Articles from August 2019

Auf Wiedersehen Berlin, we are off to Prague! Our train was departing at 8:59 on the dot and we needed to get a taxi to the train station as it was more than walking distance. After breakfast the previous day which was completely packed, apart from us there were two other tables used. It was an hour earlier than the previous day though.

Our thoughts this morning were to have some breakfast, find a hop-on, hop-off bus for a few hours and then come back to the room and have a rest. Well, that didn’t turn out so well. We had read the brochure for the bus which said it was a 2 hour trip. There was a red line and a green line, with the swap over near the main train station. So after a breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages etc. we headed off.

We stopped at a coffee shop to spend our two hours waiting. Like at Dublin, they only tell you an hour before the flight which gate you are at. We were sitting near gate 6. We would be leaving from gate 24.

Ros’s birthday today. Last trip overseas we were in Paris for birthday celebrations, this year it’s Edinburgh.

Tonight, starting at 9pm, we would be enjoying the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. A good breakfast was needed – bacon, eggs and toast; all cooked in the flat. While cooking breakfast we could see people walking their dogs on the grass section behind the building. One guy had a good look in initially. When he came back the second time, I waved at him and he nervously waved back – like he had been busted!

I was up fairly early and decided I would head down to Loch Leven to test out whether I had fixed the issues with the waypoint mission. I had created a small test over land nearby to make sure it would take photos. Success! With that successful test I commenced the real flight – out and around the castle. Everything went perfectly, I was high enough over the castle to get some great shots. When I got back to Louise’s we had a look at the photos and they turned out pretty good, even if I say so myself.

I had talked to David and Louise the earlier night about taking some photos/video with the drone at nearby Loch Leven. There is a castle on an island in Loch Leven called Lochleven Castle. It was where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned, escaped and fled to England. Ros and I went down to to the loch. I had set up a ‘mission’ on my drone app that would take photos on one trip halfway around the island and then video on the next trip. It was a 2.2km round trip and would take about 8 minutes according to the app.

We had an early-ish start (if 9:30am is early) to get on the road as there were a number of stops on the way we wanted to make.

The house was like stepping back in time, comfy four poster bed, bathroom with everything you need, including (the softest towels ever) a two seater couch in the room and a view of the mountains really relaxing, being so close to nature we didn’t turn on the TV and feel asleep. After the late arrival the night before, the breakfast spread that they had put on was fantastic. It was all in our room so we didn’t have to leave. We had tea, coffee, croissants, fruit scones, yoghurt, juice etc. Great way to start the day.

Friday started with a twist. We had received an email a couple of hours earlier from Hainan Airlines advising that our flight from Dublin to Shenzhen in September had been cancelled. Uh-oh. We frantically tried to call Hainan Airlines to confirm what our options were. The phone cut out a couple of times, but they ended up ringing back to continue the discussion.

As usual we started the day by opening our eyes and then wandering down to breakfast. Breakfast was quite good – we had a seat next to the full-length windows with a view of the castle.

Our route today was to go further West out to Shanagolden and Glin and then loop back East to Kilkenny, via Tipperary. Shanagolden and Glin are two towns that Ros’s family are from.

The drive from Limerick to the cliffs was very scenic, and quite wet. It rained quite a lot along the way but also cleared to have beautiful patches of sunshine. Along with lots of other tourists we arrived at the cliffs and parked. Ros wanted to get a scarf as it was windy and cold outside, we also decided to buy a poncho at a shop just in case it rained. That would be a wise decision. Well, mostly.

Our destination was the Absolute Hotel, Limerick – 210kms or about 2 hours 15 minutes away.

This time we were flying on the Dreamliner – Boeing 787. Given the improvements made to the airplanes over the years we wanted to test out the theory that it is better for people. This plane had two separate business class sections. We were in the second half, just in front of Economy (not that you would know it).

Our day started by getting up early. Early bird gets the worm, or so they say. Research we did on what lounge access was available in Cairns was not good – the only lounge, the Reef Lounge, was apparently destined to close on 1 August, days before we arrived. We had a buffet breakfast at the hotel given that we may not have the opportunity to have something substantial at the airport. Your typical Aussie breakfast – bacon, eggs, hash browns, baked beans, juice etc.

Our trip to Dublin started in Brisbane, as you would expect. Rather than the typical route through Dubai, London or Abu Dhabi, we went via Cairns. On Saturday afternoon we departed Brisbane on Qantas, arriving to a wet and cold(ish) Cairns. Flight time was about 2.5 hours, similar to Brisbane to Melbourne.