Snakes and Leprechauns: Dublin Day One

snakes and leprechauns!

No matter how experienced one is at world travel, technology is something we have to learn to do without. It may be an illusion that things have changed dramatically since the days when letters home once a month sent by packet boat or tramp steamer, because I have proof. My blogs, written in the airport (where I almost missed my flight), hotel rooms and on the train have been eaten every day since we arrived, despite my best efforts, and I can't find an explanation. And for a writer there is no greater frustration than having something disappear forever, rewritten (twice), until there isn't much left to say except "snakes and bastards!!!"

But I am persevering, humbled by my apparent lack of real technology mastery, and writing everything first on the iPad's word platform and then copying it into wordpress for blog publication. At least now, when the page goes mysteriously blank I won't be left sitting here wondering if I should chuck the whole thing. The daily diary will still exist, and I may have to re-constitute the experience once I get home.

I'll recap my first post, albeit briefly - and perhaps my stab at the proclivities of vanity are to blame for the apparent mischievousness of the leprechauns who have been messing with my iPad. For those of you who want to stay in touch daily with family back home, my suggestion are as follows: a)forget using facetime because the double-chinned, military-grade super dooper camera visuals make anyone look like crap, b) those cheap 'multi-country' cellphones like Eurobuzz aren't worth the $29.00 if you can use your regular cellphone for about the same price (.79/min) and c) use Viber, a free app that is better than Skype because once you install it and find WiFii (all our hotels/B&B's have it) you can call or text anyone else who has the same app for free.

That's it for Day One. I am really in Ireland and will try again in the virtual tomorrow (read 10 minutes because I have a lot of catching up to do if this works).