Category Archives: International Travel

Mar28

The process of leaving – Part 2

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March, 2024 – Creating a Sketch


How does one plan out a three-month trip through Europe? If I want to visit 14 countries, how the heck do I make that happen?

Slowly and methodically, just like any other complicated project. Taking your time, accepting when mistakes are made, and going step-by-step.



I’m starting in Greenland.

Then, I’m going to Iceland, followed by Norway, Sweden, and Finland. From the Nordic States, I’m moving South into the Baltic region – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. From there, I’ll move into Central Europe – Poland, Czechia, and Austria. Then, I’ll hit Germany, Switzerland, and France… after which I’ll take the train direct to Ireland.


It sounds both simple and insane when listed out like that – alternating between “Ohh yeah, just go between and make it happen. Easy peasy.” and “ohh my god I have to plan places to stay in all of those! What border rules are there? Should I take a train, or a plane, or…?”

Thankfully, this is what I’m good at. Methodical planning, contingencies, and step-by-step logistics. It’s why I’m going for my MBA – I know I’m good at this, and if Raytheon feels the need to stymie me… well, I’m confident I can find someone who’ll appreciate this attention to detail.


I started with a map. The Eurail map, specifically, showing train connections throughout Europe itself. I started with that map months ago, and it’s where I got the general idea of taking a clockwise circuit around the continent – I knew I had ~3 or 4 months, and the idea of 1 week per city seemed good at the time… with longer stops in a few. Thus, 14 countries.

Since then, I’ve streamlined the time down to 3 months, to give myself extra time to plan. That led to either cutting countries, or shortening them… and since the travel time would remain the same, I figured that shortening some of the visits would be a fair sacrifice.


My first week off work, I sat down at a local cafe with my laptop and looked at the calendar. I created a very vague sketch of the trip, going one by one to see where things would land.

At the end of my brunch, I had a general plan. First steps complete.

Mar26

The process of leaving – Part 1

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March, 2024 – General Thoughts


How does one pack up their life, and move to another world? The same way I packed up my life the last time. Or the time before that, I guess.


In 2011, I left the United States to travel South America and New Zealand.

In 2015, I left Massachusetts to build a new life in Oregon.

Now, in 2024, I’m leaving the United States again – this time for Ireland, an MBA, and… I don’t know what else.


How do I do it? Sequentially, methodically, and with a lot of compassion for myself and my mental need to disconnect and flit between projects.

I started the way I start any project; getting my arms around the task at hand. Defining the problem, understanding the moving parts and confounding factors, and locking down the critical details. All great words, of course, but what do they actually mean?

I started with confirming the critical details:
– Do I have updated passports?
– Can I actually live abroad in Ireland?
– Do I have a confirmed acceptance to my MBA program?


Once all of those were confirmed, I moved on to the longer-scope parts of the project:
– Deciding what to move, what to sell, what to store, and what to throw out.
– Finding a moving company who can both move and store my things.
– Finding a relocation expert in Ireland.
– Getting my finances in order.


All of those are still in-process, of course, but they’ve at least been kicked off – the budget has been set, money is moving, emails are flying around the world, and progress is being made.

Next steps are to start planning the details of my travel to get to Ireland… I have a general plan in play to start in Greenland, and go clockwise around Europe, but the devil’s in the details as we all know… so locking those details down are my next steps.


Slowly but surely, I’m making it happen.

Apr27

My Irish Spring – The flights back (Monday)

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Wow… How long has it been since I’ve done an international trip? How much longer since I’ve gone international solo?

Let’s see. The last international trip was to Scotland, right before the Pandemic hit. When I had that really bad flu… right before the Pandemic. With COVID. That presents sort of like a flu. That I’ve somehow avoided getting, as if I’d already gotten it and gained an immunity… Okay we’re not going down that road the last time I went abroad was January 2020. Three years and change.

The last time I went on a solo international trip? Well, that’d be New Zealand, back in 2012. 11 years.

It’s high time I explored.


I got accepted to Trinity College’s MBA program back in November, and accepted the offer that same month… though I delayed admission until 2024, to give me some time to finish up in Oregon and save up a bit more money. While talking to the admissions officer though, I learned about a Business forum put on by Trinity in March – a perfect opportunity for me to stretch my international adventure legs and see if Dublin would make a good home for a year or three!

I planned, I packed, and I set off on my first solo international trip in over 10 years…

(Please note that these are my raw notes from the trip. I’m proofreading them for obvious mistakes… but they’re still short-hand. Because life is busy, and blogs don’t need to be perfectly edited.)


Monday, 13-Mar-2023



My last day in Dublin lasted a bit longer than I’d expected, thanks to an early morning text I got from the airline, informing me that my flight would be delayed leaving Ireland by two hours or so.

Not a bad thing, in my mind – I’d expected this, so had quite a bit of time set aside as a layover in Atlanta, and wasn’t in any danger of missing any connecting flights. Instead, it meant that I could make myself a quick breakfast of my remaining leftovers, instead of tossing them out, and have a lovely relaxed morning just… kind of laying about.

As always, I loved laying about later into the morning.



Soon enough, of course, I did have to leave for real. I gave myself some extra time, and was able to hail a cab basically right outside my apartment. We chatted as he drove, and I learned a few more bits about Dublin, the housing market in the area, and his (very strong) opinions about US politics. I’m never sure if it’s nice that we’re so “well observed” outside the States, or if it’s frustrating that everyone seems to only get the extreme parody version of reality…

Either way, I was through security before I could blink, and onward and upward back to the states before I could grab one last Guinness. I had a layover in Atlanta, which was somehow still surprisingly long even after the previously delayed flight… but soon enough my boots were walking the now-familiar carpet of PDX.

I found my car, I drove home, and I plopped into bed.


It had been a good trip.