Halloween Party

So Halloween has just come and gone, and it was celebrated in style in our Hostels here. We threw a Halloween Party in Jacobs Inn for the guests of both there and Isaacs Hostel, and it was great fun! We had games and prizes to be won. For any who did not come in costume, we had a table set up with bin nags, rolls of toilet paper and other items so guests could make their own costume. We also had live music from Italian outfit 'The Criminal Jokers' who played a great set for over an hour to a packed crowd. It was great!

So now that Halloween is over, we look forward to Christmas i guess, although it does still seem too far away for now. First however is the US election, which is being voted for 2moro. Lets see how that one pans out.........

Hello Again!

So it has been a while since I last dropped in to say hello now but we have just been too busy in the hostels here. Another great summer has come and gone in Dublin and we are now gearing up for the colder winter months again. This means that despite having a wealth of attractions and activities around Dublin, we are also making an extra effort to ensure our guests can be entertained without having to brave the weather outside!

Our BBQ is resilient and continues to draw the crowds with its tempting hook of a (now famously big) Isaacs burger and a beer for €5. We have also been providing free music performances in the hostels, for free, for all the guests. Two weeks ago we even had a 25 piece group from Holland playing in Jacobs as the drinks flowed and everyone got up dancing. Check out our facebook site to see some videos!

So between these, our free nightly movie sessions, free snooker tournaments, free walking tours, and much more we are making sure that our guests don’t feel the chill of the weather, unless they want to!

Happy Birthday Americay

And now its the USA's turn. For the rest of the world it brings to mind hot dogs, flags, beer, american football and all sorts of good stuff! So happy 4th July y'all.

We get lots of Americans staying in the hostel, they certainly enjoy the Dublin hospitality with a special fondness for the Guinness factory and our law of being allowed drink at 18! Plenty of patriotic americans were out today, showing off their stars and stripes.

We even have our very own american working here at reception. The very handsome but quiet and diminutive (!!??!!!) Matt from Manhatten who also moonlights as a famous choral singer. See come to Isaacs and get a famous american checking you in!

Oh Canada

We're still recovering here in Dublin from Gay Pride last weekend and have reluctantly taken down my homemade decorations (made during a quiet late shift with coloured post it notes, I had no green though, as pointed out by a observant hosteller, but hey it was a spur of the moment thing and I'm sure the green people of the world will understand!).

Anyway the good thing about working in an international environment is that there is no end of holidays. This week its Canada's turn. We get loads of Canadians staying in the hostel, especially lots from Quebec, who I always find very glamourous with their Canadian passports and their Quebecois! Anyway to celebrate Canada Day, here are five fun facts about Canada gleamed from our canadian hostellers:

1. Canadians are not americans (nothing annoys them more allegedly!!)
2. Its the second largest country in the world.
3. The official winter sport is ice hockey.
4. Canada makes 80% of the worlds supply of maple syrup
5. Degrassi Junior High is a real place (I made that up, but I worked as a waitress with a guy who was a regular on the show, so had to get it in somewhere!! Anyone under 25 reading this will have no idea what I am talking about!! Sorry!)

I went to Canada once, I really like it. Niagra Falls Rocks!

So there you go... Happy Canada Day everyone :)

A crawling week

In the interests of research I decided to take one of the tours advertised in the hostel reception. After much himming and hawwing, between the celtic experience tour of newgrange to see the neolithic tombs to the wild wicklow tour to get in the set of Ballykissangel, I opted for the backpacker pub crawl! Purely in the interest of research of course (oh i said that already, maybe the more I say it, the more believable it will become!)

So I headed to Major Tom's to hook up with the tour which already had hit several pubs and were a bit ahead of me in the drinking stakes, but a free shot sorted that out pretty quickly! Then the gang took to the dance floor which resulted in serious cheesy dancing. It was a mixed group, a good few typical backpackers and then a couple of older gangsters!

Then it was on to the Porterhouse for more shots and more bad dancing to the live band. The pub crawl resulted in two couples who didn't know each other before.... I'm sure that wasn't included in the 9 euro! Nice one!!

Anyway work the next morning was a bit of a trial.... shots are bad for you folks!!

Also the Dublin LGBTQ Pride Festival 2007 culminating with the pride parade on the 23rd June. Now that will be a day out and a half!!

Run run run!

Today is june bank holiday monday, which means it women's mini marathon day. 10km of women (and the odd man in a dress)will be lining up in a mad dash to get around the city. I of course have my running shoes on ready and waiting! Well in my mind at least! We had some guest from England who were here to run in it! They went off bright and early all tooled up for a big fry up, they walked the 10km, stopping for two pints on the way around and then celebrating their record breaking time of 2 and half hours will a few more beers. Needless to say they arrived back in the hostel in interesting shape!

The sunny weather in the last week lead lots of people to take tours which we book for them at reception. Glendalough and Wicklow being particularily popular. Glendalough is one of my personal favourites, perfect on a lovely sunny day like today.

Long distance lovers

This week has been the Dave Matthews Band week. Supposedly the band were playing only 4 gigs in europe this tour so people came from miles around to hear them. We had people from Norway, Israel and all over! They must be a good band live to come so far!!

The bread and jam is still going down well, this week kindly supplemented by a German group who had bought far too many yogurts, so when they were leaving, everyone else benefitted.

The wireless has resulted in lots of people sitting around reception with headphones, surfing for hours! They're not going to make friends like that! I think I will have to impose a limit... 20 minutes surfing, 20 minutes chatting... or something ;-)

The sunny weather is back... off to the beach I think :)