This post is one that I am finding bittersweet to write. Yesterday morning I woke up in Killarney after an amazing night's sleep in a huge bed surrounded by beautiful silence and my first thought was- I need to go home. So, after an extensive internal debate with myself and a FaceTime chat with mom where I ended up ugly crying on a bench in the middle of a mall in Killarney, Ireland (I use the term mall lightly and only because that's what they have officially called it. The building houses the bus station and exactly 6 stores of varying types) I changed my flight, canceled my remaining reservations in the few cities I have left, booked a train ticket back to Dublin for this morning and binge watched Orange Is The New Black. 

I didn't even make it out to the few outdoors things that I had planed for the day- including another castle- because the weather was being super ultra Irish and raining something fierce for the better part of the day. I was a little bummed about that, but it worked out for the best because I ended up going to an early dinner and it turned into an entire evening. I met a lovely couple from Richmond, Virginia on their honeymoon- Meredith and Ryan. 

We drank to their honeymoon and bonded over love of tacos and other various Mexican foods. I told them about Taco Hunt '15 and how I am so opening a taco truck to fix this little problem and it was in that moment when Meredith spoke the most brilliant name for a taco truck I have ever heard- Tower Tacos. The truck will be housed at the base of the Londer Tower. I mean, have you ever heard anything more fitting, world? HAVE YOU? 

So that happened. A taco truck in London. I don't know of anything that sounds more perfect than that. I really, honestly don't. Selling tacos from the Tower Tacos truck by day and sipping Pimms on the bank of the Thames by night. It would work well with my Ben stalking schedule, so I vote this plan a success.

I can't wait to get up to Richmond to visit you all and check out your city! Have an amazing time the remainder of your trip and good luck starting law school in the fall, Ryan! All the feels. 

So let's chat about the elephant in the room- I'm coming home tomorrow. Surprise! I think we're all surprised here, so we're in this together. It turns out that I can actually be rational sometimes and for the first time in 25 years I actually took that commonly tossed around advice- listen to your body. Well, my body is telling me it's time to go home. I am emotionally, mentally and physically spent. I could push on for the next two weeks and finish the few cities I have left as planned just like I have been pushing on for the past two weeks, but why? What do I have to prove? Absolutely nothing. I would not enjoy them to the fullest and that is the last thing that I want. I have plenty of life left to visit them another time. I always tell my friends regardless of the topic- when you know, you know- and I absolutely knew yesterday morning when I woke up that it was time to call it. 

I think I expected to feel some kind of disappointment or defeat when I clicked that "Are you sure you want to submit" button when changing my flight, knowing it was officially done- but I didn't. Not one bit. Instead I felt a weird sense of relief. I have been fighting this travel fatigue for some time and it just felt so good knowing that I didn't have to anymore. I mean, I had Dominos for lunch on Sunday- I feel like that should have been the giant red flag that it was time to go home. 

So I am back in Dublin today which has me smiling like a fool because, I mean, Dublin. I am ending my trip right where I began it, exactly two months ago. Talk about full circle. It was a crazy feeling walking through the city earlier with my pack on just like I did two months ago when I came into the city for lunch during my layover to Rome. The city has changed a litte. I have changed a little. Life has changed a little. It's funny how that works, isn't it? 

I moseyed the city for a bit and visited Trinity College, Ha'Penny Bridge and had dinner at the oldest pub in Ireland- The Brazen Head. I feel like that's a pretty good way to end an amazing summer. 

In the morning I'll head back for the states. It may be a little earlier than I had planned, but in reality it's coming at just the right time. I shall report from the motherland once I return and have both feet on the ground. Don't think this is my last entry. No, no. I don't drop info and run. I'll be back to process, fret not. 

In honor being back in Dublin exactly two months later, here is a picture of me from the day I landed here in May. That feels simultaneously like a million years ago and just yesterday. You certainly are one grand adventure, life. 

Get ready, America. I'm coming home.