I’m so excited! Tomorrow, it is time to fly to Scotland with my boyfriend, Jordan. This has been a long awaited trip and I’m so excited to finally be going back to Europe. I’ll be spending the first week with Jordan, traveling to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cork, Galway, Dublin and a few places between. We are both really excited to have a week of vacation just the two of us exploring Scotland and Ireland. Next Saturday I’ll meet up with my graduate school friends and Jordan leaves that Monday. I’ll be staying in Dublin the next two weeks for the residency. I’m really excited to meet new friends and see all my old ones. I wish Kryss was coming, but I’m hoping to see her sister in Edinburgh at least. I need some Byers in my life!!

I planned our entire journey and am so excited to see how it goes. I’ve been slightly less OCD than normal but I think we will do better since we are in English speaking countries. When I’m not someplace that speaks english, I always print walking directions as back up in case my iPhone googlemaps wants to be screwy and not work. This time, I’m going to trust myself that I can get around. We decided to fly into Glasgow and take the train to Edinburgh since Glasgow flights were like $400 cheaper than Edinburgh. The train between the two is about two hours and only twenty bucks or so. We got lucky with this because the conductors are striking THE DAY BEFORE. I almost had a heart attack about that one. Whew. We are also hoping that since the pound is dropping, we may be able to save a little money while there.

We stay in Edinburgh two nights, then fly to Cork. From there we explore Cork, Blarney Castle, Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher, Galway, Aran Islands, and finally Dublin. The weekend in the middle of my residency I go to Glendalough on Saturday and Belfast and the Giant’s causeway on that Sunday. This is a sponsored trip and I’m so excited to see Northern Ireland and tell you all about it!

I’m super excited to go back to Edinburgh. I stayed there for about two weeks eleven years ago and fell in love with the city. I’m looking forward to going to the top of Arthur’s Seat and taking in the view. It’s one I’ll never forget. I remember being up there and thinking, “this is perfection.” I also am excited to be back as an adult this time who can legally drink. I can’t wait to see what the pubs are like. I also have a big Harry Potter obsession so there’s a big part of me that really just wants to run into J.K. Rowling. HA! Anyone know her address?! I kid, I kid. I mean, yeah, totally joking here. 😉

Going to the Guinness brewery will be pretty cool too. The Heineken brewery is one of my favorite so I can’t wait to see what this one is like. I feel like I’m so behind all my travel friends just now getting there!

If anyone has any fun places to eat or drink, or cool activities that aren’t super obvious, I’d love for you to comment and tell me where I should be going while in these places!

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