My family never really took "vacations", at least not the way some people do.  I was 21 before I ever flew on an airplane and when I finally did it was for business.  It's not that we didn't get away, it's just the excursions were usually in pursuit of a family function or a long weekend--and they were always within a day's driving distance from our home in Southern California.   

In 2008, on the occasion of my grandmother's burial, my entire immediate family (father, mother, brother, and sister) traveled to Ireland.  For the first time ever, the five of us spent 13 days together in a foreign country.  Everyone returned home alive.  This is the story.

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