Last Monday I returned from a 10-day self-drive trip in Ireland, starting in Dublin and driving around the west coast in a rental car.  Like many people, every summer we take a longish holiday, and for me the joy has always been about the preparation: the months of anticipation while you read books and research your destination online, deciding which towns to stop at and which B&B’s to stay at, reading about the culture and history, the unique foods, and what makes the Irish the warm, unpretentious people that they are.  Another part of my preparation is selling last year’s Garmin GPS map SD and buying the new Ireland one on eBay.  And watching “Michael Collins” on cable (and discovering that Julia Roberts can’t do an accent to save her life).

Of course the entire week after returning, I was away on a pretty busy business trip to Singapore and Korea, so I didn’t really have a chance to review and appreciate the holiday, and today was really the first time to sit and reflect.  We are now trying new ways to consume the black pudding we bought (as a substitute for tuna in salad niçoise, fried up like sausages with eggs for breakfast, etc.), and drinking Guinness whenever we can (although I discovered I like Murphy’s more but you can’t find that here).

I’m just satisfied with the thought that, like they say in that book “1000 Places to See Before You Die”, I can now cross Ireland off my list.  It won’t see the last of me though.