Time To Jet Off Yet Again

KEADUE, IRE Sept. 19, 2025

So it's that time again where I am getting ready to leave the country yet again. Slowly having started building a little life here, I naturally have to pack my bags. Not sure if I am running from something.... but that will be a topic for another entry. Today I want to talk about preparation. Booking flights, planning transport and stays is my forte despite always leaving it to the last minute and planning everything around a random flight or event I bought a few months or years before. My life is heavily unplanned and when it comes to the way I like to travel there are some similarities, but winging it does cause more stress in the end so I'll tell you how I am going about my last week and a half here.

I love visiting my friends, almost to a fault because most are not in the same country as me. Well before I was in Ireland, I was in the UK and then spent a week in London just being on my own, until I met my brother for a festival (see another event just booked and worked around). It's great because I do have a lot of mates there, but they just work during the week so it's difficult to find time to meet with them or they usually have plans by the time I message them because people do actually plan ahead in their normal lives. Well, I was able to get some dinner and drinks with my love Ruby, after a year too long (also someone I met in Australia and then traveled the south of Thailand with for a month), naturally I missed her dearly. We had a little girlie Aus reunion last year when I was there, but cut short because a girl was heading off to Berlin for the Love Parade. Anywho, I did not get a chance to meet with my other love, Mia who I lived and worked with in Australia. Sad I was not able to see her and meet her new (to me) boyfriend, naturally she reached out to me asking if I will be in Europe at the end of Sept '25 because there is a DJ coming plus I did not have a chance to see her, so without thinking about what I would be doing at the time, I graciously agreed to fly to London for a weekend, come back to Dublin on Sunday and be ready for my flight to Bangkok on Monday. Planning everything now, I realize I might have over stretched myself a bit but it's fine. Thanks to my loving family for asking me when I am going and how and when I am getting there I had to figure out how I am getting from Keadue to Dublin and when and where I would be staying. Luckily I have family not too far from Dublin who I usually stay with. Did I let them know I would be staying or even ask if I could prior to today... well I guess I did not. So today that's what we did. 

Not very glamorous but if you ever lived in Ireland, rural Ireland or any place without much public transportation and without a car, you tend to rely on those around you who have. Thankfully my saint of an Aunt and God Mother has been my personal driver these past few weeks. So I called up my Aunt outside Dublin if it was okay for me to stay - well jokes on me because she has guests over and I was left with their camper-van... super exciting, will have to show you how that goes. Still, it is a place and when you travel like me you really are in no position to argue. So I let her know, check the train times from Where I am to see where would be best for me to go and what time- sorted. Verified my aunt Violet can drive me at that time - sorted. A train ticket was booked (now you don't have to prebook but not that school's in session, it's nice to know I'll be arriving on the train with a seat and its cheaper).

Now we have relayed the flight information to our Aunt who we will be staying with. When I am there I will figure out what buses to take to the airport, since my flights are in the afternoon and you can never really trust the buses to the airport to be on time, even if it's only an hour outside Dublin. Thanks to my beautiful friend who I am visiting in London- my accommodation is booked and paid for (bless, good job past Courtney), but it was cheaper for me to fly the night before, so I still have to look for accommodation for one night, but that's what hostels are for, unless I can possibly stay with my sister who is in London, but her place is a bit small so we will hear back from her and then book.

Now this can be super stressful, but it's just so much easier to continue to book things once you've started because everything is fresh in your mind and the ball gets rolling and you get so much more excited for the trip and the stress you felt maybe an hour ago had diminished. Any stress you feel whilst planning, booking, scheduling, paying etc. for any trip you do, once you've taken that first trip- you'll remember it being all so worth it.

You always wanted to go see that band or go to that retreat or see that country THEN BOOK IT. You cannot wait for anyone to join or understand or push you to go. Listen I get it, traveling possibly on your own and for the first time is scary and unnerving but IT IS ALWAYS WORTH THAT FEELING ONCE YOU'RE THERE, when you are doing everything YOU wanted to do without waiting on anyone else to go or agree with you, when you're meeting new people like you, locals, eating and drinking wherever and whenever you decide. 

It's always worth it. You learn so much about yourself, what you like and learn to love being in the unfamiliar. 

I hope to run into you out there one day.