spill your travel tales!!!-

[Smeegle]

This morning, I was thinking about my hopes to make it to Ireland this year for a vacation and decided to start this thread for a few reasons.

1) I'm hoping that putting this into words will aid me on my no/low-buy journey so that I can successfully start saving for my trip (and not ordering online from Sephora so much),

2) I always ask my friends what the highlight and the lowlight of their vacations were, to glean tips and information for my upcoming travels, wherever it may be.

So tell me, what was one highlight and one lowlight of your vacation trip?

This is a picture of the coast of Caithness, Scotland, which is my absolute favorite country.

Highlight of my trip in 2009: The coast, the mountains and the weather. Altogether made for a very spiritual experience.

Lowlight: The weather. Cool and damp makes for a cold girl.

[#2]

This morning, I was thinking about my hopes to make it to Ireland this year for a vacation and decided to start this thread for a few reasons.

1) I'm hoping that putting this into words will aid me on my no/low-buy journey so that I can successfully start saving for my trip (and not ordering online from Sephora so much),

2) I always ask my friends what the highlight and the lowlight of their vacations were, to glean tips and information for my upcoming travels, wherever it may be.

So tell me, what was one highlight and one lowlight of your vacation trip?

This is a picture of the coast of Caithness, Scotland, which is my absolute favorite country.

Highlight of my trip in 2009: The coast, the mountains and the weather. Altogether made for a very spiritual experience.

Lowlight: The weather. Cool and damp makes for a cold girl.

[kariyava]

What a great goal!  There are so many places in Europe that I hope to visit someday.  

My last vacation was to Maui.  The highlight was definitely seeing my baby love playing on the beach and having the waves come up and touch his feet.  The low point was the red eye back ...

I am currently planning a trip to Puerto Rico and I am looking forward to it!

[MariekeBT]

@kariyava, whenever I think of Puerto Rico I think of the song from West Side Story! It looks like an amazing place to visit. Have fun!! (: 

[darkiceis]

I went to Ireland a few months ago. I loved it and will be going back for sure.

Here is a list of places I visited:

Dublin (City center and walked around a lot)

Guinness Factory

Jamieon Distillery

Cliffs of Mohr

Blarney Castle and grounds (This was my favorite)

Rock of Cashel

I visited other places as well but don't remember the names off the top of my head.

I must of have beef stew almost every day. The most friendliest people in the world, pubs everywhere in Dublin!

[Smeegle]

oh fabulous!!! Thanks for letting me know about your trip! would you say that 9 days in ireland is enough? and to stay in the Dublin seems like a good option because you can go on day trips to pretty much all of the tourist sites in the country!

@darkiceis 

[darkiceis]

@Smeegle I think 9 days is perfect! There are some taxis that will actually do day trips and take you around. I don't recall the cost. My best friend lives there so we rented a car and she and her hubby drove us around.  Some things are far like Cliffs of Mohr was I believe 2.5 - 3hrs from Dublin. A lot of sites are not open late and close 5-6 ish.

We also went to this huge estate and grounds and can't recall the name.

What we did was go to a grocery store and stocked up on drinks, cheeses, rolls, meats, fruits and had those throughout the day and went out for dinner.

Blarney Castle you have to go here! You can go into every single room, even the dungeon room. I freaked a little and didn't go all the way in.  It was a small rocky corridor that goes into who knows where, it's wet and there is a point where you would  have to crawl.  The grounds are beautiful too, huge and there is a set of stairs that you can walk up and down with your eyes closed while making a wish. Very cool!

I can go on forever 🙂

[Smeegle]

@darkiceis

gosh, thanks so much for all this info! i will put Blarney castle on my list for sure! i was considering driving around there but i'm nervous to drive on the other side of the road, although i'm sure i would eventually get used to it! 🙂

[keelybt]

Ohhh that is so pretty! Ireland is on my list of places to go. I was going to go to Greece last summer but lagged on getting my passport. We went to Maui instead. Though it wasn't new to me, it was for my husband and we really had a great time relaxing and exploring the island. The highlight for me was the scenery and the overall mellow vibe. Our concierge was awesome and helped us plan what we wanted to do while we were there. 

The lowlight was the weather. It's really hot and humid in August and the waterfall area was flooded so we couldn't go there. 

[Smeegle]

Oh Maui seems like an amazing second choice! tIve heard the weather can be an issue at times. a colleague recently visited and it was grey the whole time! 

[MariekeBT]

Hi @Smeegle, 

I went to China and Taiwan this year before I started working and it was an amazing trip! 

Highlight: THE FOOD! Whenever I travel I tell my parents that I don't care as much about what we see, but rather about we'll eat, haha! I could eat all day every day and that's all I need. It may be a little of a personal bias since my mom is from Taiwan, but I say the food is better there than in China. 😉 I also got to see my grandma for the first time in about 10 years and my aunts/uncle in about 20! It was a really nice reunion. In China we saw a lot of historical things like the Great Wall (if you ever go, take the toboggan down, you won't regret it!), Xi'an Walls, Imperial Burial sites, Forbidden City, Terra Cotta Soldiers, Summer Palace and a lot more. It was amazing to see everything and a lot of things were actually in really great condition. (: 

Lowlight: This may be a little TMI, but a lot of places in China don't have American style toilets or toilet paper! I got used to it after a few days, but boy was I glad to be back in the states (^^ゞ

The weather was also a lot colder than intended! Luckily the pollution wasn't bad at all and we never had to wear a mask, so we really lucked out. (: 

[Smeegle]

this sounds like an extraordinary trip @MariekeBT!! How nice that you were able to reconnect with your family. Thank you for all the great tips! I have heard from friends about the amazing food  over in southeast Asia so I will have to make it there one day!

[MariekeBT]

@Smeegle, I definitely recommend it! I'm hoping my next trip to Asia will be Korea and Japan. 

[Samtian]

For me the highlight is finally being able to see things I've seen in photos. Like Lighthouses when I went to Maine. 

Lowlight, no matter where I go is Navigation/Driving. Here in rural Idaho, things are surprisingly well marked. In Maine hardly anything was. Even streets weren't marked. Navigating roads and weird city ways is so so frustrating for me. I'm used to 80mph and when I was in San Francisco I think I maxed out at 35mph...on the freeway. 

[Smeegle]

@SamtianI understand what you mean! before my trips to the UK I would research places to go etc and when I was finally there, it was magical! Like Highclere Castle, the filming site of Downton Abbey for example. I couldn't believe I was actually there after having seen the series!

Driving in new places is always a boon. I haven't had the nerve to drive in the UK as of yet- the other side of the road thing scares me. Although people say that you 'click in' and it becomes natural right away.