This note is unofficially sponsored by Jameson Irish Whiskey. Smooth stuff which I implore you to drink as they have turned me into a lifelong fan with their generosity. Plus, that stuff goes down smooooooth.

Tuesday night: Stop by Cody's Roadhouse next to the radio station for dinner and a few pre-flight drinks. I had about a half hour to kill before meeting my cab at the station. Pounded a couple of double-tall Jameson and Ginger Ales. Left my Jameson trip journal at the bar. Some dude ran it out to me and asked if I worked for the radio station. I believe I told him I did. Took a cab to the airport where I found Fisher waiting for me at the Carrabbas. Had a few more drinks as Danielle, Dan, and Geo showed up. Got on our flight and promptly passed the hell out for the first four hours of a 9 hour flight.

Awoke and watched a few movies. Contagion with Matt Damon is his worst movie I've seen. Watched the first 75% of 50/50. Before I knew it, we were at the Dublin airport. Oh, forgot to mention that I had my own row until I rescued Seth from sitting next to a mother and her 2-year-old kid. I felt pretty good about that. Jameson had arranged for an airport shuttle for us and dude took us right to the magnificent Fitzwilliam hotel on St. Stephen's Green.

So, it's Wednesday morning around 11. Toyed with the idea of a nap but didn't really do it. Met our crew at Dandelion's next to the hotel and had a very substandard fish and chips. The fish was "slaite" and it wasn't fried. Immediately noticed that service in Ireland wasn't as attentive as it is in the US as they don't work for tips. Finished our lunch and went up to the room for a nap. I think. It's kind of hazy. At some point in time, I met up with Geo and Fish and we decided to make our own pub crawl. I am not sure how many pubs we managed to hit, but I do know that we alternated buying rounds and we each ended up spending close to, if not more than 100 Euros. We found a place that served bangers and mash for dinner and it hit the freaking spot. Passed out.

Woke up Thursday morning at some point in time and I believe I ate breakfast. Visited the Old Jameson Distillery and finally met Karla, our Jameson rep, with whom we had been exchanging emails for the past few months about the trip. Super nice girl. Taped an interview and then toured the Guinness factory. Had a pint of the black stuff at the very top, an amazing Gravity Bar that provided a 360 degree view of Dublin. We stumbled upon a cab and this led to one of the best experiences of the trip. Once the cabbie found out we were from a radio station, he began playing us the Wolftones, a revolutionary Irish folk band. Not revolutionary in the sense that their music was so different, but revolutionary in that their lyrics and songs centered around stuff like "shove it up your arse, British soldiers", etc. We sang along though we didn't know the words and had an absolute blast. Starving and not desiring a return trip to Dandelions, we hit the TGI Fridays next to the hotel. I know, I know...so lame that we went to a Fridays in Dublin...but at least we knew we would get a solid meal. And we did.

Thursday night, Jameson threw a "Blues Brothers" party for us. We were all to wear white shirts and black pants. They provided fedoras, shades, and ties for all of us. Geo, Dan (our promo guy and fantastic human being) and Fish got hammered on Jameson and I had about a bottle and a half of red wine on my own. Insanity reigned, so many belly laughs yet I remember next to nothing. Took a bus back to the hotel and crashed for a few fleeing hours.

Friday, we had to do our radio show live from the Jameson distillery. It went smoothly, from what I remember. We hung out there for a while and then did something incredible. See, from the time we got to our rooms we all started listening to Phantom 105.2. It is a radio station in Dublin that I found immediately upon landing. They got me hooked with Public Image Limited into Foo Fighters into The Cure (Just Live Heaven, my fave!) into Young the Giant. I found their FB page on my laptop and complimented them on their playlist. Their afternoon guy, John, invited us to tour the radio station! So, we did that on Friday. Met their DJ named Claire who had us on the air. I'm pretty sure we sucked, but it was fun. John and a few lads from the station then took us to a nearby pub and bought us each a pint. We talked radio, music, and I found out that I don't know jack shit about the Muppets compared to this bloke. I mean, dude knows all the muppetteers, voices, everything. Very humbling yet hilarious. We said our farewells and went to dinner.

I must point out that all our dinners and drinks were covered by the Jameson people! How freaking incredible is that? It's not enough that they flew us there and put us up in a magnificent hotel...but they took us out for dinner and drinks every night! We had a delicious dinner, I drank more wine, and then ended up at the hotel bar. Had many Jameson and Gingers with some Atlanta radio peeps as well as Crash and LT from Orlando. Ended up on the roof of the hotel with some people, just hanging out. Went back to the hotel bar and tried a Jameson whiskey called Green Spot that isn't available in the USA. I believe we left the hotel bar around 6 AM. I don't think I slept much that night.

When morning came, I was famished. Hit the streets of Dublin by myself in an attempt at finding food. Forgot my sunglasses and a jacket, both of which I sorely needed. Ran into Crash and LT, who took great delight in laughing at the pained look on my face. Found a mall food court at which I scarfed down a strange chicken sandwich. Oh yeah, it was St. Patrick's Day and the streets were full with party people. So many drunken teenagers, which was both hilarious and unsettling. I thought a pint would make me feel better. I was wrong. It was fun being in a Dublin pub by myself on Paddy's Day and having a pint, but I had to get back to the hotel and sneak in some sleep before dinner. I was starving again and the only place that wasn't packed was Burger King. Hit the BK lounge and managed to choke down a sweet chili chicken wrap (not sure if they have those here in the states yet). It wasn't bad. Snuck in an hour of sleep and it was time for another dinner with the entire crew. There were 35 other radio stations there and about 150 people total, so these were huge dinners.

Our dinner was some sort of beef that resembled pot roast. Yummy. I had a half a glass of red wine, all I could handle. That was the last time alcohol touched my lips. We then took a shuttle to the Jameson Global party. They had rented out a huge warehouse with a DJ and bands, but we could only stay for about a half hour. We were all so exhausted and couldn't get our drink on. Seth, Danielle, Geo, and I hit the streets in search of drunken revelers to interview for our show via a sound recorder Seth purchased in the states. We had no trouble finding drunken revelers. Got some great audio that you'll probably hear tomorrow morning on our show. We had to meet in the hotel lobby at 5:45 AM on Sunday to catch our airport shuttle, so we called it a night. I still think I only slept about 2 hours after tossing and turning.

Got to the airport. A lovely Irish lady told me she wouldn't charge me a fee even though my suitcase was 3 Kilos over the allowed weight. That type of stuff won't happen here in the USA. Caught our flight with no problem, transferred to London's Gatwick Airport. Don't know if you've been there, but it's horribly inconvenient. A lot of walking, unclear directions, etc. Still, we managed to find our flight to Tampa. I thought I'd be able to sleep on the plane, but I was sorely mistaken. An elderly couple sat next to me; thank God I had the aisle. She kept complaining about her arthritic hips, but I was committed to keeping my aisle seat. At one point, they had to use the lavatory so I stood to let them pass. Danielle, seated 3 rows behind me, told me her seatmate was heading to Longwood. Neat.

Well, it turned out that he was from Denmark and had shown up at Heathrow rather than Gatwick. So, instead of flying to Orlando...he was headed to Tampa. His plan was to take a cab from Tampa to Orlando. He already had to pay over 200 bucks to take a cab from Heathrow to Gatwick and another 300 bucks to change his flight. So, I took pity on this world traveler. I told Anders (his name) that I would drive him to Orlando as I was headed there regardless. In retrospect, I should have realized that 3 travelers' bags would certainly not fit in Phoebe's Jetta (Seth's wife, who was kind enough to offer to take me from TIA to the radio station where my own Jetta was parked). There was a bit of confused and agitated convo between us that led to Anders and I taking a cab from TIA to the radio station. Nerves were frazzled due to the BRUTAL 9 hour flight. Actually, 10 hours as we sat on the runway for about an hour while they worked on some "mechanical issue" before taking off. I've never had a flight like that before. I watched the rest of 50/50 (not a bad movie at all), In Time with Justin Timberlake (pretty crappy), Drive with Ryan Gosling (weird but not all that bad), and The Descendants with Clooney (actually a damn good film). The hours crawled by.

So, the journey ended with Anders and I conversing about life, travel, family, and everything. He truly helped me stay awake for the entire drive so his presence was appreciated. Really nice guy and I felt good because I got to help him. Finally got home, exhausted and starving. Gave Angie and Xander the presents I bought them, spent quality time with the cats, and went to bed. Slept 10 hours, went to breakfast at First Watch this morning, and now I feel all out-of-sorts. Nothing that a late lunch at 4 Rivers BBQ won't fix...and I'm going to do just that.

However, I must first express my thorough and sincere gratitude. To Karla and her Jameson crew for their unparalleled hospitality. To my 97X crew for helping me have so much fun. To our 97X listeners, without whom we would never be invited on such a trip. To my family for letting me take this trip without giving me an ounce of shit about it. To the Orlando radio peeps for being so cool, same for the Atlanta radio peeps. And to the old country of Ireland for providing such amazing memories. I don't know if I'll be fortunate enough to go next year, but I sure hope so. I was already so thankful to be back in the radio game, but this just increased it by a million. I work with some amazing people and I feel like this trip strengthened our bond with each other. I truly love Seth, Danielle, Fish, Geo, and Dan and I hope they had as much fun as I did.