Geo: 37.5406, -77.4334The plane ride was uneventful and reasonably comfortable. I thought I was going to be trapped in the middle of the middle of the plane, but I was able to switch seats during online check-in and it made a huge difference. I got a wall in front of me and an aisle seat, so it was about as good as it could be without exchanging $8,000 for a bed in first class. No crying babies or loud talkers—very nice. I watched Zac Ephron's "17 Again" and a Woody Allen movie I had never heard of called “Match Point” where Jonathan Rhys Meyers kills his pregnant mistress and gets away with it. I also had time to watch a couple of episodes of Entorage since I wasn't sleeping. I'm not a huge fan of the ... read more

Geo: 52.6538, -7.24798Josh and I were snoozin' hard when the alarm went off thismorning. I think the long days andrestless nights are catching up with us a bit. We had a 9:30 train to catch out of Heuston Station, so webreakfasted and hopped on the bus downtown. We got one piece of bad direction, but recovered in plentyof time to catch the Luas tram and make it to our platform. Today we are on the Waterford train as far as Kilkenny whichis supposed to be a very walkable Medieval town. It also has a name that greatly amuses Josh. The trip is about 2 hours each way andshould be a nice opportunity to see some of the countryside. I noticed this morning on our way outthat one of the pubs near our hotel dates from 1534. ... read more

Geo: 53.3441, -6.26749Blessedly, there were no false fire alarms last night (after a few in the early evening) and we got a pretty decent night's rest. We trooped downstairs for breakfast and I remembered just how much I love vacationing in tea-drinking nations. There was a pot of piping hot tea at my side with a plate of toast very quickly. Josh bellied up to the buffet and proclaimed the Irish bacon the best he'd ever tasted.Josh: I woke up this morning about 8 and listened to Eldest on my iPod until mom woke up. Then we went downstairs and had breakfast at the hotel. I quite liked their big haunches of bacon which are much bigger than the ones we have at home in Virginia. We left and hopped on a bus, rode to the ... read more

Geo: 39.0095, -77.4647We arrived at the airport and waited for our shuttlebus. I took pictures of most ofthe planes that flew by; Mom berated me for these actions, telling me that mycamera would run out of batteries. She told me to pose by a sign like Vanna White so we could find our caragain when we return. Does she nottrust my excellent memory?(A-2 Blue Lot, Shuttle stop 4)We did the usual airport security procedures. The ticket lady told us to have a nicetrip, which we will attempt. Whenwe tried to find our gate (B38), we looked between gates B37 and B39, to noavail. They hid it further downthe hall, encouraging us to get a little more exercise. Apparently the people going to gates 37and 39 are already fit. It lookslike there are a lot of students ... read more

Geo: 39.0274, -77.3964I just wanted to post an official close to the odyssey. The flight was long (9 hours) from Munich to Dulles, but relatively comfortable and there was a joyous reunion with Dad and Nanny at the airport. The Customs Guy asked Josh how many Cuban cigars he brought back and he responded, "I don't know." Luckily, the agent didn't hold it against him and we skated on through.I couldn't have been more pleased with how the summer went. Our trip met or exceeded all my hopes and expectations for exploration, new experiences and making friends. Both the country and the people were wonderful. If it hasn't been clear from our blogs, we never felt unsafe and never had any problems with foodborne illness that were any more than what I would expect in a ... read more