Cork, Ireland

On the advice of Rick Steves, Morgan Kueler, and a host of other well respected peeps, rented a car to explore the western coast of the emerald isle. We fetched our car from the Dublin airport to avoid any possibility of having to drive in Dublin. With the foreign orientation of the stick shift and the reversal of lanes, driving has been a team effort. We have even written a song to go along with our motor-coach adventures; the most notable line is "drivin' on the left, drivin' on the left" (you can expect the full track to be released sometime in November).

Leaving Dublin we set off in the direction of Cork, a city of about 125,000 people. From the moment we rolled into town I was smitten. Cork has all the charm and character of Dublin, just on a less overwhelming scale. Our first order of business was to secure lodging for the evening. We set about town in search of some locally run B&Bs; what we found was the most charming and hospitable B&B and a bit of a predicament.

Automatic transmissions in Europe are a luxury and because Brad is well versed in manual and we are on a budget, we opted for the standard transmission. This proved to be a piece of cake thanks to Brad's exceptional driving skills...until we arrived in Cork. An old city (i.e. extremely narrow roads)built into a hill proved for a test of his driving chops.

We found our selves in prime B&B territory and decided it was time to park and run some lodging recon. We circled the block a few times until we spotted a convenient spot open just at the top of the hill. We pulled up, backed in, then realized the dilemma we faced. The spot that had seemed so perfect, was in fact precariously located at the steepest incline on the hill and was a blind corner. There would be no sneaking up to make sure the intersection was clear, and it was highly likely that we would be rolling into the lovely car parked behind us.

Almost in unison Brad and I muttered an "oh shit" and bust out laughing. We took a moment to devise a plan of attack and then put our plan into action. Fortunately we were required to take out the full coverage additional insurance (Ireland is one of the three countries in the world that our credit card won't cover auto rentals) so our mind was at ease about any damage we were about to wreak. Using the emergency break to prevent a roll backwards, Brad let out the clutch, hit the gas, then released the e-break. We shot forward blindly into the intersection and were greeted by the blaring horns of oncoming traffic from both directions. By the luck o' the Irish we avoided a collision and pulled over to compose ourselves.

As the burning smell of our emergency break settled around us, I realized our quandary held a larger lesson. Sometimes you back yourself into what turns out to be a terrible decision. The only way out is to blindly commit, whole heatedly, put the pedal to floor, and press on; willingly accepting the potential consequences, but still believing that you will find your way.