I had just completed the marathon walk at Singapore International Airport to reach gate lounge A21. For anyone who has taken the long walk from check in, at least half an hour, you will know that it probably would have been wiser for me to have taken the train to reach this gate lounge.
Old fashioned service with a smile seems to no longer be “on trend” at most hotels. Some impersonal Receptionist, usually very good looking but who appears to have overdone the Botox and can’t smile, checks you in without a smile in super fast time with little or no information. No wonder so many guests return to say that their Key Card does not work – they just haven’t been given instructions on how to use it!
Not so here at the Concord Hotel in Singapore. The Porter whose name I do not know but has been here since I first started staying in 2013 met me at 6.30am this morning with a cheery “Welcome Back” and a freshly squeezed fruit juice mocktail.”Just to freshen you up”, he said in a fatherly manner as he took my heavy cases. He could see that I was exhausted after my 12 1/2 hour flight from Copenhagen.
I keep hearing the melody to the lovely old song “Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen” in my mind and have discovered today that Copenhagen truly is wonderful.
I took a leaf out of my travelling companion Sue’s book and have enjoyed being driven around all day on the Hop-on-hop-off bus and found that this is the best way to see the city of Copenhagen.
I have also learned a lot about this beautiful city. The University was first opened to students in the 1500’s.
Comfort Hotel Vesterbro – Copenhagen
I felt really sad as I was watching the scenery wiz by on my Wexford Bus journey from Enniscorthy to Dublin Airport. I have been made feel so welcome by the lovely Irish people that I have met. I will miss you all.
However Dublin Airport, like all international airports is a nightmare. By the time I had lugged my baggage from Terminal 2 where the bus dropped us to terminal 1, I couldn’t wait to check in my heavy baggage, relax in the gate lounge for a while, board the plane and be on my way to Denmark.
Up bright and early and packed for our trip to Dublin, we discussed the best mode of transport from Ennis to Dublin. Bus Eirean was ruled out as we would have had to travel via Tipperary with a change that involved walking quite some distance to connect with the second bus to get to Dublin. The Irish rail would have meant a change at a station along the way and lots of steps which is not appealing where luggage is concerned.
We decided on the green bus, so named because of its colour. The actual name is Dublin coach. We boarded the bus in Ennis and its route involved about 5 stops and arrived right in the heart of Dublin.
Today the weather turned very cold. It was overcast and quite miserable.
The Boyle family gathered for a Sunday roast at lunchtime and the lively banter made up for the cold and cloudy weather outside. Dr. John Boyle is a dab hand with the baking as is his clever son Thomas who bakes delicious cookies.
Later in the day we went for a family drive to Gort, a township quite close to here, just 15 minutes and the area that Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baron was given for the role he played to prevent the murder of William of Orange during the Jacobite conspiracy of 1696
Saturday 20 May, 2017
After all the excitement and activity of the last week it has been so nice to relax today. Sue’s dear friends Dr.John and Joanne Boyle and their lovely family have made us so very welcome here in their beautiful country home.
I couldn’t sleep with the excitement of knowing that today was the day we flew from Heathrow to Shannon.
So, I was up very early because I especially wanted to send my Mum a “Happy Mothers Day” message and as Murphy’s Law would have it – the Computer crashed!
It took for the Blog Master Barry to sort it all out. Finally the warm wishes were sent. I hope you had a wonderful day Mum and look forward to catching up with you when I get home.
Our BMW transfer arrived right on time to collect us from our Radisson Blu Hotel. Good bye London we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay and we will be back.
We landed at Heathrow Airport at 06:55 and our driver was there to greet us to drive us into our Hotel the Radisson Blu Edwardian Vanderbilt.
As expected it was a dreary, wet day in old London town But the warmth and friendliness of the staff on our arrival made up for the weather outside. Continue reading “Fish and chips at Harrods”
Staying in Singapore these last two days has been very absolutely wonderful.
We have participated in two very different but interesting tours. The Explore Singapore city tour yesterday and the Footsteps of Raffles tour today.
We started the tour at the Raffles Landing Site where in 1819 Sir Stamford Raffles alighted from the vessel that he was sailing aboard along the river. He recognized its potential for becoming a vital trading Center for the Far East.
Families of Ireland 