My Love, Hate Relationship with International Travel

International travel. What can I say? I guess I'm not exactly an authority on it yet because this is only my second time, but I want to talk for a second about the hard part about traveling. The traveling part. It is brutal! At least for me. It's kind of like an endless loop through hell. Going through security is grueling for me because I get anxious and constantly check through my bags, even though I know I have nothing to be worried about. Then you sit at your gate for hours, walk around in circles because you don't want to be sitting any more than you already know you have to. I have to fight with myself not to stop at every Starbucks in sight. Finally, you hop on a plane for a few hours that doesn't have enough leg room or butt room and everything from the waist down is in pain or asleep. You attempt to sleep yourself but every time you nod off, your head bounces and wakes you back up. You finally land at your destination, only to go through most of those steps all over again. All the terminals start to look the same and are so loud and crowded and everything is over priced. It's exhausting. 

Let's start from the beginning. We woke up at 6:30 am, left for Tampa around 9:00 am and got there at 10, flew to New York around 3, and landed there around 6:00 pm for our connecting flight. We are here waiting five more hours at the JFK airport in New York to fly to Ireland.
I have a hard time in places like this. The Tampa air port was a breeze in comparison. It was pretty quiet, there weren't as many people, our security check point went rather smooth. JFK is a nightmare for people like me who don't do crowds. Three different kinds of alarms have gone off and I'm not sure what for? I've almost been run down by groups of kids on more than one occasion. And we still have so many hours to wait. I guess that's one thing I take for granted in Florida (I'm generally not a fan) - the airports are pretty nice. I don't usually feel as overwhelmed by crowds and beeping and alarms. (Oh, one good thing has come out of being here- I finally got to try Jamba Juice! I had the apple n' greens smoothie, which really hit the spot. I always crave a green smoothie when I don't feel good.) My butt hurts from sitting so long already and my feet hurt from walking so much and it almost feels like punishment- but if I keep my sights on my destination, I'll be able to get through it.

As I mentioned before, this is my second time traveling internationally, and I'm going to the same place I went the first time. Last year my husband and I flew to Ireland for our honeymoon in October. We fell in love with it! So much so that we are on our way back ten months later (it would have been sooner if possible!). We just couldn't get enough while we were there and knew we wanted to come back ASAP and see more. It is definitely worth all of the walking and sitting through hell for 19 hours. 

We finally boarded our flight to Ireland around 10:35 pm, but we didn't get in the air until almost midnight due to some complications with one of the engine's sensors that ended up needing to be replaced right away. So we sat there with no air conditioning on the crowded plane for an extra hour and a half. It was a long, grueling flight and I’m not sure either one of us dozed off for more than a few minutes at a time, but we made it. We arrived at a very busy Shannon airport around 11:30 am (6:30 am back in Florida) and didn't get out of there until after 1 pm after waiting on our luggage and rental car. At this point, we have not actually slept in 27 hours?

Some how, as delirious, starving and exhausted as we were, we made the two-hour drive to our hotel in Killarney right in front of the Killarney National Park. We are staying at the Aghadoe Heights Hotel and Spa, which is so beautiful and fancy and I am amazed by how affordable this hotel is, considering it is a 5 star with a great location. So much bang for your buck! A very nice concierge helped us bring our bags to our room, the ladies at the front desk were friendly and ready to help, our room is luxurious with a spectacular view of the mountains and the lake. We had a nice little dinner down at the bar before heading back up for showers and some shut eye. I can't wait to get out and explore, but as of right now I don't even understand how I am functioning enough to write this. We really need some rest!

Here are some photos from our last trip! We had the most magical time. We visited the Doolin Cave which is home to an amazing stalactite that hangs at 23 feet in length, the Ailwee Caves, the stunning Cliffs of Moher, we traveled up to Belfast and did an awesome Game of Thrones tour (Yes we are Thrones nerds!), and spent a day at the Bunratty Folk Park and had dinner and a show in the castle.