My Adventures Through the British Isles

Trinity College - Dublin, Ireland

Greetings one and all!

It has been some months since I last posted. Much has transpired.

I took a long planned trip to the British Isles! I was gone for 15 days with my mother, a friend, and her mother. In that span of time I journeyed through England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The most surprising thing about the trip? My feet often felt frozen and looked paler than the rainy skies we encountered.

During the trip despite the consequences of extreme exhaustion my friend and I beat the odds of nonexistent wifi in a foreign country and managed to watch 2 movies: Far and Away and The Worlds End.

I heard John Farmer's song, "The Voice," on bagpipes.

We started our trip in England. We saw Big Ben, the London Eye, Parliament, the Globe Theatre, and many other trademark sights of London.

We saw Richard II performed in the Globe Theatre, it was fantastic! I loved it. As a nice addition we toured the Globe Theatre and got to sit in and watch them rehearsing for opening night which is when we attended.

We took an extra tour to Stonehenge. It took much longer than we wanted to. I will always look at pictures of Stonehenge with a tinges of mingled exasperation and fondness. Mostly exasperation. :)

The day we arrived in London the Tube (subway) workers were on strike for the day so the millions of people usually underground were up and about on the streets. Traffic was an ordeal, especially for 4 people with jet lag. The first day found us discouraged and disillusioned. However, London, despite the pain it gave us has become my favorite city. I love how it works and moves, once you can read the chaos, it's very simple to get around in. The Tube is incredibly efficient (if it's not off-line from a strike or undergoing repairs).

To my disappointment I encountered nothing Doctor Who. The entire trip we encountered sparse merchandise in a couple shops, and once I saw a Dalek in a wall mural.

We did visit Platform 9 3/4 and 221b Baker Street.

After London we also visited Stratford-Upon-Avon. Shakespeare's birthplace. It's a beautiful spot.

In Scotland we were treated to some lovely Highland Bagpipe music; I tried Haggis (actually quite tasty, do not ask what's in it); and we toured the Highlands which are very beautiful. The mountains are almost always buried in fog.

Throughout the trip I sampled wine, whisky, and of course... beer. We visited a couple of different breweries.

The highlight of Scotland was visiting Edinburgh (pronounced Ed-in-burrow) and getting to tour Edinburgh Castle. Nerdy Fact: The Red Wedding in season 3 of Game of Thrones is based on a real feast that took place in Edinburgh Castle.

Edinburgh Castle

Cool Swords!

The moral is: If the world is ending all around you make sure you grab your beer on the way down!

Cliffs of Moher

In Ireland we went to Titanic Belfast. A museum dedicated to the infamous ship. There was a clear floor that you could stand on and see the ocean floor moving over the remains of the ship.

We were treated to Irish music. My favorite night was in the Old Jameson Distillery. We had the most incredible group of musicians and divine food.

Another highlight of the trip was the Cliff of Moher. Gorgeous and vast. It's impossible to capture their enormity in a picture. They rise from 400-700 feet high. Let me tell you the ride to reach them in a massive tour bus can make you a little edgy.

100% Accurate Summary of Ireland's Weather

Something we could always look forward to was our hotel room. You could never predict what you would end up with. All of our hotels were wonderful. But some had little quirks that made showering an adventure or finding an outlet to charge your phone an ordeal. Every shower was different... And sometimes the outlets wouldn't match any of your converters. That feeling you get as your phone's battery drops at ever increasing speeds... But we lived! The lowest my phone's battery descended to was 5%.

This post is a very broad summary of all 15 days and I didn't touch on half of all we did. However I hope it gave you a little taste of the British Isles!

We booked our tour with CIE Tours. We chose the British and Irish Voyager. I fully recommend them.
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As a little aside, today is my blog and Facebook page's anniversary! Here's to 2 years! Thank you for your support!