When I was much younger, I viewed travel to somewhere as the prelude to an adventure. Travel was a conveyance—something to move me from point A to point B. I have come to realize that the adventure starts when I leave the house. When the door shut on May 12, my Ireland adventure began.
Although I would not arrive in Dublin until the next day, I took another look at the Irish part of the itinerary. After arrival, I would spend a day and a half in Dublin before embarking on a small ship to travel around Ireland in the anti clockwise direction. Right now, I focused on getting to the airport in South San Francisco, SFO.
To get to SFO, I traveled on my favorite Bay area highway—280. It runs along a fault line that is full of open space—Foothills nature preserve, Palo Alto Hills, and Crystal Springs reservoir. On the more populated side of the road, the Flintstone House never ceases to bring a smile to my face. I notice that its front lawn is even more decorated with dinosaurs since the neighbors complained and the owner won the right to do as she pleases with the property.
Many people stress over the airport check-in and security experience. I long ago found that the cost of a Clear membership is small compared to the amount of time and stress it saves. It allows me to breeze through security, which I did on this day.
Flying is the closest I’ll ever get to space flight, so I typically book a window seat so that I can enjoy the view. San Francisco looked pretty good on this clear day. Later in the flight, I was able to see the numerous lakes dotting the Canadian north. Then clouds moved in, finally parting on the landing in Dublin.