Ireland Trip - O'hare Airport

Well, this trip is starting off like all good things in life do: with a pint.  Except this pint cost $10.  Damn you airport bar.  Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of Sam Adams Oktoberfest - but $10?  Really?  I have a tough time splurging for a 6 pack of Bells Two Hearted for $10.  So one measly pint for $10?  I guess the old saying holds true: location, location, location.  Where is capitalism at play, here?  Where is the competition?  This bar has a monopoly on the market.  These prices need to be driven down.  $10 for a pint?!  Maybe I should open up my own airport bar chain.  Perhaps that is the eternal entrepreneur in me?  I digress...

So I'm going to Ireland!  This should be a fun trip - one of my all-time spur of the moment decisions.  Booked my flight a week and a half ago.  I have no plans.  I have no idea what to expect.  This rivals my trip out west 2 years ago with my friends Caleb Laidig and Mark Lettinga.  That trip was conceived about 3 days prior to leaving and all we had in the way of a "plan" was plugging downtown Denver into our GPS and figuring it out once we arrived.  It was only supposed to be a 5 day trip to Colorado but we turned it into a 2 week excursion including Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone in addition to Colorado.  Some great memories were made on that trip.  On principal, we agreed that we would not pay for a hotel/any form of lodging the entire trip.  Still don't know how we pulled it off.

Anyways, this will be my second time visiting Europe (my first trip to the "motherland" was another epic adventure that included visiting friends studying abroad in France and Italy over the course of 3 weeks) and I am so excited to get back!  I still have 4.10€ in change from my last trip so I'm hoping that will cover my bus fare from Dublin airport to the city centre - fingers crossed!  I cannot wait to explore the Emerald Isle and take in the culture by which we in America have been so heavily influenced.  The Scott-Irish immigrants who settled in the Appalachian Mountains in America brought with them their Celtic folk music, and it is this mountain music which is the basis of American folk, bluegrass, and country music of today.  Hopefully I'll be able to find some inspiration by truly getting back to the roots of the music I love.

I just finished my $10 pint so I'll stop my rambling.  Hopefully I'll be diligent in keeping up with my blog throughout my travels.  No promises, though.  It's tough to find time to write during the craziness of traveling, exploring, and living in the present. 

It's about time to board the plane, so the next time I sit down to write I will be in Dublin!  

Cheers!