As we squeezed round a comfortable desk at Sean’s Bar, Eire’s oldest pub, Guinness and cider sloshed out of our glasses as the group sang alongside to “The Parting Glass.” The outdated people tune is a few goodbye after a well-lived life — one thing that turned an sudden theme for this journey when my stepdad, Frank, handed away simply weeks earlier than our departure. Laughing via tears, our group of 5 talked about how a lot Frank would have cherished this, from the normal music to the scent of peat hearth filling the traditional rooms. After the ultimate tune, we adopted the group into the darkened streets of Athlone…