Irish staycation 2020/2021 Pros and Cons, will you be tempted?

Not in the hotel that I enquired from . As long as your a resident you can order a drink without having food, and in the bar. And stay as long as you like too. This hotel is residents only , which I am in at the moment.
 
dereko1969 said:
You have to order it to your room to be compliant. What you do or where you go with it after it's ordered to your room is not covered in the rules.
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joer said:
Not in the hotel that I enquired from . As long as your a resident you can order a drink without having food, and in the bar. And stay as long as you like too. This hotel is residents only , which I am in at the moment.
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I think it's fair to say that different places interpret the rules differently. Same in pubs that serve food at the moment. Some let you stay all night and others give you the 2 hours.
 
elcato said:
I think it's fair to say that different places interpret the rules differently. Same in pubs that serve food at the moment. Some let you stay all night and others give you the 2 hours.
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I think I read the time limit is part of the guidelines for places with less than the recommended 2 metre distancing.
But could be wrong on that.
 
I suspect that joer's hotel being "residents only" was a factor in the interpretation of the regulations there (rightly or wrongly).
 
I have just inquired from another hotel and residents can have a drink in the residents area only without having food or have a time limit , after 7 pm , which sounds about right to me . If they decide to have a drink in the bar they must order food and can only stay the appropriate time.
Yes in my case there was no time limit because the hotel that I was in was residents only .
 
Have been holidaying on the west coast for the last ten days and it’s been great and the whole Covid thing is mostly forgotten.
For the first time in my life I’m tired of eating fish. Cockles, mussels, limpets and periwinkles from the beach. Cod from the neighbours. €5 for brown crab and spider crab, €10 for lobster.
Went out to eat last night in a bar that serves food. €50 for two mains, two desserts, two pints and two GnTs.
The most unCovid experience I’ve had since March. No masks or face shields, the bar was quiet so the SD was default. No contact tracing sheets. Salt, pepper, etc on the table.
It could have been 2019. Or 2009.
I’m feeling post-Covid.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
From what I read on this thread staycations are not for me.
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Thank heavens we don't live in Ireland. We also went to France. It was pure bliss. They were so happy to see tourists and it was much less crowded than it's ever been. Restaurants bars, activities both water and land based, you name it we did it. Hardly ever had to wear a mask. Self catering, everything supplied. Could come and go as we pleased and everybody was happy. Most French staff couldn't give a fiddlers about masks.

We can't go to Ireland becuase we'd basically be locked down. No fun in that. Plus even if you're not locked down there is no way I'd put up with the kind of carry on in the restaurants and bars I'm hearing about on here. So I'll have to think now about another weeks holiday without flying as I'm not putting up with a mask at the airport for hours on end.
 
I hope it stays good for you Bronte but look how quickly things have changed in Spain, Belgium, Germany.
 
We went out for a meal at the weekend and found it a very enjoyable experience. There were some tables removed from the floor, maybe about 25% less. However the place felt busy and there was a nice buzz about. The staff all wore face masks but apart from that it felt like a normal night out.
@Bronte you say French staff couldn't give a fiddlers about masks - personally I was happy to see staff wearing masks. It showed a respect for customers and the virus. I would not be happy frequenting a restaurant or bar where the staff didn't give a fiddlers about the virus. Just out of curiousity, were the tables inside or outside?
 
Drakon said:
Have been holidaying on the west coast for the last ten days and it’s been great and the whole Covid thing is mostly forgotten.
Went out to eat last night in a bar that serves food. €50 for two mains, two desserts, two pints and two GnTs.
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That sounds like good value.

Mains typically at least 12.50 = 25 minimum
Two desserts = 10 minimum, more likely 12?
Two pints = 8.40 minimum, more likely 9.00
Two G&Ts = 12? minimum

How did you pay 50? Is that in Ireland?
 
Desserts were definitely €5.50. Apart from pizza they’d three mains, I think the range was €9.50 to €12. A pint was €4 across the road last year. I’ve no idea what a GnT normally costs.

All tasted great though my dessert was a tad small.

Connemara.
 
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Drakon said:
Desserts were definitely €5.50. Apart from pizza they’d three mains, I think the range was €9.50 to €12. A pint was €4 across the road last year. I’ve no idea what a GnT normally costs.

Connemara.
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Drakon, thank you.

We are going to the Clifden area soon, do you mind if I ask you the name of this pub?
 
joer said:
I hope it stays good for you Bronte but look how quickly things have changed in Spain, Belgium, Germany.
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You’re wrong. But I’m not getting into it. Being timed at my meal by a waitress is not to my liking. Or any of the abuses of grown adults as recounted on this thread. I’ve seen far too many trumped up majorettes in this to last me a life time.
 
Inside and outside. I’ve seen everything. From obsession on the tiny details to not giving a rattling damn. But it’s table service, so different to Ireland in that respect. Particularly as regards bars etc.

There is no way to stop this virus. No scientific proof that masks work, no cure, no likely vaccine. A horrendous lockdown, unending. And worst of all our children living this hell. With total economic chaos to come.
 
I think a lot depends on the type of holiday. The last ten years I’ve been going on self-catering holidays, and the last three in the same house in Roundstone. In the space of two weeks we probably eat dinner out twice. Maybe lunch out three or four times. Connemara lamb or fish cooked in the house most evenings. Highest quality at the lowest price. There’s a decent cooker and oven in the house so that makes it easier (if only there was a dishwasher).
My sister and her husband spent a couple of nights. We’d one spider crab, two lobsters and three brown crabs for dinner. €30. Just one of these in a restaurant dish would cost €30! Wouldn’t be for everyone, but I love home cooked shellfish.

Most lunches on the beach. Those disposable BBQ trays are a godsend. Home made beef burgers today. Cheese, ketchup, red onion, jalapeños. Probably best burger I’ve ever eaten.
 
Bronte said:
There is no way to stop this virus. No scientific proof that masks work, no cure, no likely vaccine. A horrendous lockdown, unending. And worst of all our children living this hell. With total economic chaos to come.
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Stopping all social interaction outside of individual households would stop the virus but that is in no way practical. But limiting social activity does limit the spread of the virus. It then comes down to what level of limitation is practical and acceptable.

We do not have a "horrendous lockdown" now, although we do still have considerable limitation on social and economic life. There is no imminent vaccine. But there is hope for a vaccine but not before next year - as least that is what the medical and scientific experts tell us and I am inclined to put more faith in them. In the meantime there is hope for improving treatments.

If we do not limit the spread of the virus the health service will become overrun with increasing numbers. Apart from more deaths there is increasing evidence that a yet unknown proportion of those who recover from the initial infection will have some level of on-going impairment of function.

Leaving health aside, if the spread of the virus is not contained the schools will not re-open (or will partially or fully close again) and much of the economic life that has resumed will be shuttered again.

I think some level of curtailment in non-essential social and recreational life over the coming months is worth it for the greater societal good. Better to have an ongoing restricted level of social life than another lockdown.

To say that there is no scientific evidence that masks work is nonesense. Why on earth do doctors, nurses and other medical professionals wear them? There is more of a question of the degree to which they work in ordinary social life - probably not to the same extent. But the professional consensus now is that they do add a significantly worthwhile level of protection, especially in enclosed spaces or where distancing is not possible. (Perhaps your paper to the contrary has not as yet fed into the scientific literature? ). No one is suggesting that masks protect every individual in every circumstance but if, as the scientists now say, they help curtail the overall level of spread of infection, then I think that is worthwhile.
 
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