2020 is turning out to possibly be the best year ever! 2019 was a good year, can’t complain, but it included surprise household renovations totally over $20,000 and some personal stuff. However, we are just over 1 month into 2020 I don’t think I can handle 12 months of this awesomeness. In short here are the blessings our household has received in the past month:
I got a scholarship to study at Oxford(CANCELLED due to coronavirus)We’re going to Ireland for 2 weeks this summer(CANCELLED due to coronavirus)I am chaperoning a spring break trip to London & Paris(CANCELLED due to coronavirus)- Will got Teacher of the Year for Seminole County
Each of these opportunities deserves their own blog post & I am going to give them their due, second on the list: Ireland Summer Trip
This is not the blog post to do a huge itinerary explanation but know that it’s in the works! Essentially we are spending 2 weeks in the Republic of Ireland with my godmother, uncle, my uncle’s cousin, & two of her coworkers. I have practice in creating trips for groups but this is the first time it is a mix of family and non-family. That makes me nervous because I know everyone has their own level on standard, expectations, and desires. All the people on the trip seem to have no problem with me taking “control” 🙂 though so I’m going forth as is!
Before you worry I’m becoming a travel planning dictator know that I communicate with all parties involved digitally, on the phone, and in person before each major step of the way. The accommodations is the most nerve wracking thing to book & as of 2.12.20 we have only booked one communal AirBnb in Glendalough (the above photos are from their AirBnb page). To ease my stress levels though, I am having everyone book their own accommodations while in Dublin. This is for 2 reasons: 1) I want to stay in a hostel to save money and I know that is not everyone’s cup of tea and 2) Dublin is our port of arrival and each person might have a different arrival time/day and I did not want to deal with the headache of coordinating that.
Read more: Travel Tip: Traveling with Family
Anywho, after Dublin we are basically doing a big loop of Ireland hitting: the Wicklow Mountains, Kildare, Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher & the Aran Islands, and then back to Dublin to fly out.
The timing for this trip and my Oxford study abroad could NOT have worked out better. I did not plan this! I was planning the Ireland trip wayyyyy before I even remembered to apply to the Oxford summer program. We end our road trip back at Dublin on July 3rd, my Oxford program begins July 5th. 🙂 I have only booked my flight to Dublin right now, but the plan is to take a late evening flight to London on Friday, explore London that Saturday on the Fourth of July no less (I’m guessing they will NOT be celebrating our independence day??? lol) and then take the 1 hour train to Oxford on Sunday, July 5th.
I literally could not have planned that better myself…well I guess I kinda did. 🙂
JMF
