Whew! I cannot believe it has come and gone đ I have to admit that while Iâm writing this Iâm in a bit of a post vacay slump and REALLY wishing I could go back and do it all again.
These trips we have been planning for almost a year, and I promise, if you are traveling with kids or with a large group there are certainly some things youâll want to plan or make a reservation for.
I did not use a travel agent but I did use google and asked everyone I knew who had been to these places for their recommendations – I suggest you do the same. I know some people who like to use vacation planners, I get the appeal because you just âshow upâ to your activity – for us, I knew that being so committed to times and activities would cause me stress.
Donât be scared by what you read on the internet, there was not a SINGLE SIGHT that I booked a ticket ahead of time for and we never waited more than 30 min in a line! There are a lot of ticket resellers that buy up all the time slots and then resell them for 5 times the price – you will be fine on your own.
Things you do want to make a reservation for would maybe be a dinner river cruise? They do sell out because space is limited. Also, if you are going to Amsterdam, the Anne Frank house does require you to buy a timed ticket in advance, I think itâs to prevent it getting too busy.
Another thing to know is that there was not a single restaurant we went to where the wait staff accepted tips, you get your bill and canât figure out where to put it but itâs pretty much the norm, not to tip. Some places would accept if you asked about it but a lot said they couldnât accept them.
Also important to share that we took Uber everywhere in London and Paris – itâs great because you use your same app with payment so you never have to get your cc out or cash.
John and I travelled for a week to Ireland, I flew back to Nashville alone, spent 3 days repacking and getting kids and house organized and then I left with all of them and flew to London, 18 days later we all flew back to Nashville together – my heart fuller than I can explain and memories and photos to last a lifetime.
Outlined below is our itinerary and also some travel tips I found helpful along the way.
If youâre heading that way Iâm so excited for you! Or maybe youâre just thinking about it, maybe it seems overwhelming – and it can be, but I promise with a little bit of planning it is so worth it!
- anything that is highlighted you can click on to take you to their direct site for more information
IRELAND: May 11-17
*housekeeping; you need a TYPE G outlet adaptor for the United Kingdom. A lot of places have outlets to use one end of a usb to charge so Iâd recommend bringing that as well. Hotels will have a hair dryer but apartments maybe not. Make sure your hair dryers, curling irons and electric razors are dual voltage (that means they will adapt accordingly when plugged in) otherwise youâll blow them and they wonât come back.
We went with our friends Annie & Tyson, left on May 10th and took a connecting flight that had us in Dublin at 10:00 am local time the following day. Yes, we were exhausted. We had to drive about 2 hours to our hotel and luckily we got a driver vs our own car because we likely would have driven off the road!
We arrived at our destination early afternoon, Ballynahinch Castle, West Ireland, is a luxury castle hotel that sits on 700 acres of woodland. You can hike, bike, fly fish or just chill on the grounds or inside by one of their many fireplaces. A highlight for us was biking to a place called Dogs Bay, considered one of the finest beaches in Ireland, leading out to the Atlantic Ocean. You can swim here if the weather permits, I would recommend bringing a picnic and spending the day.
After 4 days at Ballynahinch, it was time for our next spot and along the way we stopped to see the most amazing sight, Kylemore Abbey – home to a Benedictine order of Nuns for the past 100 years. You can buy a ticket to go inside and walk around the abbey, which used to be a residence. You can also walk miles through beautiful gardens. I would say two hours would be a good amount of time. They also have a coffee shop, restaurant and of course, gift shop.
We drove another hour and landed at Glenlo Abbey Hotel, a 5 star, 18th century magical place located about 10 minutes from the city of Galway. The food at the hotel was amazing and they have a restaurant on site called The Pullman which is in two former carriages of the Orient Express. The guys golfed almost everyday on the on site golf course, you could rent bikes to ride around the grounds, drink coffee, have lunch, or sip cocktails at one of their many lounge spots. We went into Galway and shopped on the Main Street called, âShop Streetâ but it was clear that the main attraction was the food & drink. Down the colorfully lined streets it seems like itâs just one pub after another, how do you choose? One restaurant that I canât say enough good things about was called CAVA BODEGA and was some of the best food I have ever eaten!
- I flew home alone, spent 3 days repacking and getting everyone organized for the next adventure!
MAY 21 – The kids and I flew direct from Nashville to London on British Airways. We left at 8:30 pm and got into London the next morning at 10:00am local time. We were VERYYYYY tired. One amazing thing about London is their transportation system – they do have Uber and you have the option of picking a âvanâ which seats 6, much bigger than an Uber XL would be here. Also, all the taxis can for the most part, fit 6 comfortably – which worked out perfect for us!
DAY ONE: We took an hour ride to our hotel, the airport is a good distance from the downtown area. We stayed at the CHEVAL THREE QUAYS which is a hotel but made up only of 1,2 and 3 bedroom apartments. It was across the street from London Tower and our view was of the Tower Bridge, at night it was spectacular. I love getting an apartment with a group because you can hang out rather than just go to your rooms. It also had a washer and dryer which is helpful if you are there for a long time.
The day we got there we were tired so decided to go across the street to THE LONDON TOWER. You need to buy a ticket to go into the grounds, but you get a free tour from a Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) that run about every 30 minutes. You get a map and honestly just kind of follow the path. This is also where the Crown Jewels are but the line to get in was over an hour and at this point no one was wanting to stand that long so we skipped that.
Then we walked across TOWER BRIDGE and went to the IVEY for dinner (i did make a reservation for this) food was good, service was blah but Iâve heard the Covent Garden location one is much better. For dessert, there are ice cream trucks everywhere that serve vanilla ice cream with a flake bar shoved in (this is a British chocolate bar) youâll see them everywhere!
That night I think we were all asleep by 8pm!
DAY TWO: We headed to BUCKINGHAM PALACE via the metro (subway) I think if I had planned a bit better for it we would have been fine but we just showed up and I expected a stop to be called Buckingham Palace (it is not, the stop to get off at is St James on the Yellow Circle route). Buckingham palace really is beautiful but the amount of tourists does take away from it, maybe get there super early to beat the crowds? Itâs hard to get great photos because the gates are swarming with people. The most exciting thing? Everyone starts screaming and running towards these cars and it turns out it was King Charles pulling in the gates – so that was definitely a memory!
Then we walked over to WESTMINSTER ABBEY (about 30 min walk) we used the Maps app for everything, just switch the drive to walk for directions. I am a sucker for an old, beautiful cathedral and this did not disappoint. You do have to buy a ticket to go in but you could spend a couple hours walking though, its like a museum for the most part. It is absolutely stunning and itâs also where the coronation chair King Charles used sits. The kids really loved this, they have way more knowledge of history than I did at that age so a lot of things we came upon they were able to make reference to from school.
Right next door is BIG BEN, also very impressive and beautiful!
Headed back via taxi to the hotel to get cleaned up and changed because tonight was our night on broadway. Ava had been dying to see the musical SIX so luckily I had been able to get tickets in advance. COVENT GARDEN is a large area thatâs full of shops and great restaurants, and itâs just a beautiful place to be. It is only a 5 min walk to most of the musicals so eating there before your show is ideal. We ate at an Italian restaurant called AVE MARIA, the decor was amazing and the food was great – make a reservation ahead of time fore sure. We had about an hour between finishing dinner and the musical so we walked around Covent Garden, there was an outdoor street performer that we sat and watched, got ice cream and just people watched. The musical was AMAZING – the whole experience of being there is great and I was so happy to share that with my kids (since we donât have that in Nashville). We finally got back to the hotel around 11pm and I have to say I was seeing cross eyed by that point.
DAY 3:
Today we got on a BIG BUS TOUR (this was the brand we used but there are other options as well). A 24 hour adult ticket is around $45 usd and you can hop on and off as much as you want. There are two route options, a red which is shorter and a blue that is longer – on the website is clearly tells you which color sees which sights. Itâs also a great way to see the city, even if you donât plan to get off at every stop, itâs a way to see the sights in a short amount of time. Our weather was perfect so it was awesome to sit up top in the open air. You get earphones and then pick your language and the recording tells you about what you are seeing as youâre driving by.
Our first stop was THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM. So many people had told us that if you like history it is a must see. It was a short walk from one of the BB stops so it worked out perfectly. John, Ava and I went through the 4 levels in just over an hour. My three boys, who all love history and know a lot about it spent over 3 hours inside. So, be prepared to be there a while if youâre into it!
After we finished we were going to get back on the bus on the longer route and head towards Kensington Palace but (as it happens on the bus tour) we ended up on the most fabulous street, British flags draped across the top and shop after shop! Ava was begging to get off so we made a last minute decision and hopped off the bus on REGENT STREET. The energy on this street is amazing and yes, the shopping and food too! We ate dinner at a great restaurant there called PONTIâS.
Going around town on the bus made us realize there were so many more things we wish we could have done but didnât have time for. In hindsight I would have done another day in London and one less day in Paris.
DAY 4:
Off we go to ParisâŚ..
Housekeeping: You need a Type E/F adapter for France
We took the Eurostar train (about 2.5 hours), the underwater Chunnel where the train moves at lighting speed. You take all your luggage on with you but you do have to go through security and, because of BREXIT you have to clear both UK customs, walk 5 steps and clear FRANCE customs before getting on the train so leave yourself enough time.
Soooooo I could just leave this next part out because it was only about 2 hours of our experience, but we are still laughing about it and I know it will probably come up for years to come, the time Mom booked the Edgar Suites. In my defense, the photos online did NOT look like what we walked into, in response to my email complaining I was told that they had no control over what photos Booking.com used to promote them – please keep this in mind if you are using this site! In a nutshell, it was awful. The biggest thing aside from being way too small for 6 adults and looking like a war zoneâŚ. Was that it did not feel safe. The only locks were all through key pad codes, the guy who let us in? He knew the codes, and who was he telling? There were no locks on the inside of the doors or windows (that led onto a shared rooftop) – my husband said he would not have slept and would not have left anything inside when we went out. Paris is beautiful, but you have to be careful and be aware of your surroundings. It was not how we wanted to feel when we were there.
So we found a new hotel, just around the corner. My goal of the shared apartment was gone but at least we had more than one toilet and doors that actually locked. Our new hotel was called The Laz – i have never stayed at a hotel that I hadnât looked up so I donât know that much about it other than it was clean, nice, great breakfast and a great location to walk to sites and restaurants.
By the time we were all settled in it was dinner and my favorite thing ever in Paris is seeing the Eiffel Tower at night when the lights go off (every hour on the hour for 10 minutes starting at dusk) and I couldnât wait to show my kids. We jumped in an Uber and headed down to the area, there are TONS of restaurants around, we were still early for the lights so we ate dinner at one of my favortie restaurants LE COQ – itâs just across the street from the Tower and the food and decor is 10/10. Once it got dark we headed to see the lights. The energy on the streets in hard to explain once the lights start twinkling – everyone is taking photos, dancing, happy! There are lots of street vendors who will take your photo (for a fee) and if you saw my post with John and I dancing, it was one of those 360 video stands that just circles around you as you dance – i think it was around $40 usd? But so worth it!
Day 5:
MONTMARTRE (30 min walk from our hotel)
This is arguably my favorite spot in Paris, downside: it seems like it has become everyone elseâs as well – the crowds are A LOT – so go early if you can.
It is up a VERY large hill, if you are not feeling the walk you can always get a taxi up or they do buses as well. At the top of the hill you will find the stunning BASILICA OF THE SACRĂ-COEUR, you can go inside for free or climb the spiraling staircase to the top for a 360 view for a fee.
You can walk around this neighborhood and see all the art vendors who are working live and also pick from one of the many cafÄs along the street.
At the bottom of MONTMARTE is the infamous MOULIN ROUGE, if youâre feeling it you can take in a burlesque show.
From here we headed to the CHAMPS-ELYSEES. This street is one large shopping zone – not the fancy kind (except here is where the 4 level Louis Vuitton is) itâs more like Zara and Nike and Sephora but still fun to see. At the end of the street you are met with a crazy roundabout and on the other side is the ARC DE TRIOPMPHE – you have to go down the starts and through the underground tunnel to get across the roundabout – DO NOT try to run across, you might not make it!
If you pay to go to the top of the ARC you get an amazing 360 view of Paris.
We walked back to our hotel (about 30 min) and stopped for dinner along the way.
DAY 6:
We started at the LOUVRE . Iâm probably not the best person to speak on this because it isnât my favorite place, it is just so much and is just so crowded. I find myself looking for the exit after 15 min. Buttttttt itâs the home of the MONA LISA and how many people can say theyâve seen it in person? So yes, you should still go.
We didnât finish there until almost 3pm. I think the fast pace of the previous days had started to catch up so we ditched any more sight seeing, found a restaurant and just enjoyed being together of course watching the people walk by.
DAY 7:
For Mothers Day I asked for one thing, no one to complain about having family photos taken during the trip *oh and also letting me pick what they wore (because otherwise they would have been in athletic shorts and Nike t shirts). I found this company, the Paris Photographer through a friend and honestly cannot say enough good things about them. I picked noon as the start time so everyone could sleep in and get ready without being rushed. Truly I know it was the last thing any of them wanted to do but no one complained and I will treasure these photos forever.
Because we were at the Eiffel Tower for the photos we went to eat a late lunch in that area again and spent more time walking, looking at all the buildings, going into to stores to shop etc.
DAY 8:
Wow. 1000 times over, WOW. I have been to Paris 3 times before this and never had made it to Versailles. As much as i canât believe that, I am so grateful that my kids and I got to experience it together, Iâm not sure you could ever get that first look feeling back.
We took and Uber from our hotel, itâs about 45 min from Paris.
The Palace interior is closed on Mondays but the rest of the grounds are open and totally worth seeing.
With over 2000 acres, you wonât run out of something to see. You can also rent a golf cart to drive around the ground if you donât want to walk (these are found on the opposite side of the palace, right next to the lake and the bike rentals (but you canât take the bikes into the palace grounds)
The lake is one of the most beautiful sights you have ever seen. You see the palace from one end and you can either walk or bike around it, sit on the grass and relax or rent a row boat and go out for an hour – thatâs what we did and it was totally worth it.
Versailles is definitely a place you want to devote and entire day to, if you are going to Paris, please set aside a day for this.
DAY 9:
Off we go to Amsterdam to get on the River Cruise. We took the train, about 4 hours direct and super easy! The train station is about 5 minutes from where the boats dock so we were able to drop our stuff and spend time in town.
I had bought tickets in advance to tour the Anne Frank House. It really is amazing to walk through parts of the house that are still original. We spent the rest of the day walking around town, looking at houses, shopping and eating.
That night the ship stayed dock and we would set out early the next morning.
The River Cruise we took was called AMA. The boat was beautiful, clean and I canât say enough great things about how friendly the staff was – food was great too!
This was the point in the trip where my planning duties were done.
For the next 10 days we would sail everyday and end up in a new city. The Netherlands, Belgium and Holland was the route this ship took. Belgium was probably my favorite of all but there is a peace and slowness about Holland that is also pretty magical.
I will never, and I repeat never get on a large cruise ship so this for me was doable – plus I was confident I could swim to shore đ
Thanks so much for following along, I hope Iâve been able to give you some ideas if youâre planning to head across the pond anytime soon.
Xoxo Jen
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