Leaving our house early Monday morning was the begining of our trip to Ireland. Before we could leave the country Charlotte had a Dr. appointment at Shriners in Chicago. Praise God we were able to see the Dr. quickly and all looked well for Charlotte. Getting to the airport at 1pm we said good by to our driver and went smoothly through customs. All our flight went as planned, no delays. The kids did very well.

Arriving in Stockholm we went through customs twice. Once when we arrived and then again after what seemed like an endless walk to the other side of the airport. After the thorough Swedes scrutinized our ID’s a second time we just made it to our gate in time to board our flight to Ireland. It was a 2 hour flight to Dublin from Stockholm which we slept through. Arriving in Dublin at 11:00am local time which was 5am Chicago time we were exhausted but from previous travel experience we knew we had to beat jet leg so no more sleep for us! After collecting our luggage and getting our rental cars we were finally foot loose and fancy free in Dublin. Of course there was this whole business of driving on the “wrong side” of the road and not to mention opposite side of the car also. The idea of driving a stick with my left hand while keeping myself on the other side of the road was a bit daunting. It actually wasn’t that bad in the end. The tiny bumpy brick roads of Dublin offered the perfect training ground. Felt like a pro by the time we left the big city the next day. From the airport we headed to a hostel in downtown Dublin. We had tried to figure out parking on the internet before we arrived, but the closest garage we found was nearly a mile from the hostel. Rather than set our destination to that parking lot we headed to the hostel, and in miraculous fashion the Lord provided parking just steps away at the same cost as the distant garage. We unloaded our stuff and hit the streets walking determined to beat jet let.