Tá áthas mór orm anois! Now I have finally created a rough schedule for my weekend adventure in Ireland.

The destination is Inis Mór and today I reserved a single room at Tigh Fitz for the nights of the 27th and 28th of October. There were few rooms left, most having been booked untill March next year and probably beyond!

€100 for those two nights!!

I will make sure to arrive as early as possible, but I probably won't make it to the 1pm-ferry so I'm aiming for the one that departs at 6:30pm.

Questions to those who have allready been there:

The first night I intend to cycle down to Kilronan and drop in at a pub or two. A good idea? They play music at night, I suppose? So that might be a good start. I'll need a small meal at that time too I presume.

- Is it difficult to make the locals speak Irish to you? Some posters have allready remarked that they speak Irish among themselves when there are no tourists around and that they quickly convert to English once any tourist emerges. Are they shy? Perhaps they don't want people to glare at them as if they were some exotic antiques from another dimension? If so then that's very understandable. I'm imagining myself listening to someone chatting away and not being able to hold back my fascination and just blurting out "What a beautiful language!" And they go "Nach í Ioruais ghealt í!!" Nó..?

- How will they react if I speak in Irish to them?

Also on arandirect.ie there is a list of places to eat. I want to taste the local seafood. Will I find this in any of the restaurants/cafes? One particular name that I liked the sound of is The Aran Fisherman. I love fish.

With all the food, the bicycle and the chance of dropping into some of the local shops because I'd like to find a jewelry and perhaps a sweater or whatever it is that they've got - how much money should I bring with me?

Slán anois agus go raibh matih agaibh do comhairle ar bith!

Sounds like lots of fun! Too bad it's all the way in October. I couldn't wait that long.

That does sound fun indeed a Norwegiandame. I'll be at Inis Mor when I'm over there, but I'll only be there for one night. What I intend to do is listen a lot. I'm a bit skittish so I don't think that I have the guts to just bust it out with my very few words of Irish. I just want to listen and take it in and not interupt anyone who's speaking it. I don't want people switching their conversations to English on account of my presence, this is not good. I'm really excited to hear people speaking it too and I don't want to do anything that will endanger that. Since your Irish is good I think you should try to talk to the horsecart drivers etc. I'd be guessing that they'd like that though of course I can't be sure of it. I'd like it if I were them I think.

Beir bua agus beannacht

Please reply anyone!!!

I was last on Árainn in the early nineties, so I'm not much help.

I do remember getting into an argument with a German who refused to believe I was Irish because I spoke fluent German to my (then girlfriend) wife.

I spoke Irish to some of the locals at the bar (but that failed to convince him).

I met the same guy months later in Oldenburg. He probably still thinks I'm german....

That's a funny story, Aonghus!!!