Summertime Travel Update

If you remember a while back I told you all about how I’ve taken the summer off and was starting to make some plans, well now I've managed to find some great seat sales and turn those plans into a solid reality!

Originally I planned to visit Nova Scotia, go to Jasper for scuba diving and then do a road trip to Vancouver Island. Things have since changed and I will unfortunately not be seeing British Columbia again this year, instead I will be going back to EUROPE!!

Being able to say that and knowing that it isn’t just a hopeful plan makes me ecstatic and the entire summer is looking even more awesome! I won't pretend I'm not a little disappointed about missing BC again though.

I’ve now booked all my major flights and am starting to figure out the other details. Ryan and I fly to Halifax on July 12^th and stay until the 26^th. From there I will fly to London alone and Ryan will fly back to Edmonton since he doesn’t get the same time off as me. I do wish he was coming with me but I’m also very excited about the challenge of going alone. I’ll spend 2 weeks visiting 6 countries and then fly home to Edmonton on August 12^th.

Here is what the Euro trip is looking like so far:

I fly from Halifax to St John’s, Newfoundland and have an 11 hour layover. I know layovers, especially long ones, are not something most people enjoy but I have to say I’m very excited about this one! I have been wanting to visit Newfoundland for a long time and getting to spend a day exploring the capital city seems like a great little vacation inside of my other trips! And to make it even better it’s a layover and therefore at no extra cost to me. I’m still deciding what all I can fit into my 11 hours but you will hear all about it when the time comes!

From St John’s I fly to London, Midnight to 8:30am. Fingers crossed I can exhaust myself on the layover, sleep like a baby on the plane and arrive in London with no jetlag and feeling ready for an adventure!

I don’t want to immediately hop on another plane or train so I will be spending my first day and night in London. No plans yet on how I will fill that day.

Early in the morning on day 2 I’m planning to take the Eurostar train to Paris where I will spend one more day and night. Notre Dame and the Catacombs are the top of my list for visiting.

In case you're wondering, I’ve been to London and Paris already so I don’t want to give much of my trip to these cities. That being said I also know they will give me a bit of comfort having already been there and therefore help ease me into the trip without too much shock.

Unfortunately for me, I’ve chosen to visit a lot of cities that aren’t that close to one another so I’ll be doing a lot of flying and very little train-taking.

Day 3, 4 and 5 will be spent in Barcelona! I had hoped to visit Spain, Portugal and Ireland on my previous trip but time wouldn’t allow since they are all a bit more out of the way. I’m not sure what I want to see in Barcelona yet but I’m sure I’ll find plenty.

6, 7 and 8 will take me around Lisbon and Sintra. For quite some time now I’ve unknowingly been fascinated with an image I saw on Pinterest and it turns out to be in Sintra, I’m super excited to see it in person.

 

Photo: Pinterest

The Amalfi Coast in Italy will take me from day 9-12 and I’m hoping to cover a lot of ground; Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano and Capri. Maybe even back to Pompeii if I have time. I'm also considering hiking up Mount Vesuvius.

Photo: Pinterest

And finally, 4 days in Dublin, Ireland. Though I’m really looking forward to everywhere I’ll be visiting, I’m especially excited for Ireland. Outside Dublin I’m planning to do a day tour to the Giants Causeway and hopefully find my way to the Cliffs of Moher as well.

Photo: Pinterest

When the adventure ends I’ll be flying from Dublin back to St John’s for a 4 hour layover, Halifax for a 3 hour layover and then finally home to Edmonton.

Once I get back home my only other plans are to spend a few days in Jasper getting my open water scuba diving certification. But now that I’ve been thinking about it I may also complete my theory training sooner and do my open water dives on one of the trips. I imagine diving in Portugal would be pretty amazing.

And that’s it! I’ve planned a super jam packed summer and I can’t wait for it to start! If anyone has suggestions for any of the places I’ll be visiting, please let me know!