Conclusion, In which we wrap everything up into a neat little package.

So. Expectations: we would travel to a country that we would absolutely fall in love with. The place would be peaceful, the people friendly, the atmosphere wonderful, and we would never want to leave. In fact, we would probably begin an extensive job search in Ireland and move there within the year.

The truths self evident: eh, not exactly.

We had a very good time. We did a lot of fun things. And, as I've been writing this, I'm anxiously waiting for the 9 rolls of photos I took to come back so I can scan them into the pages. Some of the land is just beautiful. Most of the cities are nearly indistinguishable from American cities. Which wasn't necessarily bad; we Did have fun in them, despite some of the frustrations they threw at us.

Nice people? Yeah, definitely some. The nice people we met seemed really nice. There were definitely people who would go out of their way to be friendly. Once, sitting at a traffic light, a bus driver, noticing the map in Nicole's lap, asked us through the window if we needed any help getting anywhere. Another old lady on the street immediately pointed out where the Guinness brewery was as we were walking along the streets doing that, "I wonder where I am going" stare. I've already elaborated on the amazingly friendly people we met in Kilkenny.

But fall in love with the place? Hardly. For all the nice people we met, there were the same number of jerks on the roads and walking the streets that one might expect to find anywhere. The pace: unbelievable. What is the rush? Why were people constantly running everywhere? The country: no middle ground. There was either complete chaos in the cities, and even some of the towns, or there was complete isolation, and almost stagnation, in the outlying areas. Granted, they were beautiful, but after a while I was missing, well, Anything.

Although the stereotype of an Irishman always being drunk in the pub is obviously overplayed, it was hard to ignore the fact that the pub is a central part of every town in the country. I started comparing it to America, however. I started thinking about the bars one could find in just about any town here. The only real difference I would think of is that Ireland, at least, has better beer than America. Believe it or not, a pint of Budweiser will actually cost you more than a pint of Guinness or Murphy's Irish Stout there. At least in America, we are paying more money for quality. I'm not sure what the point is in Ireland. But never fear, for as we learned on our tour of the Guinness brewery, both Bud and Guinness are owned by the same conglomerate, so all the cash goes into the same pocket anyhow.

With up to a 20% sales tax, I can't believe Ireland cannot afford street signs.

But such are the things one has to get used to when travelling to a different land. The whole point of a vacation is to avoid as many day-to-day drudgeries as one can, and overall I think we did a good job of that. If I had to change anything, I might have headed to Belfast instead of Kilkenny on Saturday, but that is hardly a regret as much as it is just an observation. If I did return someday, I would certainly spend some additional time in Northern Ireland, as parts of the country look extremely fascinating. But for now, that's a pretty big "if." I suspect I will want to explore different parts of the world before traveling back to Ireland. But that's okay. I suspect in ten years or so, Ireland is going to be a very different place than it is today, and probably worth exploring again.

But then, what place isn't like that?

Appendix: In which I'll list a few stats and reserve the right to add any additional information that pops into my head over the next couple weeks.

Consumed: Guinness: 23.5 pints, Murphy's Irish Stout: 5 pints, Smithwicks: 3 pints, Irish Coffee: 6 glasses.

Books used:

Let's Go: Ireland: A great book geared for younger travelers without a set agenda.

Rick Steves' Great Britain & Ireland: More geared for tourists trying to squeeze the most out of every minute. Although this wasn't our approach, there was still some very good information included that we used.

Eyewitness Travel Guides: Ireland: Some good, practical information listings, and nice color picture of things like currency, what phones will look like, etc.

Michelin Great Britain & Ireland Motoring Atlas: An Extremely helpful guide through the country roads of Ireland. Much better than any map I had found, though it wasn't helpful for maps of cities (the Let's Go: Ireland had decent city maps, however).

Globetrotter Dublin Travel Map: Very necessary for getting around in the city.

Bed & Breakfast Guide to Ireland 1999