The Dream Trip - Introduction

Briana, Caitlin, Darcy, and Mona were so excited for the summer to arrive. They had been planning this for over a year now, even though their ages were different they were great friends. Briana was the youngest at 18. She was just graduating high school and this would be her graduation gift. Caitlin was 22 and had know Briana since they had both been on the same traveling soccer team during high school. Darcy was Caitlin's older sister and Mona was her best friend. They were both 29, met in college and worked at the same ad agency.

This all started when Darcy talked to a friend who had been to Ireland. Her friend raved about the beauty of the and how wonderfully friendly the people had been while they were there. After some discussion with Mona, they both decided that this would be a great summer trip. when Caitlin found out, she wanted to go also. With a little arm twisting Caitlin convinced Darcy that she could go along, as long as she brought a friend so there would be 4 of them traveling. And that's when Caitlin invited Briana. It took a little convincing of Briana's parents but knowing that Darcy and Mona would be along as “chaperones” they gave the go-ahead for the trip.

The four girls started meeting the summer before to talk about the trip and what they wanted to see. Darcy and Mona would share the driving of a rental car. It took a lot of give and take to decide what locations they would visit. This trip would only be 10 days so there was not time to see every site in Ireland. They decided they would concentrate on Northern Ireland trying to catch some music festivals as they traveled. They would also spend a few days in Dublin and the surrounding area at the beginning of the trip. They were leaving some of the trip loosely planned so they could head to towns for music as they heard about it.

So now it was May and all the arrangements had been made. Passports had been acquired, and plane tickets were ordered. The girls would leave the third week of July on Tuesday so that they arrived on Wednesday morning and could start their sightseeing in Dublin right away. As school was winding down for Briana with graduation, and Caitlin with finals, the girls spent lot of time shopping for the perfect outfits and necessary needs. With 10 days they may need to do some laundry, but just in case they needed to make sure they could fit all the luggage they took into the rental car and each one of them had to handle their own luggage. Darcy and Mona had done some traveling before so they had no problems with a smaller suitcase and a carry-on. Briana was having the worst time. She wanted to take a large suitcase and more clothes than she would ever wear. After Darcy and Mona helped Caitlin organize and showed her how to pack, Caitlin went over to Briana's and helped her with what was needed and what she should leave behind. One of the things that Briana insisted that she take was her red and black trimmed team soccer shirt. She wore it all the time, and just couldn't give it up. If she could have fit a soccer ball into her suitcase, she would have done that too. Little did she know how lucky she would be with her soccer shirt.

June came and went with the end of school and the last of plans for packing. The girls all had iPods and made sure they had loaded them with their favorite music. They really didn't know too much about Irish music, but planned to learn all about it while they were in Ireland. Before the girls realized July 4th had passed and they were in the car heading to the airport.

Darcy and Mona were prepared for the trip physically and mentally, Caitlin was approaching this a an adventure, and Briana was doubting the decision, but with the other girls to support her she was calmer and excited at the same time for the trip. With iPods plugged in the plane took off for Ireland and the adventure started.