On the road for the start

And we're off! This is exciting for so many reasons. I've never used my passport before, I've never been across the Atlantic. I've never seen cats drive on the wrong side of the road. The biggest culture shocks I've had were in places like Oakland, Louisiana, New York. I've never been to a really different culture and the sense that I'll be so in the thick of something so new sounds amazing. Here's to new experiences.

In a Train,

On the BART..

8 hours until take off..

 and I have just one thing to say:
Morgan is waaaay better at tetris than I am!

Hook 'em, cook 'em, Book 'em!

So, I have now booked 11 hotels!
2 of which are castles, .

and 2 are rooms in people's houses thanks to:

 

We are leaving one place to stay up to chance.. depending on whether or not we head to the Aran islands..

I  have also booked:

A viking land/water tour












                A Guinness Tour

                                                                

and I have looked into a horseback riding tour across beach and bog.










  I am getting really excited. I hope this trip can live up to its own hype!

Starting to get excited about the trip. It's just barely over a week away, and I'm looking forward to it. We talked about the logistics and the plans a little yesterday, and it sounds really solid. We've got the things that need to be planned planned, and the things that don't left open. I'm pretty sure this is the right way to do things. I don't want to be locked into anything, but I do want an idea of "what do we do now" so we don't feel like we're wasting time. I want our downtime to feel worth it, like we've earned a pint after a cold rainy day of mucking around Kilkenny.

How could I not be excited when this is where we're going? I've never been really exposed to Irish history, so I'm excited about that, learning about Finn McCool and such. I'm also excited about trying out the new slightly larger camera in a beautiful setting like this. I'm gonna be such a tourist. Why not enjoy it if that's what we are, right?*

*Note: this does not mean I'll take pictures of stupid heart things that have nothing to do with a city, and also does not mean I'll just stand in the middle of the road/sidewalk, mouth agape.

Traveling with special needs..

 I will be the first to admit it, travel with my boyfriend isn't always the easiest of things..

 His special need is that he is 6'8, or (2 meters 3).
His bed is a California King, he can't take a bubble bath, and his knees press into the chair in front of him when he sits on a plane.. and you can bet the person in that chair will be sitting straight up the whole ride.. Though there have been a few that have tried really hard to push the chair back through his knees.
 Since we will by flying 5 hours to Chicago, and 7 more to Dublin, I'd say the 30 extra dollars we paid to sit in the bulkhead row, are definitely worth it.
Sometimes we see if they will change it for us at the airport for free, but sometimes we end up sitting away from each other for hours, or worse,there is nothing they can do be cause the flight is full up. The way back from a recent trip to NY was like that, and it was .. not good.
  I would say one of the benefits to being a flexible acrobat like myself, is the ability to curl up in tight spaces, but until my computer programmer man Phileas takes a few more lessons, bulkhead will have to do! :)

Thinking about traveling.. reminds me of traveling

Travel planning can be stressful! I've taken on the responsibility of putting this trip together, since it was my idea in the first place. Phileas is along for the ride so to speak. But there are SO MANY OPTIONS! I don't want to miss out on anything!
 But.. remembering back to previous trips, I'm happy to have done all of them. I wouldn't trade even the more harrowing moments for anything.
So, I need to remember to relax when planning this one.. even though I want it to be the best trip ever, stressing isn't really the way to achieve it. Every detail doesn't have to be "right" to make it a great trip. Sometimes it's the things we don't plan for, that turn out the most worthwhile.. :)
 With a deep breath and a break from scouring the internets for everythingtopossiblydoeverwhileonatriptoIreland, I present you with:

  Gulliver's My travels!
The green by the way, is where I want to go.. red I have lived in, and blue I have visited.



A quickie rundown:
Age 6 months - Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic - visiting family
Age 2 -  New York - visiting family
Age 11 - Dominican Republic - visiting family
Age 12 - Washington DC - for history class field trip
Age 13 - Brazil, Peru, and Columbia - to see the world before becoming a horrible teenager.
Age 16 - Canada - for choir competition
Age 17 - Florida - to visit family
Age 18 - New York - to visit Family
Age 19 - New York - funeral
Age 19 - Texas - friends
Age 19 - Alaska - vacation
Age 20 - New Orleans - moved for 7 months
Age 22 - Los Angeles - for work
Age 23 - Florida - Wedding
Age 24 - Florida - for work
Age 26 - Florida - Funeral
Age 26 - Long Beach - change in life
Age 28 - Oakland -change in life
Age 28- New Mexico - family
Age 28 - New york - family
Age 28 - Arizona - family
Age 28 - New York - funeral
Age 29 - *IRELAND*
Looks like I've done a lot more traveling in the last year than I remembered. Not all of it for happy reasons, but all worthwhile.
 I am looking forward to a family reunion with for my Tia's 65th bday in the Dominican republic.

 Well, back to cold pizza and planning!
<3