Coming into our final week of the trip and spending it in Ireland which is another country we have never visited. The plan is spending 3 nights in Killarney, 3 nights in Ennis and the last couple nights in Dublin before we fly home on Tuesday afternoon.
Packed up in Loch Tay on Sunday to drive back to Edinburgh for our flight to Ireland on Monday. We chose St Andrews as our destination to break up the trip and explore for a few hours.
Itinerary In Ireland is 3 nights in Killarney, 3 nights in Ennis and then the last 2 nights of our trip in or around Dublin.
Friday was a local day with a couple hikes on the south side of loch Tay. Saturday was a trip down near Perth for an adventure park and a pleasant trail walk at the Hermitage.
Since we weren’t technically in the highlands area while staying in Loch Tay we took a day trip to Glencoe. It was quite a drive on the tiny roads so the next day we changed it up for a local day of hiking.
We drove from Edinburgh to spend 5 nights at Loch Tay. Settled into a nice place to stay at Taymouth Marina.
Packed up the car in Keswick on Saturday and headed towards Edinburgh. Charlie was still in fairly rough shape with a stomach bug but hoped we were on the tail end of it. Broke up the road trip with a few sightseeing stops but the second half of rain was some tiring driving with hills, narrow roads and some flooded low points.
Next stop down the road was Vindolanda. An impressive set of ruins and museum with numerous artifacts from the site.
Packed up on Tuesday and making our way north into the Highlands where we’ll spend 5 nights at Taymouth Marina on Loch Tay.
We successfully handled the left side driving to make it across from York to Keswick. The lakes district was recommended early on in our planning and glad we made it an extended stop. Challenged in the planning with so many destination options in the country but our preference to stay longer in each stop.
Charlie came down with a stomach bug the second day which added some constraints on our activities since he wasn’t feeling well most of the stay. Weather cooperated most days other than Tuesday being a rainout. A beautiful part of the country which we never knew existed.
Packing up on Saturday and driving to Edinburgh to start our Scotland leg of the trip. A few nights in town then heading further north into the Highlands.
Found York as a recommended place to visit and we needed a night to spend somewhere between Airbnb rentals in London and Keswick. Booked a train from London to York on Sunday at noon to spend the night and then renting a car on Monday to drive around for a couple weeks to explore the lakes district and Scotland.
Onwards to remembering how to drive on the left side of the road!
Got into a fairly regular sleep schedule on day 3 which was a welcome change. Temps started to rise and the Airbnb had no AC like most places in the area which was a new sleep challenge.
Great for traveling light during the days without worry of rain but holy moly the air is stale most everywhere other than outside. So anything inside most tubes, buses or pubs is a hot situation when the temps outside are 80+.
Thursday: visit to Buckingham palace and an uber boat along the Thames to explore Greenwich.
Friday: splash fountain and picnic lunch in Hyde Park. Peppa pig tea tour and British museum.
Saturday:
Regent’s park playground, lunch with my cousin to say goodbye and a London evening show.
Packed up on Sunday for a mid-day train ride to York. A stopover for one night then renting a car and settling in for 5 days in Keswick to explore the Lakes district. Complete change of weather coming up with some rain and highs in the 60s.
We had a comfortable and ontime flight from JFK to London Heathrow on Monday morning. the kids did well on the trip and glad we chose the morning flight instead of the red eye options. We took the overnight with Charlie years ago to Barcelona and recalled it being challenging from not sleeping on the plane.
Family of 4 on a month long trip with just a single checked bag didn’t seem that extreme to us but complimented by others at every stop so far.
Jet lag and 11pm arrival at the Airbnb in Kensington had us starting slow on Tuesday. Lesson learned would have been to set an alarm to get on track with the sun but we woke up around 11am. Basement level stay with minimal natural light didn’t help either.
Sunny and 70s was great weather to start the trip!
Tons of things to see and do in London but like we normally do it was a limited set of plans each day.
Tuesday: lunch meetup with a former Degreed coworkers. Afternoon exploration of Holland Park with focus on the adventure playground. Finished with a delicious Szechuan dinner on the way home.
Wednesday: natural history museum, Kensington palace and evening meetup with family residing nearby.
Chris, Cindy, Charlie and Cecily’s Adventure Blog 