As Christmas and New Year’s approached this year, Kristal and
I hoped to be able to travel for it. We started to explore some options when we
found out that our friends Laura and Paul would be getting married in Belfast on
December 22nd and the decision was made for us, it would be a UK
Christmas!
One of the big themes from this trip was having the chance
to visit and catch up with friends each stop of the way. Our first stop was in
London to visit Kristal’s old flatmates from New Zealand, Ben and Yve. While in
London we got to see the Book of Mormon, visited Winter Wonderland in Hyde
Park, and toured the Tower of London. One of the big highlights was the
Bavarian Village in Winter Wonderland that came equipped with an Oktoberfest
tent!
From London we hopped on a quick flight to Dublin to begin
the Irish road trip part of our trip. We rented a car and drove up to Belfast
for the wedding. We spent about three days in Belfast doing some touristy
things like a Black Cab Tour and the Titanic Museum, but mostly we were there
for the wedding! We got to celebrate Laura and Paul while we shared an
apartment in the city with our friends Eunan and Hannah.
After the wedding festivities we dropped our friend Eunan at
his parent’s home in Donegal County before driving down the coast to Galway.
Galway was a quick overnight before driving down to Cork to meet up with Ben
and Yve again as they rented a beach house with two other Kiwis to celebrate
Christmas. Christmas Eve and Day were spent in a sleepy beach town called
Ardmore that hosted a polar plunge on Christmas Day and had next to nothing
open while we were there! We got to cook a Christmas dinner, spend all day in
PJs, and watch the best in holiday cinema like Christmas with the Cranks! The
best part of Christmas was getting to Skype with both of our families back home
as well. Nothing replaces being there in person but we really appreciated
seeing people open presents (especially Jaxon and Alexis!). Next year we hope
to be home for the holidays to join in the fun!
We left Ardmore with Ben and Yve on Boxing Day/St. Steven’s
Day to drive up to Athilone to meet up with the one and only Will Nestor. Will
and his partner Deborah met us there and we had a great night exploring the
town and catching up. The following day we were back on the way to Dublin for
our last two nights. The trip could have ended here and we would have still had
an amazing time but Edinburgh awaited!
Ben, Yve, Kristal and I flew from Dublin to Edinburgh on the
morning of the 29th. When we arrived we had blue skies to welcome us
and we began exploring the city. It was my first time there, although Kristal
had been a few years back. We spent the next few days on walking tours,
visiting castles, and sneaking into pubs. We were also there for Hogmanay,
which is the city’s New Years celebration. There were three days of events
which included a torch procession, massive street party, and city wide
scavenger hunt. Hogmanay was absolutely the best New Years celebration I have
been too and I was able to enjoy it wearing a kilt! Some of the highlights from
Edinburgh were great free walking tours, fireworks over the Edinburgh castle, visiting
Doune castle (the location of Monty Python), and visiting our friend Robert for
a ceilidh (traditional group dance).
After our time in Edinburgh came to a close we made a quick
stop in Istanbul overnight to visit our friend Cagri and to buy some
decorations for the wedding. By this time in the trip we were run down,
sniffly, and ready to get back to Doha!
All in all it was an amazing way to bring in the New Year.
We have a few photos that we have shared but we also made a little highlight
video to show some of the fun. While we had a great time we really missed
friends and family during the holidays. Thanks to everyone for all their
holiday wishes and stay tuned for more adventures!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a358J1OhCU4
No comments:
Post a Comment