Tag: travel

London Calling

I’ve been lucky enough to visit London four times over the past 26 years. I wanted to put together things I can remember visiting… this isn’t a best of list, just some thoughts.

If you’ve never seen them, Big Ben, The Tower, London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, etc., are things you could knock out pretty quickly. I am a sucker for overpriced tickets for seeing a city, so you could always visit The Shard! As a general statement… get Indian food and sushi, and clichés like fish and chips and a traditional pub. I’ve wanted to try really traditional places like F. Cooke. Some random things were meaningful to me… seeing the old home of BBC Television and their coffee shops, cafés, etc., and finding an old Police Call Box at Earl’s Court Police Box (can you tell I like Doctor Who and other shows on The Beeb?).

  • Art
  • Shopping
    • Selfridges: I became a little obsessed with Selfridges while staying at an Airbnb in Mayfair. I love the mix of 1909 architecture and contemporary styling. I found myself trying a bunch of vendors in the food court area, though many have changed since my visit (there’s now a sushi conveyor belt!?). I haven’t been to Harrods, but maybe next time!
    • Portobello Road: I love dipping in and out of the shops in Notting Hill and visiting the street vendors.
  • Food
    • Market Thai: Honestly, I mostly remember the well-decorated interior. Mostly, I’m impressed it’s still open since I first visited in 1999! Though I just learned it opened the year before my visit.
    • Goodman Mayfair: Steak spot with a few locations in the city.
    • The Gate: A vegan café with several locations; I visited Hammersmith.
    • Nando’s: I understand the obsession!
    • Random: Honestly, I miss popping into a Sainsbury, Gregg’s, or M&S and grabbing an actually edible sandwich (<3 you all day breakfast sandwich)
  • Pubs
    • Iron Duke: It’s funny, you pop into a place and then learn it was first licensed in 1736, and the current version started in 1866.
    • White Hart: I didn’t make it in, but I snapped a photo of the inspiration behind the name of one of my (now closed) favorite bars in my hometown. It also claims to be “The Oldest Licensed Premises in London” (it opened in 1216).

Dirty Old Town

The last time I was in Ireland was December 1999 at the end of my study abroad, around my 22nd birthday.  I’ve written a lot (maybe too much) about my time in Ireland, but now I get to go back for the time in nineteen years!

Working at Automattic, we gather with our teammates on a trip or two each year.  Being a distributed company, my particular team has members in Australia, New York, and South Africa.  We’ve decided on London for meetup this year and I’ll extend my trip for a few days in Dublin.

I’ll fly into Dublin on a Wednesday night and sleep in a hotel near the airport.  In the morning I’ll make my way into the city and do some exploring.  Afterwards I’ll stay with a college friend and her husband about 40 minutes south of Dublin.  We’ll spend Friday hiking and exploring Glendalough or other areas nearby.

Embed from Getty Images

That leaves a little time left on Saturday before I fly out that afternoon.

While not exactly the trip I’d envisioned for my return, my hope is that’ll recharge my Ireland batteries for a bit.  Here’s to making it back before another 19 years pass!

I’ve Been Everywhere

Everywhere is a bit of a stretch, but it turns out I’ve been able to travel a lot in the last few years because of work.  A friend I hadn’t seen for some time reminded me that when we first met my response to “hey, have you been to X place?” was inevitably “no.”  And that wasn’t an exaggeration in my early twenties. Other than a few places in my home State of Maine, I’d been to New Hampshire, Boston, New Jersey, Florida, and Washington D.C..  Thankfully, that’s slowly been changing over the last few years.

  • Canada
    • Atlantic Canada (2002?): 2500 miles in a Ford Focus through…
      • New Brunswick
      • Cape Breton
      • Nova Scotia
      • Prince Edward Island
    • Other Canada
      • Campobello, New Brunswick (2016)
      • Montreal, Quebec (2015)
      • Whistler, British Columbia (2017)
  • Europe
    • Ireland (1999):
      • Cork
      • Dublin
      • Doolin
      • Connemara
      • Clifden
    • England
      • London (1999/2015/2018)
    • Czech Republic
      • Prague (2017)
    • France
      • Paris (2017)
  • US Travel (outside of New England)
    • San Francisco, California (2016)
    • Colorado (2012)
      • Boulder
      • Colorado Springs
      • Pueblo
      • Denver
    • New Mexico
      • Albuquerque
      • Santa Fe
    • New Jersey (1987)
    • New York (2008)
      • Manhattan/Brooklyn (2000, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017)
    • Pennsylvania (2015/206)
      • Lancaster (2004)
      • Gettysburg (2004)
      • Philadelphia (2015/16)
    • Texas
      • Austin (2016)
    • Utah (2015/2016)
    • Virginia (1992)
  • Other
    • Aruba

Bonus Canadian version:

Montreal: Show Me the Place

I’m going to be traveling to Montreal for the first time!  My only other trip to Canada was 1600 miles through New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton.

I’ll mostly be there for work, but I’ll have some meals free and a little time to explore.  What should I not miss?  Is there anything tourists do that I don’t need to see?

Song referenced: Leonard Cohen Show Me the Place

Ireland: Photos from Cliffs of Moher I

Photos from my first trip to The Cliffs of Moher in August ’99.

Biking to The Cliffs (1999)
Biking to The Cliffs (1999)
Biking to The Cliffs (1999)
Cliffs of Moher (1999)
Cliffs of Moher (1999)
Cliffs of Moher (1999)
Cliffs of Moher (1999)
Cliffs of Moher (1999)
Cliffs of Moher (1999)
Cliffs of Moher (1999)
Cliffs of Moher (1999)
Cliffs of Moher (1999)
Cliffs of Moher (1999)

Apologies for the color discrepancies, I’m a little out of practice and the scanner is on it’s last legs.

Ireland III: The Luck of the Irish

For my first full day in Dublin, my priority was sorting out money for the four-month stay.  Based on a recommendation, I’d brought a cashier’s check that I’d use to open an account.  I’d supplement the rest with ATM withdrawals and purchases from a debit card.

Continue reading Ireland III: The Luck of the Irish

Ireland II: Rocky Road to Dublin

I stopped for a bit in the bus station before starting my search for a place to stay.  A man clad in nothing but denim, with a shaved head, and spiderweb tattoo on his face stared angrily at me.  I was 21, had never been away from New England on my own, knew nobody in Dublin, and was getting the evil eye from a stranger who knew I wasn’t from around these parts.  I decided to move on.

Continue reading Ireland II: Rocky Road to Dublin

Ireland I: In the Name of the Father

I was far from worldly as a child, or even into early adulthood for that matter.  I’d spent most of my early life within New England (a few day stints in Washington D.C., Florida, and New Jersey aside).  It had been a goal from a very young age to visit Ireland, the birthplace of my paternal ancestors.  I’d always felt a connection to it – not only because of my Irish last name, but it felt mysterious to me.  I grew up surrounded by my mother’s Italian family, hearing stories from my grandmother about her parents and other relatives from “the old country.”  I was not as fortunate with the Irish side – my father had passed when I was 12 and neither of his parents made it past the mid 1940s or ’50s.

I found an opportunity to explore Ireland in the form of a poster hanging on the wall of my college’s student center.  Happy looking students explored the countryside underneath the words “Burren College of Art.”  I applied, was accepted, and a few short months later, departed from Boston for a four-month study abroad program in County Clare on the West coast.

Continue reading Ireland I: In the Name of the Father