Three Countries in 24 hours!
This weekend, my friends and I took a trip to Scotland! It was an early flight, and we had to catch the bus at 3:30 AM and wait a few hours at the airport. I noticed how diverse the passports at the airport were, where everyone seemed to have a passport of a different color, indicating their citizenship in a different country. We got on the plane, and I thought it’d be a semi-long flight since I’m so used to a minimum of 2 hours, but it turns out the flight landed early, and it was only about 40 minutes! It was a new experience for me. I never thought it would be so easy and that it would be close to traveling in Europe. During my 40-minute plane ride in the States, I’ll probably only be able to go to a bordering state. We went on a 9-hour bus tour that dropped us off at different places, allowing us to get a whole experience of Scotland, and my highlight during this trip was the boat tour! It was a gorgeous view and something different from hiking, and what made me enjoy it was how it differed from when we went to the Aran Islands. The boat was extremely rocking and made me feel super seasick. However, this boat tour was a lot smoother and allowed me to enjoy the experience while also taking amazing photos!
Two Photos from Scotland!
After our trip back to Dublin and 5 hours of sleep, we went to Northern Ireland(UK)! Another time I was surprised about the size of Ireland was that we only had to drive 2 hours from Dublin to get to Belfast. It made me realize how easy it is to drive from one end of the country to another because 2 hours can’t even get me to Philadelphia from Lewisburg!
In Northern Ireland, we visited the Carrick-a-Rope Bridge. The stunning views made me forget this place’s name is a rope bridge. When Hannah went to remind Tyler that we had to go through the bridge twice because we had to go over and back, I was questioning whether or not I still wanted to do this because I was also afraid of heights. However, it was a one-way thing, so it was too late for me to back out when we got to the bridge. Therefore, I had to walk through the bridge while trying my best not to. Safe to say, I am happy that I did this tour and walked over the bridge because the view on both sides was beautiful and worth the fear I had to overcome to go from one side to the other.
Snapshot of what we saw at the Carrick-A-Rope Bridge tour!
Before heading back to Dublin, we went on our last tour of the day, the Dalriada Walking Tour at Giant’s Causeway, where we had an enthusiastic tour guide who helped us lead our way through the hike and introduced us to the culture and land we are standing on. Something that stood out to me was how we could see part of Scotland on the island; wow, I’m this close to the country I was in two days ago! It amazes me how close each country is to one another in Europe because I’m so used to it being like in the States, one big country. This has to be one of my favorite weekends so far! It was a lot of running around, and we were always busy, but I think the views made up for it!
