We made it...sort of! Ireland, volcanoes and airports

Well, it feels like we just arrived, and in a few short hours we'll be leaving again!

We made a quick stopover in Ireland to see some family, friends, and take a breather before making the final leap in moving to our new home. We hung out with some awesome friends while we were here and had an absolute blast! It was great to see everyone so shortly after seeing them at the wedding a few weeks earlier.

We have also managed to avoid two volcanoes in 4 years from screwing up our flights! Once back in May of 2010, with Iceland's last eruption, and now once again! We know plenty of people who have gotten screwed over at least with the last volcano, so with any luck, nothing will happen with this one and our plans.


One thing that John and I have noticed lately is that we're not like a lot of people we know. We fly quite frequently, both nationally and internationally (we've tallied up the amount of flights we've ever been on to be somewhere in the 70's/80's range), and though many of our friends fly, we have found that many of their experiences differ from ours.

awesome mini cupcake shop JFK

Why? We love airports! We get there hours before our flight and take full advantage of our time there. We try new foods, explore the gift shops, play games, and just use the waiting period between flights as "me" time.

A big part of this is that John likes being ridiculously early to the airport, and we have both missed major flights more than once to learn our lesson about arriving last minute. We also seem to always have the maximum amount of carry-on baggage allowed, so we try and arrive early to get on the plane early (but when you're in boarding zone 3 aka "zone fuck you" it never really matters).

Anyway, we'll see you all in Spain!!! Below are some airport fun times John and I have had in the past.

healthy food attempt stolen from the hotel

epic meal time at Toronto Airport

all plugged in at Toronto Airport-yay free plugs!

yes, our plane was purple

Packing Hell

In just 4 short days, John and I will be flying to Ireland to spend a week with family and friends before the big move to our new home in Madrid, where I will be teaching English and John will be going to grad school.

We could not be more excited! But we have a problem...or should I say four problems.

Our luggage.

We have condensed a life of four years together into a total of four suitcases of questionable weight. By questionable, I mean they are all at about 49.5 lbs (the weight limit is 50 lbs). And the err--more budget-friendly (read: cheap) suitcases are sagging and cracking when we stand them up. Oops!

We have done everything to try and lighten the load--literally, from condensing our clothes and personal items to the "essentials", to vacuum-sealing all of our belongings, to just saying "screw it -- we'll buy socks when we get there!" None of it, in my opinion, has even made a dent.

We just have so much crap.

It doesn't help that we just got married and were given all of these beautiful presents that are going to be collecting dust in my parents' attic for the next two years. Add that to the growing list of stuff I can't take with me.

Everyone's first solution is "just ship it!" which would be great except that not only would we have to pay to have it shipped, in Spain you have to pay to pick it up from the post office. Not gonna happen.

But we have squished and squeezed and begged and pleaded and they are packed to the brim! Now let's hope they make it overseas with us!

**Update: all of our luggage made it!

John so happy to have my shoes safe and sound