Douglas Travel Guide

A great themed place from drinks in the afternoon, dinner at night and dancing till the morning. We took Salsa classes one day, was brilliant fun. Recommened it to anyone. The food downstairs is really good esp. the faijitas. Thurs nights used to be busy with rock or live music but Saturday nights tend to be the best.

Dress Code: Just smart casual. dont think they allow any football t-shirts etc

If you would like to send Peel kippers back home to your friends, you don't have go through all that packageing and wrapping. If you go into the Post Office and pay the appropriate fee, all is done for you. You don't even have to go out and buy the kippers.

What to buy: Kippers.

What to pay: You will be told the total amount payable at the Post Office.

Just outside Douglas on the road to Port Erin at Santon, you may pass over the 'Fairy bridge'. It is rumoured that each time you pass over, if you don't say 'good morning' to the fairies you will have bad luck ! Don't tempt fate; say good morning and stay healthy !

Be carefull of the Steam Packet prices.
In the summer the tickets for bringing a car over are very expensive, winter seems to be a lot easier on the eye. Also during T.T. Week the prices are really expensive and are normally booked up a years in advanced so try not to travel then. Booking earlier hardly changes the prices but choosing different days or lenght of stay does!

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: A warm jumper for the top of Snaefell.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Seasick pills if you're going by ferry. It is the Irish sea after all !

Photo Equipment: Your camera for 'those views'.
Binoculars.

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: As there are beautiful beaches, don't forget your swimming gear.

Miscellaneous: Although this is a British protectorate, take some ID as well as your driving licence with you as you may need it to hire a car.

To the north of Douglas and half way towards Laxey, is Groudle Glen. This is a very picturesque location in itself as can be seen from the picture of the little waterwheel.

But also, Groudle Glen is the starting point of another little steam railway built originally to take tourists to see the Sealion sea enclosure below the rugged cliffs. The Sealions have long gone but the railway has been rebuilt from the track up and is another great attraction of the Isle of Man.

I suppose one can't miss out the subject of the Isle of Man TT motor bike races. The races effectively close all the main roads in the island.

If you are a biking buff, great. But otherwise you may find the road closures a nuisance when trying to get around the island by road.

If you are in the Isle of Man when the 'TT' is on and need to get around, you are probably better off to use public transport in the form of the Steam Railway on the Electric Tramway Railway systems.

Equipment: If you are into bikes, bring your camera and maybe binoculars too.

Favorite thing:
Of course this took place in a bar! It was actually the hotel bar and it's a story I have used in Business for over a decade since.

I struck up a conversation with the owner (nice man) and a young gentleman staying in the hotel. The younger of the two decided to relate a story form the autobiography of a sports star.

The story goes like this:

The sports star is watching his wife preparing food in the kitchen one day. He notices that before his wife puts a joint of ham in the roasting pan, she cuts the corners off of the joint and throws the parts away. The sports star is bemused and asks his wife, “why do you cut the corners off?”.

She relies that she doesn’t know. Her mother always did that so she thought that was how you did it.

The sports star suggests that his wife ring her mother. She does and the mother is amazed. She tells the daughter “when you were young I could only afford a very small roasting pan. I cut the corners so it would fit!”

So the moral of the story is – don’t just do things because that’s the way it’s always been done. Time moves on and you need to know why you are doing something and ask if it is still relevant.

Love that story.