Well, those pesky sands of time have reached their final destination, and normal service has resumed. I can handle this one-day-on, one-day-off arrangement with work, but I am pretty sure my contract stipulates something about being there for the next three, so even that will be stripped away soon too.
Really it just remains to wrap the whole thing up, with a bit of perspective. One bit of perspective is - the 10 days in Ireland seem much better from this position than they did at the time. A moderate week of holiday is doubtless better than any week at work I guess.
It is actually nice to be back at home, see friends, feel like we are getting on with what comes next. I had got into a sense that being on holiday was what I did - just traveling around, looking for good food and writing about it. Sooner or later that probably starts to feel like work, though I am not sure that I could ever holiday for long enough that work would come to feel like the holiday part (maybe I should experiment with that one time...).
Lauren and Aidan were pretty happy to be home. Lauren sang and danced her way through the first few days, and is thoroughly happy back in her room, with her things, and going to preschool with her friends. After we had been home for an hour or two, she confided that she was happy to be home, in part because she "hated going to museums". Next time maybe we can put her in cold storage for a month and save a few bucks? Her favourite things were the horse and buggy ride in Kilarney, the Toby World indoor playground, the cave and just walking around towns. I think she might have also enjoyed spotting spires with Granny, as that occupied a fair bit of her time.
Aidan was so keen to see his mates that he made us take him to school at lunchtime on the Friday when we got home! I walked him up, and as he ran out onto the oval his group of mates came running over and collectively jumped on him, before they belted around the oval unstoppably for about 30 minutes. I think that was the reaction he was hoping for, and he thoroughly enjoyed his hour or so there. His favourite parts of the trip were Legoland, seeing his mate Hugh in Abu Dhabi, the Gaelic Football match and being allowed to watch endless hours of TV and games on the in-flight entertainment when traveling. His least favourite part was Lauren singing, trying to sleep on the planes, beggars, the heat of Abu Dhabi and the continuous early nights (even though he didn't have a single early night on the entire trip, he interpreted the late light evenings as meaning he was going to bed early!).
Justine and I pretty much enjoyed all of it. The trip reinforced how important people are in traveling. France and Ireland were nice, but Norway and Abu Dhabi were better for the fact that we saw friends, and a whole different side of the places. Having Granny was also a great thing for all of us. Aidan in particular loved having her with us, and we hope that it isn't the last time we all travel together (though maybe next time we will build in a little separate time in the middle?). For the kids in particular, the people are more important than the places, so getting the balance right is important to think about for next time.
We had reservations about how busy it would be to travel to Europe in summer - but there was no-one there! Not in the places we went anyway. With the exception of Chateau Chenonceau (France) and Trinity Collage (Dublin), there really were almost too few people in many places. Odd. Maybe we just didn't go to the major tourist places?
Bathroom observations: Europeans have better taps (one control for temperature, and one for pressure); but have never heard of towel rails. Justine still wonders what they do with towels once they have been used.
Food observations: The food we had was consistently high quality, especially in France, where I think maybe it is culturally unacceptable to produce bad food? Aidan and Lauren survived on chicken gougons (like nuggets) and hamburgers, and so didn't exactly expand their repertoire in any way. Funny now that we are home we have gone back to making exactly the same type of food we always do. The kids see that as a bonus, but I can't help but think that we could have brought back something in that respect. Maybe next time.
Airline observations: We had high hopes for Etihad, but they were just any other airline, and the service was very variable on different legs. We certainly wouldn't go out of our way to use them, but wouldn't avoid them either.
And that is pretty much it. It's been an amazing month of experiences, one that hopefully justifies having no matching furniture for another few years (it does!). Hopefully Aidan is starting to remember these trips, and hopefully they are shaping Lauren as a more balanced and world-wise person (hmmm...). We've already started planning the next one...until then, a biento!
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