Hello From Belfast

Arrived in Belfast this morning, tired after the overnight flight but otherwise OK. I had good neighbors on the flight, a very good thing. The Newark-Balfast nonstop flight was full- I think Continental Airlines has a winner with this new route.

Belfast Intl Airport is a breeze to get through. A bus takes you right into town for £6. It dropped us off by the Europa Hotel, from where I walked to the (bare-bones) Helga Lodge up by Cromwell Road/Botanic Avenue.

At noon, met David Vance of A Tangled Web for a couple of pints at the Crown Pub, an ornate pub dating from the 19th Century. It was a pleasant conversation, marred only by the accidental sounding of an alarm in the pub, which my jet-lagged head could have done without.

The rest of today will be quiet, with an early bedtime. Need to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed for tomorrow's adventure, which will see me renting a car and driving on the left side of the road down to County Monaghan.