If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know two things about me:

1. I love food.

2. I LOVE to travel.

Being a teacher, summer months (and sometimes winter months) are the best times for us to travel.

So, it’s almost summer and that means one thing: it’s finally time for us to head to our next travel destination!

In just less than two short weeks we leave for our longest trip to date.

So where are we headed you ask and how long will we be there?

Well…

We’re going to the UK for two whole months!

Yep, two months. I’m still in awe as I type it that we’ll be able to take our time exploring a place as beautiful as the United Kingdom.

So, where exactly are we going? England, Ireland, and Scotland!

We were able to get an amazing deal on a nonstop flight from our home in Charleston, South Carolina to London. We’ll be spending a little over a week or so exploring all London and it’s surrounding cities (Bath, Oxford, Brighton) have to offer, reconnecting with a few friends we’ve met on our travels, before heading off to Ireland!

We’ll be spending almost an entire month road tripping through Ireland! While I’m looking forward to seeing all of the beauty that I know Ireland has to offer, I would be lying if I didn’t say I’m really looking forward to watching Michael navigate driving on the opposite side of the car and the opposite side of the road. #prayforus

We’ll be spending a few days in Dublin, Ireland before picking up our rental car and moving clockwise around the beautiful Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. We plan to take it slow and try our best to see everything Ireland has to offer. We’ll also be reconnecting with friends in Ireland!

After our month in Ireland, we will be moving on to Scotland where we’ll spend time in the capital city of Edinburgh before moving on to Glasgow and then renting another car to do the Isle of Skye and other parts of Scotland.

We’ll head back to London by train for a couple days in the city before flying back home.

Side Note: In case this wasn’t implied, of course we’ll be seeing all of the Harry Potter and Game of Thrones sites along the way.

How prepared are we for this trip? Well, we have our flight booked, our first AirBnB booked in London (thanks to our friend Cass for helping us pick a great neighborhood), and our rental car plus a very loose idea of our road trip stops in Ireland. Other than that, we’re completely winging it!

How have we planned for this trip? I went to our local library and rented the Lonely Planet’s Great Britain, England, Ireland, and Scotland books along with Rick Steve’s books. We read through these and used Pinterest to help build lists of must-sees, must-dos, and must-eats/drinks.

How will this trip be different from all of our other trips? Aside from the obvious length of our trip, this trip will be quite different. For one thing, this will be the most expensive trip we’ve ever taken, so we’re already thinking of ways to save money along the way. One way we’re planning on doing this is by cooking a lot of our meals, hence staying in an AirBnB where I can have my own kitchen space to prepare. Another huge way this trip will be different is in transportation. We’ve never rented a car before, besides that one time we took a road trip down to Anna Maria Island, Florida. So we will literally be traveling at our own pace for the majority of the time. One final thing, English is mainly spoken in these countries and we won’t have to rely on Michael’s translating abilities.

What other questions do you have for us? I’d love to answer your questions about our trip!

If you’ve been to the UK and have any recommendations, please let me know!

I hope you’ll stay tuned for travel updates as we make our way through the UK this summer!

Happy travels,

Emily