Travels in Ireland, Scotland, and London

Once upon a time, when international travel (actually, any sort of travel) was still a thing people could do, I took a trip to Ireland, Scotland, and London. I never got around to blogging any of my photographs, because I was seven months pregnant during the trip. So when I got home, the next couple months were final weddings, final edits, and prepping the nursery! Now that I have some down time, and let’s be honest, am living vicariously through my own past travels, I thought I would post some photos!

Everyone told us that we would probably like Scotland more than Ireland, and they were so right! Don’t get me wrong, Ireland is still amazing. But there was just something about the wild beauty of Scotland and the wide open spaces that was so magical.

We started in Cork, Ireland, where we stayed at the CUTEST B&B, Anam Cara. The owners were so sweet and chatted with us about their town, and they cooked a delicious breakfast each morning. We visited the Blarney Castle, and of course, kissed the Blarney Stone. (I was grossed out by that at the time, but now I’m happy that I did it, because with covid, who even knows if you will ever be allowed to do that again!)

As always, let me know if you would like me to add any of these photos to my PRINT SHOP for purchase!

Killarney National Park (could there be a more Irish name?) was a nice walk, with beautiful greenhouses, a lake, and mountain views. That night we went to Oliver Plunketts, which was hilariously touristy, but also a great dinner and a fun dance performance. I’m sure if anyone is from Cork, they would be rolling their eyes that we went there, much like I would do if someone came to Charleston and went to Bubba Gumps :)

Ahh the Cliffs of Moher. This was one of my bucket-list items in Ireland. They were stunning. But I will say, I’m happy I saw these before the cliffs in Scotland. Probably an unpopular opinion, but I thought the cliffs in Scotland were way prettier! Nevertheless, I’m so happy that I was able to go to the Cliffs of Moher. We saw an elopement happening while we were there, and of course being the wedding photographer that I am, had to stand at a distance and watch :)

Scotland

Oh Scotland, how I loved thee. I wasn’t very excited about Edinburgh, as I was looking forward more to the rural parts of Scotland. But I ended up LOVING Edinburgh. It’s so charming! All the streets are cobblestone and the buildings are stone, like this one below. You can totally see how they based the architecture in the Harry Potter movies on Edinburgh. We walked up Calton Hill, where we got an amazing view of the city. We went to a restaurant called “Under the Stairs” for dinner, and it literally was under the stairs. It came highly recommended from a friend, and I would pass along the recommendation!

On our drive to Oban, we stopped in Killin, because we had to see the Loch Tay :) From there we went to Fearnoch for two “hikes,” which were more like walks. I wasn’t complaining, since I was 6 months pregnant :)

Our view from our Oban Airbnb. It was called Distillers Den, which made sense because it was right next to the Oban Distillery. We took the tour, which I would highly recommend! Our host was from Belgium, and spoke English with an Irish accent.

The hike to Steall Waterfall. This was not a joke when you’re 6 months pregnant, and I was getting pretty sick of the hike. But as soon as we rounded the corner and saw this, it was worth it!

The drive from Steall Waterfall to Isle of Sky was incredibly gorgeous. Once in Portree, we went to the Neist lighthouse, which had amazing water views. And sheep! After that we went to Quiraing, which is another incredible walk along the cliffs. Here is where I was glad that we saw the Cliffs of Moher first, because Quiraing was incredible!

We took a Bella Jane boat tour to an uninhabited island. On the way back, the wind picked up and we thought we might end up like Gilligan and his crew on Gilligan’s Island. Thankfully we made it back safely to tell the tale!

We were only in London for 28 hours, but we had so much fun! We stayed with one of my friends from college, who now lives in London with his wife. Since we were there for such a short amount of time, we just did all the touristy things like go to Westminster Abbey (this was amazing, and totally worth the entrance fee!), Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, etc. But now I can officially say I’ve been to London!