2004 Year in Review

The proverbial "Y" in the road becomes reality....

Here we were finally, on the West coast of Ireland and enjoying the people and sights and sounds of Galway, a town we now knew was considered "The Irish Riviera". What had not been so apparent at first was the number of French and Oriental visitors. What had become apparent to Debby and I was that our daughter, a 3rd year law student at Valpo University had become increasingly ill for the past two days. We were concerned when the illness became more of a detriment to her wanting to join us on our little forays into the shopping district or on local tours. Finally, this flu bug was obviously not good for her and our trip wich was now half completed became the subject of a debate over what to do in the interest of Jenny's health.

When you stop to think about being over 4,000 miles from your home, your friends, your doctor and the closest friend you have in Galway is the hotel receptionist it can become quite apparent how important health is and how to treat yourself.Jenny was becoming dizzy with what was a severe case of flu and she was insisting on taking the train ride back to Dublin on her own and fly back on stand by while Debby and I would continue on with the final 5 day leg of our journey by car.The thought of splitting up and with no way of communicating was not an option and we put into motion a very fast paced return to the United States.

A flurry of phone calls to the B&B's yet to go to and cancel reservations, a check of the train schedule back to Dublin and calls to Aer Lingus our airline put us on the fastrack for changing our schedule dramatically.We made the decision late at night and woke at 5:00AM, did not eat breakfast and with Jenny not getting any better we depated Brennan's Yard Hotel at 6:00AM. Taking a cab to the Irish Railway station we purchased one way tickets for the 3 hour ride back to Dublin. The sun was just coming up and the train which had been there all night was siloueted against that rising sun and the bright orange and brown passenger cars seemed to welcome us.We purchased our tickets and within 10 minutes we were on our way.Jenny was having all of the symptoms all of us are all too familiar with the flu and the moving train along with the smoke in the air from the neighboring smoke car was a challenge for her.The Irish are going thru very similar changes as we in that smoking is being legislated out of various public areas.We found that the Pubs are having the most difficult transition as these are the true public gathering places.The Irish nature of course is to turn left if asked to turn right and so it is still common to have smokers in areas where they are not supposed to.

Upon arrival in Dublin we needed to sit down in the Heuston Train Station for a few minutes as Jenny had become even more dizzy. Sitting for only a few minutes was helpful and the restrooms were close but the smoke was heavy in the station we needed to get to Dublin Airport within a half hour to meet the 3 hour boarding requirements, never mind we still did not have confirmation the tickets purchased for next Wednesday had not yet been approved for today's lone flight out to Chicago.Jenny struggled to walk the short distance to the cab stand and Debby and I carried our bags as well as hers. The 30 minute ride to the airport was again a bittersweet trip as we met yet another wonderful Irishman who was full of comments and stories about Ireland and not afraid to comment on issues such as why they would never have Nuclear power as an electrical source and thinking aloud that he hoped John Edwards would make the best Vice president candidate for John Kerry.

Aer Lingus treated us so well upon explaining why we needed to cut our trip short and we were able to all sit together and we were on our way back home within 2 hours.It is difficult to imagine being ill in your home but try taking a 3 hour train ride and an 8-1/2 hour non stop flight along with a couple of 45 minute taxi rides, being healthy seems not enough to endure the trip.

When we would land at O'hare in Chicago we would have travelled over 4,000 miles using a variety of transportation and all in 14 hours.When that Aer Lingus jet took off from Dublin and the captain announced to peek out of the right hand windows to watch the Cliffs of Moher on the West Coast the tears came easily for us.More later......

by Bob Vaughn, theCity1.com
March 7, 2004