So 4 weeks ago today I was preparing to return home to Ireland for 8 days to visit friends and family.

For the first time, I drove over to Ireland via the Fishguard to Rosslare route, taking in all the beautiful scenery on the way to Fishguard port. 4 and a half hours later, we were safely on the ferry, sailing through the night on a relatively calm sea.

We arrived into Rosslare at 4am and drove straight home to Waterford, and greeted my parents with an early morning welcome.

We had planned it fairly well, we hadn’t even realised that Spraoi festival would be on that weekend.

The day before Spraoi, we decided to head up to Glendalough with a few friends and stay the night. It was my first time visiting and the views were spectacular.

Spraoi came rapidly around that weekend and there’s was plenty of Guinness flowing. It was my first time back for Spraoi for about 6 years.

It was a nice treat to be able to drive around Ireland for the first time and show Tyler some of the places I used to visit as a child with my parents.

For the first time in weeks, it was nice to just relax and not have to worry about work. I also hadn’t been back to Ireland for a whole year which is the longest I’ve gone without seeing my parents.

Only 2 days to go until my trip to Nepal; it’s come around so fast! I can’t believe it’s been a month since we’ve been home already.

I’ll next update you when I get to Kathmandu, slainte!

– Jovi