This trip was an unplanned opportunity! I’ve always been the type to set a 1 or 5-year continuous learning goal which all stopped in 2024. At the beginning of this year, I was feeling motivated to begin a new goal again for 2027, so I signed up for a Pastel Painting class in the Le Marche region of Italy next year with the instructor, Susan Kuznitsky. (A new region in Italy is icing on the cake!). Having a year to practice this new hobby would align with the date planned. She met with me by Zoom - liked her instantly, and the day my brightly-colored French pastels arrived, I couldn’t wait to create something! I ordered a sturdy tripod and wooden pochade box with easel, and going outside for plein air painting was even more fun!
In April, my instructor sent out an email that she had one cancellation for her class this year in Ireland. I’ve never had Ireland on my list, so I sent the details to our local RS travel monthly meet up group, thinking one person would jump at the chance. Instead, they all told me to sign up! Whew, should I do it? Well why wouldn’t I do it? : ) I checked with Susan, first, to see if she and her class would be okay having an inexperienced person in the class, and it became official. : ) After quick hours of research on-line, receiving lots of great advice from Cathy in our local group, and purchasing the RS Ireland guidebook, I had an itinerary compiled: 3 days pre-class in downtown Dublin, the 1-week art class at Enniskerry, followed by 3 nights at Cork (incl. an all-day tour of the Ring of Kerry), 2 at Kinsale and a final night at a Dublin airport hotel.
My first obstacle was how to pack. Pastels are like fragile chalk, so I wasn’t going to hand them over to baggage handling. Also, if they lost my suitcase, it would be difficult to participate in the class! The tripod length & bulk was also a factor. Our forum contributor, Pam, and I were looking at suitcase options at the local Sierra store. All of the checked luggage for everything except the pastels would be so bulky, and I needed the pastel pochade box to be in something with wheels because of its weight. Having never checked luggage overseas nor wanting to do it, this was a dilemma for me. Pam suggested disassembling part of the tripod, and thankfully, that was just enough to allow it to fit within my 2-wheel carry on dimensions.
All of the tenacious lighter packing over the years really paid off for this trip! I was able to just pack all of my normal clothes & stuff into a personal backpack except the extra pair of shoes and Tom Bihn nightstand travel tray that went into the 2-wheel. I thought it was ironic that during my last trip I had reduced items so much because of some knee pain - even my number of sketching pencils were reduced. This time, I brought the whole 6-pack of pencils & their metal tin, too - LOL!