Okay, so the trip has been paid off for Rachel & me, we have applied for her new passport (can I just say I love the lady at the Federal Way City Hall who handles passport applications? She rocks!), and are now less than 2 months from getting on the plane and flying across the Atlantic! We are officially committed. I'm starting to get excited!!!
I bought 2 travel journals for us to use -- they have space for notes, pictures, postcards, do-dads. This time I want to make sure I document my trip. I hate that I didn't do it previously (except on my initial trip to France in 1985 - I did keep a journal for the first 4 weeks). I know I've lost a lot of cool tid-bits by not journalling, so this time I'm going to do it right :) Rachel & I are going to go up to Edmonds on 8/14 to Rick Steves' talk on Ireland to see what the "must sees" and "must dos" are. I hope we will have enough free time on the trip to do at least some of the things we'll learn about.
The organizer in me is starting to kick in, too. I want to start making packing lists, make sure I have the current converter and outlet adapter, restock my "emergency kit" that I always carry in my suitcase (most of the meds have expired), and start figuring out what clothes to pack and what I'll need to get.
I've also been spending time online reading the Irish Independent newspaper so that I can get up to speed on current events, culture, and especially language. Even though it's written in English, so many words are either Irish or unfamiliar English terms that I need to have a translation tab open when I read. I'm making progress, though. I at least am recognizing oireachtas as the legislature, dail as the equivalent of the house of representatives, and the seanad as the senate -- I can even pronounce them (I think). I also learned that mna is the Irish word for "woman" -- I'm pretty sure that will be very handy to know :)
No comments:
Post a Comment