A kind woman at Sweny’s Pharmacy warned us that Dublin’s airport was understaffed and we should allow extra time. Man, I’m glad we had that tip. We got in the airport four hours ahead of our flight. It took two hours and fifty minutes to get to our gate, which included going through a second set of security procedures for US flights and pre-customs. I’m very much looking forward to flying out of Toronto again because it is closer to Ohio than Washington, but being able to skip US pre-customs in European airports is now a nice additional reason.

The trip was a grand success overall. We got to six days of things we had not seen or done before, and this is our fourth trip to Ireland. My fondest memories are around people – the pub in Kilkenny and our guide in the Medieval Museum and our guide at the Rock of Cashel and Alex for the Dublin Literary Tour.  Having charming accents certainly helps.

The Irish people, as I had remembered, are very friendly and helpful, and are fairly easy to “chat up” (the Irish gas pump man notwithstanding, and even he loved talking). We were offered drinks on two occasions, and no one was the least offended when we refused (since we don’t imbibe).

We need to get back here for many reasons, if only to see more of Dublin. I’d love to see some of the museums here, and I’ve not explored much of the interior of the country. While we will keep surfing around Europe, I told Meredith we could have made great vacations by just alternating Italy and Ireland. How such small countries can have so much to see is pretty amazing to me. Here’s to exploring more.

But first, friends, family, and kitties await. And that slightly pesky job thing.