The wait is over

The anticipation was worth it!

The excitement hasn’t dwindled.

The reality was even better than anticipated.

Upon arrival and clearance through customs/immigration at Heathrow, I met my man (Tim) and we were (reluctantly) greeted by our hired ride into the city. The sourness of the driver did not put me off all the fabulousness to come. He may have been rude, but I opted to stay positive and think about the good things we were going to see and do and eat. We spent the first evening recuperating from travel.

I slept well.

Then the following day, we toured the Cotswalds. They were exactly what I pictured, which is beautiful. We had a warm, sunny day to enjoy the trip which included stops in Burford, Biford, Bourton on Water, and Stow on the Wold. There were so many homes with thatched roofs, row hedges in the fields of multiple shades of green, and the villages that look as though they were plucked right out of story books.

I slept well that evening.

The next morning, we walked around an area of London we hadn’t really visited before. The financial district and some of the West End, crossing the Millennium Bridge and Tower Bridge on foot, touring The Globe Theater and the grounds of St Paul’s Cathedral - we were unwilling to pay 20 pounds per person to see the interior. Imho, a church should not charge a person to enter, even for sightseeing. Dinner was yummy and I don’t regret the dessert as we had another mile+ walk to return to the hotel.

I slept well that evening too.

The next day, we packed up and enjoyed our ride back to Heathrow for our flight to Ireland. Please understand that we are both quite excited for this leg of our trip: neither of us had been to Ireland before. And, our friends Steve and Bunny would be joining us the following morning for 4 days!
Upon arrival, clearing customs/immigration, we made our way to the shuttle that would deliver us to our hotel for the night. After a nice supper and some facebook and text time, we knew we had to get some sleep as the next morning was the real start to this Ireland adventure.

I slept: that excited, “I can’t wait for tomorrow”, giddy, childlike “night before Christmas” sleep.

Anticipation

Sing it with me:
“Anticipation. Anticipation is making me wait, is keeping me waiting”

Here we are again, getting prepped for an extended trip to the UK and Europe. Tim left on Sunday and arrived in Budapest on Monday. I’m leaving in just a couple of days and we’ll be meeting up in London for a few days before flying to Ireland for 10 days. We’ve been wanting to visit Ireland, but until now just hadn’t had the opportunity to do so.

Ireland. Can you believe it? We get to go to Ireland! As if that weren’t cool enough, two great friends are going to join us for a few days of the Ireland adventure. We get to spend a night in a castle, see Giant’s Causeway, visit Belfast, see Cliffs of Moher, tour Tullemore D.E.W. Distillery, walk Dublin, drive the Dingle Peninsula and more. Wow. Anticipation, making me wait.

You may be thinking, “that’s gonna be a sweet vacation” and you’re right, but guess what? It doesn’t stop there for me! After our Ireland adventure, we return to London for a couple days then aTim has to return to work, but I get to stick around a while longer and show off some of my favorites places to my mom who will be joining me for 10 days. On the agenda:
     Tower of London
     Windsor Castle
     Buckingham Palace Changing of Guard
     Thames River Cruise
     Oxford and a meal at Eagle & Child
     Stonehenge
     Day trip to Paris
     3 day trip to Edinburgh
     and of course, more!

When she returns home, I still get to stick around because another friend and her eldest will be joining me for 6 days for more UK adventure!

Patience is fairly easy for me, specially at this time in life. But this time, this trip, this adventure has created more excitement than before. We get to experience new places, sights and foods and this time, we get to share it with some of the people we love.

Anticipation has taken hold deep this time and you know what? I don’t mind. I like this feeling. Hope you do too. Watch for updates over the next few weeks, we’ll definitely be posting stories and pics. And maybe you will be encouraged to find an opportunity to visit somewhere new and the anticipation for you will be as exciting as it is for me.

Catch you later...from London!