10.05.07The journey begins!Wow what a start.I woke up this morning at 4am to head to the airport with Brents acting as chauffer and all of my worldly possessions on my back.I feel like a turtle carrying my home on my back and it is funny that my baggage padlocks even have little turtles on them.After a farewell I headed to the long check in lines and just as I was about to pass through the last security checkpoint I hear from behind a pillar… "gooberhead"!To my surprise and much delight Adrian, Kathryn and Brents all popped out to see me go.What a send off, thank you!I arrived at Laguardia NY airport around 10:30 and after jumping on both a bus and the subway I emerged from the underground depths to 14th street and Broadway!Lower Manhattan is such a spectacle.Every time I see it I am amazed.I sat in union square waiting for Franzi my German friend who I had lost touch with, but was able to arrange a lunch meeting during my brief stop over.What a treat to visit with her and hear about her relatively new marriage and her new life in NY. It is always nice to catch up with old friends and share pictures and stories.Franzi gave me a lift to JFK which saved me money, but I think cost me one of my nine lives…holy cow driving in NY is crazy and then add a crazy German to it! I arrived in Dublin at 5:30 local time which was about 11pm Charleston time…let me tell you I was one tired puppy.Cramped in my seat for a 6hr flight I did not get much sleep, but was very pleased with the amazing service on the flight.Can you believe the food was even good.After breezing through the passport control line with my EU passport and collecting my baggage it was off to the bus stop to catch the 7am bus to Belfast.My aunt Hilda was waiting with a smile once I finally arrived in Belfast at 9:30 which is now off course 24hrs since I woke up in my cozy bed in Charleston.Before I was tired now I was just a zombie.After a little hello, some toast and cereal I crawled into the guest room bed and caught up on some much needed sleep. And it is a good thing because after an amazing home cooked meal and bottle of wine my aunt and uncle and some friends all headed out to a charity event with a band, dancing and cabaret.Uncle John and Aunt Hilda are way too much fun!What a blast.We all danced and I even managed to teach them the shag after some laughs about the name of the most popular SC dance although it means something a little different over here.It is 1am and I am just about to crawl in bed…what a day!Some things that really struck me today was how beautiful the countryside of Ireland is and everything is so green…I guess everyone expects that, but I really did not have any idea.When I see all the little farms and fence rows I feel like I should have my barber jacket on with a hound dog at my side.Everything is also so close and so small.Cars, trucks, roads, everything is tightly packed which is quite different from the big SUV's and urban sprawl of America.Of course I went to sit on the right hand side of the bus to get a good view of the country side and then once we entered the highway realized that since we are on the left hand side of the road I had to switch sides to get the best view…I had to chuckle to myself.Family is something that so many people take for granted.It was pretty amazing to walk into my family's house and feel right at home.Going through the cupboards to find my breakfast and helping with the dishes and just feeling comfortable.I have only met this side of my family once, but it feels like we have known each other for years.What a great feeling. I am very much looking forward to the next couple of weeks and hanging out with them.Well, it is 1am and I have had a longggggg 2 days so off to bed.Be sure to look at the new addition to the photo album!