I guess the answer to that question is because we had to. It was an amazing trip, and we were sad to leave Ireland, but we did miss the kiddies and the pups.
We woke up shortly after 5am to get ready to leave the hotel; I texted Ashley to let her know we were leaving soon, and she was still up and hadn’t yet gone to bed! Our bus was picking us up just across the street from the Westin and we got there early, making it onto an earlier bus than we’d planned. We were some of the first to arrive at the United counter at Dublin Airport, which was not yet open to check us in. A short while later, the agents showed up, we checked our bags and got some coffee.
We cleared customs in Ireland which was great, there would not be a delay when we got back to the US. (except for the wait for our bags) We sat and waited until it was time to board the flight home, letting the fact sink in that it was really over.
Once again, neither of us slept on the flight… Instead we listened to Pearl Jam and U2, watched movies on our iPads, looked at photos from our trip and reminisced about the past two and a half weeks.