Day 10 (Return to US)

We started our final day in Ireland fairly early with a light breakfast provided in our host’s kitchen. We met a couple of their friendly cats (Slides 3 and 4) and briefly chatted with their son before saying our farewells and heading north toward Dublin Airport, about 30 minutes away.

The motorway traffic was light, and we made the drive in just 20 minutes. After some initial confusion about where to return the rental car, we eventually found the correct parking garage, dropped the keys at Europcar, and located the Icelandair counter, where the long wait to check in began.

Once checked in, we joined the line for security, which moved painfully slowly and took over an hour to get through. Security was unusually strict—every second bag seemed to be pulled and searched before being re-scanned. We weren't sure if the extra security was due to recent world events (the U.S. had just bombed an Iranian nuclear facility), but several passengers on our flight only just made it in time.

We reached our gate with some time to spare and soon walked out onto the tarmac to board our B757 bound for Keflavík (Slide 5). We found our seats and were pleasantly surprised to have an empty seat between us. As the plane took off, I used my speedometer app, and it showed us lifting off at 181 mph!

Our final view of Ireland from the air (Slide 7) was of the M1 motorway, a roundabout, and a northern view toward Swords and Balbriggan, where we had spent our last night.

The flight to Keflavík was uneventful. It was raining when we landed and continued to rain for most of the layover. We passed the time at the airport by grabbing some food and charging our phones in preparation for the long flight back to the U.S.

We boarded the flight to Detroit on time, again enjoying a spare seat between us. We took off from rainy, chilly Iceland at 4:55 PM and touched down in Detroit at about 6:45 PM local time. As we descended, we saw the farmlands of Ontario from the air (Slide 8).

The contrast in weather was immediate and dramatic—from 50s and rain in Iceland to hot and humid Michigan, where it was in the 90s when we landed.

Baggage claim was slow, but we eventually emerged from the terminal around 7:30 PM, where Josh was waiting to pick us up. The traffic outside Detroit’s Evans Terminal was terrible, but we finally got out and started the drive back to Ohio.

We stopped in Toledo at Culver’s, where we met up with Michael, who had been DoorDashing nearby and was happy to join us for a free dinner and to catch up.

We finally arrived home around 10:00 PM, tired but grateful. Everyone was glad to see us back safe and sound.

It was a wonderful trip, full of unforgettable experiences, beautiful landscapes, and new memories—truly an adventure we’ll always remember.