Well, my friends and I finished up our time in the countryside by spending one last night in the medival city of Kilkenny. We arrived in Kilkenny just in time to tour the castle which is right in the middle of town, before it closed. We then were off to find our hostel and head out in search of food. We had a great dinner in an Irish Pub and enjoyed the atmosphere. Once done, we wandered around, taking in the city and enjoying the ambiance. It was a beautiful city, built long ago with old buildings set next to a river with a few major bridges crossing over. We also found this great old fashioned candy shop that looks like the candy shop in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
The following day, it was onto some small towns for another coastal and scenic drive. We have seen more rolling hills just covered in green grass and trees here than I think I ever have. I was driving us down several small back country roads, so we have also enjoyed many small towns and cities that we would not have had the opportunity to see if we were taking public transportation. We first stopped in this little tiny town called Glendalough, where there is an old monastery that was once a city in ruins. Monastic priests lived there fore several hundred years before it was destroyed and conquered. Unfortunately, we arrived there about the same time as a tour bus so it was not as quiet and sureal as we would have hoped, but it was breath taking. The old city ruins are set back against a back drop of green hills and trees and it is very secluded. There are some old buildings, churches, and several gravestones in the city.
After that, we were on our way to Powerscourt, a huge estate with these beautiful gardens. The house is not open other than the shops, but the gardens are really what make it worth it. We had lunch in the cafe with a gorgeous view of the Wiklow Mountains, greenery, and trees. It was amazing! We then walked around the gardens enjoying the birds singing and the quiet setting before grabbing dessert and heading off to Dublin.
I drove us into Dublin safely and am happy to say that my driving days are over here. We are walking around by foot. Driving was an adventure as usual. We did it all by maps, the old fashioned way. Tina was navigator using the maps and we were able to get around. We kept having a slight mix up though as she would say Right when she really meant Left or the other way around. Driving on the opposite side of the road really screwed with her Left and Right, so Jessica would interpret for us. We ended up on the wrong roads at times, sometimes these little one lane roads where I was having to back up or the other car was to be able to pass, but it ended up well and there were no major problems. More than once, I ended up circling a traffic circle several times while my navigators figured out which way to go. Other cars were looking at us like we were crazy, but it worked and we were on our way!
Yesterday, we arrived in Dublin, which has been in stark contrast to anything else we have seen in Ireland. It is a big bustling city with tons of people, traffic and cars. There is no where else here that we have seen that even compares to what it is like here. As it is summer, the sun shines until 10pm at night and people are out walking around at all hours. We headed out and walked around to get a feel for the city and enjoyed some time relaxing in one of the beautiful parks.
Today, we have been on the go all day. First stop was Trinity College where we did a walking tour to get some history of the city before going to see the Book of Kells, which is housed there. This is one of the oldest manuscripts in Ireland related to Christianity as it is the 4 gospels. Next stop was St. Patricks Cathedral, which is a very impressive church. There has been a church on this site since sometime in the 12th or 13th century. The church itself if beautiful, a very old building and still used to this day for services. Our final stop of the day was the Guiness Storehouse where we did a tour of how they make the beer and brew it. It has been at this sit for going on 250 years and supposedly when it was originally started, a 9,000 year leased was signed which is on display. After the tour, we headed to the very top (7th) floor of the building where you can see our over all of Dublin as far as the eye can see all around. It is a circle room encased in glass so you can see everything. There is a bar up there and everyone who does the tour gets a free pint, so we all did our best to finish ours. Let me just say, I have no idea why people like this stuff as it was aweful! I have tried and am just not a fan of beer.
Tonight, we are heading out to enjoy our last night together before I head off for the next two weeks and my friends head home on Friday. I leave tomorrow at 5pm and need to leave for the airport around 2pm. So tomorrow morning we are going to head over to see one of the old jails here that tells a lot of the history of the city. It sounded interesting and was recommended to us by this family we met today. It has been tons of fun so far and we all realize how blessed we are to have the opportunity to travel as we do. Many other people our age do not have nor do they take these opportunities. We have been truly blessed.
I realized the other day that by the end of this trip, I will have visited a total of 29 countries in my short little life. I am currently 29 years old. I told my friends that I think my goal is going to try and continue to have visited as many countries as my age. My friend pointed out to me that as I am turning 30 in a few months, I will need to visit another country before my next birthday. I realize that and am working on planning my next trip already! I gotta have something to look forward to, right?
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
A Bit O' the Irish Countryside
After finishing up our time in England, it was off to our next part of the trip in Ireland. We began by arriving in Shannon, Ireland, which is on the west side of Ireland late on Thursday night. We grabbed a taxi to our hostel for the night, which was actually a Bed and Breakfast. It is owned by a couple in their 60's or so who have been running it for the past 20 years. It was like staying in their home and we had an amazing home cooked breakfast in the morning before the husband drove up back to the airport to pick up our rental car so that we could be off.
We have been on the go non-stop for the past several days. We explored the Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry, Dingle Penninsula, several small towns and cities along the way and also numerous castles. They have all been amazing to see. The Cliffs were covered in green grass and wildflowers with straight drops down in the ocean. There were beautiful views looking out into the spectacular ocean. The Ring of Kerry and Dingle Penninsula were both beautiful as well. Lots of lush, green grass and many wildflowers. There were also several sheep along the way just hanging out all over. The country side here looks like a patchwork quilt of green with sheep dotting the landscape. All of the parcels of land are separated by green bushes and tall trees. We went through several small towns along the Ring of Kerry and Dingle Penninsula as well. The towns were very cute with several different colored buildings that look straight out of a movie set. There are Pubs all over the place as well and people out walking around at all hours of the night. We stopped at a beach to take pictures on the Dingle Penninsula and while there, took off our flip flops. The wind was so strong that we ended up chasing them down the beach trying to stop them from blowing away. Always a fun time!
We stayed in Kilarney for 2 nights and as we were out walking around that night, there was traditional Irish music playing, people walking all over down town, and brightly colored buildings that look like they are over a hundred years old. My friend Tina said that she really felt like we were in Ireland at this point.
We have seen several old ruins as well. There are old remnants of churches, buildings, and other structures that are all over the country. Some are well preserved and others are crumbling to the ground with only a glimmer of their former glory as several of the buildings are crumbling. This has been great to see as I love this type of stuff.
Now, for those of you out there who consistently ask if I kissed anyone whenever I come back from a trip (and those of you know who you are), I can happily tell you that I kissed a something (although it may not be a someone). We went to the Blarney Castle and all of us took our turn kissing the Blarney Stone, along with every other tourist who goes there, so I don't even want to think about what germs are hanging out on the stone that I kissed. Supposedly now we should all have th gift of eloquence and gab. We also walked backward up and down a stair case with our eyes closed, which has Druidic Roots and if you do that, the witch is supposed to make your wishes come true. Not that any of us believe that, but we figured it would be fun to try this...and none of us fell!
Today, we took a scenic drive along a coastal route through a bunch of small beachside towns before arriving in Waterford where we took the factory tour. That was facinating to see them acutally blowing the glass and making the crystal. It is quite the process and beautiful to see.
Driving seems to be going better here as it is slightly easier than the first time was in England. We have had no incidents where we nearly plunge off of cliffs as happened in St. Thomas, so that's been a good thing. More than once we have gotten lost, had to turn around, or managed to be on the wrong road. However, we have managed to nagivate the country without a GPS and get everywhere without any major mishaps. That's been quite the miralce as well! Between the 3 of us, we have managed to get around everywhere.
Food has been delicious. We have been enjoying lots of Irish food and ice cream every night. None of us eat like this at home, so it has been a treat. We stopped this morning at a Farmer's Market type place in Cork before leaving where we grabbed some apples, a homemade bread with sundried tomatoes, super yuumy Irish Chedder Cheese, smoothies, and Danishes. We had our breakfast and lunch for the day there and boy was it yummy! Tomorrow is our last day of driving before we are dumping the car and heading into Dublin to finish up.
We have been on the go non-stop for the past several days. We explored the Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry, Dingle Penninsula, several small towns and cities along the way and also numerous castles. They have all been amazing to see. The Cliffs were covered in green grass and wildflowers with straight drops down in the ocean. There were beautiful views looking out into the spectacular ocean. The Ring of Kerry and Dingle Penninsula were both beautiful as well. Lots of lush, green grass and many wildflowers. There were also several sheep along the way just hanging out all over. The country side here looks like a patchwork quilt of green with sheep dotting the landscape. All of the parcels of land are separated by green bushes and tall trees. We went through several small towns along the Ring of Kerry and Dingle Penninsula as well. The towns were very cute with several different colored buildings that look straight out of a movie set. There are Pubs all over the place as well and people out walking around at all hours of the night. We stopped at a beach to take pictures on the Dingle Penninsula and while there, took off our flip flops. The wind was so strong that we ended up chasing them down the beach trying to stop them from blowing away. Always a fun time!
We stayed in Kilarney for 2 nights and as we were out walking around that night, there was traditional Irish music playing, people walking all over down town, and brightly colored buildings that look like they are over a hundred years old. My friend Tina said that she really felt like we were in Ireland at this point.
We have seen several old ruins as well. There are old remnants of churches, buildings, and other structures that are all over the country. Some are well preserved and others are crumbling to the ground with only a glimmer of their former glory as several of the buildings are crumbling. This has been great to see as I love this type of stuff.
Now, for those of you out there who consistently ask if I kissed anyone whenever I come back from a trip (and those of you know who you are), I can happily tell you that I kissed a something (although it may not be a someone). We went to the Blarney Castle and all of us took our turn kissing the Blarney Stone, along with every other tourist who goes there, so I don't even want to think about what germs are hanging out on the stone that I kissed. Supposedly now we should all have th gift of eloquence and gab. We also walked backward up and down a stair case with our eyes closed, which has Druidic Roots and if you do that, the witch is supposed to make your wishes come true. Not that any of us believe that, but we figured it would be fun to try this...and none of us fell!
Today, we took a scenic drive along a coastal route through a bunch of small beachside towns before arriving in Waterford where we took the factory tour. That was facinating to see them acutally blowing the glass and making the crystal. It is quite the process and beautiful to see.
Driving seems to be going better here as it is slightly easier than the first time was in England. We have had no incidents where we nearly plunge off of cliffs as happened in St. Thomas, so that's been a good thing. More than once we have gotten lost, had to turn around, or managed to be on the wrong road. However, we have managed to nagivate the country without a GPS and get everywhere without any major mishaps. That's been quite the miralce as well! Between the 3 of us, we have managed to get around everywhere.
Food has been delicious. We have been enjoying lots of Irish food and ice cream every night. None of us eat like this at home, so it has been a treat. We stopped this morning at a Farmer's Market type place in Cork before leaving where we grabbed some apples, a homemade bread with sundried tomatoes, super yuumy Irish Chedder Cheese, smoothies, and Danishes. We had our breakfast and lunch for the day there and boy was it yummy! Tomorrow is our last day of driving before we are dumping the car and heading into Dublin to finish up.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
London!
After our time in the English countryside, we headed into London for 3 glorious days! We had amazing weather the entire time and it was perfect for walking around and exploring the city. I was very excited to be back there as I absolutely LOVE London. If I could live in a big city anywhere else in the world, it would be there without a doubt. There is just something about it, it's so alive with energy and people walking at all hours of the day. There are so many things to do culturally and to see. I also am a big fan of the fact that you can walk everywhere, take the Tube, or take the bus. There is no need to drive at all. Plus one can see a play any night of the week. This was the third time that I was in London, and it was still fabulous and I am sure that I will be back there again some day.
We started off our first day there with heading over to Tower of London for the morning, Tower Bridge, and then finished the afternoon by doing Westminster Abby. We were at Tower of London first thing in the mornign so we beat several of the tourists getting there, which made it nice to see. It is a very old fort type castle set right on the river. The afternoon we wandered around Westminster Abby, seeing everything and enjoying. We then parked ourselves outside on the grassy area where we grabbed a 20 minutes rest/nap before we were off again.
Our second day we got up first thing in the morning to do the new Harry Potter studio tour about 20 minutes outside of London. It opened up a couple of months ago and the entire studio where most of the movies were filmed was turned into a tour. We were able to see several of the sets, get a look into the movie making process, and have some fun pictures taken flying on brooms. We also enjoyed some butter beer while there! After our tour, back to London we went and did the London Eye, which is basically this large ferris wheel type thing that takes you extremelly high up in these enclosed glass cylinders. When at the top, there are breath taking views looking out over all of London in all directions. That I had not done before, so it was very enjoyable.
Our third and final day, we saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and were a bit confused cause toward the end of the ceremony, they starting playing New York New York. It seemed very out of place. Once that was done, we were off to Harrod's to explore how the other half lives and spends their money. We walked through the huge department store for a couple of hours, in awe of how expensive everything was. We finished up our day with a picnic lunch in Hyde Park, a quick nap, and then off to finish up some souvenier shopping before catching our night flight to Shannon, Ireland.
We had an amazing time in London. There was this yummy Italian place we found that was unbelievable and had the freshest gnocchi I have ever had. We also had lots of gelatto while we were there. One night it was even our dinner instead of real food. It counts, right? We are on vacation. Although, the next day was when we had butter beer and a danish for lunch/snack so we decided after not having real food for 24 hours, it was time for some actual food for dinner by the next night. We figured all the walking we were doing around London was probably a good thing.
We also saw Chicago and this other play while we were there, 39 Steps, at the recommendation of our hostel. It was hilarious! We wished we could have stayed longer to see more plays and musicals, but there just wasn't time. I love the fact that you can see so many plays and musicals there all the time.
We had 3 Australians as our roommates at this hostel and they are all traveling for several months. I realize that I am blessed to be able to travel for a month, still receive a pay check, and come back and have a job waiting for me, but hearing that they will be gone for months, makes me itch to be gone again for longer than a month. I would love to have that type of opportunity again. One day...I figure when I retire or if I am every in between jobs, off I'll go!
We started off our first day there with heading over to Tower of London for the morning, Tower Bridge, and then finished the afternoon by doing Westminster Abby. We were at Tower of London first thing in the mornign so we beat several of the tourists getting there, which made it nice to see. It is a very old fort type castle set right on the river. The afternoon we wandered around Westminster Abby, seeing everything and enjoying. We then parked ourselves outside on the grassy area where we grabbed a 20 minutes rest/nap before we were off again.
Our second day we got up first thing in the morning to do the new Harry Potter studio tour about 20 minutes outside of London. It opened up a couple of months ago and the entire studio where most of the movies were filmed was turned into a tour. We were able to see several of the sets, get a look into the movie making process, and have some fun pictures taken flying on brooms. We also enjoyed some butter beer while there! After our tour, back to London we went and did the London Eye, which is basically this large ferris wheel type thing that takes you extremelly high up in these enclosed glass cylinders. When at the top, there are breath taking views looking out over all of London in all directions. That I had not done before, so it was very enjoyable.
Our third and final day, we saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and were a bit confused cause toward the end of the ceremony, they starting playing New York New York. It seemed very out of place. Once that was done, we were off to Harrod's to explore how the other half lives and spends their money. We walked through the huge department store for a couple of hours, in awe of how expensive everything was. We finished up our day with a picnic lunch in Hyde Park, a quick nap, and then off to finish up some souvenier shopping before catching our night flight to Shannon, Ireland.
We had an amazing time in London. There was this yummy Italian place we found that was unbelievable and had the freshest gnocchi I have ever had. We also had lots of gelatto while we were there. One night it was even our dinner instead of real food. It counts, right? We are on vacation. Although, the next day was when we had butter beer and a danish for lunch/snack so we decided after not having real food for 24 hours, it was time for some actual food for dinner by the next night. We figured all the walking we were doing around London was probably a good thing.
We also saw Chicago and this other play while we were there, 39 Steps, at the recommendation of our hostel. It was hilarious! We wished we could have stayed longer to see more plays and musicals, but there just wasn't time. I love the fact that you can see so many plays and musicals there all the time.
We had 3 Australians as our roommates at this hostel and they are all traveling for several months. I realize that I am blessed to be able to travel for a month, still receive a pay check, and come back and have a job waiting for me, but hearing that they will be gone for months, makes me itch to be gone again for longer than a month. I would love to have that type of opportunity again. One day...I figure when I retire or if I am every in between jobs, off I'll go!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
A Bit of the English Countryside
Well my friend's and mine first stop on the trip was off to Oxford. After we finally got our car and got out of Heathrow, we headed off toward Oxford. We arrived there just in time to throw our stuff in the hostel and we were off to walk around town for a night tour. It was after 10pm and tons of people were out strolling and biking. The city is an old beautiful town with Oxford University spread out all over. We walked around just taking in the sites and attempting to find something to eat and somewhere to sit for a bit as we were very jet lagged.
The next day, we stopped in town to walk around again so my friends could see it in the daylight hours then we were off to the Cotswold region of England. The Cotswold is a region of approximately 50 x 100 miles in England that was all sheep farming country. It is dotted with a bunch of small, quant little towns all over. Since we had our own car, we were able to enjoy some of the beautiful country. The area is just covered in rolling fields of green with several areas of sheep all over the place. My friends were laughing at me cause I thought it was the neatest thing to be able to see sheep roaming around. There were these huge fields of golden flowers all over as well. We think that they must have been growing these and havesting them for something, but they were absolutely stunning. We pulled over at one point on the side of the road, carefully crawled under a barbed wire fence and hopped over into the field to take some pictures. The plants with the gorgeous yellow flowers came up to our shoulders, give or take so it truly felt like we were in the middle of flower fields.
We found the town in the Cotswold we were staying in for the night and headed over to the tourist office where the very nice gentleman who runs it helped us map out a route for the day. We saw a bunch of towns, all of them small little towns that had an old feel to them. It felt almost if you were stepping back into time to the 1700's or so with the exception of cars and electricity being present. We enjoyed lunch at a small cafe in one of the towns and strolled down the main street in several of the towns as well. The houses were very cute, with gardens and flowers galore. We stopped for a little ice cream as well even though it was freezing. We were driving around this region all day just taking in the sites everywhere. My favorite town was this little town called Bilbury that has really not much more than some houses and a trout farm, but it is so cute. There is this row of houses there that are the oldest row houses in England and also one of the most photographed sites in the country. The exterior looks straight out of the 1500-1600's or so. The thing that gets me is people still live in those houses today and supposedly they cost a fortune. You look that them have it is exactly what you think of when you hear English Countryside. We also saw several structures in towns in this region with thached roof houses. These again are not something we see in the United States, but they reminded me almost of being on a movie set the way they were constructed.
We attempted to see all of the cities that were recommended to us, but as luck would have it, we were unsuccessful at locating the town of Staton in the Cotswold. We asked directions and tried to follow the signs, but for whatever reason and after 3 seperate attempts, we gave up and called it a day. However in the process of trying to find that town, we ended up seeing the town of Broadway, 3 different times as we kept ending up in the same place. Between three of us in the car and three different maps, you would think we could figure it out.
It truly is a side of England that many people often likely do not see when they come here. It feels the complete opposite of London, with it's busy city life. This area of England is all country and farming area. There are still sheep grazing and roaming, and other farm animals as well cruising around. It has the feel of a much more calm and peaceful pace of life. It seems serene and during the night when we were there, after toursists had left for the day, the town was quiet and there were very few people out other than a few locals.
On Monday, we got up and headed out the door early for Stonehenge and Avebury. We arrived at Stonehenge where we proceeded to walk around the entire circle taking in the site. It is really impressive to see as they are massive boulders that you look at and wonder how they managed to get those in that shape and location back where there were no modern day machines as there are today to move them. Very impressive. The stones are set in the middle of a large open field surrounded by green grass on all sides and on a slight small hill. Next we were off to Avebury, which is another ancient site such as Stonehenge, but this one is much larger and you can walk up near the rocks. In Avebury, the stones circle is very large with a small town built around and in the circle. They were saying it is likely the only place where you can find a pub and a church within ruins like that today. They are not sure what the exact origins are of either or why they are there, although there are some theories. Both were very impressive to see. While in Avebury, we headed into the town church where the woman who was fixing up the altar covering (which was over 100 years old) proceeded to ask us our opinion on the fabric color that we thought went best with it. We stood there chatting with her for a good 10 minutes or so about this. Little things like this are what makes my trips as I really enjoy these types of discussions and conversations.
Next we headed back to Heathrow to drop off the rental and head into London. Driving over here has not been terrible, but it has been an experience. There are virtually no lights and everything is done by roundabouts instead, which I am not used to as we don't use those nearly that often in the US. Luckily, my friends were able to help me look at signs and figure it out. More than once, we were going the wrong way, ended up on the wrong street (not on the wrong side of the street though), or ended up on the wrong highway. I was able to drive stick with my L hand better than I was anticipating and I only hit the curb 2x, which I didn't think was too terrible considering I was driving stick with my L hand, on the opposite side of the road sitting on the opposite side of the car. The hard part came when we had to fill the gas tank. We had a practically brand new Fiat. I got out to fill up the tank and couldn't get off the gas cap. It just spun round and round and would not come off. After messing with it for a good 5 minutes, I had my friend Jessica get out to try it and Tina look in the owners manual to try and figure it out. Seriously, we are all educated and intelligent people and we can't figure out how to take a gas cap off? Finally, we figured out that you have to use your car key to insert in the middle of the gas cap to unlock the stupid thing before it will come off! What a pain. 10 minutes later and three people later we finally figured that out! We then dropped the car off at Heathrow and into London we went.
The next day, we stopped in town to walk around again so my friends could see it in the daylight hours then we were off to the Cotswold region of England. The Cotswold is a region of approximately 50 x 100 miles in England that was all sheep farming country. It is dotted with a bunch of small, quant little towns all over. Since we had our own car, we were able to enjoy some of the beautiful country. The area is just covered in rolling fields of green with several areas of sheep all over the place. My friends were laughing at me cause I thought it was the neatest thing to be able to see sheep roaming around. There were these huge fields of golden flowers all over as well. We think that they must have been growing these and havesting them for something, but they were absolutely stunning. We pulled over at one point on the side of the road, carefully crawled under a barbed wire fence and hopped over into the field to take some pictures. The plants with the gorgeous yellow flowers came up to our shoulders, give or take so it truly felt like we were in the middle of flower fields.
We found the town in the Cotswold we were staying in for the night and headed over to the tourist office where the very nice gentleman who runs it helped us map out a route for the day. We saw a bunch of towns, all of them small little towns that had an old feel to them. It felt almost if you were stepping back into time to the 1700's or so with the exception of cars and electricity being present. We enjoyed lunch at a small cafe in one of the towns and strolled down the main street in several of the towns as well. The houses were very cute, with gardens and flowers galore. We stopped for a little ice cream as well even though it was freezing. We were driving around this region all day just taking in the sites everywhere. My favorite town was this little town called Bilbury that has really not much more than some houses and a trout farm, but it is so cute. There is this row of houses there that are the oldest row houses in England and also one of the most photographed sites in the country. The exterior looks straight out of the 1500-1600's or so. The thing that gets me is people still live in those houses today and supposedly they cost a fortune. You look that them have it is exactly what you think of when you hear English Countryside. We also saw several structures in towns in this region with thached roof houses. These again are not something we see in the United States, but they reminded me almost of being on a movie set the way they were constructed.
We attempted to see all of the cities that were recommended to us, but as luck would have it, we were unsuccessful at locating the town of Staton in the Cotswold. We asked directions and tried to follow the signs, but for whatever reason and after 3 seperate attempts, we gave up and called it a day. However in the process of trying to find that town, we ended up seeing the town of Broadway, 3 different times as we kept ending up in the same place. Between three of us in the car and three different maps, you would think we could figure it out.
It truly is a side of England that many people often likely do not see when they come here. It feels the complete opposite of London, with it's busy city life. This area of England is all country and farming area. There are still sheep grazing and roaming, and other farm animals as well cruising around. It has the feel of a much more calm and peaceful pace of life. It seems serene and during the night when we were there, after toursists had left for the day, the town was quiet and there were very few people out other than a few locals.
On Monday, we got up and headed out the door early for Stonehenge and Avebury. We arrived at Stonehenge where we proceeded to walk around the entire circle taking in the site. It is really impressive to see as they are massive boulders that you look at and wonder how they managed to get those in that shape and location back where there were no modern day machines as there are today to move them. Very impressive. The stones are set in the middle of a large open field surrounded by green grass on all sides and on a slight small hill. Next we were off to Avebury, which is another ancient site such as Stonehenge, but this one is much larger and you can walk up near the rocks. In Avebury, the stones circle is very large with a small town built around and in the circle. They were saying it is likely the only place where you can find a pub and a church within ruins like that today. They are not sure what the exact origins are of either or why they are there, although there are some theories. Both were very impressive to see. While in Avebury, we headed into the town church where the woman who was fixing up the altar covering (which was over 100 years old) proceeded to ask us our opinion on the fabric color that we thought went best with it. We stood there chatting with her for a good 10 minutes or so about this. Little things like this are what makes my trips as I really enjoy these types of discussions and conversations.
Next we headed back to Heathrow to drop off the rental and head into London. Driving over here has not been terrible, but it has been an experience. There are virtually no lights and everything is done by roundabouts instead, which I am not used to as we don't use those nearly that often in the US. Luckily, my friends were able to help me look at signs and figure it out. More than once, we were going the wrong way, ended up on the wrong street (not on the wrong side of the street though), or ended up on the wrong highway. I was able to drive stick with my L hand better than I was anticipating and I only hit the curb 2x, which I didn't think was too terrible considering I was driving stick with my L hand, on the opposite side of the road sitting on the opposite side of the car. The hard part came when we had to fill the gas tank. We had a practically brand new Fiat. I got out to fill up the tank and couldn't get off the gas cap. It just spun round and round and would not come off. After messing with it for a good 5 minutes, I had my friend Jessica get out to try it and Tina look in the owners manual to try and figure it out. Seriously, we are all educated and intelligent people and we can't figure out how to take a gas cap off? Finally, we figured out that you have to use your car key to insert in the middle of the gas cap to unlock the stupid thing before it will come off! What a pain. 10 minutes later and three people later we finally figured that out! We then dropped the car off at Heathrow and into London we went.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Off to an interesting start
Well we took off for Europe on Friday, May 18th. The day started kind of crazy as all of us were up until 1am the night before take off packing and taking care of last minute things. Then we all worked full days before leaving straight for the airport.
My friend Jessica met me at my house where my roomie Molly was driving us up to meet our other friend, Tina. As we are heading out the door, I was telling Molly my awesome story of forgetting my Driver's License the frist time I went to Las Vegas with some friends. We got an hour into the drive, in the middle of Riverside, and had to turn around and go back for my ID. Not my finest moment. I made sure that I had my passport this time before I left for the airport. We get about 3 minutes from the house when someone mentions something about an ID. I fumbled through my stuff, realizing I had completely forgot my license, so we turned around and I proceed to race up my stairs to grab this. Sure enough, it's sitting safely in my wallet, right where I left it. That could have potentially been a disaster since I am the one driving over here and without a license, can't do that. Once that was resolved, we were on our way.
I was on a seperate flight from my friend, Tina and Jessica, so the plan was to meet at the Budget Rental Car location in Terminal 3 in Heathrow. It's a massive airport so we figured that would be the easiest. I was scheduled to arrive about 30 minutes before them so I told them I'd head to their terminal, which was 3 and wait for them.
In flight, I meet these two women who live in Santa Barbara, so we started chatting about that. We took off out of the plane together and headed for Customs. We're waiting in line and as were chatting decide to snap a picture together. Apparently, this is not allowed in Customs....I've done this in other countries and it wasn't a problem, but here, not so much. The Customs woman came over and was not happy with us, having us delete the pictures. She also wanted to see what else was on my camera before that. There wasn't anything as I had just cleared my camera before leaving and I told her that, but she didn't seem to believe me and was getting a bit more frustrated with me and telling to go back. I told her the same thing as nicely as possible as I did not want to spend the next 2 hours being interogated by Customs. Great way to enter the country by being yelled at while in line to enter. Finally she left us alone. Next it was on to get me passport stamped. The woman was very nice, but kept asking bunches of questions. Once through Customs, we grabbed our stuff, said our goodbyes, wished each other trips, and I was on my way to meet my friends.
My flight ended up being delayed upon leaving so I arrived 35 minutes later than planned. I figured that my friends would be there in our designated location because they should have landed at the same time I ended up landing, plus I had to work my way to their Terminal, which in Heathrow is a 15-20minute ordeal. I got there, and nothing. There's no one there. So I sat down and waited. They should have landed around 3:45pm. I was sitting there for a while and around 5:30pm when they were not there, I went to find out if they landed. Sure enough, they had landed at 3:45pm as scheduled. Did we get our wires crossed and was I supposed to meet them somewhere else? I was going off of very little sleep so perhaps I misunderstood. I decided to suck it up and try to call one of them...found out my phone doesn't work over here. So now what? I had that thought that this might be another St. Thomas fiasco where these same friends and I and another friend were meeting up in St. Thomas and flights were delayed, wires were crossed, and we all eventually ended up meeting up like 6 hours later than planned. Luckily this did not end up being the case. Finally I spotted them and I guess they were put in 2 Customs lines as one of my friends is a US citizen and one is a Mexico citizen. My friend Jessica got to go in the "special line" and ended up waiting over an hour longer than Tina to get through. What a pain. At least we found each other and were on our way to pick up the rental car.
We arrive at Avis/Budget and I give the nice lady my name. "Oh, miss, we have that you were supposed to pick it up at 5am this morning." Excuse me? I just looked at my friends and started laughing. This really was not turning out to be my day. We all just laughed and there was nothing that could be done, so instead of getting the type of car we prepaid for, as there were none available, she checked and we ended up with the next size up. That was a good investment for us as it was a small 2 door Fiat with just enough room for 3 of us and our 3 bags. We were wondering what in the world the other size would have been. We got in, I tested out the stick with the L hand while driving on the L side of the road, on the L side of the car. Different, but doable. Needless to say, once all that excitment happened we were on our way to Oxford, our first stop for the trip.
My friend Jessica met me at my house where my roomie Molly was driving us up to meet our other friend, Tina. As we are heading out the door, I was telling Molly my awesome story of forgetting my Driver's License the frist time I went to Las Vegas with some friends. We got an hour into the drive, in the middle of Riverside, and had to turn around and go back for my ID. Not my finest moment. I made sure that I had my passport this time before I left for the airport. We get about 3 minutes from the house when someone mentions something about an ID. I fumbled through my stuff, realizing I had completely forgot my license, so we turned around and I proceed to race up my stairs to grab this. Sure enough, it's sitting safely in my wallet, right where I left it. That could have potentially been a disaster since I am the one driving over here and without a license, can't do that. Once that was resolved, we were on our way.
I was on a seperate flight from my friend, Tina and Jessica, so the plan was to meet at the Budget Rental Car location in Terminal 3 in Heathrow. It's a massive airport so we figured that would be the easiest. I was scheduled to arrive about 30 minutes before them so I told them I'd head to their terminal, which was 3 and wait for them.
In flight, I meet these two women who live in Santa Barbara, so we started chatting about that. We took off out of the plane together and headed for Customs. We're waiting in line and as were chatting decide to snap a picture together. Apparently, this is not allowed in Customs....I've done this in other countries and it wasn't a problem, but here, not so much. The Customs woman came over and was not happy with us, having us delete the pictures. She also wanted to see what else was on my camera before that. There wasn't anything as I had just cleared my camera before leaving and I told her that, but she didn't seem to believe me and was getting a bit more frustrated with me and telling to go back. I told her the same thing as nicely as possible as I did not want to spend the next 2 hours being interogated by Customs. Great way to enter the country by being yelled at while in line to enter. Finally she left us alone. Next it was on to get me passport stamped. The woman was very nice, but kept asking bunches of questions. Once through Customs, we grabbed our stuff, said our goodbyes, wished each other trips, and I was on my way to meet my friends.
My flight ended up being delayed upon leaving so I arrived 35 minutes later than planned. I figured that my friends would be there in our designated location because they should have landed at the same time I ended up landing, plus I had to work my way to their Terminal, which in Heathrow is a 15-20minute ordeal. I got there, and nothing. There's no one there. So I sat down and waited. They should have landed around 3:45pm. I was sitting there for a while and around 5:30pm when they were not there, I went to find out if they landed. Sure enough, they had landed at 3:45pm as scheduled. Did we get our wires crossed and was I supposed to meet them somewhere else? I was going off of very little sleep so perhaps I misunderstood. I decided to suck it up and try to call one of them...found out my phone doesn't work over here. So now what? I had that thought that this might be another St. Thomas fiasco where these same friends and I and another friend were meeting up in St. Thomas and flights were delayed, wires were crossed, and we all eventually ended up meeting up like 6 hours later than planned. Luckily this did not end up being the case. Finally I spotted them and I guess they were put in 2 Customs lines as one of my friends is a US citizen and one is a Mexico citizen. My friend Jessica got to go in the "special line" and ended up waiting over an hour longer than Tina to get through. What a pain. At least we found each other and were on our way to pick up the rental car.
We arrive at Avis/Budget and I give the nice lady my name. "Oh, miss, we have that you were supposed to pick it up at 5am this morning." Excuse me? I just looked at my friends and started laughing. This really was not turning out to be my day. We all just laughed and there was nothing that could be done, so instead of getting the type of car we prepaid for, as there were none available, she checked and we ended up with the next size up. That was a good investment for us as it was a small 2 door Fiat with just enough room for 3 of us and our 3 bags. We were wondering what in the world the other size would have been. We got in, I tested out the stick with the L hand while driving on the L side of the road, on the L side of the car. Different, but doable. Needless to say, once all that excitment happened we were on our way to Oxford, our first stop for the trip.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Less than 24 hours to go!
Well, it is nearly 11:30pm at night and this trip seems to be starting out as all of them do, last minute packing and trying to get things done. I should be in bed sleeping as I plan to be in my office tomorrow between 6-6:30am so I can be out of there by 3pm. In my brilliance, I always work the day that I am trying to leave. Instead of being in bed, I am stuffing things into my backpack, online getting directions, calling my travel buddies last minute to cover last minute details, oh it's tons of fun getting stuff done like this. Every time I go somewhere, I always think I will be more organized than I am, instead, it seems to get worse as I get older and I seem to leave the packing for the very last minute.
After I finished up my State Licensure Test for Social Work 2 weeks ago (which I passed!!!) I then got on booking us stuff. As of a week ago, we now have hostels to stay at in Oxford, Cotswolds, and London, so we are officially booked for all of England. Not that any of us were too worried, there are about a millon places to choose from to stay, so somewhere was bound to have a room available. We got the first night in Ireland booked as well. Beyond that, we'll figure it out as we go. We have rental cars booked for the 2 days we will be driving in England and the 5 we will be driving in Ireland. I'll be driving on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, and doing stick with my L hand instead of R, so we'll see how this all goes. We keep thinking it'll be an adventure and make for great stories. So long as we don't nearly plunge to our death as we did the last time I drove when the three of us were together in St. Thomas a few years back, we'll be good. I am on a separte flight than my friends so the plan is to meet up at Heathrow Airport in London and we are hoping to find each other and our bags by picking out a location to meet. We are all set for take off.
As I was at my Women's Bible study the other night, the ladies prayed for me and sent me on my way wishing me tons of fun and letting me know that they would be keeping me in prayers. More than one of them said they hoped I had opportunities while I was over in Europe to be a witness and share my faith. It struck me that in the past 10 years of traveling and in the numerous countries I have been in, this has entered my mind at times, but never too frequently. I get in this mind set of being a traveller and being with the people I meet along the way, sometimes even travelling together for days to weeks at a time, talking with locals, but I never look at it as a mission field. Usually my prayers consist of "Lord keep me safe, give me traveling mercies, allow me to experience Your wonderful creation in all it's glory." Very self centered and selfish prayers. Never once have I asked, "Lord, bring people into my path who I can be a witness to. Grant me opportunities to share your love." Why has that never crossed my mind before? I always travel with my small Bible when I am gone. I read it and sometimes other see me, sometimes they don't. I tell others what I believe if we get into a discussion about faith, but this is different than actively sharing my faith. I state my beliefs more as facts when asked, not in any real personal way to reveal God's love. Those prayers said in my Bible Study this week, challenged me to look at the way I often travel differently. To take more opportunities that I have perhaps missed in the past this time around.
After I finished up my State Licensure Test for Social Work 2 weeks ago (which I passed!!!) I then got on booking us stuff. As of a week ago, we now have hostels to stay at in Oxford, Cotswolds, and London, so we are officially booked for all of England. Not that any of us were too worried, there are about a millon places to choose from to stay, so somewhere was bound to have a room available. We got the first night in Ireland booked as well. Beyond that, we'll figure it out as we go. We have rental cars booked for the 2 days we will be driving in England and the 5 we will be driving in Ireland. I'll be driving on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, and doing stick with my L hand instead of R, so we'll see how this all goes. We keep thinking it'll be an adventure and make for great stories. So long as we don't nearly plunge to our death as we did the last time I drove when the three of us were together in St. Thomas a few years back, we'll be good. I am on a separte flight than my friends so the plan is to meet up at Heathrow Airport in London and we are hoping to find each other and our bags by picking out a location to meet. We are all set for take off.
As I was at my Women's Bible study the other night, the ladies prayed for me and sent me on my way wishing me tons of fun and letting me know that they would be keeping me in prayers. More than one of them said they hoped I had opportunities while I was over in Europe to be a witness and share my faith. It struck me that in the past 10 years of traveling and in the numerous countries I have been in, this has entered my mind at times, but never too frequently. I get in this mind set of being a traveller and being with the people I meet along the way, sometimes even travelling together for days to weeks at a time, talking with locals, but I never look at it as a mission field. Usually my prayers consist of "Lord keep me safe, give me traveling mercies, allow me to experience Your wonderful creation in all it's glory." Very self centered and selfish prayers. Never once have I asked, "Lord, bring people into my path who I can be a witness to. Grant me opportunities to share your love." Why has that never crossed my mind before? I always travel with my small Bible when I am gone. I read it and sometimes other see me, sometimes they don't. I tell others what I believe if we get into a discussion about faith, but this is different than actively sharing my faith. I state my beliefs more as facts when asked, not in any real personal way to reveal God's love. Those prayers said in my Bible Study this week, challenged me to look at the way I often travel differently. To take more opportunities that I have perhaps missed in the past this time around.
Friday, May 4, 2012
2 weeks to go!!!!
Two weeks to go and my friends and I are definately on the countdown! It can't come quick enough for us. My friend, Tina, is a CPA and just coming off busy season, so she is ready for a vacation. Jessica has been working hard and is ready for vacation as well. Myself, well, I am definately ready for vacation as life has been crazy around here as usual. I should be studying right now as we speak, as tomorrow I am sitting for the first part of my State Lincesure Test for Social Work. I have cut it off for the evening though because at this point, all the facts that are gonna stay in my mind are already jammed in there and I am prepared as I am gonna be for now. Whether I pass or fail, it is onto a month off for vacation.
Last time I posted, the plan was to book things the following week such as hostels, rental cars and such. I still have done nothing. There has been too much going on, so we are two weeks exactly from departure and still have nothing other than plane tickets. Oh well. Once my test is done tomorrow, my homework for the next few days is booking us places to stay and a car. We could just really try and wing it, but we are cramming way too much stuff in to be able to do that, so we have to be very organized.
About the only progress I have made so far toward getting things ready is I did purchase a Kindle with some gift cards that I had. With the rate I read, this will be much easier for me than last time I went 5 years ago and was hauling around books, exchanging them when I could, and trading with fellow travelers. I am exicted about this new purchase.
I am very excited to take off and see some more of God's beautiful creation. I did not discover the world until I was 20 and left for Costa Rica to study abroad for 4 months. I had the opportunity to see all of Costa Rica, a huge part of Nicaragua, and part of Panama. From there I was hooked! God's creation is such an amazing thing to be able to see and experience. I have continued to travel over the years and have seen more of the world in my short little life than most see in an entire life time. How blessed am I? I've seen some of the oldest structures around, beautiful sun rises and sunsets all over, tasted delicious food, and done so much more. Words can't even describe the feeling that I have when I am traveling. It is as though I don't have to worry about anything other than what I am going to see today. It is a way to be carefree and relax while enjoying life. I get to meet new people, try new things, have experiences that I never thought possible. It is hard for me to comprehend when people do not share this type of enthusiasm for travel because it is such a passion of mine. A friend of mine in college was joking around and said that our motto should be "have no money, will travel" and that pretty much has become my motto. I'm a Social Worker, so I am definately not rolling in the dough. But I can support myself and have some extra money to spare for the travel.
I have been told before that I am very independent and have an adventerous spirit. I've never really thought of it that way, but sure I suppose that's a good way to put it. I look at it as not wanting to put my plans on hold waiting for someone else to accompany me somewhere, hence the times I have travelled by myself and have loved every minute of it. I think if my family and some friends had their way, I would never go off on my own anywhere, but there is something to be said about being an independent traveller. I have learned more about myself over the years in doing this and gotten to do things that I would not have if I was with a group of friends. I have shared meals with locals in their homes, found myself completely changing plans at the last minute on a whim to see a different country, been challenged to be more outgoing with others, and just generally tried new things. My dad always tells me that I am causing him to age prematurely, he's not a "young spring chicken anymore and he has a heart condition." I hear this all the time fom him. I tell him that he is fine and my parents get to live vicariously through me. I'd rather live life to the fullest instead of reaching the end and think "man I wish I would have taken the opportunity to do that."
Last time I posted, the plan was to book things the following week such as hostels, rental cars and such. I still have done nothing. There has been too much going on, so we are two weeks exactly from departure and still have nothing other than plane tickets. Oh well. Once my test is done tomorrow, my homework for the next few days is booking us places to stay and a car. We could just really try and wing it, but we are cramming way too much stuff in to be able to do that, so we have to be very organized.
About the only progress I have made so far toward getting things ready is I did purchase a Kindle with some gift cards that I had. With the rate I read, this will be much easier for me than last time I went 5 years ago and was hauling around books, exchanging them when I could, and trading with fellow travelers. I am exicted about this new purchase.
I am very excited to take off and see some more of God's beautiful creation. I did not discover the world until I was 20 and left for Costa Rica to study abroad for 4 months. I had the opportunity to see all of Costa Rica, a huge part of Nicaragua, and part of Panama. From there I was hooked! God's creation is such an amazing thing to be able to see and experience. I have continued to travel over the years and have seen more of the world in my short little life than most see in an entire life time. How blessed am I? I've seen some of the oldest structures around, beautiful sun rises and sunsets all over, tasted delicious food, and done so much more. Words can't even describe the feeling that I have when I am traveling. It is as though I don't have to worry about anything other than what I am going to see today. It is a way to be carefree and relax while enjoying life. I get to meet new people, try new things, have experiences that I never thought possible. It is hard for me to comprehend when people do not share this type of enthusiasm for travel because it is such a passion of mine. A friend of mine in college was joking around and said that our motto should be "have no money, will travel" and that pretty much has become my motto. I'm a Social Worker, so I am definately not rolling in the dough. But I can support myself and have some extra money to spare for the travel.
I have been told before that I am very independent and have an adventerous spirit. I've never really thought of it that way, but sure I suppose that's a good way to put it. I look at it as not wanting to put my plans on hold waiting for someone else to accompany me somewhere, hence the times I have travelled by myself and have loved every minute of it. I think if my family and some friends had their way, I would never go off on my own anywhere, but there is something to be said about being an independent traveller. I have learned more about myself over the years in doing this and gotten to do things that I would not have if I was with a group of friends. I have shared meals with locals in their homes, found myself completely changing plans at the last minute on a whim to see a different country, been challenged to be more outgoing with others, and just generally tried new things. My dad always tells me that I am causing him to age prematurely, he's not a "young spring chicken anymore and he has a heart condition." I hear this all the time fom him. I tell him that he is fine and my parents get to live vicariously through me. I'd rather live life to the fullest instead of reaching the end and think "man I wish I would have taken the opportunity to do that."
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