I’m back again friends! This time I was MIA due to my European adventures with 3 of my best friends! It has taken me all week to get together the words to describe how amazing, life-changing and incredible this trip truly was but if there is one thing I’ve learned while traveling, you always come back a changed person!
The planning for our trip started when our friend Bethanne decided to hop the pond and move to London for work! She’s a nurse at one of the local hospitals and her view is quite incredible, it overlooks Big Ben and the London Eye! Once Bethanne got settled in and moved, Jessica, Amanda and myself all decided we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit our special friend during her stay in London – she will only be there for a year. So us UNCW girls booked our plane tickets, had a few conference calls and decided on which countries we wanted to visit and planned everything pretty quickly! It was hard to choose 2 other countries to visit, as there are so many beautiful places in Europe but we all decided on Dublin and Barcelona and let me tell you, we couldn’t have chosen any better locations!
I’m going to be sharing more about our travels to Dublin and Barcelona in the days to come, so you can read more about my entire trip and travels all week! It is hard to squeeze it all in to one post!
First stop was London! I flew a red eye with Jessica & Amanda and we arrived into London at 6am that Saturday morning ready to take on a day in beautiful (cold & rainy) London but first of course we had to get our nails done after a quick nap to gain a little energy. The guy at the nail salon thought it was hilarious that we flew all the way to London and the first thing we do is get our nails done – I guess that is girls for you! We later did some sight-seeing around the city and caught some beautiful pictures of Big Ben, the London Eye, St. Paul’s Cathedral and a few other places! We later enjoyed an awesome Italian dinner that night paired with some great wine! We were exhausted but what a great day we had in London!
I think if I were to ever move to Europe, London would definitely be my city. It reminds me so much of New York, which is also one of my favorites and I LOVE the accents, shopping, beautiful & historic Churches and Buildings and of course the Royalty that is in London! London is such a magical and special city, with such history and beauty that if there is one place to visit while heading over to Europe – I’d say choose London!
To skip ahead a few days (I’ll share more about Dublin & Barcelona in the days to come) we ended our trip back in London for one more gorgeous day in the city! We started our morning in Notting Hill, where we walked through the Market and shopped! We all left with some great gifts, jewelry, bags, hats, etc and were all so very excited about our cute finds! I even found the cute, black hat that you see in the pictures and was able to bargain with the man at the shop and got it for 10 pounds – that was a real steal! After a fun morning in Notting Hill, we then enjoyed an afternoon tea, London style! We each had about 8 cups of wonderful hot tea, we all shared some delicious sandwiches, scones & sweet goodies and got spoiled listening to the handsome man playing the piano! What a wonderful afternoon tea!
We finished up the evening walking by Buckingham Palace! We caught a few guards standing by the gate and soaked in the beauty and royalty of Buckingham Palace and enjoyed every second of my last wonderful night in London! Although that was my second trip to London, it was by far so much more fun with my best friends! Don’t get me wrong my first trip was amazing but traveling with some of your closest friends and sharing moments that you’ll be laughing about years from now, is something I will cherish forever!
If there is one thing I’ve learned to do while I’m young, it is travel! Until next time London! Check out Dub Girls Do Dublin in the coming days!
~Elizabeth Anne
Carolina Girl on a Budget 