The Next Travel Countdown - T-Minus 2 Weeks

I feel like I can officially start the countdown. It might have made more sense to start the countdown at four weeks. Or maybe one week. But the countdown can officially start because I finally have our travel information. Yeah, you heard that right. I have barely done any planning for this one. This trip is a group trip.

It's not that I've shyed away from the group trip before. It's just that I haven't done one. I haven't needed to do one. The trips I've taken have been with a few people and they've been easy to put together (and by "easy", I do include the South America trip. It did fall together easier than expected). The trips in the past few years have mostly consisted of, "Wanna go to (Insert Location Here)??" "Ok." "How about this hotel??" "Fine." "We could do this..." "Sounds good to me!!" If we did something, great. If we didn't, then we didn't. It always worked out.

But this next trip is just different. I'm going with Mom to Ireland. And we're going in a group. There will be 26 groups of two. Busses with 52 people. Dinners with 52 people. Tours with 52 people. I'm not used to these conditions!!

I go back to South America (as I do in my head more often than I should). On Easter Island, we seemed to be where everyone else wasn't. As we were pulling into an area, a tour bus was pulling out. As we decided to go back to the jeep, the tour busses were letting out. This time, I'm going to be that tour bus traveler!!

We sat down Saturday night. The books, the maps, the iPad...everything was on the dining room table. And the planning began. There wasn't a ton of planning, mind you. Most everything has been carefully planned...by someone other than me.


I'm mostly ok with this. Cause honestly, I don't want to look a gift-horse in the mouth. I just have a hard time not being in control of what we're doing. But I do have four meals to plan!! Woo Hoo!! We have reservations already set at one place. We have an idea for both lunch and tea on one day. And I have two weeks left to plan the other two meals.

It's kind of fun to watch Mom worry about her first real trip abroad (the cruise doesn't count, cause we could use US Dollars in the Bahamas). She doesn't know how to handle the money. She's trying to figure out the time change. I've given her a few tricks and tips, but it'll be a whole new experience for her.

At this point, I just have to keep counting down. 2 Weeks. 8 Business Days (Labor Day Weekend!!). And then, a trip across the pond. I can't wait.

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