I’m sitting in a less-than-comfortable seat at the Dublin Airport as I write this (but no wi-fi here, so it’ll be posted a bit later), reflecting on the dusk of our journey. Our flight from Dublin to London today will be our last one before flying back to the United States. As far as airports go, Dublin is nice and their security checkpoint operates smoothly. I really appreciate that these days.
We stayed at a small hotel near the airport last night in order to facilitate easy access today. It was quite nice, for our standards, and we slept quite well. One thing that I noticed is that when you stay at a ‘nicer’ hotel (read: $50/night and up) it doesn’t really matter where you are. It feels like a hotel. I honestly forgot that I was in Ireland. It’s moments like that when I feel most glad that we’ve bedded down in hostels and homes whenever possible. You miss a lot of an area and its people when you blockade yourself behind a familiar set of doors and windows. Embassy Suites is not just a clever name.
Indi and I are becoming increasingly excited/nervous about our return home. We should have enough money to get some basics in the furniture department (bed, chest of drawers, desk) and get ourselves re-established in the world, but it’s not going to quite be where we wanted it to be on arrival. Europe is expensive, and Ireland/U.K. doubly so. Since we have our flights and such already scheduled, we can’t do what we’ve done in the past and just pull up stakes. We’ll have to make our dollars stretch as far as possible.
Neither of us knows what we’ll be doing for employment; re-entering the workforce isn’t something we’ve really talked about in depth. Since I’m going to college in the fall (as long as OSU accepts me, of course) I need to find a flexible part time position somewhere and get comfortable. I’ve thought about returning to AT&T, as it’s something I know, but I’m not sure yet. We’re moving right along on securing an apartment and getting an idea for what our monthly costs will be. It’s interesting to recall myself at the beginning of our journey and how freaked out I would be about the details and the organization. Although still important to me, I’ve loosened up a lot and figure that worry accomplishes nothing but heartache.
When we land in London, we’re being met by one of Indi’s Osaka college friends, Matthew. He’s hosting us for a week or so before we set off for Cardiff and points beyond. Perhaps Cornwall, perhaps Oxford, perhaps Bath. We still don’t have a set itinerary in England, and I’m okay with that. See my statement above regarding flexibility. It’s much better to go with the flow and take life as it comes at you. After all, plans have this mysterious way of unraveling or changing once your boots hit the ground.
Rhys' Pieces 
I am so glad to hear Ireland and its people are so great. I have been obsessing over Ireland recently, and I want to take a trip there in the next couple years.