Happy hour special…two blogs in one! Since we last left off in Wales, we’ve now visited Edinburgh, Scotland and Dublin, Ireland

Scotland

Scotland was essentially the land of bagpipes, historic and intricate architecture, beautiful green hills (mostly extinct volcanoes), and a resemblance of England’s little brother. Given that we were going to have two days of beautiful weather, then two days of “Scottish Summer”; we crammed as many kilts, bagpipes, castles, and hikes as we could in the first two days. The next two days were filled with a little more relaxation as we watched the rain from our Airbnb and booked some of our future explorations.

The down and dirty of our two days…We walked The Royal Mile, visited St. Giles Cathedral, went to Edinburgh Castle (didn’t actually go in because we are cheap, and as spoiled as it may sound, we have seen so many castles at this point), we hiked to King Arthur’s seat (I pretended to rule the land with Excalibur), Holyrood Palace, Calton Hill, and a few other spots. Our favorites were the hike to King Arthur’s seat and the Calton Hill hike. They both offered breathtaking views of Edinburgh that seem to be blowing up social media. You could literally see the city, mountainous green landscapes, and the ocean all in one. We also really enjoyed Holyrood Palace, as it placed us 300-400 years back in time in the royal chambers/lifestyle. We still find it mind blowing whenever we are at a place where the Queen resides. The icing on the cake was walking back home every night through the parks and dark building styles that changed from street to street.

After each long day, we headed back to our humble abode where I was covered in kisses from our hosts! Jacke was a little jealous at first, but opened up to the idea after Jackson and Leo (black labs), started kissing her too. I’m sure it was nice for Jacke to see some dogs after being without hers for over two weeks now. I’m pretty sure she’s starting to miss Bella (her “friendly” 8 year old sharpei-pug mix) as she has been comparing every animal we’ve seen to her and says “awww it looks just like bella!”… yes that includes hippos, manatees, whales, and some other animals/objects that look like they’ve been hit in the face with a shovel (it’s the pug in her).

Overall, we had a great time in Scotland, but felt like we could have seen everything in 2-3 days, instead of the 4 we stayed. None the less, we got to see another city rich in history, and spend time together, while also getting some R&R. Not to mention, we enjoyed our first decent Mexican food, which Jacke can not go long without.

***Jacke moment in Scotland : “Where is my phone?! I just gave it to you.” as she frantically re-checks her purse, and I haven’t touched her phone once all day. Apparently when we were on Calton Hill and she was falling into a restricted fenced in area off the monument…She managed to drop it, or it jumped out of her purse. So of course we were sprinting around trying to find exactly where she dropped it for the next 10-15 minutes. Then all I was thinking was, “great… she’s going to ask to FaceTime her dog on my phone for the remainder of the trip” and she’s almost in tears…but we found it!!

Ireland

Ahhh Ireland! This place has received a lot of hype from friends and family, so the expectations were pretty high! Jacke said ever since she saw the movie “P.S. I Love You”, she had wanted to visit there as well…. Additionally, we were excited to have our good friend Ryan meet us there and stay with us, as he is starting a very similar #WorldTour trip as well. We both arrived at the airport around the same time and headed directly to our Airbnb for the next three days.

What do you do in Ireland? You visit pubs! They have over 750 in the city alone…and we just so happened to be about 50 yards from the oldest pub in Ireland! The Brazen Head Pub was opened in 1198… everything over here continues to blow our mind. We then began exploring the city limits immediately by visiting a couple churches (Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Cathedral), then off to the Dublin “Castle” (not really sure why its called a castle, but still very interesting to see the lavish lifestyle of political powers over the years), and then off to Guinness Storehouse, of course. This self guided tour was nothing short of spectacular as it provided in-depth explanation about the brewing process, tastings, and a pretty epic overview of the entire city. All of this is accomplished as you work your way up a 7 story pint glass shaped building!

Day 2 was Jacke’s turn to plan our day. Typically, I do most of the planning and she provides input on what is appealing to her as well. I wanted her to take over the reins and plan an entire day to herself….. As she was scrolling through and looking at ideas, she says “Guys, there really isn’t much to do here. The top attractions are a bowling alley, ice skating rink, and a trampoline park.…” So then I grabbed her phone and switched her TripAdvisor search from Dublin, California to Dublin, Ireland 🙂 …. We Then went on to visit St. Stephen’s Park, Jameson Distillery (definitely a must see/do, it is an actual learning tour with great videos/tastings etc, where as Guinness was more hands off), followed by the Temple Bar area at night (imagine a more touristy, mini bourbon street). Ryan and I gave her props where it was due, as we had another amazing day in Dublin!

Day 3 was a last second plan to visit the Cliffs of Moher! We are all so thankful we did so, as this was our favorite part of the trip. We booked a car rental for a decent price and headed out west in the morning. Since I’m still dealing with my car rental dents/scratch from Iceland (of course its not my fault), Ryan rented the car and offered to drive for his first time on the opposite side of the road. Imagine Mario Kart, but without the bananas and shells flying all over the streets in our little Toyota. The streets are very narrow as the old cobblestone walls/fences lined the country roads everywhere to keep the herds of cattle in place. Somehow… Ryan managed to knick one of these walls when we were the only ones driving on the street…

Anyways, we drove to the cliffs and were a little disappointed to see what was there at first sight – *TOURISTS*.… It was swarmed in people and you could even hear, “the hills have free wifi!”. It’s never a good sign when you visit a natural wonder and it literally has internet access…As we approached the cliffside, all of our doubts and worries vanished. It was absolutely stunning to see, and definitely worth the 3 hour drive there. We started to hike the cliffs as less and less people were willing to do so, with the high speed winds blowing by. It even started to rain (quite heavily) and this made it even better for us, as everyone flocked back to their buses and the gift shop. This allowed us to experience the cliffs as we intended, and be in more isolation. We felt so lucky because it was stunning in the fog and rain, but then we got a whole new level of stunning when the sun happened to come out and gave us the most beautiful day and view.

Not only was day 3 our favorite for the natural beauty of Ireland, but it was also a day close to our hearts. It was a day of celebration for our dear friend Pat, who’s life was lost at too early of an age. Not only was it his birthday, but we were also in Ireland where his family roots originated. It was touching for all of us to coincidentally be together on his birthday, in his country, and having the time of our lives. The only thing we would have changed about it, was if we could have Pat by our side during all of this. We miss and love you, Pat!

We’ve just arrived in Paris and are ready to explore our new home for the next 6 days. It has been go go go since we landed in Iceland, so this will be a much more relaxed sightseeing location before we embark on a hectic trip around Spain.

Takeaway from Scotland and Ireland: 1. I’m going to start making Jacke wear deodorant on her feet. 2. Embrace every chance you have to explore new destinations 3. life is too short, so make the most of it.