This trip was planned for months ahead of time. Because we were spending a week walking on the Dingle Peninsula, we wanted to be in reasonable physical condition. Art walked two miles a day for months on the treadmill. Between May and August, I walked over 200 miles in the neighborhood. My feet hurt before we even left, and I spent the last couple of weeks before we left on 800 mg of ibuprofen three times a day. At the same time I was shopping for the clothes and equipment we’d need – walking shoes, walking sticks, tops and pants and rain gear, and inflatable pillows for the airplane. Even pills to minimize jet lag (they worked fine going over and not very well coming back). We listened to the advice of friends who’d traveled and took along toilet paper and baggies.

I was a little worried about what we’d do in the second week, since all we had was vouchers for seven nights of B&Bs and a car rental. Art wasn’t the least bit bothered by the uncertainty.