Ray's Most Excited About...

So, here we are, two days until we leave and it still doesn’t feel quite real.  A trip we’ve been talking about for years starts in less than 48 hours. Kind of crazy.  It’s the type of trip that we will talk about the rest of our lives.  The more I talk to people about it, the more they all continue to ask the same question, “What part are you most excited about?”

Here are the top 3 things that I am excited about for the trip:

3) The Penn State game – I know I’ve been to plenty of games, but this one is definitely going to be unique.  Seeing a game in Dublin will be great.  Introducing some of my co-workers to American Football, and PSU, at that, will be fantastic.  I’m excited to tailgate with folks in Ireland.  How cool is that going to be??

2) Berlin – Seems like depending on who you ask, Berlin is great fun, or it’s just another boring metropolis.  I’m super excited to see Berlin because I feel like there are few cities in the world that have had more impact on modern history. My strange fascination with the Cold War makes me really excited to see the epicenter of it.  The Berlin Wall, Check Point Charlie and the history of World War II should be great. It is going to be fun to see where all these things happened and how the city has grown in the last 20 years since the fall of the Iron Curtain.

1) Just spending time with my new wife – Really as cliché as it is, I’m super excited to just spend some time with my new wife. Just us, figuring out how to get from one place to another.  Exploring new things together is one of the tenants of our relationship, and this is certainly going to be a new adventure for us to share together and something we will talk about for the rest of our lives, so I’m excited about that.

There are plenty of other things I am excited about.  For an honorable mention, how about seeing where my dad spent a lot of my childhood?  He was back and forth to Scotland stationed on a submarine.  I’ve always heard stories from him about Scotland, and now I’m going to experience it firsthand. So, there’s quite a bit to be excited about.  And I can’t wait…

As for what I’m nervous about, hands down, driving a manual car on the opposite side of the road around Ireland.  That’s causing me some uneasiness, so I’ll have to let you know how that goes.