I'm Baaaaaack!

[madeleone]

Hey, we made it back from Ireland!

The trip was great except for at the very end.  When we got to JFK, our flight to Detroit was delayed for an hour, then an hour and a half, then canceled entirely. (mechanical problems. Well,obviously I don't want to fly if there is something wrong with the plane, but by this point we just want to go home.) First we were told the only other flight last night was full and we would have to wait until tonight (Sunday) to get a flight home. They finally agreed to put us on standby for the 6:30 flight but told us we probably wouldn't get on because there were no open seats, but we could wait and see and if not they'd spring for a hotel and confirm a seat on a flight for tonight. Normally I'd love a free hotel, but hubby was stressed and I was tired and we just wanted to get home as we only had today before we had to get back to work. Well, by some miracle be made it on stand-by, getting, literally the last two seats on the plane.

 

So we slept at daughter's house and got home this afternoon. The dogs were happy to have us home but I think Abbie is pouting, she greeted us warmly but has pretty much ignored us since then. The cats really could not care as long as someone fills their dishes and empties their box.

The rest of the trip itself,however, was wonderful. Everything that I hoped it would be (except maybe not quite long enough). LOL! We saw a lot of western Ireland which is absolutely gorgeous, had great food, met some wonderful people and in general had a great time. I think one of my favorite places was the Connemara region, beautiful scenery. Mountains, lakes and valleys. I do plan to post pics but have to go through them. Hubby got bit shutter crazy and wanted to photograph everything he saw, I swear, between the two of us we took over 500 pics, (thank god for digital!) So I will pic spam soon.

 

I think my evil plotting worked, because before we left on the trip, I told my kids that I hoped their dad would like it so much that we could plan another maybe longer trip back there someday. After just the first couple of days he started saying things like...”well, next time we come, we'll have to go to that place” or “When we come back we'll have to do that.” Hee hee, yay for evil plots!

I got to go to Ballyvary, where my great-grandparents came from. It is a tiny little town, not much more than a couple blocks long. I didn't discover any long lost relatives (honestly didn't put forth a lot of effort into finding any) but just to be able to stand there and see it was nice.

 

I think one of the things that made an impression on both of us is the amount of history there and obviously throughout the rest of the world. It amazed us to think of places we were seeing that were built hundreds of years ago. Being from the US, most of our historical places are not more than 200 to 300 years old and here in the midwest, even those are few and far between. (much less so than the east coast). But to be able to walk into a place, be it a pub or a castle or an abbey or whatever and think of the people who had been there, so long ago was really amazing. We got to visit two sites of stone circles, and a couple ancient tomb chambers, which was just a thrill for me, having somewhat more pagan leanings these days despite my (now lapsed) Roman Catholic background.

 

Another interesting thing is what a small world it really is. In a pub in Bunratty on our last night I overheard an American woman in another group mention some program at the Genesee public library. But I know there a lot of Genesee's so I didn't think anything of it. Then a man in the group mentioned Frankenmuth, so I just had to ask... “hey are you guys from Michigan?” And they were, from Flushing, which is not more than 40 miles from our town. Yup, just like Uncle Walt said, it's a small world. :)

 

I also found it curious that when people there asked where we were from we would answer, “from Michigan,” and say “you know the state that looks like a mitten.” Many gave us a blank stare when we pointed on our palm to the approximate place where we live,(something not many other people in the world can do) one girl asked me if that's where Penn State was, and another guy asked if we were near Florida? Now I didn't expect that everyone knows a lot about the US, but Michigan in pretty distinctive on any map. Like Italy, if I see the outline of Italy I know instantly what it is. Even if they didn't know the name of our state I thought they would know from world maps which one looks like a mitten. I mean we're not one of those indiscriminate square states, after all, (no offense to Colorado, Wyoming and any of you other square shaped states.) :D

 

I also learned (well, honestly, I knew this to begin with. But the fact was reinforced) that I need to learn to pack much less. I swear I only wore about half of the clothes that I brought with me, and the rest I just lugged around from place to place. And now I will have to wash them all because they all mixed and mingled together in the suitcase when my back was turned.

 

Well I have rambled enough and have to get prepared to return to RL and back to work tomorrow. ( I really want to retire or become independently wealthy or at least comfortably so) so that I can take more trips and visit more places. I promise to post pics as soon as I have time to sort through them (but I promise not to post all 500 of them.) ;-)

ETA: North America Map so everyone can see the mitten. LOL!