I have had a crazy, whirlwind last few days....leaving Dublin, flying to NYC (landing at Kennedy airport, then getting stuck in traffic for a high cost taxi to a cheap hotel near LaGuardia. I'll be staying in the Flushing/Queens area, or so I thought, but once i arrived I seemed to have landed in the middle of China, so full of frenetic market shoppers, Chinese restaurants with its signs written only in Manderin and Cantonese and thousands of people cramming the messy, smelly streets. I survived the 7 hour flight and 5 hour time change. I wandered a few blocks until i finally found a store that was open, the Hong Kong Plaza store. Once inside, the first thing I saw in the beer section: GUINNESS! But I know i'll be disappointed with its stale taste (Guinness doesn't travel well) so I opt for one Heineken and head back to the Best Western Queens Court. Time enough for about 5 hours of shut-eye and then....The marathon home begins. I'm heading all the way west for the next 20 hours (NY to Minny to Seattle to Maui). I held up pretty well on the first two legs, but by the halfway mark in the seemingless endless flight from Seattle to Maui, i hit the wall. We were cramped like lemmings into this shiny sky-bottle rocket and no amount of position shifting felt comfortable. Finally, after over 6 hours, the glowing lights below me show promise of Hawaiian land. Once earthborn, i get out, stretch my body, smell the fragrant tropically-flowered breezes and head for home. Another version of it, anyway.