48 Hours in Edinburgh

Last month myself and Kevin spent a weekend in Edinburgh. It was our first time visiting Scotland and Edinburgh has always been on our travel bucket list.

How to Get There

We flew with Aer Lingus Regional (yes the propeller fellas!) from Cork to Edinburgh. I was a little anxious when we first sat in the plane as it's tiny but once we were settled I was fine so don't let that put you off! The flight left at about 7pm on Friday and took about an hour and a half. We got a late flight home on Sunday at around 9.30pm.

When we arrived in the airport we got the Airlink Bus to Princes St which was really cheap.

Where to Stay

After staying in an apartment in New York we decided to do the same in Edinburgh. We stayed in Fountain Court Braid on Thistle St which was a great location. It worked out around the same price as hotels for the 2 nights and it was lovely.

What to Do

We decided to do the Hop on Hop off Bus Tour to see most of the city which you can prebook online here. This was great as Edinburgh is a small enough city so we were able to see lots of sights and get off wherever we wanted.

We visited Edinburgh Zoo and loved it! Although I have to say I've never seen so many hills in my life!!!! But the views are worth it once you reach the top. The highlight for us was seeing the Pandas. They were the CUTEST! Apparently they sleep most of the day so we were SO lucky to see them playing outside and eating their bamboo. The zoo also had Koalas which were adorable and the usual animals like tigers, zebras and monkeys. It's definitely worth a trip if you're in Edinburgh.

We visited Edinburgh Castle although we didn't go into it. We climbed up the hill to it and the views are fab. I have to say though we were a little underwhelmed when we reached the top but I think that's because we had seen the views gradually as we walked up. 

We also visited The Elephant House cafe where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. We also went to Tom Riddle's grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard which is where JK Rowling got the inspiration for Voldemort's character.

We did a bit of shopping on Princes St but to be honest they had most of the same shops that we had here. I did go to Superdrug and got some make up and got a few bits in Primark.

Since the weather was gorgeous while we were there, we went and got ice creams and sat in Princes St Gardens which was lovely to just chill out in whilst still being really close to the city centre.

We visited the Old Town of Edinburgh which was gorgeous. Lots of people playing the bagpipes and there was a great atmosphere around the place. We also popped into St Giles' Cathedral which was gorgeous inside.

We found the 2 days plenty in Edinburgh. We saw loads but weren't ran off our feet either. Hope you enjoyed reading this! Now it's time to start planning our next trip!

New York State of Mind

Hey guys!

It has been FOREVER since I last posted a blog post on here! I've been so busy lately and kinda lost my blogging mojo so hoping to get back into posting more regularly over the summer.

As some of you may know if you've been following my social media, myself and Kevin headed to New York back in March to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. It was our first time there and we absolutely LOVED it! I would absolutely 100% recommend it to anyone and we will most definitely go back there again. I decided to write a blog post giving you all the info on our trip - who we flew with, where we stayed, what we did etc.

How to Get There

We've been to America the past 5 years and have always flown from Dublin to clear immigration before arriving in the U.S. For this trip, we decided to fly from Cork via London Heathrow which meant we wouldn't clear immigration until we landed in JFK. Honestly, it was so much easier than travelling to Dublin. Last year in Dublin we spent almost 3 hours queueing in immigration and it was so bad that security were calling people for certain flights to skip the queue as their flight was about to leave. Doing immigration in New York was a breeeeeze! I expected long delays but we were through it and had our bags collected within half an hour. We flew with Aer Lingus to LHR and Virgin to JFK. This was our first time flying with Virgin and so far they're the best airline we've flown with - comfortable seats, friendly staff and really good food.

Where to Stay

We decided to get an apartment since we were going for a week. I wanted a serviced apartment to play it safe. These are basically apartments but with the same facilities as hotels e.g. housekeeping, reception etc. We stayed in Stay AKA Times Square and loved it. It was more expensive that other hotels but we wanted the extra space to chill out in the evenings and also since it was a special occasion we didn't mind spending a bit more. If we were to go back to New York, I would absolutely stay here again. The apartments were SO nice and just around the corner from Times Square. You can see our apartment tour vlog here. 

What to Do

We did the obvious tourist things to do while we were here since it was our first trip. We did the 9/11 and Ground Zero Tour which you can book here. We really enjoyed this tour and I'd definitely recommend taking a trip here - it's so surreal. 

The Occulus is also nearby which is definitely worth seeing - the architecture is amazing!

We also walked around the different avenues and streets of New York and visited the Rockefeller Center. We didn't do Top of the Rock but we did spend a bit of time in the area. 

We took a few trips to Central Park and managed to even get one day of snow there which was unbelievable. Central Park is huge but it's so gorgeous. We loved just strolling around there.

We decided in advance not to do Ellis Island but we did take the Staten Island ferry which is free and passes the Statue of Liberty. It takes about 25 minutes each way but is a nice way to see the Statue of Liberty without having to go to Ellis Island.

We also walked along Brooklyn Bridge which I highly recommend doing. We got the subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn and then walked along the Brooklyn Bridge back towards Manhattan. The views of the skyscrapers are unreal and the bridge itself is gorgeous. 

We did lots of shopping which we hadn't exactly planned on doing! We went to Jersey Gardens shopping mall which was about half an hour on the bus from Manhattan. The mall itself was only ok but I did get a great deal on bags in Michael Kors so it was worth it for that! We went to Macys on 34th St (where Miracle on 34th St was filmed), Century 21 (similar to TK Maxx), Apple (surprise surprise) and then the usual shops we have here like Zara and H&M. 

So that's it for this post! I absolutely LOVED New York and hopefully you enjoyed reading this post! Would love to know what other type of posts you'd like to read so I can start writing some more!

A Weekend in Munich

A couple of weeks ago, myself and Kevin jetted off to Munich for the weekend. It was our first time in Germany and we absolutely fell in love with Munich. The buildings and architecture were absolutely gorgeous and we really enjoyed just strolling around, wandering the beautiful streets. I decided to put together a quick little travel post on where we stayed, ate, visited etc.

How to Get There?

We flew with Are Lingus on an early Saturday morning flight and came back on a Monday. It was the first flight out of Cork so unfortunately, I don't think the future schedules fly on a Saturday.

Where to Stay?
We stayed in the Holiday Inn Munich City Centre and the location couldn't have been more ideal. There's steps from the hotel leading down to the underground train station so you don't even need to step outside to get on either the S-Bahn or U-Bahn (one stop to the city centre - Marienplatz). The hotel itself was absolutely gorgeous and we couldn't fault it.

What to Do?
Ok I need to first point out that we arrived on a Saturday, had that full day and a full day Sunday. BUT what we didn't know beforehand was that every single shop closes on Sundays. So we had left all of our shopping until the Sunday and we got a great shock to see that nowhere was open :P So if you are planning a trip there on a weekend, leave the sightseeing things until the Sunday as they're still open.

Frühlingsfest 

After searching Google for ages to find something that was open, we went and visited Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival) which was like a mini Oktoberfest. There was two big beer halls and lots of outdoor rides like mini rollercoasters, ferris wheel etc. It was a gorgeous day and I'm so happy we found it. I think this festival was only on the time of year that we went but it's worth Googling as they do a few different festivals and markets every so often.

Tierpark Hellabrun

We visited the Munich Zoo and loved it. There was a variety of animals but we were most looking forward to the ones we had never seen in other zoos e.g. bear, polar bears, wallaby etc. The weather was gorgeous so it was lovely to stroll around for the day.

Open Top Bus Tour
The first day we arrived, we did an Open Top Bus Tour which took us around to the various sites and landmarks Munich has to offer. We got off at the Olympic Tower and the English Gardens.

Olympic Tower
Olympiapark is an area in Munich where the Olympics were held years ago. They have lots of sports facilities and the 291m high Olympic Tower where you can go up and see the views of Munich. For only €7 it was definitely worth it and although I'm afraid of heights I actually didn't mind it too much.

English Gardens
This is one of the largest urban parks in the world. It has lots of pathways and grass areas which are perfect if you want to stroll around or have a picnic. We walked around it for a little while and came across these guys surfing on a really rapid part of the river - it was very cool!

Here's our vlogs from the trip.

 

A Weekend Break in Killarney

Hey guys!

I know it's been a while since my last blog post, I'm super busy at the moment with something that'll be revealed really soon! To take a break from the busyness of it all, myself and Kevin booked a last minute trip to Killarney in Kerry last weekend.

We stayed in The Holiday Inn as there wasn't much availability in Killarney that weekend. The hotel was about a 15 min walk from the town centre and because the weather was absolutely amazing that weekend, we were able to take in all the beautiful surroundings. We did a lot of strolling around just admiring the town and also paid a visit to the Killarney Outlet Centre as well as a few shops in the town.

We wanted to just relax and have a chilled weekend and that's exactly what we did. When we go away we always have something on or something to attend, so it was nice to just completely relax and unwind with no time schedules! We'll definitely be back.