Day 15: “When I die Dublin will be written in my heart.” ~ James Joyce

Our flight leaves Dublin at 12:45 P.M. so we will wake up and leave our hotel at 8:30 (we don't want to rush and for international flights we have to be there three hours in advance). Goodbye Ireland, you will always remain in my heart!




Who knows where the road will take me (image site)

I do not want to wait too long before partaking on this dream vacation as I want to experience the world before kids come into the picture or I am old and have regrets. Though my dream vacation at the moment is to go to Ireland so I can learn more about my past, I still have other dream vacations in the back of my mind: I want to travel to Greece and Turkey, then I want to see the Pyramids in Egypt. It is never ending. I never want to stay put in one area focusing solely on work. I want to travel with my friends, I want to try new foods, see exotic places, learn more about human history. I am so excited to bring Josh on this trip as he has not had the same opportunities I have had to explore the world. I have been to Italy, France, Switzerland, Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, the Cayman Islands and many different states in the U.S.. Josh has never left Ontario. I have a wall in my room which contains a map where I have pinned off places I have visited and above I have framed pictures showing key tourist destinations for each of those places. Some say that with globalization today the world has become much smaller, but each time I travel my world view expands, the world continues to astound me, and pictures can never do it justice. I feel this course may be detrimental to my bank account because the more gateways I see the more I want to travel! What is funny is that I was just showing my Aunt this assignment and less than a few days later she herself booked a trip to Ireland! My excitement must have sparked the desire she held deep down to visit her mother’s home country. This trip is a reality, we will save up the money and on the trip we will enjoy ourselves (without being too liberal with money). The trip itself will cost around $7,500 (with food and drink, gas, car rental, flight, souvenirs, cost for tours, shows, massages and rooms) Josh himself was there as I planned it and I made sure to ask whether he too thought certain sites were to his liking and he put in his own two cents in as well. The scenery, the food, the beer, the atmosphere all is so enticing I have neglected my other studies to work on this assignment :S I hope you enjoyed my trip. I know I certainly will.

When I come back, hopefully I will have learned to pronounce the sites and places (oh and also the proper way to say my last name hahaha) we visited after going on this trip. I also really hope I can come back and show my family here in Canada their family tree and can trace our ancestors back to Ireland and figure out who they were, what they did, and why they came to the beautiful country of Canada! I also hope I find a new favourite beer while in Ireland and have mastered the art of pouring it. I want to come back with a few tacky t-shirts, some Irish tea, and a few pieces of pottery and glass, AND I also want a camera card full of pictures! I have a feeling I will be full of pride after having visited my ancestral land! I hope I will come home feeling lighter in heart and mind, and not to mention body seeing as we will be walking everyday and learning how to dance the Irish Step (but then again with all the food and alcohol we indulge in .... maybe a few extra pounds won’t be too tragic). My goal is to inspire others to travel, especially to Ireland, and I won’t stop at anything to show my friends pictures (of course I will make a shutterfly book) and tell them the amazing stories of the experiences I had and the tales I heard.