Why I stand by my comments on downsides to my Irish trip

JessNiLeacai..You must have had the wrong Corkmen ;))

Simon go the Bahamas next time , you whiner.

He mutters as gaeilge like it was klingon.Its agat not agatsa...nurse Ratchett!?

More stupid ignorant bigotry from the poster jessnileaci, though from a source I hadn't noticed before. You may not "want" my country, but hundreds of thousands of Irish would love to come live here,because they've made such a mess of their own country. One of the multiple ways they have screwed up their country is by electing a corrupt Fianna fail government which introduced a policy of settling the country with foreigners. And the problem is, that policy went parallel with forcing their own citizens to become permanent welfare leeches. And some of them do come here, breaking our immigration laws. I don't take abuse from racists like you, nileacai. I don't support illegal alien Irish skulking around Woodside or the Bronx. And how stupid you are--you attack the United States, then you quote (is this the extent of your reading and education?) an American cartoon! Then you try to intimidate me off this site. I'm more Irish than 99% of the Irish-born posters here, people like you, oleacai, with your dumb Coronation Street and Manchester United. You've nothing to offer in terms of Irish culture. I even went to the trouble of learning Irish, when the lazy feckless Irish insist on blabbering in Leprechaun English. An bhfuil oiread agus focal amhain Gaeilge agatsa, a oinsigh aimaideach?

What Simon was saying in his original post as well as the follow up were just based on his observations and not a slam of Ireland or the Irish. I am not well traveled except with the US Navy in the 60's, yet my first trip after retiring was to Ireland. Staying in B&Bs is much better than hotels. There was many a roundabout I circled twice and a few three times picking the right sign pointer to follow. Then whilst in Tarbert looking for a house address, unsuccessfully, I found the pier overlooking the Shannon. I asked an older woman who was walking her dog if she knew how to get to the said address. She replied, "You go in to town and turn right and then stay to the right and sure you'll find it." So I walked out on the pier digesting her directions. I decided to verify and asked a fisherman. He said, "You go in to town and turn right and then stay to the right and when you come to the school it'll be, pause, five houses on your right." Of course they were both right.

As I said earlier - IF in doubt, ASK! no one will shoot you - not even a cop. When visiting a foreign country EXPECT things to be DIFFERENT. If you are driving around a foreign country - Buy a MAP ( a folded piece of paper with lines depicting roads showing the various towns and cities AND how to get there). If there are multiple switches in a room - Turn them ALL ON, then decide which ones to turn off. It's quite simple really, but requires a huge amount of common sense. We employ 'foreigners' here so get over it and used to it. I can bet the house that if I go to America I won't meet an 'American' - what I will meet are foreigners who "claim" to be American - Italian/American, French/American, Irish/American - but not a single "American" will I meet. Ireland is an open economy and multi-cultural/national country. The day of the old thatched cottage, leprechauns, and comely maidens dancing at the cross-roads are over.

PolinDeB...There is no sense of humour on this site. This place is a comedian's nightmare. I get your joke. The fun of been in a car screaming.. any other way but the way the sign is pointing...Just expect the grammar police to respond to your post.

SirPeter don't be giving these women false hopes about Corkmen!As a corkwoman myself I had to go northwards for such orgasmic pleasures hahah

Deidra47..Sorry about the French couple helping you kiss the Blarney Stone.That's just plain wrong. I live 3 miles away from the Blarney Stone. You should have refused to let them hold you while kissing it. God Damn!! Is nothing sacred anymore.It's the strong Irish arms holding you while you kiss the stone.It's all connected.You would have felt the magic then course through your body. I helped one American girl years ago kiss the stone,living so close all my life she felt it would be better. She got the gift of eloquence alright. She wrote a 40 page letter back telling me she also became Multi-Orgasmic as well. I wrote back and told her that wasn't the stone. But she could think of me if she wants. ;))

btw, I think the word you were looking for was 'Geez' Geese are in a flock...

yes PolinDeB, Geese. hahaha See sense of humour. The writer,however, bless his poor American well paid journalist heart has none!

Geese people really need to get a touch of reality... My Australian friend had a great time in Ireland and still tells the story of how every time we saw a sign for the M50 carpark I screamed at her to go the other way .. any other way!!! After spending an hour and a half on it going 4 miles to a wedding reception she understood why.. it's stil her favourite story though... bad stories are part of travel and the truth is everything they guy said is true... the guys in dublin who are bringing tourists for a pint on arrival know that... ;) sense of humour please!!

Don't worry about it.. it's a left over from the Celtic Tiger mentality... Why aren't we great? We ignored tourists needs by destroying the stuff they really like and then behaved like boors when people pointed out they have malls and motorways in Germany and the USA... It's Tiger guilt, we sold our soul for false prosperity and now feel really bad because we really liked the old us and we got nothing from the new us. hopefully people will get over it and just start fixing the problems..

@ellenfromcork..ha ha...The Dillon Motto: "Dum" Spiro, Spero (While I breathe, I hope). Changed to (While I breathe, I'm a dope)Come on Ellen. If you were born and bred in Cork,you should have got that one.lol

@ellenfromcork re Sirpeter -he was joking, girl