Ireland!

Final thoughts for the Ireland trip. I am glad that I invited Dawn, Chris and Steven to join me on this adventure. I woke this morning wondering how the trip would have gone without them there, and I don't think that I would have had as much fun. I would have found another person to tag along with, I am sure, but I would have also found myself alone more and I don't explore as much, when alone. I never would have ventured into Dinley and made the long down then uphill walk. I would have not tried different drinks or sampled as many foods.

Ireland was a dream of mine since I was roughly 11 yrs old, and this trip lived up to the hype. Sure, I would do things differently - booked in a way to allow more time at places and considered upgrading my seat for traveling to - but the bottom line is it was a trip of a lifetime for me. I hope the first of many to come.

The landscape of Ireland was beautiful and fresh. It was the type that you have to see to believe, photos do not do it justice. You can clearly see that tourism makes up the main industry there, because the shops were full tinkles and tourist stuff, but they didn't have the flashing lights and billboards of "home". I love that they protect their nature so much, ruins can't be touched or torn down, stone walls cannot be removed. Here we would destroy these in the name of progress, this is why we don't have beautiful things.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and now, I am ready to book my next...