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Our adventures began well before we took off from the states. Two weeks before we left for Europe we were packing up our house, finishing up our finals, negotiating our contract for our English teacher positions in South Korea, and somehow finding everything else that needed doing in those weeks before you close a lease, move all of your stuff into your mother's basement, and finish your undergraduate degree.
We did it though. We packed and cleaned (with the help of family), we finished our classes (without the help of teachers...), we got things set up for our contracts to continue reaching completion while we were away, and we said our goodbyes (there were many, and they were difficult).
So, come the weekend of May 17th, it was time to breathe a little bit. But that Saturday was filled with just as many errands as ever. We had our going away/graduation breakfast that morning (thanks to everyone who came!!), and then picked up some last minute items, like luggage locks. Then we had Steven's commencement ceremony at the Tucson Convention Center, dinner at Jack 'n' the Box (keepin' it real), and then the UofA Commencement ceremony where everyone almost died as we were crowded like cattle into the space below the bleachers. But you know, there were fireworks, and honestly the Girl Scouts of America CEO gave a terrific speech, so we were glad to have those moments. Sunday was packing up the trailer to transport everything. We had our landlord meet us and he gave us two thumbs up on the apartment (thank goodness!). And then the drive to Chandler, and our impending all-nighter.
Pulling an all-nighter is a trick that I have developed over the years, as I've found the hard way that it's easier to pull an all-nighter than it is to stay up during the day when you're tired. Wal-Mart was our friend at 2 am, and we got everything packed just right. At 5 am, my daddy came down the stairs ready to go, and off we went!
We flew from Sky Harbor airport to the San Francisco airport, and then we waited...for 7 hours! We did go get Starbucks (shout out to the vanilla frap!!) and cheese-its, so I feel like we did justice to the layover, right? We also got some good use out of our brother's Hulu Plus account and watched nearly 5 episodes of Once Upon a Time.
Then it was on to our Aer Lingus flight, which nearly flew over the North Pole, to land in Dublin, Ireland.
It was Steven's first intercontinental flight, and by far in his opinion the best part was watching the little map they provide on the televisions in the back of the seat in front of you that tells you exactly where you are, how fast you're going, etc. I slept. The entire flight.
We landed in Dublin just after noon, and found our way to the car rental services without any trouble. It was so nice that everyone spoke English! We rented from Avis, who specifically had in their policies the statement that to avoid the underage fees (neither Steven or I are 25 years old yet) you have to "have been eligible for a license for more than 8 years." Well, in the good ol' Arizona, USA, the driving age is 16. 16 + 8 is 24. So we worked the system, folks. Technically the driving age in Ireland is 17, so they intended for the policy to mean 25 years old, but after a little bit of sweet talking, they let us off the hook with just the warning to get full insurance (we were already planning on that).
That was the beginning of our love affair with Kelly. She was a beaut, a silver Opal Astra. Basically, she got good gas mileage and we loved her for it.
These were the first photos we took on our trip, in our beloved Kelly. Then we were off with the goal to be on the most northern coast of North Ireland by sundown.
We may have taken 1 wrong turn or so along the way, but we learned quickly that it was well worth driving the back country highways, rather than the busy freeways that had no good views. Armed with a terrific map, and stopping in Belfast for groceries (Steven's first Tesco!), we enjoyed every second of those back roads. And the endless sheep!
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