Seemed like it was never going to arrive, but in just a bit over 7 days I’ll be on an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin. My friend Noreen has been practicing her packing and has got her wardrobe pretty much nailed down. (She is going to be wearing some very special clothes supplied by a great golf apparel company—more on that later.) I still have to figure out what I’m going to bring, much less how I’m going to stuff it into my suitcase. (In fact, I might have to buy a bigger suitcase. I forgot how bulky two pairs of golf shoes can be, not to mention the boxes of golf balls, the hat, the rain jacket, etc. etc.

I spent an hour or so online buying last minute things…(a long sleeve micro fiber shirt – bright red! and a pair of Greg Norman golf slacks for women) of course they may not arrive in time… but that’s ok. We have a long summer season ahead of us here, so they will certainly be used.

I stopped at the bank to pick up some Euros. Ireland is part of the European Union and their official currency is the Euro. It’s a bit tricky to exchange dollars for Euros. The exchange rate is always moving up or down (mostly up these days) and only certain banks have Euros on hand. And of course there is the little fee banks add on to the total to pay for the trouble of exchanging $$. I have no real idea how much $$ to bring. I’m gone for 10 days and a lot of our trip costs, i.e. bed and board, are included in the cost of our payment to the RedTees.ie. But there are sure to be evenings out, dinners out, pub stops, the occasional tourist trap and souvenirs, of course. So I’m trying to be wise. They tell me that using a credit card is the most costly way to get extra money when you are traveling. ATMs are better, and of course, exchanging the cash here, stateside, is the least expensive way to do it.

And then there is the voltage converter. And the plug adapters. Ireland has a totally different electric system. Their voltage is different than what we have in the states. If you plug in a hair dryer without the converter, you’ll blow yourself up! Can’t imagine what the power surge would do to my laptop.

Yes, I’m bringing my laptop along so I can blog at the end of each day, share photos and perhaps a video of the two of us swinging along.

Right now, I am making lists and checking them all twice. Trying to finish up work for clients so I can relax once I’m off. It’s that rush rush stuff you forget until the end that drives you crazy.

And I’m playing golf in the morning and again on Thursday. Got to get my game going so I don’t make a total fool of myself when I finally face that first golf course at Mount Juliet in Killenny.

Have you traveled overseas for golf? Any last minute advice you want to give about what to bring, what to leave at home? Feel free to comment below.