We've been traveling in Ireland and Scotland for about a week now. As many of you know it's nice to go abroad to see and experience things that you can't see or experience in America. And boy, have we had some experiences!

Let me say first of all that I am now convinced that Irish/Scottish cuisine started off as a dare. "I dare you to eat that." For some reason they decided to keep on doing it. I will say that Haggis is not as bad as everyone tells you; it's at least edible and there are other things that are worse.

Here breakfasts are more of the main meal of the day and are huge, even by American standards. Eggs, 2-3 kinds of potatoes, tomatoes, baked beans, mushrooms, breads, those are the staples. The meal keeps you full most of the day, until about 3:00 or so, hence tea time. If you are a fan of spicy foods, bring the spice with you, you won't find it here.

Driving in either country is either a lot like the U.S, such as some of the major highways, with the obvious exception of being on the other side of the road, or it's like driving in a Mario Kart game. The back roads are tiny and people don't even think about going the speed limit until they get into a school zone. But they are much more friendly and tolerant than American drivers. The road systems are horrible from the standpoint that there is no rhyme nor reason to how they are laid out. If you don't have GPS, you are doomed.

One o the undeniable truths of life is that every stereotype has some basis in fact and that's been proven once again. You cannot understand a word that a Scot says if he's been drinking. Just nod your head and agree. Women here all seem to wear yoga pants and the men would like to but can't. So they wear skinny jeans; very tight skinny jeans. You can't un-see that.

Public transit runs very well in Ireland; but once again it's run by private companies and there are 3-4 different companies running buses. Easy to get around, buses generally run on time, are clean and fairly easy to figure out routes.

The media is what American 'journalists' want to be in their dreams. Their biases are laid bare in news broadcasts for all to see. News reports are little more than editorials and of course lean very far left for the most part. And most do hate Trump's policies. There are exceptions of course, Al Jazeera being one of them. They report the news including how well Trump was received on his trip to the Middle East and Europe. And that his recent announcement about the Paris accords was greeted with derision in environmental circles but lauded by others in the scientific community. You won't see that in the MSM will you?

We don't have enough pubs in America. In Ireland drinking at 9:30 a.m. is considered a late start, not the sign of a problem. People gather in public houses to socialize and have a couple of pints. Their attitudes towards alcohol are much different. Responsible adults aren't punished for the actions of those who aren't. It's not that way in most other areas of society but it is with the public houses.

But they probably have more pubs because the weather is generally horrible. I've never seen so much pasty white skin in my life! Cloud cover is the norm and when the sun does shine, it's not for long. You'd also better have a good pair of sunglasses because the clothing comes off and it's like being snow blind while skiing.

Things are different here, as I'm sure they say when they visit us in America. Some of it's good different; some of it's bad different (like the national health service); some of it's indifferent different. Being exposed to different cultures is definitely a good thing though.

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