Opinion: Travel across the pond teaches life lessons

If this were a postcard, it would say, "Greetings from the Emerald Isle."

My wife, Meghann, and I recently returned from the trip of a lifetime: a week in Ireland. While the excursion was purely for enjoyment, I found that I learned some lessons applicable to numerous aspects of life and business. And what kind of reporter would I be if I withheld information?

Here's what I learned.

The recession is global.

During our stay, the news stations echoed some of the same sentiments American news has been saying for months: Banks have been hit hard by the recession.

Royal Bank of Scotland posted a loss of more than 1 billion pounds (roughly $1.7 billion) for the first six months of the year, blaming bad-debt write-offs, while Lloyd's Banking Group's first-half losses were blamed on its purchase of The Bank of Scotland. The latter sounds eerily familiar to Bank of America's $50 billion purchase of Merrill Lynch, which a Wall Street Journal blog called "the deal from hell."

So at least America is not alone in its troubled banking sector - not that that's much consolation.

Our transportation system is underappreciated.

We went the brave route and rented a vehicle, and while the driving itself was not bad - a little hair-raising at times, but not bad - it made me realize how lucky we are to have our highway system.

Apart from the Irish motorways - roughly equivalent to the U.S. interstate system - nearly all roads outside of the major cities are two-lane affairs. Most are in desperate need of repair, and most roads have no shoulders.

Road signs are basically a pipe dream. We got lost more than once because we couldn't tell if we were still on the proper road, and every time I pulled off the road to turn around, I yearned for a big green sign pointing to the nearest state route or gas station.

Gratitude toward transportation leaders extends to the air as well. Having flown through five airports along the journey - Springfield, Chicago, Dublin, and London and Manchester, England - I was amazed at the disorganization of some of the larger airports. It seems that as facilities needed to grow, additional gates and terminals were tacked on wherever they could be added.

It makes me glad that Springfield-Branson National Airport officials, despite the expense and confusion that comes with a new terminal, built the new facility with an eye toward future needs.

America is still a baby.

Seeing all the history in Ireland really put into perspective that, as nations go, America is still the new kid on the block.

We stayed very close to Bunratty Castle, just a few miles - er, kilometers - from Limerick and Shannon. The castle, in its current form, was completed around 1425 - roughly 70 years before Columbus discovered the New World.

We toured the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, where the iconic Irish stout has been manufactured since 1759. The company is celebrating the 250th anniversary of when founder Arthur Guinness purchased the facilities in Dublin - 17 years before the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

The world is shrinking.

Our Dublin tour bus offered prerecorded commentary about the city, and nine languages were available. From what I could tell, it sounded like all nine were in use.

Europe always has been the most international of the continents, but travel and technology have shrunk the globe significantly in recent years.

I worried that we would be given the "ugly American" treatment, but my fears were quickly alleviated. There were so many visitors from so many different lands that shops, restaurants and other businesses didn't care about my accent.

This treatment made me realize the biggest and last lesson:

People are inherently the same.

Regardless of what dialect you speak or what nation you call home, there are certain truths about dealing with people, and the most important is that if you are polite and gracious, they usually will bend over backward to help you.

There may be many barriers between countries and people - politics, culture and language, to be sure - but anyone looking to make inroads around the world would do well to remember the universal language: kindness. Call it the Golden Rule, common decency or whatever you like. It works.

Sláinte to you all.

[[In-content Ad]]Springfield Business Journal Online Editor Jeremy Elwood can be reached at jelwood@sbj.net.