Drive On The Left

IRELAND FEVER HAS STRUCK AGAIN! Pack your bag, update your passport, and practice driving on the wrong side of the road. Well…maybe you can skip that last one until you get to Ireland.

What has triggered this relapse into the need for tea and Pub life? Let me tell you.

Last night my wife, the lovely and a daughter of the Old Sod, Dawn, received an email message from one of her brothers down in Texas. It seems that he and his lovely wife are contemplating a trip to Ireland next April. That alone is enough to start the engines up here in Terre Haute (That’s French for, “I won’t eat Black Pudding.”).

Rock of Cashel

The email from Texas spelled out the details of their hoped for trip. A remarkably low ticket price and a good itinerary for first time tourists helped them make up their mind. They would be in Ireland for only a week, but it would be a wonderful Sampler – enough to lure them back for more visits to the island.

For Dawn and I only one week there would not be enough to warrant unpacking. Our last trip across the ocean was for seven weeks. I would not mind doing that again.

The fuse has been lit.

After reading that email Dawn and her brother were on the phone within minutes tossing ideas back and forth. “D- Day” was an off the cuff event compared to their Ireland plans.

Ever since we returned from our last trip the longing for another has been bubbling on the back burner. The need for “one more trip” has been cooking. That email turned up the heat to the max.

Dublin

On that last trip over we escorted a couple of friends for two weeks until they felt comfortable and went off on their own. I think we could do that with Dawn’s brother and sister-in-law. Their agenda is a good one for first timers, but we know all the good spots to visit and things to see and do that most tours miss.

April is a good time to go to Ireland. Winter is over and it is not yet the high tourist season. It isn’t as crowded as it will be later in the year. It will be rainy, but it is always rainy in Ireland. How do you think it gets to be so green?

If the general plans solidify quickly the details will dominate our life until we board the airplane.

This would be our fifth trip across the Atlantic. Both Dawn and I have Irish ancestors – just like most of the country and there is a magnetic pull that draws us back time and time again.

Dawn said that when she first landed in Ireland a number of years ago she immediately felt that she was “Home.”

Ireland – a small nation with a population scattered around the world. There are fewer people living on the island today than there were in 1840. The famines of the 19th century created a diaspora sending the Irish out to the farthest reaches of the globe. The Irish embraced the world and the world returned the love. How else can you explain why there is a big St. Patrick’s Day Parade every year in Tokyo?

The planning will now begin in earnest.

 

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