WE ARRIVED in Northern Ireland during Parade Season and every fourth town within easy driving distance has a parade on July 12th. While the drums beat, I spent part of a quiet morning looking out at part of the 350 acres that comprised RAF Greencastle, lands surrounding the cottage where we are staying.
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AFTER 20 YEARS in Ireland, I'm going to see my first parade in Northern Ireland. I expect to see placards about #remain in view since most of the voters in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU during the recent Brexit referendum.
We will be near Kilkeel in County Down, enjoying the coastline and sampling local cuisine, including fresh prawns and excellent ice cream. Since data roaming charges will kill my discretionary funds, I don't expect to use my phone while outside the Republic of Ireland. But I am downloading 175 MB of Google Maps for the Kilkeel area along with a wealth of Trip Advisor tips before we leave for the three hour and 22 minute journey north of the border.
Continue reading "First Time for Northern Parades #kilkeel" »
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THERE WAS A TIME six years ago that I was Mayor of every Irish Rail train leaving Dublin. Today, I'm seated on the Limerick train and headed to Dublin for a walk of The Liberties with two creative multimedia students.
I like carrying familiar friends with me. My mobile broadband comes through a well-worn O2 Hotshot. I really need a 4G MiFi dangle, Santa. My Kindle Voyage let's me fill every 20 minute gap with another deep dive into essential reading to support the creative multimedia curriculum in the Limerick School of Art & Design. And my newest piece of kit is a Zoom H6 that we know will give us excellent soundscapes of Dublin. Expect to hear some of that ambience if you grab Insideview.ie via a podcatcher.>
[Recorded in HiQ MP3 on Xperia and sent via Mail2blog using Typepad while underway in Ireland.]
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THE EUROPEAN UNION did a big favour for consumers by imposing limitations on mobile phone roaming costs. I saw the generosity of that favourable treatment when traveling from Ireland to the States for my mother's last days.
I spent 21 days in the States. Because I talked to people in Ireland several times with updates to my mom's condition and funeral arrangements, I paid an average of 14 euro a day in roaming charges. I accept the pain of those charges along with the grief I felt when mom died.
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AFTER LOGGING 6700 miles in six days by myself, I reinforced several ideas that I hope to put in place with my family when we travel internationally in coach class.
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Screenshot from @topgold's Lumia using 4th & Mayor.
THE FOURSQUARE DATABASE has evolved into a handheld concierge for me while wandering Ireland. It consistently offers tips for outdoors activities.
As a long time user, I have kept updating the 4Sq app on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Each iteration of the app is snappier than the software it replaces and with every month that passes, Foursquare's contextual data becomes more intelligent. This means its lexicon seems to know synonyms for search terms I use.
And in a delightful and perhaps unnerving twist, Foursquare seems to prioritise places nearby based on similar venues I previously designated as pleasant. In my case, I enjoy high quality suggestions for pasta and croissants.
Although I know I am gaming the system, I often use Foursquare to check into places similar to ones located in cities on my travel itinerary. Now when I open the app in new parts of Limerick, Dublin or Galway, my 4Sq handset often suggests perfect plates of pasta surrounded by robust high powered WiFi.
4Sq FTW.
[Screenshot by Bernie Goldbach as part of a social media module taught in the Limerick School of Art & Design.]
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Photo by @topgold using Sony K800i.
I PASS THROUGH County Laois at least twice a month and today I've discovered more about the area than in my previous 15 years in Ireland. I can thank List.ly for part of that.
The List.ly creation shows places recommended by venue managers, community volunteers and heritage experts who operate many of the places I've passed by while driving between Dublin and County Tipperary. My kids would enjoy many of the things I've heard discussed in a County Laois working group and I think the collaborative list elegantly captures these ideas.
I talked about doing this kind of project as I stood under the North Pole today. I'm delighted my plans have unfolded as brilliantly as I had hoped.
[Bernie Goldbach teaches social media for heritage in the Limerick School of Art and Design.]
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Photo by @topgold with Lumia.
BACK IN THE EARLY 80S, I occasionally crossed the Atlantic Ocean 10 times every October. This century, I'm crossing once every five years.
I miss the oceanic travel but know I will never enjoy the legroom and service I once got at the pointy end of the aircraft. My bulkhead seat today on a Boeing 777 was as cold as some copilot seats in the Lockheed C-141. But the US Airways crew wasn't as garrulous.
I packed a lot of electronics to entertain me on the journey and realise now that I have to revert to a dedicated MP3 player to ensure I have at least 20% power on my phone after an eight hour stint in my seat.
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Photo by @topgold with Lumia.
THERE ARE CUTE buttons you can push on Dublin Airport survey kiosks located at the halfway point of departures to Stateside destinations. There is a reason for placing the things ahead of the preclearance scrum.
The Dublin preclearance procedure for US passengers is thorough and repetitive. The triple-checking probably serves a purpose but it is still relatively easy to circumvent if you pay for a quick queue and sit in a wheelchair. But if you have two pre-teens in tow, the proceedings could become arduous.
I used to fly sensitive cargo into cloaked destinations. In my jaded eye, a lot of what the flying sheep think can prevent terrorism feels like security theatre to me.
[Bernie Goldbach snapped the survey kiosk attached to this post. He has crossed every line of longitude during his 3500 hour flying career.]
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I'M SHARING THIS AMERICAN LIFE stories with my Media Writing students by bringing the story of the Brooklyn Archipelago into our Clonmel campus.
Many of our Irish students have seen or flown over Ruffle Bar but I doubt that they have heard the story of Alex and his friends as explained in the accompanying audio clip from This American Life.
The crazy story of friends adrift in Jamaica Bay folds nicely into discussions we're having about the monomyth. It's very easy to map all 17 stages of the hero's journey against the Brooklyn Archipelago story from episode 307 of This American Life.
[Bernie Goldbach teaches creative multimedia in the Limerick School of Art & Design.]
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