My Kickass European Adventure Itinerary

It has been such a busy summer for me and now my kiddo is already back in school! Where did the time go?  If you follow me on social media then you know that I’m gearing up for a trip that is one whole year in the making!  I’m finally ready to give you all a sneak peak into my kick ass European adventure itinerary. This Saturday I’ll fly to Dublin and then on to London.

For some reason I’m hella nervous. I went to the freaking Azores in the middle of nowhere Atlantic and I wasn’t even this nervous.  I think it’s more of a nervous excitement.  To add to the anxiety it’s Thursday afternoon and no, I’m not packed.  I’m the absolute worst. I know.

So why is this trip going to be so epic? Well it’s planned around seeing the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Play in London!  We bought our tickets when they went on sale in October of 2015. I’ll be geeking out and having a Harry Potter pilgrimage with 5 of my geekiest, coolest homegirls.  They also happen to run the 2 largest adult Harry Potter clubs in the state of Florida (probably in the U.S too), Central Florida Slug Club of Orlando and Portkey to Magic of Tampa/St.Pete.

Another reason it’s such a big deal is there will be so many first experiences for me on this trip! It’s my first visit to both locations. Dublin got worked into the trip because I needed a second country and it’s so much cheaper to fly into Ireland than it was flying directly into London.  I mean like $500- $800 cheaper.  So I bought a one way ticket to Dublin. Then snagged a $26 ticket from Dublin to London so it only made sense. Then bought another one-way from London back home.

As it turns out I’m not staying with the girls in Dublin. Their original plan was to stay in a dorm at Trinity College and I wanted to stay somewhere cooler like a bed and breakfast so that I could write about it on the blog.  They ended up booking a hotel instead but I was content with my bed and breakfast.  Keyword ‘was’. Then I started to realize that with just 2 and 1/2 days to explore Dublin I preferred a more walkable location.  Then I thought I wanted something fancy. Then I thought I wanted to be on the water.  The next thing you know, I had reserved 5 different properties. The sites I use to book my hotel reservations come with no booking fee and free cancellation so it allowed me to be a room hoarder.  Don’t judge my life. This system works for me so that I can weigh my options later on. At least I’ll know for sure that I have somewhere to stay.

Fast forward to this week and it was time to make some decisions and cancel these extra rooms. I have literally agonized over it for the last week. Staying with my friends wasn’t an option because of the size room they reserved.  So I was committed to it. After hours and hours and hours and hours I cancelled every last one of the hotel reservations. Yes, alladem’. Yes, I’m impulsive. I’m fully aware, but I had a great reason.

I went on Air BnB and came across the cutest little flat close enough to walk to things but far enough to allow me enough quiet to get some rest. It was speaking to me. The owners have amazing reviews and they are a multicultural couple which for some reason just made me feel more at ease.  The reviews were all raving and I really don’t know how I lucked up with finding availability at this last minute. This was literally just 2 days ago!  I decided to be a big girl and reserve my first Air BnB. After receiving the welcome pdf and viewing the Youtube video from the hosts I am beyond excited. Stay tuned for the story about that experience.

We leave for London on Tuesday, the 16th and arrive pretty late in the evening. This time I will be bunking with the homies in our London flat not too far from Kings Cross. Just being able to say that is giving me serious Harry Potter feels. Like you have no idea. For you muggles, Kings Cross Station is the train station  where Harry and the other Hogwarts students catch the train to Hogwarts every year on September 1st.  I digress; Our flat is also an Air BnB but I didn’t play any part in reserving this one or the process. I just paid what I was told to pay LOL.

I seriously underestimated how much stuff there was that I want to see in London. I’m definitely not going to get to everything.  We have the play on Wednesday and because it’s 2 parts and we bought a same day ticket, we will be at the theater for most of the day that day. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are the days set aside to see all the things.  I’m looking forward to seeing the Buckingham Palace staterooms on my tour and having fancy pants high tea at Wellington Lounge. I don’t know what I’m wearing yet but I want to be extra cute for that.

Aside from that I’m sure I’ll see all of the usual touristy things. The Natural History Museum is definitely on my list.  Everyone else in the group has pretty detailed itineraries on what they want to do and see and I’m just like uhhhhhhhh no clue. I like to meander and leave room for spontaneity. So I filled out our activities spreadsheet with my tentative plans but honestly who knows what I’ll end up doing. I do know that I’ve gotta catch me some London Pokemon!!! I’ll worry about the cell phone data usage bill later LOL.

Sunday we are going to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour at Leavesden and having the Breakfast at Hogwarts experience. I’m pretty sure I might cry when I see these sets in real life. So when I do don’t laugh at me ok? I’m sure this day will make my whole entire life.

After the tour I’ll be catching a train all by my lonesome to Wales!! It’s about a 4-5 hour train ride and once I arrive I will be crossing off a bucketlist experience that I have wanted to do since I was a little girl.  I’m staying in a castle!!!!  *applause*  You’re not clapping and shrieking with joy and excitement. Let me try this again.  I’M STAYING IN A CASTLE!

Ah yes, that’s a much better reaction.  And the best part? I got this night in a castle for FREE.  No, I’m not doing it as a blog sponsorship.  You’ll just have to stay tuned to get those juicy tidbits.

Northern Wales is known for adventure and natural beauty so I’ll be taking in a lot of that. I’m also looking forward to doing the Velocity zipline at Zipworld where you zip at 100 mph. That’s going to be ahhhmazing.  There will be lots of other activities in store but I don’t know what they are because that’s how I roll. I’ll figure it out when I get there. LOL

After my Wales adventure I’ll be heading back to London and we depart on Tuesday the 23rd.

I am so ready! I’m sure those of you who have been hearing about it are just as ready as I am. So how can you keep up with all of my European adventures?  I’m so glad you asked.  Follow OutdoorsyDiva on Snapchat and Instagram for some daily entertainment.  I plan on doing a couple of Facebook live videos as well depending on wi-fi and such. Those videos will definitely be available on the Outdoorsy Diva FB page.  I’ll also be using the hashtag #DivainEurope so type that in and you’ll find lots of things.

If you could add a few extra prayers for us for traveling grace it would be so appreciated. I always end up with some kind of misadventure but hoepfully it’s nothing I can’t easily remedy. Thank you for being a reader and supporting me in everything I do. I look forward to returning with lots of great content and entertaining experiences to share with you from my first truly European adventure.

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