Lao Tzu (among others) said that the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step...Lao Tzu obviously journied before the invention of the internet and the plethora of travel books...because it is clear now that a journey of a thousand miles starts with months and months of research and even more days of doubt and questions coupled with days of excitement and anticipation (particularly when you get flights from Ireland to Paris for 1 cent...). But soon...in about 2 weeks, 18 days or so really...the single step will be taken. Because I think that the single step is that step in New York onto the plane for Dublin. That's the point of no return...ok who am I kidding, the point of no return for me, was when we bought our plane tickets to Dublin...at that point...well. Anyway, we are getting excited, and are in the throes of deciding whether or not to backpack, or if we should roll suitcases, or both. We found a backpack today with wheels, this makes the decision even harder--b/c the packpack cost $75, which as I hear it is enough to live in some places for a month or more :) But anyway, the ends are almost tied up, and those we don't get tied up, we will just burn or pack into our bags (provided they don't weigh very much as the weight limit imposed with that 1 cent ticket is about what you would expect.) So stay tuned...
alex
