If you’re my friend on Facebook, you’ve seen me spouting the news (bragging?) we are going to Ireland and England this fall!
I. Am. So. Excited.
Just because I can’t stop thinking about this lovely adventure we are going to go on, (not only because I am excited but also because I am a PLANNER. Like to the death of me.) I thought it would be fun to do a series on our trip. I’m sure these posts will be a lot more thrilling once I am writing ABOUT the trip – but I thought I’d give an inside scoop into how I am planning this crazy adventure as well. As this is our first vacation with Collins I am being extra thorough, making sure I have all of the bases covered and have everything figured out. After this International excursion any future trips will be a piece of cake! (Right? 😉 )
I will start by saying this vacation is definitely for me. Although I am sure somewhere deep down in Codee’s heart he is excited to explore the world with Collins and I, he hates planes (as someone who is 6’4″ they provide a lot of extra discomfort), hates spending a lot of money (vacationing ain’t cheap!), and really dislikes that I am using all of his days of vacation for 2016. Ha. But, it obviously doesn’t bother me enough to forget about the trip. Or bother him enough to tell me “no.” So off we will go! Don’t worry honey we will go snowboarding next year! 😉 Plus, Codee just NEEDS a vacation. We both do. We need a break from every day, stressful, busy life and I can’t wait to get two full weeks away from all that. Hallelujah.
W H YÂ I R E L A N D
This whole idea started when my best friend moved to Ireland so that her husband could attend Med School in Dublin. Hannah is the most adventurous, kind-hearted, and upbeat person I know. This opportunity just screamed “HANNAH” all over it – I can easily picture her making friends with people on the subway (do they have subways there Hannah?) or exploring the city and countryside, having the time of her life. I am so happy that they are able to live abroad together – what an exciting start they have had to their marriage!
On top of that they just added a new little baby boy to the mix and when we visit it will be my first time meeting him. Oh how I can’t wait to squeeze him! He is 6 months younger than Collins – I’m sure they will have great fun together! 🙂
I stole some of their personal insta pics as proof of their absolute Irish adorable-ness.
W H YÂ E N G L A N D
Traveling abroad is not cheap! Nearly half of the cost of our trip is spent on flights just to get us there and back! Also, it takes a significant amount of time to get over there, so if you have the opportunity, and the time – cram in as much sight-seeing as you can! We are spending a week in Ireland and a week in England. There were of course many other countries I could have chosen in addition to Ireland, but England was high up on my bucket list and it is particularly easy (quick), and cheap, to get there from Ireland. Plus, they speak English – this is Codee’s first time abroad, in addition to all the travel I didn’t think he would enjoy the added confusion (sometimes stress and frustration) of having to communicate with others that speak another language. This is a smoother transition. One that will hopefully allow me to drag him over there again within the next 10 (maybe, please, 5?) years. Haha. Plus, who doesn’t want to explore the English countryside?!
O U RÂ R O U T E
So when you have two entire countries to explore, how do you figure out where to go?! And what to see?! I’ll be honest, it wasn’t easy. I took to pinterest, travel websites/blogs, and talking with Hannah (luckily she and Kyle have seen nearly every county in Ireland!) to decide what our trip itinerary would consist of. And here is how I broke it down:
- Figure out what you want to see.
- Find a centerpoint or a midpoint between sites to use as a base for lodging.
- Map out where you will begin your journey and end it, then create a path that touches all the sites between the starting and ending locations.
- Pace yourself! I am definitely an over planner, just out of habit, but I do realize the value in just going with the flow. And not overloading yourself with a checklist of to do items. You are on vacation! Enjoy what you do get to see and if you miss out on something due to lack of time, hopefully it was time well spent in another destination.
This is our route for Ireland – it pinpoints some cities we will tour and explore as well as some specific locations we will visit that were between our “stopping points.” If you have a week in Ireland I think this gives you a pretty great route and view of a lot of major sites and attractions. We will spend 2 days in Dublin, 2 in Cork, 1 in Killarney, and 1 in Galway.
And our route for England. Again, if you have a week in England, I am hoping this route will give us a little bit of everything the UK has to offer. Big city London, history rich York and Bath, the coastline of Canterbury and Dover, and the small hillside towns like Bibury and Windsor. Originally, I tried to squeeze Liverpool in there as well, but it is so far away from everything else, I couldn’t justify adding it into our short week there. So, I went with York over Liverpool – I don’t think I’ll regret that decision. CAN’T. WAIT! We will have 2 days in York, 3 in London (including day trip to Canterbury/Dover), 1 in Oxford, and 1 in Bath.
When we first began planning, we weren’t quite sure how much time we would get with Hannah and her family, as we had to work around Kyle’s school schedule as well. Turns out they will be joining us on half of our trip! Which I am just so, SO excited about. Traveling the world with your best friend? What could be better?! As I think about all the things we get to see and do on this trip, I nearly  pin down what I think will be my favorite part, just to think of another item or place on our itinerary and get gitty about that. I guess I’ll have to weigh in after our trip and let you know! Here are some images of the things we will get to see!
I, of course, will have a million and one photos to share once we are back State side (yeah, I can say that because I’m a world traveler and everything.. ;)). I’ll try my best to make them look as glorious as the professionals who took these 😉 #drool
P R E P A R A T I O N
Other than figuring out the itinerary, navigating what to bring on a two-week trip abroad was one of the biggest tasks I had to tackle. I have been abroad by myself for that long, but traveling with a baby? Well, heck I don’t know how to do that! So again, I read. And researched. And asked friends and family. The most concerning part of packing for me, was trying to ensure as best I could that Collins would be entertained during the flight. But you can only carry so much on a plane. Which is okay because you only want to lug around so much!
d i s t r a c t i o n s, d i s t r a c t i o n s, d i s t r a c t i o n s
Toys have never been super distracting to Collins – food is way more enticing to her – but I decided to buy a few new, small things that she had never seen before to try and keep her occupied during the flight.
I invested in some kid sized headphones so that she could play games or watch short shows on our iPad/iPhones (thinking more on the subject she is a lot more distracted by the screen and what it displays, over the sounds it makes – I honestly don’t see her using these a ton on this trip, but being a new “thing” it will offer some distraction, and she will use them in the future I’m sure).
We also got window clings (I see this being a favorite), wiki sticks, and several activity books (Crayola Color Wonder Markers so they only draw on the special paper, stickers, and triangular shaped crayons so the don’t constantly roll off of the seat tray – they are not immune to toddlers tossing them on the ground though sadly). And lastly, she has been playing with our Easter egg stash a lot lately so I’ll throw some of those in the bag with little treasures inside for her to play with. All of these items were less than $5 each!
t h e [p e r f e c t] d i a p e r b a g
Other than the everyday essentials (diapers, wipes, cream, binkies, and sippy cup), I’m including some emergency items like a thermometer, Tylenol, ibuprofen, Benadryl, band-aids, and wet wipes. Then the rest of the bag is devoted to snacks. One perk of having a baby on a plane is that you are allowed to bring food! Our flight times on the way there fall in the lunch and dinner zones, so if we don’t eat during our layover I’ll have some sandwiches packed for us to eat on the plane. I tried to think of easy finger foods to pack that would last a couple days (not just during our flight) and that were essentially mess free.
(Not all shown) Cheese sticks, cheese-its, food pouches, animal cookies, raisins, m&m’s, mini oreos, apple slices, and lollipops (good for take off/landing since it gives her something to suck on – not so good for keeping fingers in a non-sticky state).
t h e s t u f f t o g e t y o u t h r o u g h
We aren’t bringing a stroller with us as Hannah and I will share the one she has while we are there, but I did invest in a nice baby carrier that would be comfortable for either Codee or I to wear. Collins is literally everywhere, and so fast right now. We will have to keep her strapped to us, held by the hand, or buckled in a stroller the entire time. Sorry baby girl, you have to stay by Mommy and Daddy!
We are however, bringing our own carseat so that we don’t have to rent one with our car rental (plus, the airline carries these for free!), so I bought a caddy that attaches to the carseat so it could act as a stroller while we are in the airport. Having her strapped in, and wheeling her around with our luggage will surely be much easier than carrying her, our bags, and a carseat! Even if we have to carry her through the airport, we can throw one of our suitcases in the carseat and wheel both at the same time.
All in all, no matter how prepared I try to make us, I know unexpected things will happen. Or other items may have ended up being helpful or needed. I think we’ve got a good start though, and hopefully this post will help some of you traveling mama’s! If nothing else, it will give you the travel bug. Which isn’t fun, unless you can actually cure it by traveling. So yeah, sorry about that. 😉
Can’t wait to share our adventures with you when we return! I’m sure I’ll have some stories to share at that point which I’m ready to laugh at, if at the time they were not so funny…live and learn!
Thanks for reading! Until next time!
Lots of Love, Katie
wildly widler 