Salisbury and Stonehenge

One of the best parts of studying abroad through SUNY Brockport was the included excursions that took place. They set up a trip to Stonehenge and Salisbury for us towards the end of our trip. They even let Trevor join along for free even though he is not technically a student. I thought that this was the perfect day trip it took a few hours to get out to Salisbury. We got off the bus and had free time to walk around until around 3 or 4 p.m. giving us a lot of time to eat and look around. 

Salisbury was a small english town and is perfect if you looking to experience some culture. There is not too much to the town a popular place to visit is  Salisbury Cathedral. It is over 750 years old and has the tallest spire! There was also a market, bands, and a ton of shops to visit. 

Then after that we went to Stonehenge which is the rock formation. That was really neat! You could not get very close to the stones but it had a sense of mystery to it. We took a bunch a pictures, and had such a good time with all of my friends. If you don't want to pay a lot of people stop along side of the road and take pictures. So if you are on a budget I would say do that but if you go inside you get a thing that looks like a telephone that tells you all about the rocks. I would not spend more than a day visiting both places. Although it was worth the trip. 

Paris

Paris was the trip of a lifetime. I ended up going for my three week spring break during school with my friend Elise, and my mom, dad, and brother. One thing that made the trip was the place we stayed. It was literally almost across the street from the Louvre. The place we stayed felt like an apartment and had all of the furnishings of one. It was from this Web site called http://francetoyou.com the best part was it was about 116 dollars a night and had a full kitchen, a bedroom, and a pullout. It was in an apartment building with other permanent Parisian residents.

I thought that it was much more beautiful than London. On the other hand it didn’t feel nearly as safe. The French weren’t as rude as everyone said they would be but they got annoyed because we didn’t speak the same language.

We were  not there for very long, and I didn’t get the chance to explore the city that much but  I will give some hints.

1.     1. Do not take the bus from London to Paris. It was terrible hot, stuffy and let me tell you the bathroom had no light which meant complete darkness when you were going to the bathroom.

2.    2. The Louvre is a must, and would take days to explore.

3.    3.  Stay at one of the apartments through francetoyou.com, it is probably the cheapest and best way to go.

4.    4. Eat crepes and croque monsieur’s… mmm delicious

5.    5. Go to the Luxembourg Gardens

6.    6. Walk the stairs up the Eiffel Tower and if you are nervous about heights do not go to the very top. You will feel like you’re moving. It made me nervous. Very nervous I went down as quickly as I went up!

7.    7. Don’t get tricked by old men who tell you they found a gold ring. They will try to give it to you then ask for money it’s a scam!

8.    8. Drink lots of wine!!!

 

Northern Ireland

For the last two weeks in Europe my Trevor and I vacationed in Northern Ireland. I really didn't have high expectations because I had already been to Dublin but Trevor wanted to go so I followed along. We arrived in to Belfast which was much smaller than anticipated. We stayed in a horrible hostel. It was dirt cheap and looked like a 1970s throw back,  I wish I had taken pictures. But after we got settled it was actually a pretty nice city. I don't think I would go back but parts were very beautiful. We went up to Belfast Castle and it had a spectacular view of the city. A wedding was going on during the time we were there so we could not go in. But we met the cutest old man who had lived there all his life and walked up there everyday. It was funny we both were so out of breath after walking a long way up and he breezed right past us at eighty years old. 

We only spent one night there and traveled up to Ballycastle by bus except we took the long way and traveled down the coast. It was the best experience we met so many old timers who told us the in's and outs. We must have gone on the off season because for the whole time it seemed as though we were the only tourists. 

So I have a list of suggestions if you ever decide to go there on a college budget: 

1. Travel along the coast when taking the bus the long way is so beautiful 

2. Stay at Silvercliffs in Ballycastle - we rented an apartment for about 300 dollars for around a week maybe longer. It had two bedrooms and a kitchen and living room. Ballycastle is right in the center of everything you want to see in norther ireland. They also have an indoor pool with a water slide. 

3. Eat ice cream

4. Visit the Giants Causeway, Bushmills Whiskey Distilary, Carrick Rope Bridge - and you can buy a pass which will take you to a whole bunch of those places 

5. Rathlin Island - is an island that has I think under one hundred people living on it. It was so beautiful we took a ferry out and then biked the entire island which is about 12 miles. If you are not looking for a work out take the bus. But it was nice to stop and take pictures. 

oh I wish I could go back!! 

Future Travels

So Trevor and I are trying to decide where to take our next vacation to celebrate me graduating from college. There are a whole bunch of options but the problem is they are all so expensive. I don't think we are going to do Europe for a while so that is out of the question. Our other options that we both agree on are Alaska, Jamaica, Mexico hmmmm. Cruises are also pretty cheap. Its just so hard being a broke college student with a minimum wage job. Then on top of that I have to buy books on Sunday for all my classes coming up this semester. I have eight or nine months to save up for it though. 

I'm hoping for suggestions if any one has ever visited any of those places. 

The start of our adventures.

 Over a year ago now I left for a semester to travel see Europe and study abroad. I wanted to create somewhere my boyfriend and I could share travel tips and plan for any upcoming ones I might plan. 

Maybe I should introduce myself and my boyfriend a little bit. I went over to London like I said to study abroad, I was there for about six months overall.  I studied at Roehampton University in the South West of London and was a terrible place to study, it was the worst part of my trip. Although I did have a maid haha. woooo. anyway.  My boyfriend, Trevor ended up coming over in the beginning of April which was such a nice surprise because we did not plan on him coming over at all.  I hid him in my dorm room and we stayed there together for about two months. This was nice because it gave him a free place to stay. 

I don't think London would have been the first place I would have picked to travel in Europe but it by far by passed our expectations. I have so many fun memories. When I was trying to choose a university I got deceived because they told me Roehampton was right in the city. Well try - a twenty minute bus ride and twenty minute tube (subway) ride to anywhere exciting. I would have picked a different place if I had known that fact.  

Other than that I loved being a permanent tourist because I got to know the city well enough where I could find a ton of cool lesser known spots. Then at the same time we got to experience all of the touristy type of stuff. I definitely want to get more into that stuff later

We also traveled to Ireland and Northern Ireland, France, Whales, and more. Next we want to go backpacking and stuff like that.  I just have to say that we are addicted to traveling now that we have gotten a taste of it. ahh.  Trevor is also such  a great travel partner!

 

Oh yeah, I took both of the pictures above of the city center. The picture on the bottom was as we were walking along the River Thames in Westminster near Big Ben. The one on top is a picture of Oxford Circus when I went on one of those cheesy bus tours.