Happy St Patrick's Day

I've only been to Ireland once - A long time ago.  I spent two days there on business, which went fine.  But on the second night I stayed up all night going toe to toe with some serious Irish boozers.  I left the pub and went straight to the airport, only to find my direct flight to New York was cancelled.  Instead, the fine folks at Aer Lingus put me on a British Air flight to London, where I would be faced with a 7 hour layover.  I was clearly in no condition to sit 7 hours in the departure lounge.  I needed a massive English breakfast and then some sleep.  But I was concerned that UK immigration would not let me leave the airport for such a short period of time.

Luckily for me, my stomach gave out when I was in front of the agent and I puked all over the poor guy's podium.  It wasn't an epic "empty the gut" episode, but it was more than enough bile to immediately cause the agent to  not want to deal with me.  I got passed up to a supervisor who decided I was just a hung over fool and not a threat to security, so he let me through.  Remember that these where the days previous to 9/11.  I'm sure the terrorists have ruined it for all the hung over fools since.

Unluckily for me, despite the intense discomfort, the embarrassment of looking like a complete and utter jack ass in the Heathrow customs hall and an overall lack of common sense, it would not be for another 12 years before it occurred to me that I might have a problem.

Anyway, I stumbled out of the airport and onto the hotel shuttle bus.  I got off at the first hotel, spent way too much money for a room (though I recall breakfast was free) and then passed out hard, causing me to miss my connection.  Good times.

I hope everyone has a good day.