In The Lap of Luxury

Lately we’ve been taking the train to wherever we’ve been needing to go, instead of chancing our arms with the complete randomness of the ‘mitfahrgelegenheit’ system of car-sharing, where you book a ride with someone and then pray for three things to happen; a) That they actually show up in the first place. b) That they’re not a crazed maniac. c) That your fellow passengers are also not crazed maniacs.   Taking the train negates at... Read More

Sprechen Sie Deutsch? No, Not Really…

After a hard week of good work in Frankfurt, which saw us making regular commutes to the internet café owing to the complete lack thereof in our new apartment, it was time to head back up north to Anna’s family to spend the weekend in relative peace and tranquillity. While I love our new apartment (relatively speaking), it comes equipped with no blinds to really speak of which can lead to a horrible dreariness at 5am (a bit like coming out of... Read More

What’s ‘bed’ in German?!

After a really great Easter back at home eating good food, drinking good drink, and catching up with friends, it was high time to head back to Germany to begin the settling down properly. Unfortunately, when we planned our period of yo-yoing back and forth between Dublin, it seemed most likely that we still wouldn’t actually have a place to live when we came back to Frankfurt and thus would have to continue our apartment search. Like I say though,... Read More

The Travel Bahn

A German Barbecue. Last time I wrote, I was staying in Ochtrup in the North-West of Germany, in particular I was patiently working my way around various galleries in the Dutch town of Ootmarsum, having some difficulty believing that artists in a town completely full of artists could still command such high prices for their work. Anyway, after one more night, a trip briefly around a park in a town called Gronau (along with a trip to the local McDonalds... Read More

Winter Cold, Literally.

Welcome to Ochtrup! While I was in Ireland, I was absolutely fine – a bit cold obviously, as you’d expect from someone who’s spent the previous 6 winter months living in tropical climes. But on Tuesday, I departed for Germany, leaving Dublin Airport 40 minutes ahead of schedule, having a beer along the way, to arrive 40 minutes early into Dusseldorf. To then spend one night in relative normality before waking up the next morning with a cold... Read More

Germany Receives a Visitor…

Like I say, guess who puts much more effort into their decorations than we do in Shankill... Once again, Aer Lingus managed to surprise me by delivering relatively low (I say low in so far as the prices fluctuated wildly by around €50 from one day to the next) fares to Germany for travel over the weekend so with that, I decided to accompany Anna on her way home for Christmas. Needless to say, before that came a mountain load of work that meant no... Read More

No More India, No More Runs…

In the sky for 2 hours? We'll be doing well... The flight to Chennai was nearly enough to inspire a fresh dose of the runs – the plane was old on the inside, small and the sound of propellers revving up and the knowledge that it was these two small propellers that were to hopefully take us into the air and keep us there for nearly two hours was enough almost to send me running for the nearest toilet by itself. In the end, the flight wasn’t... Read More