We Made It!

Greetings from Ireland

Yes, we finally made it.  And yes, for those of you who follow us on social media (click any of the buttons on the right to follow us on your platform of choice) this isn’t news to you.  In fact, you are probably already tired of our constant posting and crowing about Ireland and the mundane. “Hey y’all, look! A hot cross bun!”

The Blog

When we seriously started the house hunting project about 3 years ago, we picked the name for the blog and started the Facebook page with two intentions.  The first was to keep everyone updated on what was going on with us and the second was to post regularly of what was involved in a move to Ireland.  We intended to write posts about the house hunt, the mortgage process, the shipping container debacle, and the journey through immigration red tape.

Since our last post was in February of 2014, after Niamh Cottage became ours, but before we even made our first visit to it as owners, I would say that we have failed on both accounts.  🙂

An Update

So here is an update – Since February 2014 we have made numerous cosmetic improvements to the cottage, shipped a container of furniture, housewares, tools and every manner of lawn equipment known to man, visited a lot more of County Kerry (Up the Kindom!) and hosted an array of friends and relatives.  Finally, in the last week of February of this year we shipped our most precious cargo, The Girls, over and moved here to live full time.

No, we didn’t keep the blog up to date.  A lot of the things mentioned above were very stressful. We only ever want to go through the shipping container process once.  Living it was enough.  Writing about it might have pushed us both to divorce past the tipping point.  Plus, for the main readers of this blog, who are friends and family, you were either there with us for the process (Thank you Bob, Steve, and JC), or heard about it ad nauseam as we stressed about which company to hire, which container to select, and what could or could not go into the container.  So for all of you who lived it with us, reading about the process would be about as informative and entertaining as watching paint dry.

Travel

One of the main reasons we moved to Ireland was for the ease of travel throughout the rest of Europe that it offered.  Jamie spent most of April and May hiking the Saint James Way in France and Spain.  Paul joined her for the last 70 miles of the hike and a few days in Santiago, Spain.

Jamie plans to spend a few days in London in August and hopefully make it to Budapest in December.  We are also hoping to make it to Germany for Oktoberfest in September.  We are also looking at trips back to the States to visit in either December of 2016 or early 2017.

Kenmare

The few months we have been here in Kenmare have been busy ones.  We have had numerous friends visit and have several more with trips planned over the next couple of months.  We love sharing “our Ireland” with friends.  With each visit we also see new things and add new places to the must see list.

Paul passed the driving portion the licensing test and now has his full Irish driver’s license. Jamie passed the written portion and has a learner’s permit.  She will have to take driving lessons, but should be able to take the driving portion of the test by the end of the year.  Jamie has started the residency process and already has her green card.  This process was made relatively easy by Paul having his Irish citizenship.

It has been busy, but it has also been wonderful.  We have eaten a lot of great, locally sourced food, met more people in our village, and we have gotten to spend a lot of time with The Girls.  That time mainly includes car rides, walks, and tummy rubs.  Their tummies, not ours.

The rest of 2016 is going to be a busy, but wildly fun, year.  Keep in touch and let us know what is going on with you!