Hey Everyone-  This is officially the first day of my trip and its starting in Limerick, Ireland.  Right now I'm sitting in an internet cafe sending some emails and updating yours truly.  Although my plane only landed 3 hours ago in Shannon, I can already tell that this place is a bit.... different.  For one thing they drive on the wrong side of the road.  And yes, I knew that before I came here, but you have got to see it to understand just how backwards it is.  The bug to get from the plane to the terminal went through about 10 roundabouts and each time I was wincing because he went into them the wrong way!!!!

Well I'm off to explore Limerick, visit a castle, the Hunt Museum and find me some traditional Irish grub!! 

Hey Non-Existent Followers - So here it is the night before the big plane trans-Atlantic plane ride.  In about 19 hours I will be somewhere over an ocean and in 24 I will be landing on foreign soil.  It's both exciting and nerve-racking, seeing as how I've never travelled outside US borders before.  I just finished packing up all my gear which came out to weigh 40 pounds.  Add that to a 20 pound bike and that means I'm going to be lugging around 60 pounds plus water weight all over Europe.  UGH!! :/

One of the things almost everyone I've talked to has said to me is be careful, take care of yourself and come back safe.  It's as if there is some general fear amongst American's that Europe isn't a safe place.  Not sure how true this is but regardless of it's potential validity I'm teeming with excitement for tomorrow!  Wish me luck, send me suggestions of things to see and as always, KEEP RIDING!!!