{ Just like that....}

"History and Culture are everywhere, and when you have eyes to see and absorb it, it changes everything."

Seriously is it really over and done! IT w.a.s AMAZING in every way perfect almost!!  where we went what we saw and most of all who I saw it all with!  My planning booking and hotels, trains planes and automobiles turned out for the most part just perfect and according to my itinerary. I was proud of myself ........I'm a big girl now;) ha ha 

But for real the most amazing 13 days! 

ps {{ fair warning....This is going to be a long post..... very long.....}}

We did this trip for around $7000 

money I made from my trade shows and jewelry sales

SO I'll lay out the planning, booking and trip tips and what we did if your goal is to see as much as possible in a week and half 

 we flew from Calgary to Houston to London 

and on the way back straight from London to Calgary

We did London-PARIS-England-Scotland-Ireland

  So if you want an in depth .....here's your post because we saw SO much and drove probably 2000 plus miles! Good thing I had a good left side driver who had already spent years doing it!

I booked our flight in February through Fare Boom.com I got our tickets for $2027 and got the app for my phone .....that did a countdown and as our trip went on it updated with gate and check ins along the way it was an awesome way to go I was impressed....

Next I mapped out what we wanted to see when and how to get there. I did distances through rome 2 rio which had taxi driving times its pretty awesome too... 

I booked entirely through EXPEDIA and got the app again awesome all the details were right there the receipts updates and links for things to do under each city with discounted trips and deals for each!

I didn't change any money to pounds or euros the bank basically told me it was cheaper to just use the ATM when in the countries we did it a few times but mostly used a visa card

-I photocopied my passport and took pictures of my visa and other cards and kept a digital copy and a photocopy in different places too

-I printed all my expedia receipts so I had a paper copy and bought a plastic file folder to hold it all  

-I kept a small journal with times things were open and address ready so if we needed them they were right there

-Make sure you have a good cell phone roaming package and good maps and GPS serious life savors - 

Make sure your rental cars have GPS too not sure how you would make it on the crazy crazy roads there!
-Invest in a good rain and windproof jacket I found the perfect one with lots of pockets enclousures and a hood big enough to cover helmet hair:)

- We bought these water bottles from amazon and they were awesome filled them up each morning, emptied and rolled through security and don't take up a lot of space and weight! or you'll be spending money on bottled water your whole trip!

OUR flight was for 6:30 am on April 13th so we stayed up that night I went for a run at 11 pm then had a coldish shower to help stay awake and we left at 1:30 for the airport and did awesome at staying awake .....till our flights where we slept for a bit but made the jet lag almost non existent when we got there, can't say the same for right now ha ha

We landed at 7:30am in London with high speed train passes on the Heathrow Express which gets you to London city center in 15 minutes verses 2 hours on a train and we paid $66 Canadian for tickets well worth it through expedia! and I made sure our hotels did luggage storage nothing worse then having to take your luggage sightseeing with you!  We took a taxi to our hotel ..........we stayed in the park plaza london riverwalk pretty modern and fancy and within walking distance to all the sites across the river from the West minister Abbey it was perfect! {hotels are expensive in london and paris so it was hard to find anything cheap but this one was great} convenient & close

We saw so much we did the BIG Bus tours open topped hop on hop off tour buses that run all day and have coupons and guided tour along the way we thought it was a great way to see everything we got off when we wanted and hop back on when your done

{*tip**you can buy tickets at any stop along the way and we found it was cheaper on the spot then online}}

we got off at

 Buckingham palace and the changing of the guard so so many people as it was Easter weekend! Like SOO many people! 

{{GO EARLY}}

we saw 

Westminster abbey and government building 

{which were closed our luck ha ha but still amazing to see and walk around}

{the abbey is where will and kate got married}

we saw big ben 

Trafalgar square,

 st pauls cathredral where Lady Di and Prince Charles got married 

Tower of London tour 

{{ ***tip- BUY FAST TRACK TICKETS ANY TIME YOU CAN or you will be waiting hours and hours in line its a waste spend the extra}}

The river Thames and later that night the London eye for some great views of the whole city

the only thing we didn't have time for that we hoped to get to was the 

British Museum 

but in the end of the trip we went to so many I'm okay ...next time;) 

We were dead tired when we got in but we filled the entire day with touring and running to the next thing. 

We had to get up at 4 to be to the st pancras train station by 5 to catch our CHUNNEL TRAIN to PARIS at 6:30 am in the morning

{{ I booked tickets online and paid $600}} 

so worth it once again in two hours your in Paris!

we had trouble the next morning at 5 am to flag a taxi it was a HOLIDAY Easter didn't think of that..... but we made it running caught our train and enjoyed the fast flying scenery to FRANCE:)

BEWARE of SCAMMERS looking for that tourist stamp across your forehead aka easy targets I guess ha ha

{{NOW as soon as we got off the train and into the station a man in a suit asked if we needed a taxi we said yes he immediately took our bags and went to an elevator and almost immediately it didn't feel right ....he takes us to the basement car park to a black unmarked Mercedes...... opens the door says madame and I get in look around there is no taxi anything in the car ......no meter thing .......no papers...... nothing it feels wrong so I get out and the Darren is arguing with the man who is saying its going to be $75 in cash to our hotel... I'm shaking my head D is feeling like we are being ...we tell him no no we aren't going to do this he the scammer tries hard to dicker with us we take our bags and run pretty much! So we go up in the station and wonder around trying to decide how to go get a proper taxi when the dude is hanging around watching us! Now here there are army men with huge guns walking around too, so we felt a little unsettled and decided to go out and get our taxi. Well the man follows us a bit says I do it for $50 and tries to take my bags to the elevator and I felt like Darren was saying well maybe we will to the elevator and were both like NO we aren't doing this we walk right out straight to a real taxi on the street through our bags in and get our $15 eruos ride to our hotel! ahhh *****so beware of swindlers looking for foreigners all I could think of was the movie TAKEN ha ha thank goodness we both felt it wasn't a good thing! saved!

{{ps french people are NOT friendly at all}} our London cab drivers were so talkative and helpful but France nobody makes eye contact ......no offense to nice friendly french people;)}}

SO moving on we stored our luggage at our hotel which was in the 5th district a beautiful section and close to the Eiffel tower ...a very tiny hotel little rooms but cute and fancy again hard to find something decently priced and close but we stayed here  the very best pictures are on the website obviously with a wide angle lens ha ha....  in reality the room was tiny could have fit in my front entrance but clean and all you actually needed.

 We then headed out to explore Paris

bought another big bus hop on hop off tour pass

we walked to the Eiffle Tower from our hotel and caught the bus from there along the way is everything so we saw 
des Champs-Élysées which ends with the

Arc D' Trimph
then onto the 

Louvre &

Notre Dame 

and so much along the way just seeing the shops and cafes definitely a different country history and culture was AMAZING!!! and so BEAUTIFUL!!Clean and well taken care of..

{we didn't have time for Versailles or the Paris temple they both are out of paris so time wise didn't fit in this time}}

PARIS is a beautiful city and the sights are much closer than we thought if you had time you could walk to all the major ones pretty much, seriously all of it was amazing! 

BUY YOUR LOUVRE tickets ahead of time and pay for the fast tract

the lines are unbelievable as is the Louvre like freaking amazing!!! 

SO worth it!

we waited in a long line thought this is ridiculous and bought the tickets on the phone and ran and got the paper tickets and saved three hours in line! 

Just couldn't figure out why nobody else thought of that ha ha!

FOOD 

LETS talk about crepes {{for those that know me I'm pretty much a clean eater ....gluten free...... mostly because I have issues and my body is much better without it}} 

BUT those crepes {{***tip-best food booth right under the tower itself }}we went twice!! banana & nutella and D ham and cheese to die for !! I came home and bought a crepe pan! 

and that's when my addiction for pain au chocolate from real patisseries began....... as did my stomach cramping ha but so so worth it! 

so so good and I pretty much had three in 2 days and then in every city all the way to Ireland ha ha there I admitted it;) SO good! 

**Thankfully I have a friend who bakes them here at home I'll just have to pay her;)

For dinner a real baguette sandwich under the tower in the dark across the river so amazing! maybe cause I hadn't eaten a sandwich for 3 years or they were just that amazing!

{{They make their sandwhiches in the morning and they sit out all day in their patisseries and they have very interesting combos like chicken stuffing and cheese......ummm baguette sandwiches}}

Anyway later that night I realized I HAD LOST MY VISA!! My visa that I prepaid money on to cover trip cost my hard earned money! Thankfully and miraculously and many prayers later Darren took me back to our hotel and then went out and retraced our steps to where we had been and FOUND IT!!!!  Seriously can't believe he found it still!

The next morning Easter morn we went to 

MASS at NOTRE DAME !!

its was pretty cool.

** ALL my high school french came in handy I could read menus and signs and the mass bulletin and helped translate for Darren it made me feel kinda useful;) ha I can't talk it or even understand what they are saying but I can read the papers in front of me.....

So after mass we took a taxi back to our hotel to get our luggage and taxied back to the Paris nord station to catch our train back to London for our next part of the journey... 

{{**I probably would have added another day in Paris and one less in Scotland if I were to do it over again....}}

BACK in London we walked to get to our our rental car place in a shady London neighborhood but got an audi and set off on our new adventures! 

D picked up left side driving right where he left it 21 years ago and felt like a race car driver. I on the other hand thought I was going to DIE! the curb is right there the roads are skinny the cars are right there!! 

They drive expertly in tight corners & YOU never see a single person on a cell phone while driving you have to be constantly aware of what you are doing!!  ITS INSANE but D loved it! There were some ahhhh!! moments and a lotta anxiety on my part didn't know I was but I was there for that!!

Anyway

Headed out to Highclere Castle I was SO excited to fulfill my dream of seeing downton abbey Highclere in real life!!! 

WELL it isn't on a main road where you can snap a picture and leave we were 10 minutes late!! 10 minutes!!!! I saw the spires of it but its well hidden in the forest and down so there is no way but to be there when they are open and it is gated and guarded we tried but were nicely escorted out:(( waaaa!! SO there went that:((

SO we traveled onto Salisbury Cathedral one of our taxi drivers had told us not to miss it and it was pretty amazing!! Seriously the work and feel of the history and effort to build these magnificent structures is beyond comprehension for real! This one was built in medieval times and over 750 years old! We can't even build something that lasts 20 years here! Its kinda of despicable that we can't keep history going here! Yet there it oozes from the ground in all there beautiful magnificent buildings, houses castles, cathedrals is truly amazing! Like in awe amazing!

While we were there we met an American family who told us not to pay to go to stonehedge that you could go straight through amesbury turn on your first left onto a dirt road to a sheep field and its right there over the fence ----so thats what we did! .....and perfect onto Bath where we had a reservation that night..... 

We got there after dark and it was kinda creepy! not gonna lie our hotel was nothing like the internet pictures that is for sure felt kinda haunted!! But it was beautiful in the morning the outside anyway and it was claustrophobically placed on a windy, skinny narrow road up a hill! So by far the worst reservation of the trip yet it does look beautiful online but its super old like old bathroom not very clean and my back window looked out to a shanty creepy shack not a nice picture!!  

Thankfully it was only one night and one hotel out of all we stayed in not bad. So this day we spent in BATH 

we went to the 

Roman Baths

The oldest house in Bath Sally Lunn's built in the 1425 insane and its still standing!

Did some shopping SHOP at primark! 

Its amazing cheap and crazy amount of stuff I can't even really explain it!

after that and driving around looking at the lovely oldest and structures

I wanted to go to the COTSWOLD district but somehow we missed all the roads and its a maze of highways there so we kept on driving 

  on towards the

LAKES DISTRICT kendal and windermere

my sisters' inlaws are from this area and we were staying the night at their house though they were over here in Canada while we were there what are the chances after all these years eh! But here brother in law was around and was a great host and we had our by far best sleep at there house. A true taste of England.

YOU CANNOT MISS THIS AREA OF ENGLAND 

it is probably the most beautiful place I have every seen in real!! Its quaint town, harbor, shades of green never seen before and sheep, rolling hills waterfalls 

cutest cafes streets and JUST GO!! So Beautiful

DO THE HIKE a small 30 minute ORREST HEAD hike it over looks the town water and is breathtaking at sunset!

walk by the water and drink it all in its unlike anything here!

The next morning we headed to Scotland.... stopped in PRESTON at the temple grounds probably easiest the prettiest manicured grounds of any temple I've been too. The MTC and stake building and family history site and distribution center and apartments are all on the same property its pretty amazing.

Then we decided to head to Edinburgh and the castle there and ended up driving onto the royal mile by fluke which was truly a cool site and the 

Edinburgh Castle was awesome 

the cafe there was great too.

Not many places to just pull over and eat but lots of cafes and street markets with fresh food along the way sometimes you really have to search....

After Edinburgh we traveled to Stirling Castle and the place of our Thomson relatives are from very cool 

We missed the time for the stirling castle but took pictures and moved onto 

FORT WILLIAM through to the highlands

the accents got thicker and the hotel was good clean and fine we stayed two nights and spent the next day 

at ISLE OF SKYE and the

Eilean Donan Castle {the sky fall one and the m5} beautiful castle too!

WE took a hike up the Old Man of Storr on the isle stunning views 

and drive all day on the isle it was amazing too 

The next day we did the Glennfinnan Viaduct {the one from Harry Potter with the steam engine } Truthfully I've never read one harry potter book or watched a movie ha

we went to the iverlocky castle ruins its free and fascinating too 

AND then headed to GLASGOW { glasgow wasn't that nice more modern feel to it} to catch our flight to Belfast that was leaving at 8 pm super cheap it was $100 for both of us on easy jet and a 55 min flight.....

RENTAL CARS ended up being the most money we did get the $150 insurance coverage in case on both rentals and both ended up being in the $600 range and less then $ 200 on gas 

Darren served his mission in the Dublin Ireland Mission over 20 years ago and this was the first time back it was really awesome to tour his areas see some of the places he lived and served and hear stories I'd never heard before and he was happy and excited to be back. WE got to visit a man he knew back then and that was awesome!

We stayed at the MALDRON hotel literally 15 steps from the airport and super nice and great staff would recommend to anyone we stayed to nights there before we headed to Dublin...
  We got the rain wind and misty rain  we did the 
Antrim coastal drive one of the top 5 in the world for coastal drives beautiful!!

and giants causeway in the pouring rain then traveled onto dunluce castle
-Toured some of darrens old mission towns, houses and areas along the way and had a beautiful rainy day together Ireland is BEAUTIFUL!! ROADS ARE TINY AND SCARY like two cars on a bike path literally have to pull over on little pull out pass things crazy!

The next day we did the TITANIC MUSEUM and it really is a well done put together museum worth the money and time

WE visited on our way to Dublin a man from D's mission it was fun to listen to them talk about when he was here.

In Dublin we got there Saturday night did some touring of D's flats and the church and all sorts of places he had lived or been 

WE stayed at the Clayton Hotel at the airport for the two nights we were there very nice on and a chain with the Maldron both very nice!

We toured the TRINITY COLLEGE AND BOOK OF KELLS well worth

 it amazing how old things over in those countries!

We did the city sightseeing tour bus hop on hop off tour very worth it! 

We went to the finglas ward in Dublin where D spent 9 months of his mission but there weren't to many left from when he was there but Elder Patrick Kearon from the Area Authority was there fun to hear a general authority speak:)  

and a missionary serving there from Lethbridge that was fun I randomly remembered seeing an instagram post of a cousin of his here in town and weirdly remembered he was called to this mission what the heck eh! So we got a picture with him and sent it to his family small world! 

We visited the MALAHIDE castle in the early morning before it was open but it was one of the most beautiful ones the grounds were amazing

We visited Glasnevin Cemetery   we just walked through the cemetery didn't do the museum part of it the cemetery itself is enough  

We shopped grafton street ate gelato and more crepes it was heavenly

even ran into sister missionaries on grafton street so fun:) a sister jorganson from bountiful, utah if I'm remembering right:) 

......and that was the perfect day & perfect ending to our dream vacation.

We flew from Dublin to London and London to home Monday Morning making Monday offically the longest day ever... and now all I want to do is sleep and dream like I never left yet, because now it feels like a dream. 

It really was so amazing all of it!

I am thankful to be born where I am, to have what we do and I so appreciate more those that went before us and left these beautiful countries to come over here, poor souls. I feel blessed to have been able to go and to work hard to achieve a goal I've had for a long time and for all the planning and activities to turn out as perfect as they could. 

But best of all to spend the time away together.

A few randoms

 **My hairdryer and straightener DID NOT work over there with the adapter/converter but all our cell phone/ ipad/ fit bits were all fine. I tried my blow dryer and it about blew me across the room! Didn't dare even try the straightener to much money on that one......SO

I bought a cheap one there and it was great.... I just didn't use a straightener the whole time there!

 queue means line

a car park is a garage

a window screen means windshield

you cheeky little monkey with an english accent is about the cutest thing ever that I heard a mother say to her son!! 

there are no stop signs in Scotland that we saw ROUNDABOUTS are everywhere and keep things flowing on the mass of roads going every which way and nobody signals ever!

-speeds and slow downs are painted on the roads

-there are no semis suburbans trucks or hardly SUVs they have flat front -lorries that are there semis 

-the roads are super super narrow 

-they park  where ever they feel like sidewalks highways road 

-the yellow bushes along the roads and fields everywhere over there are called Gorse

-There are hardly any chains but the biggest chain was McDonalds but none like ours they are practically hidden and all you see are the arches 

domino pizza was the other biggest other chain we saw

-toilet paper in France is like a paper towel soft and thick ha ha

-I absolutely loved the black planter boxes and boxwood everywhere in front of shops along the road now I want to do my front porch in that style!

-Men and youth dress so nice over there in all the countries we were in didn't see one ugly shorts and nike socks pulled up they were nice jeans shoes coats shirts very nice and a whole lot of good looking people over there;) 

-women wore to much make up weird makeup in some parts and nose rings and belly shirts were the fashion on a lot of younger girls 

lets please pray it doesn't come this far! again ahh!

 leather coats and skinny jeans and booties were very common on the nicer dressed girls and women:)

Well this is so so long!  Seriously thanks to all who bought my jewelry over the years that help me dream about this trip plan it out and go! 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
SO a rough breakdown of our costs:

 $2027 for flights to London

$1200 for rental cars {plus insurance}
$200 gas

$1600 for hotels 
$600 train to Paris
$250 flight from Dublin to London
$80 flight from Glasgow to Belfast
$1000 for taxis, tours, food and tickets castles and museums
$300 souvenirs this and that's

Any questions I didn't answer just a leave a comment:) 

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY