Photo Friday: European Airspace Opens

Last Thursday, just a day after European airspace re-opened, we were taking a leisurely walk on the beach at Bettystown (30 minutes north of Dublin airport) when we spotted jet-trails in the sky above us. It was a welcome sign that things were returning to normal and that we’d be getting off the island soon. Read the Rest…

From Expat To Tourist To Expat Again

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to get on an airplane as When we boarded our flight to Chicago this past Saturday. Thanks to the eruption of the Icelandic volcano with the unpronounceable name, our two-week trip to Ireland had become three weeks and we were all more than ready to go home. Read the Rest…

Connemara National Park

This is the trail map for the Diamond Hill hike in Connemara, Ireland, one of the most unusual hikes we’ve ever done. The trailhead is at the entrance to the Connemara National Park visitor center in Letterfrack, Galway. The hike, with an elevation gain of 1,350 feet (400 meters), is an easy walk on the Read the Rest…

Crowdsourcing In Connemara

I spotted the sign above in the restroom at the Connemara National Park visitor center in Letterfrack, Ireland. The hand-written sign was obviously placed by the center management. The multiple translations added to the sign in many different hands gives a linguistic record of the nationalities of people who have visited the park since. Like Read the Rest…