Epilogue

 Epilogue

I thought I would end with a few observations after my 36-year return to the Emerald Isles.

--I miss paper maps for getting a greater view of where I am relative to my surroundings but Google maps make travel so easy.

--I love using my phone for public transit and taking the bus was not only fast but so much better for seeing the sites of the city and London has the best public transit system in the world.

--Trivia nights at pubs seems to have exploded in popularity, I didn’t remember ever going to one when I went to school in London.

--Bikes and bike paths are so much more popular in London.

--Food in London has improved or I have more money to spend on it.

--Hobnobs and Kit Kats are the best but the ice cream cups with the spoons tucked inside the lids are genius.

--It feels hard to find public trash cans but all the European packaging is so much more sustainable.

--Christmas markets have exploded all over Europe and make the country feel so festive.

--I spent more time in pubs than I did three decades ago and realized I shouldn’t have spent so much time studying.

--You can buy a premade Christmas Eve meal that is half decent from Sainsburys and you can get a Christmas dinner at a pub with a reservation a day in advance on the actual birth of Jesus day.

--The skyline of Dublin has four times the number of high-rise buildings and pharmaceutical and technology companies.

--Whiskey is way more popular than it was when I was here 36 year ago (again may be an iincome factor).

--The native Irish people are still amazingly friendly and so grateful for tourism.

--And while the world continues to shrink (Gary's chance meeting with his grad school classmate he hadn’t seen for 30 years) tourism continues to explode and every airport was packed with people from every part of the globe.