Oompah banned!
WAKE me up when September comes... for Oktoberfest obviously! Why Oktober? Because the Bavarians want more time to clink steins, naturally.
This year’s Oktoberfest in Munich begins on September 22 and runs until October 7.
I won’t be there unfortunately. I’m still worried that somebody on the door at the Löwenbräu Huis or the Hofbrauhäus Tent might recognise me from 30-odd years ago.
On a Cliff Richard Summer Holiday bus with a coachload of Aussies and Kiwis (don’t ask) I felt I needed to redress the balance when half the hall erupted into ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie,’ and the other half responded with ‘Kiwi, Kiwi, Kiwi’.
And so I climbed onto the oompah bandstand, grabbed the mic and started singing My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.
Minutes later my body lay over the front mat of the entrance to FAVOURITE Cousin and her US clan are up and off to the family’s Donegal homestead but not before suggesting we meet again for a few days in the house we used to holiday in as kids. Or the 5* Lough Eske Castle? It has an Autumn Eskape: One-night midweek stay from €179 per room; two-night midweek package from €329 per room, two-night weekend package from €429. From October 1March 31. Excluding December 21-January 7 and March 16-17. (074) 97 25100 / reservations. lougheske@solishotels.com. I TRY to make it up to the Indomitable Mrs M... no, just that! Our first anniversary I ended up whacking back whisky with my new BFF, a fellow guest, in the bar on the west coast of Scotland and was about as much use as a chocolate fireguard that night and the next day. Next year’s 25th will have to go some to match last year’s trip to Portugal Centro. No pressure there. Portugal was always a favourite childhood family memory. It doesn’t change! Click&Go has family holidays to The Algarve, seven nights from €849 per family in September at AS a lead-in to this item, said relative, was all abut the al fresco dining on holiday in Rome and looked to get in on the long table at the Circus Maximus. When she got her purse out they were delighted but surprised. The feast was for the Löwenbräu Huis after two German waitresses had dispatched me there.
I hoped for better luck the following year in the Hofbrauhäus. But a word of warning here: beer, schnapps, football and gallantry don’t mix. I tried to break up a fight between the girlfriends of two Nürnberg football fans and found myself out on my back again, nursing a bloodied nose.
An ambulance, a quick checkover and a taxi drive later back to my camp site (I’d forgotten where I was staying but the Bavarians are a friendly bunch) and I was ready to go again.
Dawson Travel has a package, tailored for 18-35-year-olds. Four nights’ accommodation, four meals: one breakfast, one picnic lunch, one regional dinner, one supper, transfers, Team Power Duo: Trip Manager & Driver, Free time. Depart September 30, from €695pp, Flights not included, but can be added. http://itaa. ie/2018/08/21/oktoberfest.
Maybe not mention you know me when you get there. Prost! WOW! A tempter to join them back in Trumpland (though they deny all associations). WOW air has a flash sale with 40% off return flights to Iceland and North America available until Monday for select return flights from Dublin for travel between 27 August and 15 December. WOW has 14 North American destinations via Reykjavik: Washington DC, New York, Boston, Toronto, Montréal, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St Louis and Dallas.And of course you can have a solely Icelandic holiday. Visit www.wowair.ie, promo code WOW SALE. the homeless. GoHop offer this al fresco special: three nights in the 4* Camping Village Roma on a room-only basis from €275pp. Price includes: Return flights ex. Dublin. Travel: October 30. Visit www.GoHop.ie or call (01) 2412389.