Talking about Travel -- Sorta about Music

In April or May of 2020, I decided that I wanted to do something I've never gotten to do, and really only had one chance left to do: I wanted to see Genesis live. They'd announced the "Last Domino?" tour, and I was taking the Last part rather serious. (Yes, it's the name of a song, but still....) At the time, they had only announced tour dates in the British Isles (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland). Ireland was tempting, but the tour date in Glasgow called out to me.

I put together the trip for the original date, with an incredible plane ticket price from IcelandAir. Then Genesis had to reschedule, and a few weeks later, IcelandAir cancelled my ticket. At least this let me reschedule my entire trip for the new time. I was going to end up in New York City for a day for Clannad (that's now rescheduled to 2022, but that's a different story), Reykavik for two days, and then Glasgow for 7. Everything seems set.

Fast forward to September 2021. The concert's still on, and I've seen footage of the crew practicing for the gig; they sound good. Then 9/1/2021, IcelandAir cancels my ticket, and all their flights to Glasgow for the forseeable future. If I knew then what I know now, I would have flown into Manchester or London, and then caught a train to Glasgow. Instead, I ask for a refund, and schedule a United flight to Glasgow. (This will come up again.)

United has several options to make the trip, but the two easiest is a 23 hour layover in Dublin and a 16ish hour layover in Frankfurt. Germany has never held any interest to me, so a day in Dublin was on. However, I'd have hours in Dublin with no hotel, as I would with Glasgow (theoretically), and lots of walking both places. This drove me to decide I was going to travel with one carry-on side backpack only, so I could use it as a day pack too. (I cheated here, but back to that in a post or two.) This drove a lot of choices about weight, what to take, etc. I also decided to go with a hostel in both cities; Dublin was an 8 person room, Glasgow a private room. I was hoping that I could meet people that way.

In case you didn't see my pictures, go see them on iCloud. I am not Rick Steves, and I have little to add to the beauty of the places themselves. Instead, I want to make a few comments about the equipment I used and the choices I made, what went right and what I'd do differently.

Stick around for the tour.