Just back from a night out... am able to type this as I am sober as a judge ! :-)

I work in my home-town and an ex-colleague was back in town tonight so I went to a local bar & club with him and a gang from work.

Stayed on the non-alco beers all nite !! very proud of myself... spent Eur 18 so can't complain about that..

Didn't really enjoy the nite as I felt a bit claustrophobic... in that 99% of my work colleagues aren't from this town so its new to them but to me it's the same old same old..

Got chatting to a really cute local girl... but I made the fatal mistake of introducing her to my good-looking Spanish colleague !! That was me out outta the picture !! lol

So... all in all not a great nite... but I didn't spend much and I won't have a hungover...

& tomorrow is another beautiful day to do it all better !!!!

After about 5 years of always having a CC balance in the thousands, it is currently at Eur 42 !! Will be paid off in full by next Friday all going as planned :-)

Anyways, the big 3-oh next May - have been thinking about making a memorable trip to celebrate the cutting loose of the boy Shane and the welcoming of the man.

What I have planned is as follows:

Take approx 3 weeks off work end of April/start of May 2009.

Fly Dublin to New York - spend 2/3 nights there visiting family and friends.

Fly New York to Lima/Cusco in Peru.

Spend 3/4 days trekking on Peruvian horses (luv horses !! ) getting down n dirty in the Peruvian countryside - trying to breathe in as much beauty as possible.

Wanted to visit the famous Machu Picchu site - but then I have read on the net that it is being damaged by tourism so might not visit for that reason- jury is out at mo.

3/4 days white-water rafting - never done this before.

Then rent an apartment in Lima for 6/7 nights to enjoy the city culture and nightlife.

Then back to Ireland.

I want to have all flights, horse trekking, white-water rafting and Lima apartment paid for before I leave...without borrowing in any way. I also plan to have all spending money saved b4 I go.

How to do this ? Well, I have a savings account with Eur 270 in it for overpaying my Personal Loan (I got a Loan of 13,400 last March over 5 years at 270 a month - my plan was to save 270 a month so that I pay it off in 2.5 years). However when I listed out my monthly outgoings, looked at my spending diary since April 1st and looked at my normal salary income... my outgoings are actually higher than my income !! It must be the overtime I've being doing at work that is keeping things pretty balanced.

Anyway, no room for further savings. So basically I've decided to change the Loan Overpayment savings to the Peru savings.

For spending money, I am going to buy $150 dollars every payday ( every 2 weeks) so I'll have $3,300 spending money when I leave... which will be LOADS n LOADS..

This will mean spending Eur 200 more per month than I currently am so I'll have to look into where I'll get this.... it's just occured to me that I won't be paying approx Eur 45 CC interest anymore :-) so that'll help.... more Overtime I guess... if it's going.

Details aside, I really feel I will get a lot from this trip on a personal level... so I consider the saving effort worthwhile and a positive thing as I can focus on improving the things in my life that money can't buy....

Would love to hear from any of you that have been to Peru/ South America with any hints/tips....

Guess I'll have to dig out the Do-it-self Learn Spanish tapes !! lol

btw... I'm also interested in learning to dance the Salsa in the near future... does anybody know if the Salsa is big in Peru ??

Amazing weather in this part of the world !! The hottest its been all year !! :-)

Well it was my B-day last Friday -29- so went out with my brother and a friend for a few drinks... only spent about EUR 14 the whole night but ended up more drunk than I intended/wanted to be... something to do with a friend buying me double vodkas I'd say !! Anyway hungover on Saturday.

Yesterday off to the West of Ireland for a night in Achill. Spent about 4 hrs walking, enjoying the beautiful scenery and taking photos. Went out to dinner. Out for few drinks (help me sleep in a noisy hostel !!). This morning out for a nice walk on the beach... nice breakfast out and home.

Total Cost: EUR 68.25

Am pretty happy with this. I think I got good value for my money... also visited somewhere I'd never been b4.

I am planning to take more Saturday nite holidays to parts of the country I havn't been b4. If the weather is good, I might consider bringing a sleeping bag and sleeping in the car... less noise and cheaper... I'd probably get a better night's sleep.

I'd love to show you photos of Achill but I have a film camera and so will have to wait till the film is all used up and then get them developed. Can scan them onto the computer at the point. Thinking about getting a digital camera but will wait until I have extra money available in my current account - God knows when that will be !! lol

One of the places I have in mind to hit is the summer-long Lisdoonvarna Match-Making Festival... should be a lot of fune!! :-)

Bank Holiday next weekend.... and is also my birthday next Friday... so decided to spend a night somewhere new....

Have told myself I will visit Achill Island on the West Coast of Ireland for a few months now... so next weekend it is....

I am generally careful when shopping around for hotels etc... and they always nearly double their prices on Bank Holiday weekends.

However booked a bed in a hostel on Achill Island for €17 !! Great Value...

Will drive to Achill next Sunday morning... spend the day walking/ sightseeing, get changed, out for dinner, to the pub for the night and come what may, out for breakfast the next morning, 3/4 hours walking again, then home.

Can't wait. It is supposed to be great craic down there.

Also got €40 today for a CD player I had in my old car !!

To give a short background to the financial side of a night out on the town for a 20-something in my home town in Ireland - if you leave the house with €120 in your pocket and the next morning you find €5 you are doing very well !! haha

Our social life tends to revolve around drink. However, the major damage is done by a seemingly harmless system of replenishment called the Round i.e. you buy a drink for everyone and everyone buys a drink for you - you take turns. To not fulfill your duties and buy your round is probably the very very worst thing an Irish man could do - seriously :-)

To cut a long story short, I'm extracted myself from the round system and will only buy drinks for very close friends and relatives... who I can bet my life on are as eager to buy for me as I am for them. In a weird way, I think people respect you more when you bestow your good will upon a selected few rather than all and Sundry.

Anyway had a great week this week € speaking. A colleague left my place of work last Friday so we had going away nites Thurday AND Friday :-) see how bad us Irish are. Thursday nite bought a beer for the person leaving and only had one coke myself - damage €6.50. Friday nite - out for about 4 hours and spent €17.20. I am so proud of myself for cutting my spending so drastically.

This hasn't been a sudden change - have been working on it for a couple of years now

AND

I LOVE HAVING HANGOVERS THAT ARE LESS SEVERE AND FEW AND FAR BETWEEN... :-)

But the crucial thing that has made it work has been the seismic change in my attitude to buying drink for the ladies... in fact this is deserving of a post of its own :-)

give me a min