This Heart Was Made for Traveling

Today was the earliest of all my mornings this trip. I gathered up my belongings and headed to the airport. After waiting for security to open and then to get a gate assigned I headed to my gate the bored the plane. The plane ride to Lisbon was uneventful. I got through boarder control shortly after getting to the airport. I tried to find a locker to put my bag in but was unsuccessful. I decided to take it with me and got an Uber. After a long ride to downtown Lisbon, lots of morning traffic, I got to Parce de Figurera where I caught a hop-on-hop-off bus. I decided this was the best way to see the city in the little time I had.  I enjoyed the tour. I made sure to get a spot on the top of the bus and we started driving around. The tour took us around for 2 hours before circling back to the starting spot. There were lots of great things to see along the way. I hope to come back and explore them more in the future. After getting off the bus I did some postcard shopping and...

I was very tired last night so I slept well. I got up a little before 7. After. Getting ready I headed back to Calton Hill so I could explore it in the daylight. The walk was quick and nice, even through it rained a little on the way. The hill was nice and better in some ways since I could see more of the monuments on the walk, and the city, it was also cool to see the city in the dark with all the lights.  I spent an hour wandering around the grounds for an hour. After that I started a slow walk back to my hostel. I made a few stops along the way and enjoyed watching the city hustle, so much different in the morning before all the tourists are up.  Once my hostel mate was up we headed to breakfast at The Edinburgh Cafe. I wanted English bacon so I got eggs Benedict which was great. The coffee was also good. We ate and planned our day.  We decided to explore after breakfast. Our first stop was St. Gile's Cathedral. It is beautiful inside and outside. We also w...

Last night I slept poorly but I still feel pretty good. I was up early, especially since I could not sleep. After once more packing up our things we were off. It was about a 20 minute walk from our hostel to the Euston-London station.  Once we got there we noticed that our original train information was not listed on the boards for departure. We thought something like this might happen as there was a planned strike for London's trains. We got in line and found an alternative train to Edinburgh. On the train we had reserved seats with a table to work at. I really enjoy being on the train. It's one of my favorite modes of transportation, especially in Europe. This train was comfortable and not overcrowded. However, usually I write on the train and this time I didn't. Today we met a lovely British couple who chatted and joked with us the entire rest of the way to Edinburgh. There was also a lovely British woman who was there on the train for a while. We all chatted...

A very early morning had us climbing out of our bunks at 5am. We had mostly packed up the night before so it was just a matter of getting ready and then stashing what we did need in the bags.  We caught a shuttle to the bus station and then took the 45 minute bus ride to the airport. Not many people were in the airport that early. I breezed through security and passport control.  Our flight was slightly delayed due to the incoming plane being late. However, we got on the plane and set off shortly after our scheduled time so it wasn't an issue.  The plane ride was pretty comfortable. I was able to get a little extra sleep on it. It wasn't overly crowded either so that was nice. Plus the crew was British so I enjoyed listening to them and the pilot talk. Getting to downtown London was a bit of a challenge. We caught a shuttle, then the train, and then walked to our hostel to drop our bags. Overall it went fine it was just a bit confusing at first.  Once we ...

Today Mom and Tom headed home. They got up early and we all went for pastries and coffee at the bakery down the road from the hostel. They dropped me back off at the hostel after and left. Back at the hostel I spent a lazy morning getting ready. It was rainy and windy outside so it was not inviting. Around 10 we put our bags in the storage room and headed to the center of the main part of the town. We went up I'm the tower of the church in the center square. From there you can see all of the city. It was pretty cool. It was also very windy. We stayed up there and listened to the bells toll. Then descended down. From there we walked down some of the main Shopping and tourists streets. There is a street that was painted with a rainbow and there were lots of shops along the way. We made it to the Icelandic Phallic Museum. It houses over 200 members of various species on the planet. It is filled with lots of facts and other weird things. It was interesting and fun to say we...

On the road again today I drove through the rain. It was on and off throughout the morning. It can make for an interesting drive, especially on roads where I was unsure of where I was going and not sure of every road sign. Our first stop was the troll garden. It is pretty cool. There is a river and falls that legend says that the trolls created. Around the field were other troll myths and stories. It was fun to walk around. There was lots to see there. After that we made our way to a small village along the ocean edge. We wandered along the coastal path there. We then ate a lovely lunch inside a museum and checked out some local shops. It was beautiful. Back in the car we got. We drove through a 6km tunnel that went over one section of water which was pretty cool. Then we went into downtown Reykjavík where we drove past some of the major sights. We dropped the car and bags off at the hostel. Then we wandered around on foot. We got in some souvenirs shopping and window shopp...