I can hardly believe that 1 year ago today I was ending my amazing trip and traveling home. Here are some thoughts that I had as I was processing and preparing to come home.
"In some ways this has been a very long trip- it seems like months have passed since our first days here. In other ways, I can't believe we're leaving already. I will be happy to sleep in my own bed again. I don't miss work yet (surprise!) but it will be nice to see my family and friends again. Normal routine sounds comforting as well."
It has taken me nearly a year to really begin to process our experiences and the enormity of this trip. When I returned home it was almost too much to begin to share with people. Every day was full of new places and lots of sights and emotional ups and downs. Things didn't go exactly as we planned. I saw indescribable beauty and met interesting people. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip and I'm so thankful for the memories and pictures.
I hope that you have enjoyed this month of memories as well. I am planning to continue this blog to share some of the highlights as I continue in this journey of life. Thanks for joining me!
We spent our last day in Northern Ireland packing up and reading and buying as much chocolate as possible with our last few pounds! Jacqueline and John picked us up in the afternoon and took us to the airport. We found Tommy, who had just flown in, and spent a few minutes chatting with him and then we had to quickly get to our gate. That proved to be a nearly impossible task! This was the only time that we had any trouble at any of the airports and it was actually Karen who got held up at security! They held her carry on and then kept ignoring it as we waited, growing more and more impatient and nervous. Finally, they began unpacking the ENTIRE thing! Which she had spent so much time packing carefully so that everything fit since we had to be super careful about the weight of our checked bag (which just made it after we took some stuff out at the last minute!) We began to panic and once they determined that she wasn't carrying explosives onto the plane, we frantically shoved everything back into her bag and layered on every item of clothing that we possibly could since we were only allowed one carry on. They were very serious about this. Sweating and panting and shaking we made it into line and onto the plane without much time to spare.
We arrived in Glasgow and found Gillian and Beth waiting for us. What a sight for sore eyes! They drove us back to her mom's house and we spent some time hanging out with Marion, Jim and Lesley as well. The girls were a blast to talk to and play with. We knew that we had a tiny bit of time to re-pack everything and get some sleep before our early trip back to the airport the next morning. Gill desperately tried to get the girls to sleep but that was not happening- they were way too excited to have us there! Eventually we did sleep, but before we knew it we were up and off to the airport once more. Our brief visit was bittersweet- we only touched the surface of reconnecting but I'm so thankful for every minute I was able to spend with that sweet family.
"We didn't leave the house today. We did a load of laundry, wrote some notes and read. I took a few naps as well. That's right, I said a few! It was so nice to just relax after all of our running around. We watched "Harvey" and made pizzas and curled up on the couches with blankets. A few times kids came to the door to trick or treat but we had nothing to give them."
The time also changed that night so we got an extra hour of sleep. It was kind of fun to think about gaining 2 extra hours in one year!
"We returned the hired car, got dropped at the rail station in Ballymena and took the train to Belfast for the day. I really enjoyed Belfast quite a bit! That was kind of surprising to me for some reason. We saw the Europa Hotel- the most bombed hotel during "the troubles" and City Hall, which was very intricate and cool. We bought all of the rest of the gifts and souvenirs that we were hoping to find and then just wandered. We saw Queen Anne's Cathedral which had some really beautiful stained glass windows and mosaics. We also saw Writer's Square where quotes from Belfast writers and poets were all along the ground. The Titanic Quarter was quite empty and closed off because of construction on the new visitor center that is being built so we weren't able to see the exact spots where Titanic was first put into the water but we got the general idea. We stayed in Belfast much longer than we planned and were happy to see so many cool places!"
We woke up early and took the bus into Ballymena. From there we walked a kind of long distance to a car dealership where we were able to rent a car for the day! We set out and drove towards the coast and followed it north. It was beautiful. We just had to keep stopping and staring and taking pictures every few minutes. We didn't actually go a very far distance that day but it took all day because the sights were so amazing! They actually call this area an "AONB"- Area of Natural Beauty. It totally is.
On the way home, we stopped in a long driveway and looked at the abundance of stars. Incredible. It was a very long day, but full of fun and beauty and laughter!
"Today was a mellow day...one that was much needed. I woke up and drank cupfulls of tea and made toasted cheese. Checked my bank and credit card balances, dealt with emails, etc. We did all of our laundry today which feels so good! I now have clean clothes to choose from, not "a bit less dirty" ones!
We took a bus to Ballymena and figured out that we can rent a car tomorrow to go on the coastal drive and to the Giant's Causeway. Yay! We made our frozen pizzas for dinner and organized our stuff and read all evening. It's so nice and quiet and peaceful."
This day began horribly, but did get better! We woke up from our restless sleep at the awful hostel and high-tailed it out of there as quickly as possible! We found public bathrooms and paid 1 euro each to go in to brush our teeth, change, etc. That's how ridiculously disgusting the hostel bathroom was.
We dragged our suitcase to McDonald's and sat inside sipping coffee/hot cocoa and trying to figure out what to do next. It was still drizzling, we had no idea how we were going to get to Northern Ireland and then what to do once we got there since Gill and Tommy & the girls were in Scotland and would remain there until we flew home. Both Karen and I were unable to pull ourselves out of our sadness and felt pretty hopeless in our post-traumatic state. Yes, I'm being a wee bit dramatic, but in the moment we were just devastated. I may have cried into my coffee a little.
Once the information center opened, we found out about buses to Northern Ireland and renting a car from the airport in Belfast. They let us leave our luggage at the center for a small fee and we noticed that the sun was peeking out from behind the seemingly never-ending clouds. We decided to take the later bus north and to take advantage of this day to see some things we didn't get a chance to before. It's amazing how a little information can impact outlook.
Our first stop was St. Michan's Church and we both really wanted to go there to see the organ that Handel reportedly practiced The Messiah on as well as the crypts beneath the church. We spent a little time in the sanctuary admiring the details of the carvings, the stained glass windows and the artifacts. I listened to portions of The Messiah on my mp3 player and was swept away by the beauty of it in this historic place. When it was our turn to take the tour of the crypts we joined a man from Australia and headed below ground with our guide. It must be said that he really enjoyed his job. Everything he said was with a dramatic flourish and Karen & I had to keep from giggling out loud at times. There were totally naturally mummified bodies due to the exact conditions of the crypts and the limestone walls. Amazing! After telling us (in his creepy manner) about who each of the mummified bodies might have been, he moved away the gate and much to our surprise, told us that we were allowed to walk into the chamber and carefully rub the finger of the supposed crusader. Apparently it is good luck! So, I did!!! And then I wandered around the rest of the day believing that I had the bubonic plague. Hee, hee.
We spent the day seeing some of the sights we hadn't yet seen in Dublin and then caught the bus to Northern Ireland. It was an uneventful ride and once we arrived in Belfast we took another bus to the airport to see about a rental car. There were none. NONE! And it was about 7pm. Yikes! We called Gilly who called her sister-in-law to come get us and bring us to their house. Rescued! Yay! She even brought us to get groceries and showed us how to work the heat/water/etc. in the house. We promptly showered and ate and collapsed! It was good to be at Gill and Tommy's house, but sad to be there without them. We didn't really know what the next few days would hold, but finally felt safe and clean and ready to relax after the last few "adventurous" days!
