When my daughter graduated from high school, I decided to take her on a mother-daughter journey before she moved on to more important things; college, work, home, and social demands, and a reduced ability to take time off for two weeks. She had done well in high school, kept her grades up, was a good “citizen,” and although we had taken a trip abroad the previous summer with our church, it was definitely a work trip. I wanted to reward all her hard work and honesty, and have good, quality, and fun times with her. We sat down and decided together where we would like to go, and Ireland was at the top of the list. Rolling green hills, friendly faces, and adorable accents – we were ready for the easy-going Irish.
We flew in from Phoenix, two hours from our home in Tucson. It was an early flight so we spent the night at a hotel in Phoenix near the airport where they kept his car while he was gone. We went out to dinner and did some “last minute” shopping at the mall. I don’t know how it happened, but somehow the car keys got lost at the mall. After two hours of searching in vain, we finally gave up and my parents drove two hours with my spare set (they are saints). He should have known that this was a premonition of things to come. We ended up with little sleep, but excited for our adventure to come.
The next failure occurred when the flight was delayed for an hour. When they finally let us get on the plane, we sat on the tarmac for half an hour and then they told us to get off. Can you do that? If you can. We were advised to go to the airline counter to reschedule. Then all the people on the plane quickly ran to the counter. We were fifth in line (long legs have an advantage here). It still took me an hour to get to the first in line. Had to detour through Chicago, then to London (with a 6 hour layover), then to Ireland – total time: 25 hours. This was starting to feel very unfortunate. I asked the person who made the reservation if our luggage would follow us correctly. She assured us that everything was computerized and that there was no need to worry. To cut this long part of the 25-hour story short, I’ll summarize it: cold airports, long lines at each airport to re-register, passport controls, and major fatigue. We finally reached our destination and, I’m sure you guessed it, with no luggage. By the way, my luggage did not show up for 5 days, my daughter’s for 11 (out of 14) days. We had to call and check in every day. We had no clothes, very few toiletries or personal items, and we had no warm clothes for the rainy Irish skies.
We had bought a package that included vouchers for bed and breakfast for each day. The travel agency said it was not difficult to find places that would accept these vouchers; There were literally “thousands of B & B’s in Ireland, and most accept coupons”. Usually this is not a true statement, maybe a third of them do, and it is better to make reservations in advance. We also had no reservations, because we wanted to tour the countryside and stop when we felt like it. The travel agency made it seem like all of this was easy and doable. I will say that the places we stayed were wonderful. But we spent so much time trying to find clothes and shelter that we just couldn’t relax and enjoy the atmosphere like we should have.
When I finally got my bag, it was pretty gutted. They found my daughter’s purse in New York (no, we never went through New York). I shared all my clothes and makeup with my daughter (luckily, we are the same size). As girls, we had brought a curling iron and a converter. It exploded (I’m not kidding, with smoke, sparks and all). Fortunately, my hair has natural waves and the humidity did all kinds of great things to it. I felt that it fit perfectly with my wavy red hair. My daughter, on the other hand, did not feel love with her hairstyle.
We had one mishap after another, and we really had moments where we wondered what all the fuss was about with “Luck O ‘the Irish.” But all said and done, it was probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The Irish are warm and caring, and very relaxed about life. They went out of their way to give directions and advice, tell stories and were wonderful in every way. We spent one night in a magical castle. And, given the opportunity, he would be back in a second; Just hoping all my bad luck has been used up! Anyone with a chance to go to Ireland, GO. Just make sure you bring a carry-on that has enough clothes for a few days and brings your own luck!
