Notes

 Jet Blue was fantastic.  The food was good and so were our seats.  I would fly them all the time if we could. 

Scotland.  Wow, the beauty, the food, the cleanliness.  The butter!  I felt a calm in Scotland. The people are not in a hurry.  They start work and school later and get off earlier.  They seem to work to live not the other way around.  We really could have used more time here in so many places and less in others.  The driving for Kirk was a lot.  Driving on the other side and their small roads was challenging.  He did great and I’m sure I would not have.  I would spend more time on Isle of Skye and Inverness, Glencoe and less in Edinburgh.  I loved Edinburgh but we spent the first day exploring the city when we landed, and did quite a lot, and then came back to 2 more days at the end and we did not need that many.  Kirk would disagree.  I think he felt our Edinburgh was a good amount.

Ireland was just lovely.  The landscape divided by old walls.  The ring of Kerry.  The cows and sheep living in serenity!  The bread.  Galway was a place I did not research before hand and I thought it would be a small city but it was quite large and lively!  Very young and fun.  I didn’t feel as safe there as other places.  The guys walked me home after dinner and went out to drink some more.  I didn’t feel like they had to do that at any other place.  It felt like a young persons town but we didn’t get to explore as much there as I would have liked.  Dublin was a perfect bend of a city - large with a lot to do, charged with energy and youth as well as history.  I felt safe here as well.  So many pubs and restaurants.  Not as clean as Scotland cities but still more so than here.  It was harder to understand some of the dialects in the countryside but seemed less in the city.  

We ate in so many pubs and the food was delicious - in both countries!  Ed commented that there wasn’t much variety - a lot of fish - but we loved it. We had so many AMAZING chowders and fish and chips but I never felt like I had too many!  I would say only one meal, we had at a pub, was not as good, in all 16 days.  

The calm of being away from all the political shit happening was wonderful.  Our algorithms changed on social media and we were also off it for so much of the time.  I also felt less consumerism.  We don’t typically buy stuff on vacation anymore, no gifts or souvenirs, but also being away from that part of social media was quite freeing.  There were so few “Kardashians”, fake lashes and over done lips etc.  And it felt the only overweight people were Americans.  Didn’t see much snacking at all - no chips, candy etc.  Probably helped with the lack of litter.  They are leaps ahead of us in contactless paying.  Every single place had a hand held payment.  And people are nicer drivers.  It took a lot to get the LA out of Kirk when he was driving.  He only said once that “he was going to stop and beat the buy behind us up”.  :)

I didn’t like the constant moving and because we had different clothes for different things (hiking, rain, city exploring and dinners) we just had heavy luggage, even though it was all carryon.  Kirk said he did well with his clothes but I was not as happy with mine funnily b/c the weather was so good! I didn’t need my waterproof shoes or boots, or quick dry pants.  I ended up buying some asics to walk around town in b/c my hikers were too stiff, although perfect for hiking the Isle of Skye and wet streets.  

Heading home

 Taxi ride out of the city.  Uber isn’t really a thing here. Lots of bikes, walkers and use of public transit but still a traffic jam into the city, although not out of it.  Dublin airport is quite nice, clean.  As the other airports, after security you walk thru a sort of duty free mall with booze, makeup, food etc.  It’s kind of annoying but a genius design.  We were able to use the Fast Track with our plane ticket.  While the airport wasn’t crowded it did save us a lot of time.  Also a global entry point in Dublin which is nice.  Stupid photo but away we went…

And then we were up up and away to JFK then LAX.  We both slept a little bit on each flight.  

Picked up the dogs who were so happy and clean!  Kirk was worried Lulu would be mad at us but they were both ecstatic!  Settled in for a bit and then went to bed at a normal California time which was the time we were getting up in Ireland. Felt good but I’m sure we will be bonkers for a few days.  

Emigration and Prison.

 Woke up to the news that Jim was not feeling well and wouldn’t be joining us today so it was just Kirk and I ate the Emigration Museum.  I didn’t know what to expect but it was really amazing and informative. But first I have to say I really like Dublin.  It’s a walkable city, if not a little chaotic.  It does not have a grid system of streets so it took a while to figure it out and while we still didn’t have it quite down, by day 5 most of us were comfortable with it.  

So, more people of Irish decent live abroad than in Ireland.  1.5 million people left the country during and after the great famine of 1845-50.  Ireland was first established as a free state in 1922 and the first passport for Ireland specifically was issued in 1924.  And while Ireland was considered a neutral territory and some held British passports, they were considered ‘enemy aliens’ during WW2.  The thing is Ireland is proud of their heritage and honest about their shortcomings.  They still have issues with Emigration - the opportunities abroad have outpaced local ones and issues that we faced also had repercussions in Ireland like the 2008 financial crash, and people left for tech in other countries.  

First country to legalize Gay marriage!  And Irish music is long held to be the foundation for Appalachian music.  Many traditional Irish lyrics were changed in America to include cowboys for example.  

Our last lunch, back to Meagher’s pub, which we went to earlier in the week and loved the staff and the food.  Especially the seafood chowder.  Kirk declared today to be a ‘dry’ day in preparation for travel tomorrow.  Here’s how it went.  

😂

Headed back to the room to pack up a bit then met the group for a 2 mile walk to the Kilmainham Gaol, aka prison.  Jim joined us although he wasn’t 100%,  apparently Ed was feeling bad as well.  They were blaming on the pizza from the night before but Dan did not get sick so who knows.  

“This is a prison.  Don’t wander off.  It’s designed to keep you in.”  Open from 1796-1924.  Many important men were housed here that were inspiration or directly involved in Irish independence.  It was solemn in so many ways how young these men were.  Women and children were also kept here. The first ever woman to hold a role in Irish Parliament, Countess Constance Mankiewicz, was held here. She was key in Irelands independence from British rule, was an advocate for workers and women’s rights, and a top notch sniper. 

Jim and Dan declined to join us for dinner.  Jim was still not feeling great.  We went to a beautiful steak house and even then Ed didn’t eat either.  It was a lovely walk and evening to end our 5 days here. 

Here we go Steelers!!

 Got dressed in Steeler gear and headed out towards the game w plans to drink our way there. About a 2 mile walk. First pub stop was at a bar for …Guinness!  The guys have had soooo much. 

Then on to the second bar…getting closer to the stadium! Kirk said an Irish man commented ‘damn they grow you big in America!’ In the bathroom. Lol. 

Made it! ‘It was a great decision to have 4 beers before the game!’

Kirk and I bought seats together but despite them being 13 and 14 we were across the aisle from each other and apparently so were Ed and Claudine. We were not able to sit with our friends but it was all good.  The food and beer was not crazy priced like the states.  Thank goodness b/c there was a lot of beer consumed!

Final 24-21. Woohoo!  Kirk did say they tried to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Stressful last minute w some questionable play calls, according to our guys. Super fun game w great entertainment and fans. Had to be 75% Steeler fans. Was considered a home game. 72,000 people in attendance all leaving at the same time was quite a site. Got separated from the group and grabbed a quick bite a the Harry Lemon bar. Headed back to the hotel for an early night in.