Taking the train to NYC, Penn Station, tomorrow. Spending the night in Richmond, rather than getting up at 4 and driving down. Mike picked the closest hotel to the Amtrak station and we drove over to see where to park and how to pay so we don't have an interesting discussion at 6 tomorrow morning! Hotel also comes with breakfast so that should be nice. Had dinner at a great strip mall Italian restaurant (actually, decent size once you got into it)--great bruschetta, good service, very pleasant dinner. Mike wants to write a book reviewing "strip mall Italian restaurants", which would be fun. Off to another adventure!... read more

Got up with plenty of time. Went to The Buttery for a nice leisurely breakfast. Since it was a Thursday (not Saturday and end of exams, like last week), there were a number of conference-attendees there, very different crowd. Bus to airport, no problem (sounding like pros with the Dublin transport?--NO!). Picked up luggage. Then the fun began. The 'automated' check in stations were interesting, as they had been on our way to IOM. The first one we chose had a broken printer, I was told part way through. Moved to another. Somehow, we got our passports scanned, boarding passes printed, and luggage weighed and tags printed and (thanks, Mike) attached correctly. Then, you put them on the conveyor belt that weighs them again (so, no sneaking more skeins of yarn in at the last minute) ... read more

Can't believe this will already be our last full day on the Isle of Man. It's been so beautiful. Relaxing. Comfortable. Friendly. Pretty. Mike did not want to ride another train. Good thing, there are no more to ride!! We left the Farm thinking we'd go to Peel, maybe take the bus to Ramsey and another up farther north. Maybe take a bus south on the west coast. Definitely will follow a walking path in the Farm guidebook that goes up from the farm then along the wall on the hillside, down to Peel near the Castle. Shorter too. Well, it would have been if we'd been smarter. The first part was great and we were looking forward to "sit on the bench and have a rest and look around". Then we got to another one ... read more

Slept great, despite the sheep (haha). No rooster but the sun rose about 5 to a gorgeous morning. Our first breakfast at the B&B--there was a menu of sorts we completed the night before, checking off how much of which items we wanted. In addition to bacon and a farm-fresh egg, I ordered the croissant and boy, was Mike jealous. Piping hot, soft, flaky, topped off with home-made marmalade--yummy!! His kipper was quite good; he ate it like a pro. Company at breakfast was pleasant. A couple others got a soft-boiled egg, just like in BBC shows, served in an egg holder. One of the eggs was blue and the hostess, Fiona, was quite proud of it; she bred the chickens specially for that. As they were going to church in Peel, the hosts gave us ... read more

Travel day--we managed to drive to Cork and return the rental car with no major incidents. Did stop to fill up the gas tank and were bowled over by the quality of the gas station's offerings--hot and cold ready food, good-sized eating area, lovely set up. Had a bit of wait for the train but that was better than being late! Got our reserved seats with our names in lights, and had a great ride back north to Dublin. Some entertaining women had been to a concert the night before (the Elvis of the UK) and sounded like they had a good time. Our flight to Isle of Man was reserved for early the next morning. The airport is 40+ minutes outside of the city so the choice was long ride Friday evening or Saturday morning; ... read more