We just got back from a 17 day trip to the UK.  We had a great time, but there were some things that worked really well, and some things that we would have done differently.  Here’s what we did:

Day 1: arrive in London

Day 2: explore London — King’s Cross, Hamley’s, Buckingham Palace, figure out the buses

Day 3: explore London — changing of the guard, play in St. James’ park, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey (exterior only), Tower Bridge

Day 4: train to Oxford, drive to Sherborne, through the Cotswolds, sleep in Stratford-upon-Avon

Day 5: drive to the Lake District

Day 6: explore the Lake District, mostly on foot; hike part of Catbells, have tea

Day 7: explore the Lake District with a “car hike”, play in Lake Buttermere (we had more planned, but this was the day of the flat tire)

Day 8: drive to Lockerbie (was supposed to be, “drive to Oban”, but B got sick, so we bailed and cut out that long drive)

Day 9: drive to Edinburgh (was supposed to be, “drive from Fort William to Mallaig, then drive to Edinburgh”)

Day 10: explore Edinburgh, visit the castle and the ER (not planned!)

Day 11: drive back to England (east coast), visit Alnwick Castle (aka Hogwarts from Harry Potter)

Day 12: drive through the Moors, visit Goathland Station (aka Hogsmeade from Harry Potter), stay in York

Day 13: drive to London, fly to Belfast, drive to Dublin

Day 14: explore Dublin

Day 15: drive to Antrim Coast by way of Belfast

Day 16: explore Antrim Coast and visit the Giant’s Causeway

Day 17: fly home

I’m tired just typing that out (and pretty impressed that I remembered it without having to look it up).

Mostly, the trip was an amazing success.  We saw a little bit of England, Scotland and Ireland (both parts).  The kids were happy, resilient, and enjoyed most of the trip.  Even having two vomiting children (though not at the same time) didn’t take us far off of our schedule and didn’t come close to spoiling the trip (although I did end up having to visit a laundromat in Dublin, which I hadn’t planned on).

London went well.  We saw a lot, but only saw a little of each place — we didn’t try to go inside of any of the major sights, just visited the outsides.  We went to a few parks, as well, and made sure to stop at the largest toy shop in Britain for some fun for the kids.  And we ate a lot of ice cream.  I think London would have been a lot harder if we’d had bad weather, but we got really lucky.  Even so, I think we probably did too much in too little time (a theme for the trip, really).  Also, London wasn’t too much of a novelty for my kids, because they’re used to riding buses, subways, etc., here in Vienna, which otherwise might have been fun in itself.

Taking the train to Oxford meant we didn’t have to drive in London.  (And by “we”, I mean Dan.  I didn’t drive at all.)  The trip to Sherborne was fun (my mom went to school there) and gave us our best taste of the English farm countryside.  I wish we had spent the night in that area.  The Cotswolds were very pretty, but SO touristy (and we didn’t even go to the villages that were apparently the MOST touristy).  We stopped in Stow-on-the-Wold, and had planned a stop in Chipping Camden, which we scrapped because the kids were fed up with being in the car at that point.  I do wish we’d seen more of that area, just so we would have a better sense of it.

The Lake District was one of my favorite parts of the trip.  Up to that point, it was my favorite place I had ever visited.  The place we stayed — Littletown Farm Guest House — is my most favorite place I’ve ever stayed.  The hosts were friendly, accommodating and warm, the house was lovely, comfortable, cozy and very clean, the area was stunningly beautiful and very accessible.  I loved it, Dan loved it, the kids loved it.  The boys had lots of room to run and play, (and playmates!) which was so welcome after the constant “hold my hand while we walk down this busy street” of London and all the confinement in the car.  We didn’t explore as much of the Lake District as I’d intended (due to a flat tire halfway through our second day) but what we saw was just fantastic.  And the meal we had at the Bridge Inn in Buttermere was probably the best one of the whole trip.  It was a truly lovely part of the trip.  The only thing I would have changed is that I would have stayed longer.

Then B got sick, and our Scotland plan got rerouted.  Our day in Lockerbie was unremarkable, but we really did enjoy Edinburgh.  It was a bit of a challenge to find a place to eat, though — most pubs don’t allow children, even if the parents are eating, so we simply couldn’t go to a lot of places.  (We actually managed to find two of our favorite restaurants on the whole trip in Edinburgh — The Elephant House and Piemaker — it just took a little more work to find them.)

Another real highlight was our drive down from Edinburgh to Northumberland and our visit to Alnwick Castle.  The scenery was unexpectedly stunning — we had a view of the sea almost the entire time.  It was fun for me to see the castle (Hogwarts!) but even better to watch the kids really enjoy it.  The castle in Edinburgh was interesting, forbidding and steeped in history, but the castle at Alnwick was tons of fun (and full of history, too).  This is where B & I took our broomstick flying lesson and where the boys played at being knights fighting dragons.  And the whole area was just gorgeous.

By the time we headed down to York, Liam was sick, and we were all getting a bit weary.  In fact, after my poorly planned, 11 hour day of travel from York to London to Belfast to Dublin (and being treated, on our arrival, to a recurrence of Liam’s illness) I was kicking myself for not having flown straight from London to Vienna, and cut the vacation short.

We had an enjoyable evening in Dublin, and having been in the Republic of Ireland gave us an interesting counterpoint when we went to explore the north — especially our hour on the Falls Road, which is like a piece of the Republic of Ireland shipped north, and I don’t know that we would have appreciated that as much if we’d skipped Dublin altogether.

The very best piece of the trip, though, came last, in Northern Ireland.  I was just in love with the landscape.  (We didn’t have the wonderful guest house and hosts that we had in the Lake District, though.)  Our first evening in Portrush was fun for the whole family, with some exploring, some playground time and ice cream, but by the second day, the kids were burnt out on all the travel and just wanted to stay in the car.  I don’t blame them.  It was a BIG trip, and they were troopers, throughout.

In fact, although my kids did brilliantly, and even managed to enjoy themselves for most of the trip, I think we asked too much of them.  We simply did too much.  Our plan included sleeping in 10 different cities over 16 nights — and 3 of those nights were in London.  We spent too much of our time packing and driving, and not nearly enough time relaxing.  If I had it to do again, I wouldn’t have planned for more than 2-3 places per week of travel, meaning no more than 6 cities, instead of 10.  In fact, I think we would have been best served to have picked 4 cities (London, Keswick, Edinburgh and Portrush) and done anything else we wanted to do from there as a day trip — it would have made the possibility of downtime so much easier.  And that’s another thing — we didn’t plan enough downtime, or enough unbounded time, either.  There was too much worry about checking out at a particular time, getting somewhere before dark, before they closed, etc.  The days we spent without a particular timetable were the most fun: the day spent at the lake in Buttermere, the day at Alnwick Castle (which we’d been on the fence about visiting in the first place), the first day in Portrush where we devoted an entire day to a 2 hour drive and just took our time.  I know better, but I didn’t plan enough time to relax.

I was too busy, too.  I like recording our travels, and keeping our friends and family up to date on what we’re doing, but I should have given myself a break.  I was up until midnight (or later) every night sending pictures, blogging, and posting to Facebook.  I was looking forward to getting to bed early a few nights, or spending the evening reading, and I didn’t do that — I should have made taking that time for myself more of a priority.  These things are fun for me, and kind of a hobby, but I also consider them a kind of obligation, and as such, I should have taken a break, since it was vacation!

But, these are the lessons learned.  We had a WONDERFUL trip.  As always, I’m impressed and amazed by my kids — by how flexible they are, but how enthusiastic they are, and about what good sports they are.  We all loved England and Ireland, and what we saw of Scotland (I really wish we’d seen more — next time).  And there will be a next time, no question.  I’ve discovered my new favorite vacation destination.  (And next time, I’ll have a different plan.)

Yesterday, I fell in love with Northern Ireland, and today it got even better. Portrush is beautiful, stunning and wild. But it’s also quite touristy, which isn’t really my thing.  Today, we ventured beyond Portush, along the coast, and through the glens, to discover even more of beautiful Northern Ireland.

After exploring more of the gorgeous Portrush coast, we drove east along the cliffs. We first came upon Dunluce Castle, which started dissolving back into the ocean hundreds of years ago, as it stands right at the edge of the cliffs overlooking the sea. It looks so much a part of the landscape that at first, I didn’t see it as anything but a pile of rocks. I would move in tomorrow.

We drove from there along to the Giant’s Causeway, which we loved and the kids hated (too much walking, too much wind, too cold — at this point, I think just too much vacation). I thought the story of the giant who created it (wink, wink) would interest them, but it only kept B’s attention for about 3 minutes. Nevertheless, a really gorgeous place.

As we drove along the coast further east, we found our next house (it’s actually for sale, so I’m only partly kidding). I can’t come up with enough different ways to say beautiful, stunning, ocean, sea, cliffs. But all of it, together with the rolling farmland that extends right to the cliffs’ edge, come together to make something so lovely and wild that I never expected to see anything like it. I also never expected to be jealous of a cow, but many of them have the most beautiful seaside, clifftop views.

We continued along and drove through the glens, which were very beautiful in a different, mountain and valley kind of way — a lot like the Lake District in England, except all in shades of green and with a lot more trees.

It is all so beautiful. I feel so connected with the landscape. I am so sad to be leaving.

We drove up from Dublin today for our first of two days in Northern Ireland. Our first stop was Belfast, specifically the Falls Road, where my grandmother grew up. I’m not sure exactly where on the road she lived, but I wanted to go and check it out. I’m glad we went. It was interesting to see the strong politics there and how they’re demonstrated (flying Irish flags, the only place we’ve seen in Northern Ireland with Irish writing on the street signs) and it felt good to “visit” with my grandmother while here on this trip that makes me think of her so much.

And then we drove on to Portrush, on the Antrim Coast. When we came over the crest of the hill and saw the rocky costline and the wild sea, all I could say for several moments was, “Wow.” It is amazingly beautiful and rugged and wild. I have never fallen so instantly in love with a place. I would move here tomorrow and live here forever.

We checked into our hostel (our first hostel ever) and walked down to the point of land that sticks out into the Irish Sea. There’s a path and a small playground, and the wind is whipping and the ocean crashes all around. It’s like the edge of the world — but it’s green.

The boys played and ran around while the waves crashed and sent the sea spray up into the air and then down on to all of us as mist. Liam loved it — the wind tangled his hair and he just ran. B wanted to go swimming (um, no) and then hid in the stroller to get away from the wind, but then wanted ice cream.

I love it here. I’ve said that before about other places, but this place feels different. It isn’t idyllic or perfect. A lot of people wouldn’t like it at all. But it speaks to me. I find it beautiful and very centering. It’s not that I like it here more than the other places I’ve been and loved, but this satisfies something different in me. Those other places are wonderful, and I want to go back. But this feels like finding a place I’ve been looking for all along and never thought I’d find.

I am so happy to be here, and so excited to see what we discover tomorrow.

So, we’re in Dublin. We’ve been here over 24 hours, but we haven’t really done or seen very much Dublin-y stuff.

This morning, we were all set to head out to run a few errands and find a playground, ahead of a trip downtown. But, as Dan was getting his shoes on, Liam fell asleep. So, Dan took B to go and play while I curled up with Liam. Two hours later, they came back, and as we were preparing to go get lunch, we looked over and both kids were sleeping.

We finally all got out of the room just before 5, to go do some laundry and get a few groceries. (This is the exciting life I lead.)

Mostly, today was about resting and recovering. My back is feeling a bit better, and neither of our kids threw up today. That’s an improvement.

This evening, we finally got out to get dinner. All of the street signs are written in Irish, which presents an interesting challenge, and we accidentally found ourselves driving down a narrow street full of intoxicated Irish bar patrons who didn’t seem particularly interested in making way for our car. So that was a bit of an adventure.

Other than that though, today was one of those days (I have them often) that could have happened anywhere. Naps, laundry, grocery shopping and playgrounds are pretty universal. Today was just me being a mom, Dan being a dad, and the boys being kids — Ireland or not.

Yay!!!! We’re in Ireland!!! I have always wanted to be here and I’m so excited that we’re here.

But . . .

Thanks to some very poor planning on my part, we had an intense 11 hour day of travel. I’m usually really good at planning these kinds of things, but I messed up this time. We drove down from York to London (about 3 hours), flew to Belfast (just 1 hour in flight), and drove to Dublib (about 2 hours). Each piece was no big deal, but somehow I failed to consider that all of these things were going to happen on the same day, and that with the extra time needed at the airport, plus dropping off and then picking up a rental car, it would make for 11 hours between leaving our hotel this morning and arriving at our new one tonight. All I can say is that my kids are amazingly patient and willing to have put up with Mommy’s crazy schedule today.

On top of that, I threw my back out yesterday and Liam threw up again within an hour of our arrival here, so this is not my most favorite vacation day ever.

But tomorrow we will rest, and feel better, and enjoy Ireland. And hopefully we won’t have to get in the car at all.

Liam has Benjamin’s illness from last week — he woke us all up at 3:30 this morning to show us. My poor guys. Vacation is fun, but it’s hard to be travelling so much, and it’s even harder to be sick while you’re doing it.

Nothing bonds you as a family like waking up in the night to take care of each other, though. When your baby is sick and miserable, everything else suddenly seems unimportant. And B, who woke up while we were getting Liam cleaned up, reassured Liam with lots of good advice like, “You’ll feel better soon, Liam” and “It’s ok, we’ll get you all cleaned up” and then he offered Liam his own red sword to help him feel better. (He is the best big brother.)

Times like that, I realize a few things. First, however insecure and clueless I feel as a parent, I must be doing something right to have kids who talk to each other that way (I’m not taking credit — maybe they came pre-programmed that way — but at least I haven’t ruined them yet). Second, I am so grateful for my children’s health — this is a short, tiny blip on an otherwise intensely healthy period. And third, in the midst of vomiting children, sleeping on towels and doing very gross laundry in hotel room sinks, there is nowhere I would rather be than right there with my boys. I love being with my kids, caring for them, more than any other thing I can imagine doing.

By mid-afternoon, Liam was back to his chipper, hungry self. Hopefully we will all stay well for the last bit of our trip.

In the Harry Potter movies, pieces of lots of different places (castles, cathedrals, universities — plus a good bit of CGI) were used to depict Hogwarts Castle. So, there isn’t really a single place you can go to visit.

Today, though, we went to Alnwick Castle, which was used for a lot of the exterior shots in the first two movies. Honestly, we went mostly because I wanted to see “Hogwarts”, but we ended up having a fantastic time for entirely other reasons, too.

We arrived just in time for B and I to take part in the daily broomstick flying lesson (an homage to a part of the movie filmed there). It was silly, but really fun, and B and I enjoyed doing it together (Liam joined in for small portions). After that, we wandered around for a bit before coming to the knights and dragons section, specifically for little kids. (They also have some kind of tour not appropriate for little ones, so we skipped it.)

Benjin and Liam used the foam swords we purchased in the gift shop to slay a dragon. (We gave them the titles Brave Sir Benjin and Liam the Wise for their relative tendencies to charge in or hang back.) We had sword practice, got dressed in appropriate attire, made shields, played chess and galloped around on horseback (not a real horse — Daddy was being equine). The boys had a great time, and so did we. (I would call it a not-to-be-missed attraction for kids in northeastern England.)

By the time we headed to our hotel for the night, the boys were tired and happy.

(Another highlight from our day was the drive down from Edinburgh. We came down along the coast and got to see some spectacular views on our journey.)

We had another great day at a beautiful castle (and no ER visit this time!). Although, in retrospect, buying them swords and then telling them not to use them on each other may not have been the wisest plan ever.