I arrived back to Dublin today after 10 days in the U.S. During my travels, I decided to take a break from the blog, which, after all, is more about my life in Ireland than travels to other places. The trip went very well. I got to see pretty much everyone I wanted to see, and I managed to reduce the amount of things I have in storage down to a fourth of what it was before. My time was evenly split between San Francisco (which involved a mix of storage sorting, shopping, and visits with friends) and Las Vegas (where I met up with my Irish friend S. for pure vacation time). Not surprisingly, it was weird to be back in San Francisco as a “visitor” after having lived there 22 years prior to moving to Ireland. The prevailing feeling was that I no longer belonged there, and I missed the new life I had created in Dublin. It is good to be back home. The nonstop Aer Lingus flight from San Francisco to Dublin (11 hours) went smoothly, and thankfully I had two seats to myself. I got some sleep but am feeling jet lag as the day / evening wears on. I’m doing my best to stay awake in hopes of adjusting back to the Irish time zone quickly.
I haven’t been following the news in Ireland as closely over the last couple of weeks, but my Irish friends told me about the “heat wave” they’ve been having here (highs in upper 60s F / lower 20s C). The weather forecast for later in the week calls for cooler temperatures and rain — fine by me, as I’m not quite ready to put away my winter wardrobe yet.
Ireland has been experiencing an uptick in COVID-19 cases, but there is no appetite for a discussion about re-imposing any restrictions. The number of COVID-19 patients in Irish hospitals has exceeded 1,500, its highest level since January 2021. Even Ireland’s prime minister, Taoiseach Micheal Martin, tested positive for COVID-19 during his trip to the U.S. for a traditional St. Patrick’s Day meeting with the American president, so that had to be canceled. There are absolutely no travel restrictions or requirements for arriving back into Ireland, i.e., no vaccination status checks, passenger locator forms, etc.
There was a small package waiting for me in my post box when I got home. As I had hoped and expected, it contained a “card reader” machine from my bank. The device generates an additional one-time code that must be used for certain online transactions, including paying my credit card bill from my “current” account (similar to a checking account but without any checks). This high-tech approach helps prevent credit card theft and other types of fraud, but apparently isn’t in use by other banks in Ireland (at least that’s what I can determine from asking friends about it).
I am fading quickly from the long day of travel and struggling to keep my eyes open. I am wrapping up my job at UCD, working Monday-Thursday this week, then I’ll have a 3-day weekend before starting my new job on April 4th.
Until next time….
