The Drink Tank262 - Ireland Travelling to Ireland and Not Wanting to Leave
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The Drink Tank262 - Ireland Travelling to Ireland and not wanting to leave. By James Bacon Could not be easier. The time is good for the cheap fare offers, with Ryan Air bringing prices down with their competitors. To Dublin, it’s a choice, Ryan Air, BMI and then Aerlingus, with Aer Lingus frequently doing the best deal. It pays to shop around. As I write this piece, a flight to Dublin on the Friday before WexWorlds is just £39. While flights to Octocon, from Manchester or London Gatwick were £39 all included, although you have 10kilos of carry on, and that’s it. And use the loo before you go. To be honest for all the mirth and mockery, O’Leary does what he says, it’s cheap and if you plan a bit, you can find good deals, from Dublin Airport is a Bus and Train, and if you plan it cleverly, you can be on the quays, enjoying a pint in the afternoon, the glow of a heater keeping off the chill, after leaving home in the morning. I recently travelled home from London using sail and rail. The 9.10 Virgin trains service from London Euston goes directly to Holyhead. It’s a very pleasant journey. They stick on a ten car unit as far as Chester, so there is ample space, and there is nothing nicer than a plug, a table and the feeling that a coffee or loo is not a mission, but just there. It’s quite an old fashioned way to travel, yet there is something sedate about it. Passing through Crewe and then along the north Wales coast, it’s relaxed, unhurried and comfortable. The train stops in Holyhead, the train station and ferry terminal are one and the same, and you are whisked onto a bus, heavy luggage stowed, and onboard and again, there is comfort and space and a decent meal if you want it on today’s modern ships, which are huge. The route to Fishgaurd from London Paddington is equally nice, with just one change, and you are again in a ferry port. Rosslare harbour is just south of Wexford, and there are a number of connections. Wexford itself is rather like the last major town before Rosslare, and it shows, the town has a marked polish and commercial cosmopolitanism that sets it aside from other similar sized towns, and I believe the tourists help provide this. Waterford also has a regional airport, so flying in with Aer Arann who fly from quite a few UK based airports, makes sense. There is a brand new Science Fiction shop opening in Wexford Alien8, and that is indicative of how diverse the town actually is. As I journey on the train, there is a philosophical aspect to a journey like this. Is it part of the holiday or is it the way to the holiday. I try to set my mindset into one where as soon as I close the front door, or finish work even, I am on holiday, plan generously accordingly, and try and alleviate pressure, self-imposed. Even once at Dublin ferry port, you get a free bus into the city centre. The ferry companies know RyanAir are there and are actually fighting for peoples business. A free shuttle saves a lot of time and hassle, and also goes from the city centre (Westmoreland st.) back. It’s busy. Unlike UK train fares, the rail and sail is regional, so it doesn’t matter where you are travelling from, although the closer to Holyhead, the cheaper, it gets, and it is a set price no matter when you buy, although you need to buy at least the day beforehand, and if so by phone to Stena line. Now, you can get a rail ticket that continues down to Wexford. A return normally is €28, one of the things about Ireland is that Train Fares are quite reasonable, although there is also a bus which takes the same time, and The Drink Tank 262 - Edited by James Bacon, Layout by Chris Garcia. Comments? [email protected] that is cheaper. The train journey to Wexford goes along the east coast, following the suburban route, and is beautiful. Turning inwards a bit, and taking you through the garden of Ireland, and on south. The line is steeped in history, especially around the time of the war of independence and the civil war. An armoured train - such as it was - was used in Enniscorthy in 1916, although it may have just been a commandeered troop train, and the line north of Enniscorthy saw a serious of audacious IRA attacks on the line, rolling stock and railway, including the spectacular destruction of 3 sets of trains in one instance, during the Civil War. The stations and junctions where these incidents occurred, can be found, but only if you know them, and today the trains are new, streamlined, but with 14 tables in each carriage, with decent seats, meaning that some 52 passengers can sit in decent comfort, and all with Plugs. Dublin as a city centre, is not a huge city. It is easily navigable by foot, and the few attractions on the outskirts are reasonably accessible by bus or tram. The suburban landscape is quite the unplanned, sprawl that planners will claim they exist to ensure doesn’t occur, and yet, when one looks at Dublin, the plan may have gone astray. Wexford, is a beautiful town, and once in the town, everything is within easy reach by foot. The town is blessed with some excellent hotels, Whites, Talbots and The Riverbank, all offering deals to the literary traveller, and offering a level of service and comfort that is refreshingly good. A con such as Octocon in Dublin, means that one can stay at any hotel, although there is an urge to stay at the Con Hotel, where you are at the hub of the excitement. In Wexford, the nature of a festival means that there is a more relaxed programme and therefore no matter where you stay, you are close to its goings on, and this means that there is no rush. The idyllic image of a relaxed, lush green land, with a friendly people, despite how cynical I may feel, is deserved. There is no doubting that a bowl of thick locally sourced chowder, in any of the pubs in Wexford, washed down with a creamy Guinness is unbeatable. Warm fresh brown soda bread and butter as it was intended, full of flavour and taste, conjur up the realistic image of the moments in between the literary feast. Ireland is Blessed somewhat, with its authors and creators. For twenty years now, there have been continous conventions, in Dublin, and the loyalty, hard work and commitment of local authors is part of that success. In Wexford likewise, there is Eoin Colfer famed children’s author, who is terribly entertaining and really quite good fun, and obviously a master of the ‘two levels’ of humour, Nick Roche a IDW transformers artist, who at the moment is the Republics most eminent practitioner in the industry, and Herbie Brennan who lives but a short Journey away, who frequently masters the New York Times best sellers list. It’s a bit mad. You sit having a laugh, in a beautiful small town, and see these brilliant creative geniuses and it’s hard to contemplate that they have sold millions upon millions of books and comics. The there are the Dubliners, Oisin McGann, Michael Carroll, Sarah Rees Brenann, who between them represent a number of genres, and whose youth and vibrancy can be felt strongly. And then from various counties, there are Kate Thompson, John Vaughan and Maura McHugh, all travelling along the spokes of a wheel, to the science fictional and fantasy hub that for one weekend is Wexford. With experts indigenous and travellers from abroad, making up the remainder of the list, its a hard thing to do everyone justice. Lucky is not good enough to describe the situation, pretty brilliant does a better job. WexWorlds by Festival Curator and Editor James Bacon. Photos by Filip Naum and Arek Wnuk WexWorld’s first Sci Fi and Fantasy Fiction Festival held in Wexford, a beautiful small town of 20,000 people, that is situated on the south east corner, of the island of-Ireland was a bit of a success, that exceeded my expectations. The festival was the brain child of Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer and he also inputted ideas, desires and suggestions into the mix. Eoin worked with Elizabeth Whyte, director of The Wexford Arts Centre to create the and I was then asked, to get involved and help, and was given the pleasant title of Curator. A nice title which Chris already possesses. Eoin Colfer is a science fiction fan and reader although he doesn’t go on about it, having read quite a bit, especially Phillip K. Dick and also liking movies of an SFnal nature, stating that Bladerunner is one of his favourite movies. Interesting, as of course, like many fans, he likes the idea of reality and identity and what is tangibly real, although he is careful, I suspect to ensure his own works are never derivative and one can see when he is in action, giving talks to 600 school children or a crowded room of adults, that the basis for his fiction is in his own life experiences, and how he has been able to capture them with a wry cynical smile, and repackage them for readers, in a fantastical setting.