Well, after years and years of saying we'd go to Ireland to do family history and see the land of our ancestors... it's finally happening! The plan was to go last year, but April or September were the times I wanted to go, and it didn't work out (although mom finally did get her passport in anticipation!). My work schedule was tough, and we kept thinking we needed to do more family history work, and get it all organized before going, and that wasn't happening.
So this year, near the end of January I had this strong feeling that if we were going to go in April, now was the time to decide. And to forget trying to be perfectionist-y about family history - just go and see the land where our people lived, for the experience. I went to mom's house and we looked at dates, I looked for flights using dad's United miles, and nothing felt right, once again, so many options and I wasn't getting anywhere. With one last ditch effort before giving up and going home, I Googled SFO to Dublin on the dates in April I was looking at, and a $500 round trip United ticket popped up. What?! I went to United's website and it was actually legit. It worked, felt right, and the next day I booked our tickets - we were finally going! I booked the car rental as well, since I needed an automatic, and wanted to get that request in ASAP.
For the next several months, craziness at work ensued, along with many social obligations, and church responsibilities (and mom had all sorts of crazy going on at her house to deal with too... not the least of which was busted sewer pipes, and re-plumbing the entire house) so planning the rest of the trip didn't happen until a few weeks before we were leaving. It was kinda surreal - is this really happening?? I was stressed out and mind-boggled not knowing where to go, or what to see, trying to gather the locations and addresses I did have, when the inspired thought came to me to put it all on a Google map, so that's what I did:
Touristy stuff I wanted to see I put in one color, our family history addresses in another, optional points of interest, family history libraries, castles of note got their own colors, and where to go to church on Sunday (that had an actual ward with a chapel building, not a branch in some random store we'd probably never find). And out of that a pattern began to emerge - we'd start at Dublin, go counter-clockwise around the country and stick to the top half for the 7 days we were there. This I could work with.
Lodging, where we would stay was the biggest hurdle. Everyone raved about Airbnb, so I thought we'd try that out. But what nights and where? How long to stay at each place? How it worked, how to communicate in a foreign country with strangers, was it safe? And then mom and I had different ideas of how long to stay at each place - she felt strongly connected to where her grandmother came from (since she'd heard stories from her mother of her visit there as a small child), and I felt like we should spend more time up where her grandfather came from.
I made the final decisions, and booked a castle hotel the first night ('cause you gotta stay in a castle at least one night!), 3-nights at a traditional Irish cottage in Donegal (which meant extra driving back to church, but less time spent checking in), and 2-nights at a seaside house in Wesrport. With the last night left open, as we just needed a place to crash in Dublin by the airport - and Travelodge was the likely winner. With those reservations completed, the trip was planned, and for better or worse the responsibility of it landed on me... but the pieces fell into place, and I felt at peace. And completely stressed out at the same time - I mean being the senior traveler in a foreign country with someone who has never left the USA before, and having to drive on the wrong side of the road all week, who does that!?! :o)
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