Well hello there, peeps! Long time no chat. It’s taken me a bit of time to get back into the swing of things here on the blog. I’ve run into some minor issues with my site these past couple days as well, so if you’re experiencing any issues I apologize! I hope to get them sorted out ASAP.
I don’t have any recipes ready for you quite yet, so I figured why not jump right into my UK vacation? 🙂 We’re going to have to split this little rendezvous into at least two because there are just too many things to share.
So let’s start with the first bit of the trip… England.
Actually, make that… Iceland.
A three hour delay in Chicago plus an unorganized Reykjavik airport caused me to miss my connection… along with loads of other people. The Reykjavik airport is pretty small and only had 2 flights into London per day. Any guesses as to what happened next?
Yeah, the second flight booked up fast and I was stuck getting a hotel for the night until the first flight the next morning. I wasn’t terribly upset about it until I realized that delay cost me my time in London… meaning I didn’t get to see any of London… for the second time now that I’ve been to England twice. Talk about a let down.
But I did manage to take a little stroll and gather some photos of the town…
The other let down occurred when I arrived into Heathrow with no luggage. Actually, that happened in Reykjavik but I was optimistic my luggage would arrive into Heathrow for me. Welp, that didn’t happen either. Let’s just fast forward to present time where I still don’t have my luggage… Thank goodness my Pal and I are about the same size and I could borrow her clothes and we were able to do laundry at our friend’s parent’s house.
Word to the wise: pack several changes of clothes in your carry-on…
Warner Bros. Studio Harry Potter Tour
Anyways. So when I (finally) arrived into the London airport, it was straight to the Warner Bros Studio Harry Potter tour. In case you didn’t know, I am huge HP fan. For those of you that don’t get it… read all of the books <3 🙂
We saw a bunch of sets, props, costumes. It was all so neat. Not to mention I learned a lot about movie making. Sometimes I watch a movie with a gorgeous landscape and I think “Gosh I wonder where they filmed that…” Well call me naive but come to find out it was likely a made-up place developed on the computer.
I am not going to share too many photos because 1) the lighting was terrible and 2) I don’t want to ruin all the amazing things you’ll see if you go! 🙂
We left the studio tour and then made our way up to Yorkshire to stay with our friend’s brother’s family. We spent a couple days driving through the Yorkshire Dales, which is about five hours north of London.
Aysgarth Falls
Our first full day in the Yorkshire Dales we traveled to Aysgarth Falls. Also known as the fight scene between John Little and Robin Hood in Robin Hood: Prince of Theives.
It turned out to be a gorgeous day.
Bolton Abbey
The next day in the Yorkshire Dales we went over to Bolton Abbey for the day.
But first stopped for lunch at this cute little place.
Where I also enjoyed this cute little cookie.
But seriously how cool are these kinds of places? The U.S. just doesn’t have this kind of history, you know?
The ruins were stunning. Built almost 800 years ago (!!!)
The next morning we said our goodbyes to England and made our way to Scotland.
Glasgow, Scotland
Our first full day in Scotland we spent in Glasgow. We just did a quick tour of the city and University of Glasgow. But another lovely day! We actually got really lucky with the weather during our trip. Hardly any rain at all.
Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh, Scotland
The next day was another day trip, into Edinburgh (pronounced: Ed-in-bur-uh). We climbed Arthur’s Seat for a seriously awesome view of the city.
Goodness gracious we packed a lot into those first several days.
The next two days we spent in the highlands which was AMAZING. Buuttt there are way too many good photos to share from that trip so those will have to come next week! 🙂
let’s chat
- Have you been to Iceland before? England? Scotland? What did you do there?
Emily says
YES, the U.S. doesn’t have those old castles and quaint churches. We don’t even have as many of those cute little stone restaurants and rolling green hills. This brings back SOOO many good memories from when we went to England and Scotland. There is such a different culture there, and I love it. 🙂
Ashley says
I agree! Gosh just thinking about it again now I so want to go back!
Jess @hellotofit says
I’m lame and haven’t to ANYWHERE in Europe yet. I’d love to travel to London! And yep, you are so right – the U.S. doesn’t have history quiiite like other countries. The others are so beautifully OLD!!
Ashley says
Lol that is not lame! Lots of people haven’t been. I also want to do more exploring in the US though. Like out west and the northern east states. While in the UK we were discussing how different the US landscapes are. So many places to see in our world!
Erin @ Erin's Inside Job says
Please take me with you the next time you go. I have Ireland on my list of places and a couple European countries which I can hopefully cross of my list in the next couple years. I LOVE OLD BUILDINGS.
Ashley says
The history there is just mesmerizing. I needed more time to take it in!
Stella @ Stellicious Life says
I haven’t been to Iceland yet (only Copenhagen and Oslo), but visited London a couple of times (one of my friends worked there as an au pair for some time, so I visited her 🙂 and we went for 10 days to Scotland (mostly Edinburgh, Glasgow Trossachs, Stirling, etc.). I haven’t seen much of the English countryside but I’m definitely planning on returning to see more of England and Scotland is calling my name. I left a piece of my heart there, it is such a magical place!
Lovely photos, glad you were lucky with the weather, and can’t wait to see more photos from your tour in the Highlands! 🙂
Ashley says
The English countryside truly is so pretty. The rolling hills and all of those stone walls! It was just gorgeous. And so much green right now. I would love to go back one day too. 🙂 I am so excited about the Highlands photos, can’t wait to share! 😀
Marina @ A Dancer's Live-It says
All of those places are on my travel bucket list!! The photos are absolutely gorgeous too! My boyfriend did the Warner Bros HP Studio tour too because he’s the BIGGEST nerd ever haha!
Ashley says
YEESSS HP fans unite!! It was seriously awesome though. 😀 <3
Emily Weir says
I LOVE England and Scotland. It amazes me that even with going several times now, we always manage to find new things. What a bummer about London though; that’s always my favorite part of our trips since there is so much diversity there!
Ashley says
Wow that is so awesome you’ve been multiple times! I am definitely going to have to get myself back and see London 🙂
Cassie says
Ah, Europe is SO beautiful. I really want to visit Scotland right now!
GiGi Eats says
You went to England and Scotland at the right time! I went in Dec/Jan = NOT smart. Cold. Windy. Rainy. And everything was CLOSED! 🙁
Ashley says
Ah yikes that would have been such a bummer! We really lucked out on the weather. I was afraid it would be rather rainy most of the time, but really it was perfect temp and only a couple days of on and off rain. Guess you’ll have to go back in the summer next time 🙂