My night's digs and morning's pickup spot was the Abraham House Hostel, a nice place; however, its location on car-busy Lower Gardiner Street - combined with snorers and garrulous Europeans whose chattiness continues even when they came in at 2 a.m. - tossed and turned me through a sleepless night.

Bleary-eyed and waiting for 9:45 a.m. - the shuttle's ETA, exclusive of Irish time - I sat on the Abraham's front steps to wait. By 9:59, my lack of sleep, combined with my not-at-all-secret dislike of Dublin, had broken down my rationality. Irrational concerns mutated into (with credit to Orwell) my personal Room 101. Panic was setting in; every passing van- or bus-seeming vehicle encountered more scrutiny than the same would while crossing the Mexican border into the U.S. I pondered stopping traffic; I pictured railroading the hostel staff for information on Celtic Connection; I shivered as chilling images of another day and night's festering in Dublin trickled like ice-cold water down my brain.

Then at ten a blue van - the words Celtic Connection on the side - pulled up across the street. My breathing and heart-rate slowed; I sighed, closed my eyes, and felt the color return to my face as my thoughts warmed. Not much later, Dublin city centre was as out of mind as it was out of sight. Though I could not yet see Edinburgh, all my thoughts were of this city, my second home, fueling a constant grin that conflagrated the spark in my eyes.

Ireland has had its moments, but for me Edinburgh's moments - of brilliance, of fun, of happiness - begin at my arrival, and follow through my departure. This is a city where I belong; this is a city where I have met, befriended and come to love some of the finest and most important people in my life.

Travelers come to understand that such a place as this - a somewhere whose air is somehow the same as his or her blood - is rare. Some such havens one may never return to, some a traveler will make his or her new home; I will be in Edinburgh until September 20, and when I leave will be grateful and glad that, along with a four-month student exchange and a six-month work visa, I will have lived a year in my haven Edinburgh.

Yet this is a travelogue about Ireland; despite my glee - from Belfast, a two-and-a-half-hour ferry ride has landed us in Troon, near Glasgow - Ireland is what I should speak of, so I give this touch of observation and advice:

Over the past 5-10 years, Ireland has changed immeasurably ("improved" is too subjective, and perhaps considers economics too weightily). The cities have money, and the countryside and rural areas no longer exist as worlds all their own. Ireland's carefreeness - that refusal to take life too seriously - has not been done in by a better economy, but in the cities has been weakened by a commercialization that grows like bacteria, leaving infestations of cheapness and bustle. A greater cultural and economic connection has not cut off the countryside's heart, but I cannot say that loss of isolation has infused rural heart into urban life.

Outside the cities there is still refuge, for relaxation, for recreation, for those who refuse, if only for a while, to take life too seriously. I have said before - as have many writers before me - that Ireland seems to be the border of this world and another, that they intermingle before eyes and minds. I am a writer, and full of fancy (not to mention, sometimes, a bit too much Guinness), but on this I still say I err on the side of truth. The cities have much to offer, but I contend that the countryside has more.

These are but fractions of my meager views. Ireland has changed but, as with all change, which is for better and which is for worse is up to anyone else who ventures in and observes for his or her own self. As for my observations - rising high over the city, on top of a volcanic crag, Edinburgh Castle - they are done.

My attentions now shift to Edinburgh - but keep checking these pages: I'll be back, once the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is underway.

If you'll excuse me, the bus is stopping to let me out in Haymarket. I am staying with friends who live nearby, and with Ireland far behind me, I have two months in Edinburgh to look forward to, and mates to catch up with.