Friday Favorites: Places I've Traveled
This is one of my favorite posts to have put together.
Looking through photos and videos from my favorite trips has brought back so many amazing memories. How do I choose my favorite vacations when every one has been a dream? It’s going to be tough that’s for sure. If you can stick with me through what I’m sure is going to turn into a lengthy post, you’ll get some great travel inspiration I promise!
RV Trips Out West
For two summers, my family rented an RV out west and traveled for two weeks to tons of different National Parks and monuments. If I had to choose my favorite places we stopped I would say Glacier, Yellowstone, Zion and Bryce National Parks, the Grand Canyon, and the Antelope Canyon. You may think that this type of travel is not for you, we were nervous too, but it was some of the most fun we’ve ever had. Campfires each night, long drives with beautiful views, and little to no service keeps you detached from your everyday life and makes you enjoy your time on vacation.
Italy
How could this not be on the list?! My family decided to travel to Italy with a tour group. We were apprehensive at first. Would we have any time alone? Would we only be seeing things through the window of our bus? Traveling through this tour group was the best decision we could have ever made. We did not just sit on a bus all day, instead they had tickets for us to skip the lines at all major attractions so we were able to see all of the monuments with time to shop and explore on our own. We had so much fun and met so many great people that it was actually sad to leave! And we got to see much more of the country than we would have had we gone on our own. My favorite spots were Capri, the Amalfi Coast, Tuscany and Venice. Venice was exactly what I pictured and had this really different vibe. It felt like you traveled back in time almost, it’s hard to describe but it was my fav! When we visited Capri we took a small boat tour of different caves and grottos which was amazing, but I definitely want to go back and take the (scary) boat ride into the Blue Grotto! The food was better than anything I could have imagined. Everyone needs to go.
Paris
When my boyfriend, Mitchell, was studying abroad, we planned a really amazing trip for me to visit him. I’m breaking it up by place in case you’re more interested in one place over the other, but our trip started in Paris, then moved on to London where he was studying, and ended in Ireland. Paris is very high up there on the list of places I’ve traveled. I dont know if it’s the fashion addict in me or what, but everything about Paris made my heart happy. The architecture, the stores, the street style, the food. Everything exceeded my expectations. We rented an Airbnb with a great view of the Eiffel Tower which was perfect for the few days we were there. Our first night we walked the Champs-Élysées down to the Arc De Triomphe. We climbed to the top and got an amazing view of the city at sunset. We stopped for macarons at Lauderee, then found a small restaurant for dinner. I highly recommend finding a place with aligot on the menu. It is basically cheesy mashed potatoes and it is SO good. The next day we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, checked out the Louvre, visited the Palais Royal. Use the website getyourguide.com to get skip the line tickets for major attractions, it saves so much time. Finally, we did Notre Dame and the Montmarte neighborhood around it on our final day and found a shopping center with the coolest Christmas decorations.
London
Next up London. I did all of the major sightseeing, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London and Tower Bridge. It was all so beautiful. Although what made London really great was that my boyfriend had been living there for a few months so when I went, I got to see London from the perspective of someone who lived there and not necessarily from the perspective of a tourist. But my absolute favorite thing about my trip to London was high tea at Harrods. As we all know, I’m obsessed with tea, so this was a dream come true. They had the most delicious treats and so many teas to choose from. It was so much fun. Then in the food court of Harrods I went to the Tea Tailor. They make a custom tea just for you based on questions they ask you about when you drink tea, why you drink it, what kinds you like etc. It was so cool. Some other places to visit that I liked are Peggy Porschen Cakes (the cutest cupcake shop I’ve ever seen), Borough Market, The Natural History Museum (the coolest architecture ever), and The London Eye. I am also OBSESSED with Harry Potter so we went to the studio tour and it was so much fun. I was in awe of getting to see everything in person.
Ireland
I had been to Ireland once before when I was eight so I was really excited about the opportunity to go back because I definitely didn’t appreciate it at that age. My biggest regret was that I chickened out of kissing the Blarney Stone the first time I was there. So we flew into Cork, rented a car, and drove to the Blarney Castle. I was so excited to check this off my bucket list! But the best part of this trip was hands down a surprise that Mitchell had planned. From the Blarney Castle, he took me to another castle, the Ballyseede Castle, which was where we were staying for the night! I had no idea we were living in a castle for the day. It was decorated for Christmas which is my favorite and made it even better. We had an amazing five course meal, they had dvd’s you could watch in your room, tea and scones in one of the living rooms, and everything felt elegant and honestly magical. I was so in awe the whole time we were there. It was the coolest experience ever and I was so surprised and excited. From there we went to the Cliffs of Moher and then made our way to Galway for the night. Our final stop was Dublin where we did the Guinness Factory Tour and explored the city a bit. I would definitely recommend renting a car. It takes a minute to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road, but once you do it makes the traveling that much easier since all of the major cities aren’t close together.
Greece
Last one I swear! Greece was my most recent trip and, again, incredible. We started on the island of Keffalonia, a really small island that my great grandfather was from. We rented a villa there for three days. The island was a great, relaxing way to start our vacation because it is not at all touristy, most people don’t even know about it. Some great spots there were Sami, Melissani Cave, Drogarati Cave, and Fiskardo. Next we made our way to Athens to start a seven day tour with Trafalgar. Again, they do a great job with tours getting us skip the line access and great activities you wouldn't know to do otherwise. The Acropolis was incredible in person. We saw the original grounds for the Olympics, tons of different ruins and then to one of our favorite stops, Meteora. Meteora is a huge rock formation with monasteries built on top. The scenery was stunning, like nothing I’d ever seen. I would highly recommend stopping here. After our tour, we went to Santorini on our own for three days. We rented a place on our own again and were the first people to ever stay there so we were nervous about what it would be like. It was incredible! It was right on the coast overlooking the water. They were so excited to have us that they gave us menu cards to fill out so they could bring breakfast to our terrace each morning. We got around the island by renting ATV’s which was so. much. fun! Oía is home to the classic blue dome buildings that you see online so it was beautiful seeing them in person. The last thing we did was a sunset catamaran ride which was a great end to our trip
Okay so good for you if you stuck with me through all that! I’m so lucky to have traveled so much and I hope this helps you decide where you want to go.
What’s been your favorite vacation?
