Pre-Trip Jitters

I was a little bit nervous about our trip to Ireland.  My husband and I signed up to go with a tour group, which normally is not my type of thing at all.  The only reason we even considered it was because we know the guy organizing the trip.  His name is Donal O'Shaughnessy, and he is an Irish singer/songwriter who we got to know from his shows in Cleveland and upstate New York.  He has taken many groups to Ireland over the years.  He is a really cool guy, sings good songs, can appreciate a good pint, and generally knows how to have a good time, so I figured his trip would be pretty cool.  Plus, the thought of going on a vacation to another country without having to take part in any planning whatsoever was very appealing. 

However, as the trip approached, I was nervous for a few reasons:  (1) I generally spend my vacations trying to get away from people, and in this case I was going to be with a group of people I had never met before for TEN DAYS; (2) I absolutely HATE riding in the car - even more so if I don't have any control over where we are going and when we can stop (say to take pictures or to go to the bathroom), and this trip involved daily outings of unknown duration on some type of bus/van ; and (3) I am a control freak, and had no control over anything on this trip (which I formally thought was awesome, as I mentioned above, but which started to worry me as the trip grew closer). 

As you will see, my worries were all for naught.  The trip far exceeded my expectations.  There was a total of 11 people in the group, myself included, and we were a great group, if I do say so myself.  I really, genuinely liked everybody in the group - met some great people.  I really hope we stay in touch.  As for worry number two, the van/bus was pretty comfortable and our driver was fantastic.  I learned much more about Ireland from him than I ever could have learned driving around on my own.  Plus, having a driver meant we could stop for pints every hour or so and not worry about having to be responsible for driving.  He was pretty good about stopping once an hour or so, to make sure everybody could stretch their legs or go to the bathroom or whatever.  Also, Ireland is much smaller than I realized, and you can get pretty much anywhere you are going within an hour or two for the most part.  As far as the last worry went, I handled it pretty well.  It was actually relaxing not having to worry about where we were going or how we were going to get there.  Donal planned a much better trip than I could have on my own.

The hardest part of my trip preparation was trying to get twelve days worth of clothing and personal items into a carry on suitcase.  I managed to do it, and even found room for an extra pair of shoes and my Snuggie. The most stressful part of my trip was dropping the dogs off at the kennel.  Every time I drop them off I swear to myself that I am never going on another vacation where I can't take them along.  Next time maybe I'll just talk my husband into taking them without me - I won't feel as guilty that way.

Well, so much for pre-trip jitters - time to get on with the adventure!