The Perils of Paulie - An Irregular Blog

[Fatcatstu]

Love your trip reports, ive got some reading to do!

[Paulie_D]

Repost

APAT - Vegas Vengeance: Wednesday, 23rd November 2011

You Can"t Beat A Happy Ending

Another good night"s sleep....like I said, the beds at Harrah"s are very comfortable. I was doing the general stooging around the room when my brother Pete texted me suggesting breakfast. At 11am...is he insane...that"s way to early!?

Nevertheless, I felt it my duty to see the little blighter as I hadn"t actually laid eyes on him for 5 days or so. Good to know he was still alive although judging by the look of him when he knocked on my door it had been a rough night.

We sauntered down to The Cafe at Harrah"s...an unimaginative name but accurate. Steak, Eggs, Breakfast potatoes, orange juice and coffee....lovely. We caught up on our various doings but as our interests on the gambling front are different he decided to have another shot at the blackjack tables and, mug that I am, went back to the Venetian.

Seriously, I should have known better....
-
No madam...you did not KNOW the villain had JJ on a J73 - 8 - 8 board when you called all the streets of betting, raised by the villain and reraised by me on every street. I knew he was betting the come on the flop with his A2, I"d been watching him do it for past hour.

If you seriously thought he had JJ you would not have called with a bare 3 and no low on the flop and gone runner runner with 83 to boat the river against my 77.

That was enough, I"d been there less than 2 hours and was down $140 already...I"m done.

Of course, this left me with the rest of the day to fill. I wandered back to Harrah"s and played the penny slots for an hour or two dropping another $100 or so...no, I lie, it was more like $200.

Jesus, I"m so stupid sometimes.

That put me further in a funk and I was sitting in my room trying to decide whether to even bother to do anything for the evening when I got a text from, as it turned out, Ger to the effect that they had acted on a suggestion of mine from some time back and made reservations at The Range Steakhouse [2016 Note: Now Ruth Chris"s Steakhouse] upstairs in Harrah"s for 8pm.

I kind of felt obliged to be there ad it had been my original idea but on reflection that wasn"t the important point. No, this would be my last opportunity so socialise with some of my APAT friends before they flew back and that I could not miss.

So, I threw off my troubles and made my way downstairs and found a small crowd at the Numb bar just outside The Range"s private elevator. It seemed that some people there were unconvinced about the value of the meal compared to the cost so they elected to choose the Outback instead.

Fair enough. As it turned out Richard Baker called me and said that he had rounded up a few more and we eventually made it upstairs eleven handed. A couple of tables pushed together right by the window overlooking the Strip and all the ambiance you might expect.

Oysters, Steak and Lobster followed by Tiramisu all washed down with a few large glasses of wine.

How much you ask?...About $110 each and worth every red cent. The service and food were top notch and I would recommend it if you happen to be into that kind of experience.

We were out by 10.30 pm or so, I"m not precisely sure of the time but I suggested that we finish off the night at Toby Keith"s.

This ideas was more or less warmly received although I did see Ger and a couple of others yawning but that didn"t stop them following along.

On arrival, someone was getting the drinks in while we tried to find a table that we could all sit at when I looked around to find Laxie having a barney with a security guard.

It seemed that this jobsworth was concerned about us disrupting the flow of the restaurant section by sitting at a "restaurant table" instead of at a a set of stools no more than 4 feet away.

Dawn was explaining to this f...ellow that it was had to disrupt the flow when there were precisely 3 people sitting the the restaurant section which had space for over 100 covers.

Regardless, I suggested to Laxie that it wasn"t worth the hassle but somehow, bless her, she managed to wangle not only $50 worth of comps as an apology for our trouble but late check-out (2pm instead of noon) for all of us in the party staying at Harrah"s.

Gift of the gab I suppose.

Well that sealed it...we were drinking and singing along to the somewhat (I thought) mediocre cover band playing and eventually closed up the joint at 1.30am.

Job done.

I shook a few hands in case I didn"t see them again before they flew out and wended my weary way back my room. Stuffed and Happy. Day ended well I think.

[duke3016]

Ger seemed to be hitting everything in sight even when he should have gotten out of the hand some time before. This was a little frustrating [2016 Note: In fact was downright annoying] but there is nothing you can do in these situations.

Gifted  

[Paulie_D]

Repost

APAT - Vegas Vengeance: Thursday, 24th November 2011

It's Over, Deal With It

Well, it finally arrived...the main strength of the APAT contingent was heading home today. Not me of course, I have another couple of days...of which more later. Thanks to Dawn's negotiating skills I wasn't rushed about moving out of my hotel room until I was good and ready but by 2pm I was packed up and checked out and sitting in the Starbucks near to the lobby waiting for my brother.

A parade of happy, but very tired APAT faces paraded past to do the check-out thing and wait for various taxis and limos. Yes, Vegas can be a tiring place to visit..even for the young. Because there is so much to see, do and experience, especially for the Vegas Virgins, they try to cram it all in into the quite short amount of time.

Sleep comes far down on the list and that catches up with you eventually. For many it will be when they get home...some may be unconscious on take-off from McCarran.

Anyway, back to me.

Pete eventually out in an appearance about 2.45pm and did his check-out thing. No surprisingly, in additional to getting 5 days for free, they comped the other two nights based on his play over the past few days.

Me... I earned a grand total of $6...whoop-de-doo.

So, with the admin done, we cabbed it over to the Mirage...no way I was lugging 20kg of luggage across Harrah"s casino floor, across LV Blvd and then across the Mirage.

Check-in was easy and we made our way up to our room for the next two nights.

Very nice rooms even if I say it myself.

By the time we gotten unpacked and sorted it was time to eat. The line at the buffet was too long so I directed Pete to BLT Burger.

Mmmmmm.....gorgeous with a couple of draft Bud Lites. Pete thought it was the bees patellae.

With the body sated Pete went off to do his thing and I headed to the Mirage Poker Room. They don't get anything other than Hold'em going on here very often so I just decided to sit in on a 3/6 Limit game.

Unfortunately, the game was shorthanded for quite a while and I didn't fare very well. In the end I just go blinded away and ended up down about $100.

I got bored with it and decided to rest up for a while before thinking of what to do next. On my way out of the poker room I met a local friend who deals at both the Mirage and Bills and we caught up in a very quick fashion as she was just coming on shift.

On getting back to the room, I find Pete already collapsed on his bed pretty much spark out. I found this idea quite attractive and got my head down.

Of course, this was fatal and I woke up around 11.30pm and that was that, I read for a while but couldn't get back to sleep and the next thing I know it's well past 3am and Pete and I are watching re-runs of Friends...all the Thanksgiving episodes.

[sorry]Hangs head in shame[/sorry]

So...nothing much to report of the Thursday night...another rest day overall.

[Paulie_D]

Ger seemed to be hitting everything in sight even when he should have gotten out of the hand some time before. This was a little frustrating [2016 Note: In fact was downright annoying] but there is nothing you can do in these situations.

Gifted  

More like  Special

[Paulie_D]

Repost

APAT - Vegas Vengeance: Friday, 25th November 2011

One Last Shot

After last night"s debacle I was determined to get some poker in on the last full day in Vegas. Considering the Mirage room was purely HE and It"s not my favourite cash game I decided to try the Venetian again despite the battering I"d been getting there.

Not that I got there until around 2pm. The beds at the Mirage are very nice too, perhaps not quite as comfortable as those at Harrah"s but nice enough that I lazed until well after 1pm.

I tried to give the Venetian"s food court a go but the temptation of Stella got the better of me so back to the Grand Lux Cafe it was. The bartender recognised me...they"re kind of good at that and it does help that I sometimes have my name on my shirt. You may mock (and you have) but  it does break the ice sometimes.

Anyway, a very nice Reuben sandwich and a couple of Stellas and I was ready to get back at it.

I finally got into a game about 3pm and really hunkered down and ground it out. Within and hour I was up $100 and feeling much more comfortable but then the Americans all decided to head off for an early dinner and we sat short handed for quite a while.

This led to me dropping a few chips just in blinds but I was holding my own. When we finally got back to a full table when I got involved in a hand where I flopped a set with a low on the board and got into a raising war against to players both (I knew) playing the nut low.

Unfortunately the board didn"t pair and ran out all low and I had to let it go after pumping a significant proportion of my stack into the pot.

This depressed the living **** out of me but I wasn"t willing to give up on playing just yet. Battening down the hatches I played locked down poker for another few hours and by 11pm and 7 hours of play I was back over my starting stack and called it a night with a grand total of $62 profit.

I can"t say I"ve broken the back of the Venetian demon but it"s not looming over me any more.

So back to the Mirage for something to eat. I just walked past the queue of people at BLT Burger (who wanted tables) and sat myself at the bar.

A VERY nice turkey burger and couple of Bud Lights and that had me finished off. I went back to the room...no Pete but that wasn"t terribly surprising...he wandered in around 5am just as I was waking up.

So that"s about it really....the season finale of Paulie Does Vegas.

A few random thoughts just to round off.

Firstly, I realised in the cab to McCarran for the flight back that I"d done this trip in reverse to my previous few trips. I"d normally do a week on the Strip and then relax off-strip for the second week. Consequently, I was somewhat more tired on this trip that I had expected.

Secondly, I took care of myself a little better than I have before, I ate properly...hell, very well, compared to just grabbing things when I wanted. I was only visited by the bear once and that helped too.

Being with a group is just awesome but it is nice to have some time to yourself.

I didn"t hit up half the places I had planned...I"m not worried, the occasion didn"t arise but I think you would have liked some of the choices, perhaps next time.

I"ve seem some discussion (already) about next year. I still maintain that late in the year (October to  December) is the best time...it"s not blisteringly hot, the weather, even late at night is still T-Shirt weather for Brits.

I have the first couple of weeks of November 2012 pencilled in but that"s likely to be another road trip from LA to Vegas (perhaps with a side trip to Laughlin). Still, that"s just the basic outline for now and it"s a long way off. [2016 Note: Nope, didn"t happen]

Peace.

[Paulie_D]

Matt Dale has been doing some digital archaeology and gradually bringing back some blog posts from past years.  

I"m gonna have to make sure I dupe these off-site in case of future issues but, in the interim, I"ll keep reposting some of the more interesting (well, at least to me) trip reports from days gone by as they are unearthed.

So, continuing on...THAT trip to APAT Ireland in 2010 but some background first.

I have great fun in researchng Travel related stuff and found out that (at the time) you could pay a low combined price to travel by train / ferry from anywhere in the UK. It compared very well with flights/taxi cost if you have the time.

You still can!

Pleased with myself I thought.."why not?"...you live and learn.



APAT Dublin....the day before. Pt I

Friday 24th September 2010

The day dawned...but as usual I was up before that...(when did it stop getting light before I am awake?)..but no time to dawdle around with a cup of coffee and a bacon sarnie this morning. Oh no..I"m off to Dublin today.

Having found this (supposedly) simple relaxing train/ferry option for c.£65 I kind of had to try it out.

Silly me....I should have known that any journey relying on the much vaunted London public transportation system was not going to be easy.

No problem getting the bus to Upminster station...oddly quiet this morning...It"s been a few years since I"ve been a regular commuter but recall the buses and trains being fuller. It"s not as though I"ve gotten any smaller!

So...District Line to London with a quick change to the Hammersmith and CIty Line to roll into Euston Square around 8.30 or so for a 9.10 departure to Holyhead.

All started well but when I try to make the change to the H&C line I encounter my first problem. After going just one stop we"re told that the service is being suspended due to signalling difficulties. Sigh.

OK, backup plan..back on the District Line to Tower Hill, change to the Circle Line. Get to Tower Hill. swap platforms...stairs, bane of my existence.

Excellent..Circle Line train rolls in 1 minute later. I board.

Nope...announcement. "Circle Line is suspended".

FECK!

OK, I check the time...and continued travel by train just isn"t going to cut it. I hoof it to Fenchurch Street and finally manage to flag down a cab about 8.35.

We seem to crawl through town taking some back-doubles that have me thinking I"m being long-hauled. I deliberately don"t check the time all the way.

Either I make it..or I don"t.

T.B.C.

[Paulie_D]

APAT Dublin....the day before. Pt II

Friday 24th September 2010

...so, we roll up to Euston and I get out of the cab and pay the man his money...and it"s 9.03am. I just handed him a £20 note and didn"t have time for change...decent tip for him!

I race...OK, waddle as fast as I can..up the stairs and immediately see the electronic board showing my train is on platform 4.

9.05am...I make it down the ramp and on to the first carriage I"m ticketed for, which turns out to be the last but one carriage at the rear of the train. I plunk myself down in the first non-reserved seat and all is right.

9.08 am Plug in the laptop, grab the free wifi and I"m good to go.

OR AT LEAST I THINK I AM!

T.B.C.

[duke3016]

I need my Guru fix 

[Paulie_D]

APAT Dublin....the day before. Pt III

Friday 24th September 2010

Having had a pretty fraught journey so far, I"m very happy to be relaxing in a nice seat, with a table with all of the electronic access I need to make the rest of the trip an enjoyable one.

BUT

About 90 minutes in, I think, we pull into Chester and I"m busy typing away when there"s a tap on my shoulder and the train attendant asks me where I"m going.

"Holyhead", I reply.

"Oh. You have to be in the first 6 carriages for that, the train is splitting here."

Whatever...I thank him, quickly grab my stuff and try to disembark...but the doors won"t open. I grab another attendant and she explains that until the train has split the doors remain locked.

FFS..a couple of minutes go by while I quietly fume, the train splits and my half moves a hundred yards down the platform.

The doors unlock and I"m off. I see the fellow who told me about the train splitting, which is the first I"ve heard of it...and we exchange waves.

Now my wave meant.."Yes it"s me, I coming to get back on the train"...but apparently we were not speaking in the same wave language because he turns to the train guard and says something...AND THE TRAIN PULLS OUT!

I DO NOT BELIEVE THE DAY I"M HAVING!

I harangue the guy for a couple of minutes and he just looks at me blankly and says "I"m not responsible for holding trains".

I give up...apparently his red Virgin waistcoat is cutting of the oxygen to his brain.

I just ask when is the next train to Holyhead and apparently there is one is 10 minutes from the next platform over.

I heave my ageing carcase over the bridge to the next platform and the train is waiting for me. I clamber aboard and settle into my new seat. No luxuries here, no power point, no wifi.

Oh well, I have my mobile broadband dongle and as soon as we set off, I get set up again and start figuring out when I"ll arrive at Holyhead and whether I"ll make the ferry.

A quick check with Trainline lets me know that I should arrive before departure of the ferry..about 30 minutes...but there could be a problem as check-in will have closed 15 minutes before that...at least according to the ticket stuff I got from the ferry company.

I then have to start thinking about what will happen if I don"t make it...do I take the next ferry?...but that"s not for another 7 hours and it would mean arriving at my hotel at 2am...and it"s not 24 hour reception.

I could overnight in Holyhead and catch the fast ferry on Saturday morning...or I could just abandon the whole idea and turn around and go home.

I have so many scenarios floating around in my head, I can"t concentrate on reading my book. I just sit in my seat and watch the scenery go by...slowly.

Actually, that wasn"t to bad, it was very nice scenery and I wish I could have appreciated it more..but I had too much going on to do that.

At one point we stop at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch...but for some reason the driver doesn"t announce the stop. Heh!

Eventually, we arrive at Holyhead (2 minutes early in fact), I head off towards the Stena terminal at the end of the platform to discover my fate.

T.B.C.

[Paulie_D]

APAT Dublin....the day before. Pt IV

Friday 24th September 2010

I enter the Stena terminal and...joy of joys...am greeted with the famous British invention...the queue!

Yes...I don"t know why...and at this point I don"t care why check-in it still open..but it is...at least as far as I can tell.

While I"m standing there, shuffling along every few seconds or so, I see the familiar face of Paul McGuinness and we exchange greetings, he disappears for a minute or to (honestly, the man has a bladder the size of a peanut)..during which time I make my way to the front of the check-in line.

Now I"m fully expecting to be pulled aside and told I"m too late but...all is good, I check-in my bag, get my boarding card and make my way to the shuttle bus for foot passengers. I try to wait for Paul but he misses the first bus and will have to catch the second one in a couple of minutes.

Eventually, we drive onto the ferry, I manage to find Paul and we make our way up to the restaurant & bar deck.

We grab a couple of drinks and a table and settle down to make the crossing. I fire up the laptop and log-in to the free wifi but it"s got some net-nanny filter...no gambling sites allowed...so I can"t post up what"s happening.

Regardless, Paul and I have a good old natter about APAT, Dublin, Life, how proud he is of the Welsh Team at WCOAP and a few other subjects.

We"re sitting outside Dublin harbour when the captain comes over the tannoy to advise us that our docking berth is still occupied by the other Stena ship due to someone falling ill on board and they can"t leave.

And if they can"t leave...we can"t arrive.

Over the next FOUR hours we are advised that the person suffered at heart attack which meant that they had to wait for an ambulance to arrive...the paramedics then worked on the poor soul until they had to give up. This then meant that they had to wait for the Garda to arrive and take witness statements.

So, a journey that should have taken 3.5 hours took nearly 7.5 hours...but eventually we dock and disembark. Paul and I collect our luggage and head out of the terminal to find a cab. I would have thought they would be swarming but apparently not.

Stena do put on a courtesy bus into Connelly station but Paul has already found a taxi firm who will send us a cab if we can wait 15 minutes or so. Fair enough.

As it happens, a cab pulls in after about 5 minutes, apparently for hire. We flag him down and Paul goes up to the cab and says "McGuinness?"...the driver says yes and we climb in.

Only it wasn"t the cab we called...the driver"s name WAS McGuinness!

Doesn"t matter to us...we"re on board and heading for my hotel. Paul"s booked into the same one but only for Saturday and Sunday so I offer him my floor. I can see him while I"m typing this...snoring away..poor lamb...it wasn"t a late night for us...but it was a long day.

Anyway, we arrive safely at Latchfords about 9pm and I get us checked in. Nice place, self-catering, but they lay on tea and coffee in the room. Microwave, kettle, toaster and even a full oven.

Other than the kettle I don"t see those getting a lot of use. Literally over the road from Larry Murphy"s and only 55 euro a night. GOLDEN!

After getting sorted we wander over to Larry Murphys and are greeted by the Ger contingent and a few others. Hilarity ensues.

My reputation as a "Travel Guru" is clearly in tatters but I maintain that, if everything goes right, that journey is pretty sweet. Can"t say that I would do it exactly the same as I did this time, I might allow a little more time but  sometimes stuff happens.

Onwards...breakfast awaits...if I can wake Paul.

[Paulie_D]

APAT Dublin....the day during.

Saturday 25th September 2010

Dawn broke and the crash woke me up...either that or it was the muppet who tripped over the refuse bin in the alley behind the mews house / apartment we"re in.

Didn"t seem to bother Paul though...he"s still asleep. I decide to roll back over and get some more winks..40 wasn"t enough.

Around 10am (I think) I"m fully awake, showered, shaved and I have had a decent...shampoo too! Drinking a lovely cup of tea I log-in to the free wifi and update the forum on my journey from hell while waiting for Paul to revive.

About 11am we get a call from Reception to tell us that"s Paul"s room is ready and he moves his stuff over and then we head of in search of breakfast. A short walk up Baggot Street gets us to the place that Paul remembers and we tuck in to a Full Irish Breakkie.

Well, that"s what they called it....not where I"m from it ain"t. Bacon, Sausage, Egg, Beans and Toast isn"t even a Full English Breakfast..but what the heck...it"ll fill the spot.

Just as I check the forum on my phone and tell Paul that Leigh and John Murray are stuck at the airport Paul sees them walking down the road. Oops...shoulda checked the time on that post.

Afterwards we wander back and pop into the Fitz (which was pretty deserted at mid-day) to say hello to Tighty and Co. but before long...yes you guessed it...I need a drink. Paul begs off to watch some football (and probably get some kip off the floor) while I head into Larry Murphys.

Ger Sr is, of course, seated at the bar and tells me I should have tried Doheny & Nesbitts for breakfast. Apparently, we"d walked past it...filed away for future reference.

It"s not long before it feels like we have most of the runners for the comp in Larry Murphys. About 2.15 I head over to the Fitz to get my seat and after what seems an age, the rest follow and, unusually for an APAT event...we get off, I think, about 30 minutes late.

I had the pleasure of being seated at Table 1 (Seat 1) which was the only table downstairs. The reason...they have an older regular (Paddy...I swear) who can"t get up the stairs so Table 1 is usually not broken until he goes out.

Paddy though wasn"t destined to be with us too long...although he managed a few levels. He was, I regret to say, extremely easy to read. With AA,  KK or AK..he ALWAYS min-raised pre-flop.

Post-flop, with AK he"d min-bet until he hit. He got called all the way to the river by another regular with 99 because the V knew Paddy hadn"t hit. When Paddy did hit...he"d pot bet. Fairly easy to get away from.

My play?...Oh, I made a couple of hero calls that worked and steadily started chipping up...donked off about the same amounts a couple of times (mostly to Brendan Byrne). Most of the time I was on or about the chip average but couldn"t ever get far enough ahead.

When Table 1 had broken, we moved upstairs and after another huge donk to Brendan I was down to about 50% of the chip average..and about 10 BB left. This is where I started getting some big hands, or at least they were big enough to get some chips in the middle.

I took 2K off Brendan with a LP shove with KQs, then picked up a couple of big hands that I raised with in EP that all got through or they folded to a c-bet.

Eventually, I"m back up to about perhaps 12k (I can"t recall exactly) and pick-up AQo in the Hi-jack (I think). This would have been the 4th or 5th hand in succession where I"ve raised pre-flop and I get re-raised on the button by Alex Currie.

Now Alex had already laid down a few hands to me before (and I"d made a hero-call with an 8 high flush to a raise on the river from him much earlier in the day).

This was it....I"ve put something like 2K in pre-flop (400/800/100) and I"ve got maybe 8k/9k back and he"s raised to 6k. If I double up, I"m nicely back on or above the average.

I shove and he calls...my AQo vs his JJ....OK, I"ll take that.....well, not on a J44 flop I won"t. The turn is an Ace giving me 2 outs for the real suckout but it"s not to be.

9pm. Hmmm....what do do next? I think I know.

Yep...Larry Murphys it is.

A few pints later, it"s getting late and, damn it, I forgot to eat again...must be the alcohol in my belly making me feel full...and sloshy! Whatever, it"s getting really loud in Murphys and I"m pretty knackered (and not a little lubricated).

Rather than risk over-dosing, I head off to my bed for a good nights sleep.



APAT Dublin....the day after.

Sunday 25th September 2010

Another day in Dublin...what will Sunday bring I wondered as I wandered up Baggot Street towards Doheny & Nesbitts for breakfast. Well it didn"t bring early opening that"s for sure.

Apparently, pubs in Dublin can"t legally open before 12.30pm on Sunday. That"s no frakkin" good to me at 11.am now is it! (Another factoid filed away for next year).

Whatever, I settle for the faux-Irish Breakfast at the same place as yesterday while getting up to date on the forum.

Sidebar: I get internet on my phone through T-Mobile and for a measly £10 I got 50mb of data roaming that lasted all the way through the weekend. How good is that? I remember getting stung over £100 for about 30 minutes use in Vienna a couple of years back. [2016 Note...things are sooo different now...right?]

Back to the story...assuming anyone cares..and if you don"t, so what?

I wander back in the direction of my hotel/the Fitz/Larry Murphys with no particular plan in mind. I buy a paper in the handy Londis next door (another factoid filed away for next year) and as I come out I see Pat the barman from Larrys opening up.

Well, if it"s fate...it"s fate. I"m first in but not the last. Soon I am joined by many others and we rail Steve Roderick via Live Update from the pub until it"s all over. Many, many hours later...OK 8 hours, I haven"t left the pub yet and it"s time for something to eat. Pat"s probably going to close up soon anyway.

Five of us head over to Chai-Yo, an Asian restaurant next door to my hotel and we get seated at the Teppanyaki table by the front door. However, we"re eating off the cheapo 18 euro for 4 courses menu but Paul McG persuades them to serve us in-situ as we"ll make the place look busy from the outside.

We"re sitting there chatting away and drinking our drink (Oh, you knew there would be drinks didn"t you?) when it turns completely surreal. Four of the waitstaff/cooks break into song with "Ticket to Ride". They then proceed to do two or three more numbers including the "Chai-Yo Song" to the tune of Neil Sedaka"s "Oh, Carol".

#Hilarity Ensued - Good Times

Replete with good food at around 10pm I wish the others good night as I have any early cab in the morning for the journey home. I"m really hoping it"s nothing like the journey over.

[Paulie_D]

APAT Dublin....the day after the day after.

Monday 26th September 2010

Nope no problems. The taxi I"d booked was waiting for me when I emerged from the hotel at 7am and it was a reasonably quick trip to the ferry port.

Trip across the Irish Sea went off without a hitch and I caught up on some missed TV programmes I"d downloaded to my laptop which helped pass the time.

I wasn"t entirely sure about the train connection at Holyhead. I was under the impression I could get a train at 12.38 but would have to change at Chester. I decided to wait for the Virgin train at 2pm and I took the opportunity to re-charge the laptop at the same time from a handy wall outlet at the station.

Train to Euston took seemingly no time at all and the return trip on the Tube was uneventful...sorry, no drama this time.

I rolled into my front door about 7pm, 12 hours from leaving my Dublin hotel. In hindsight, I probably wouldn"t do it again but like I said before, if you have the time (and nothing goes wrong) it"s a lovely journey.

[duke3016]

The man has a way with words for sure. Enjoy these ditty"s immensely.

[Paulie_D]

Ohhh memories...I"ve told this one many times and it still makes me smile.

Extracted from a Trip Report/ Blog entry from January 2008.

Sidebar: A trip to Vegas with my brother Pete. We"re staying at the Stratosphere. I"d been delayed due to flight connections...Pete arrived early and had been playing blackjack for many hours. He likes Corona.

Las Vegas: January 12th 2008

"Pick a card...any card"

After I crashed out last night and finally nodded off to sleep...my phone rings....

Blearily, I mumble, "Allo?", mentally adding "You git"

As suspected, it"s the sibling spannered out of his skull..."Erm, whash the rhume nummer, mate?"

I dutifully reel off the room number and wait for him to pour through the door...I few minutes later, I hear him trying his room key card in the lock...nope, doesn"t work the first, second or third time.

With a sigh, I heave my aging carcase out of bed to let him in...the problem is clear...he"s using the casino loyalty card instead of the room key card.

Naturally, none of this is remembered the next morning...