Final night

Here I am, late into my last night in the States for 3 months. You'd think I'd be all packed and done. I'd like nothing more than for that to be the case, but of course, it's not.

Luckily, my flight isn't until 4:40pm, so I'll still have time tomorrow morning to finalize my luggage. Looks like its going to be 2 checked bags, with my pipes/whistles/etc case as a carry-on and my laptop bag as a "personal item". Hopefully that won't be problematic. Carrying it all through the airport and carting it onto the bus from Shannon to Ennis won't be fun, that's for sure. But try as I might, I just don't think 3 months worth of clothes and such were going to fit into one backpack, even as big as it is.

I had one more interesting and epic post that I was hoping to toss up here tonight, but I'm just too beat down tired to put in the creative thought on it tonight, so I'll probably finish it up on the plane and post it whenever I get a chance to hop online again. Not sure quite when that'll be, as I don't know if I'll have access at all while I'm at The Flowing Tide for the first week. I'll try to sneak off to a net cafe at some point, and I should be able to text in a quick "I made it" message from my phone, but prolonged time for more epic posts may have to wait until I have a place to stay for the duration. Speaking of which, I have a very promising lead on a room in Galway, but I don't want to say too much here for now. Don't want to jinx it.

If you'll pardon the all-over-the-map rambling of this post for a minute, I realized I haven't really spelled out my plans and itinerary for when I arrive. Once I clear customs, I'll be hopping on a bus from Shannon to the town of Ennis, the county seat of Clare. There, I'll be met by Bill, the owner of The Flowing Tide Music School, an all-encompassing school for traditional Irish musicians of all abilities located in western County Clare. It seems like it'll be a great way to kick off my time there and hopefully, give me a good starting point on the pipes. I plan to stay there for until Saturday, at which time, I will probably catch a bus up to Galway and try to rent a car there for a few days while I try to find housing for the remainder of the trip. Once I have a place, that's when the unwinding and relaxation can finally begin for real. And the best laid plans, of mice and men...

I had a fantastic day visiting with my family today. The goodbyes said were every bit as difficult as expected, with the worst of the lot being my nephew Ethan. Luckily, I think, he's just not quite at the age to fully grasp that I was going away, or that it would be any different from the countless times I've left to go back to Chicago after a brief stay. If he had, it would've just tore me up as if it wasn't difficult enough already. Of course, it's just three months, so getting emotional about it is somewhat silly, but the distance combined with the chance that it could be longer, or that there could be another lengthy trip just after a short return, still makes it tough.

My family is wonderful and means the world to me. They have been so incredibly supportive and helpful in just so many ways to make this happen. The silver lining here is knowing that whenever the travels are over, be it in three months, a year, or whatever, that I'll once again be close by. That, to me, is something to look forward to every bit as much as all the excitement and adventure that awaits me in the meanwhile.