Day 1: Touch Down

Our non-stop, five-hour flight from Boston to Shannon flew by! We arrived at 6:15 am. It seemed to take longer to collect our luggage than to cross the Atlantic. My cell phone died, my debit card wouldn`t give me Euros (who knew more than 4-digit pins are a problem here?), and my AMEX card wouldn`t work on the public pay internet terminal.

At 7:05, our coach driver was late and we had no way to contact him. WiFi didn`t work either. I asked the airport taxi stand guy, Mike Tierney, to look up the coach web site; call and find out where our driver was. The coach service gave him a cell number to call. Mike asked me, "Did you pay him?" "Yes," I answered. Everyone at the stand gave each other a look. I got nervous, but didn`t believe the company was not reputable because of it being recommended by a cousin I never met either. Mike reached Liam Crowley, our driver. "He`s here," Mike said to me. "He`s in the bathroom!"

Soon, Liam came strolling over to me and I threw my arms around him with relief and gratitude that he was real. He hugged each one of us and said, "This is a true Crowley welcome." Stress and doubt disappeared in that moment on our first cold and blustery morning in Ireland, but our adventure was about to begin. We filled one day with enough magic to feel like three days!