We left for
our trip to Ireland at the end of September the day after my final day at the
USAID Staff Care Center where I worked for the past three years. While I have many
thoughts about moving on from this position, the subject of this post will be
our ten days in the Emerald Isle.
Two reasons.
I had long
wanted to spend a week or so with my dad in some beautiful part of his
homeland, which I assumed would land me in the Cotswalds or the Lake District.
When we knew my parents were going to be in the UK for a month we began to make
plans to try and join them for a week somewhere…but where? Long story short, we
decided to fly into Dublin as it is much cheaper than flying into London and
then my parents were kind and flexible enough to come meet us there for our
time together.
Flying into
Dublin also made it easy to take the two hour bus ride up to Belfast to see my
former dorm parents from the Philippines. If you know anything about my life,
you probably know the profound influence that Alan and Hetty Dorman had on me
during my last two years in high school when I lived in their dorm at Faith
Academy. Amazingly it had been 20+ years
since I had last seen them! Earlier this
year, Hetty had been in NYC for a few days so I caught the bus up there to
spend a few hours with her in Central Park. Almost immediately we began
scheming how we might get Alan over to the US or Andrea and I over to visit
them in Belfast. One thing led to another and before we knew it we were being
picked up by Alan at the Belfast Bus Station and warmly welcomed with their
Dorman hospitality. It was so good to be together again and to talk and talk
and talk some more. Chrissy and Susan and their husbands came over that first
evening for dinner so the reunion was complete.
We spent the
next four days together just hanging out and talking. We saw a few attractions
including The Titanic Experience – did you know the Titanic was built in
Belfast?, CS Lewis’s childhood neighborhood, Alan’s office, Giant’s
Causeway – where I had been before on my only other trip to Belfast when I
spent Christmas with the Dormans in 1991. On that trip they took me to several
castles and sites including Giant’s Causeway and I swear we were the only ones
there on that cold blustery winter’s day. This time it was a beautiful autumn
day, warm and sunny with no wind but lots of other tourists. What a contrast!
The other contrast at Giant’s Causeway is the very nice visitor center that now
exists. Tip – if you are ever going you can park at the closest village for
free and then be driven to the main entrance by bus – just a five minute ride –
but you’ll get a discount on the entrance fee. You can also bushwhack your way
to the Giant’s Causeway the back way, bypassing the visitor center and not pay
anything!)
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| The BEST Picture ever! |
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| Alan and Andrea enjoy delicious Fish and Chips |
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| CS Lewis statue in his childhood neighborhood |
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| The Dormans heard someone likes cheese! |
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| Chocolate and Cheese...TOGETHER - who knew!? |
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| Giant's Causeway |
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