Planes, Trains and Orthotics: A Middle-Age Woman's Guide to Travel

 The second half of our time on Ireland’s West Coast included a little bit of hiking and a whole lot of support for the Irish economy.  So many things are much cheaper here and while I admit that I made several purchases, my sister’s carry-on bag was not going to make the cut in getting all her bargains home.Thank goodness I brought with me the mother of all suitcases, which earlier this morning took two of us to lift it into the “boot” (aka in America as  “the trunk”). I had plenty of space to pack two woolen blankets she purchased and still have room for my various new items. In our defense, the bargains were too good to walk away from. The real fireworks took place on the last day of our West Coast adventure when the entire country of Ireland—but particularly the West Coast—was pummeled by a storm described as the worst in Irish history. The night before, during our book group—and while we still had electricity—the wind began to kick-up.  Our guests went home afte...

 We have been doing a lot of walking, hiking and laughing since arriving on the West Coast of Ireland.  We have also eaten a whole lot of soup, since January on the Emerald Isle would never be considered balmy.  I have written before about the heartiness of the Irish people and the evidence continues to mount to support that premise.  For example, there are far too Irish citizens wearing shorts for this time of the year and restaurant bathrooms continue to lack any form of heating, thus increasing the chances of frostbite for the brief time your skin is exposed when doing the business of why you came into the bathroom in the first place.   Since our arrival, the temperature highs each day have been in the low 40s, but that’s very different than what we experience on the East Coast of the United States. It’s an island so it’s always damp and almost there’s almost always a wind blowing. When we take walks, we are dressed with sweaters, winter coats, scarves, hats ...

  I wouldn’t describe the airplane trip from Newark to Dublin as “hell on earth,” but it was pretty close.  I don’t want to whine, but I am just too old to be a sardine for nearly seven hours.  Just getting out of my seat was painful on my already painful knee, due to how cramped things were.  My fellow seat mates were frequent toilet-needers, requiring me, in the aisle seat, to frequently leave my seat, much to the chagrin of my right knee.   Besides the sardine-like conditions, sleep alluded me thanks to the Olympic-like snorer sitting in front of me. I tried everything, including foolishly putting in my air-buds and listening to my Rain app.  I find this white-noise very calming and thought it would work—until I turned my head and lost my left air-bud.  The plane was pitch-black and I needed to use my phone light to try to find the missing bud.  I couldn’t find it and in my attempt to search, I needed to remove the things on my lap, including t...

 On Friday, my sister and I are again headed to Ireland. It’s been a long year and much of our time together over the last 12 months has been addressing issues regarding our aging mother and I am looking forward to spending some quality time together. This year, my sister’s friend from graduate school will be joining us and if I remember her correctly (I haven’t seen her in 20 years) she was a lot of fun.  That being said, two issues have already come up between us sisters:  1. The size of my suitcase . I wanted a new, larger suitcase because I was sick of sitting on my old, inadequate one every time I bought too much while traveling—often in the company of my sister. I frankly was sick of worrying about the zipper giving out somewhere over Newfoundland and consequently asked for and received a lovely new LARGE suitcase for my birthday. I am so excited because unless I burn up my credit card with purchases, my butt and the top of the suitcase will no longer need to make c...