from the first time I looked at going there. However, my advice to those of you who haven’t been to Ireland before is to absolutely still go and visit it. It’s still a really cool experience; learning about the history of Guinness, how it’s brewed, what makes it different than other beers, etc, was very interesting.
For instance, I found out that the British government wanted to enact economic sanctions on Ireland during World War II, in an attempt to force them into the war on the side of the Allies. They ultimately demurred, however, because of how much their own troops loved Guinness. I’m sure that wasn’t the only consideration there, but the fact that it was a consideration at all shows how much of a cultural touchstone Guinness is, not just in Ireland but around the world.
We chose tickets that gave the opportunity to teach everyone how to pour their own pint of Guinness, which, as I mentioned earlier, is different than most other beers. The nitrogen the beer is infused with gives it it’s signature head, but also means you have to take a break when the beer gets to a pre-determined point on the Guinness pint glass. You let it settle for a minute, and then finish it off, arriving at the pint you see poured there on the right. They’ll then “certify” you with the ability to pour a pint of Guinness. Kitschy, again, but I’d say it’s still something you have to do once.
After this, we walked back towards our hotel, stopping in a few shops to scrounge for souvenirs of our trip, and decided to call it a night. The Dublin nightlife was in full swing, and we could’ve spent the night barhopping, dancing, etc. When you’re closer to 40 than 30, however, crawling into bed sounds like a lot more fun. We settled in to watch an Irish-made TV drama on RTE, and quickly fell asleep.
The next morning was a bittersweet awakening. We’d had a marvelous time on our trip to Ireland, which was only a few hours from being over. We packed our things and headed out onto the street to walk towards one of the express buses to the airport, making sure to stop at The Stage Door Cafe for breakfast. It’s a very lively place, with some R- and X-rated decor that was hilarious, and you get an almost literal ton of food for what you order.
We got to the airport at 9am for our 12pm flight, as Ireland is unique in having US Customs preclearance at the Dublin airport, which allows flights back to the US to fly into domestic terminals, allowing you to walk directly off the plane and out of the airport. However, I was told repeatedly it can take quite awhile, so we made absolutely sure to get to the airport no later than 8:59am. Thankfully, though, we were through Customs in literal minutes. I don’t know if we should attribute that to it being a Sunday morning, or that our trip was blessed with an inordinate amount of luck, but it meant we had a good two hours to hang out at the airport. I would have loved to have spent that extra time in Dublin, but I can’t complain about being able to get back home in good order.
Taking off out of Dublin, we were able to see the countryside below in a way we couldn’t arriving before sunrise. You can get the barest glimpse at the beauty of Ireland from them. The last picture is of the western coast of Ireland, passing near Ballycastle and Downpatrick Head on the way back across the Atlantic.
The flight back to the US on Aer Lingus was similarly uneventful; I thought the meals on the way back weren’t quite as good as the ones on the way to Ireland, but I truly don’t have anything to complain about.
OVERALL
It was a short trip, and we knew we would only be able to get a glimpse of Ireland- but it was well worth it.
So, what are the top takeaways from our trip?
- We managed to spend less than $200/day on “hard” costs- including lodging, the car rental, etc, costs we really couldn’t escape. However, because of our judicial choice to go for the right hotels (again, all rated 4/5 on Google Reviews or higher) and us choosing things that were free to do, this also covered most of our food and even the gas for the rental car (helped because of the small car we chose).
- If you’re going to come to Ireland in the winter- particularly in Western Ireland- be prepared for extremes from 2–3 different seasons, especially if you’re planning on doing anything outdoors. Other than our hike on Croagh Patrick, which sounds like it would’ve taken crampons and an ice pick, we could’ve done our other hikes if we had taken this fully into consideration. The snow, although unusual, wasn’t impossible for that time of year- so be willing to roll with it!
- If you want to see Ireland fully, you have to drive. But just make sure you’re prepared to drive safely in Ireland. Again, I think a full-time person helping navigate is essential for first time visitors in particular.
- While it’s important to be flexible with your itinerary, and not cram too much into one day, we missed out on doing a few things (the Book of Kells, for instance) because we waited too long to buy advance tickets. If that’s something you want to do, make sure you keep an eye on that!
- And last, but not least- if you haven’t gone to Ireland yet, make plans and go! It’s an incredible country with incredible people.
Thanks, y'all, and Slán go fóill!

As for my collection, I have the following models: American Airlines A350, Air France A380, City of Paris A380, United Airlines B747 (Continental livery), Qantas A330, Jet2Star B737, Emirates B777-200, Welly A300, I got all these models in stores when these models were still in production, regarding models obtained on eBay when they were already rare: Westjet B737 (Winglets), US Airways A320 (Sully), Northwest Airlines B747 (NW085) American Airlines B757, all this without counting my custom models. Share what rare models you have in your collection.