Today I’m starting in on my travel review posts which, in the coming weeks, will dive deep into our adventures through London, Ireland and Scotland. We had a magical trip and fell in love with each place we saw, spurred on by the magical Christmas decorations up all over Europe and the natural beauty of the UK. The British, Irish and Scottish Isles are truly some of the most naturally beautifully places I’ve seen and we loved every second of our travels through them.
I fell in love with things differently in each place we visited and in each spot along our travels, something unique pulled me in. There were so many amazing moments on this trip, but to start and before I get into my day by day posts, I thought we’d start with my top 5 favorite moments on this trip. I did this last year when we returned from Iceland and I love having those moments to remember a trip, to remember the feeling of the places I saw.
I truly believe that travel is about moments, it’s about those times when you stop and take in your surroundings, when you are truly in awe of the world around you. That feeling, that moment, for me is the most important thing I experience when I travel, to see the world with our own eyes and to experience all that is in front of us. So without further ado, here are my top 5 favorite moments/memories from our recent trip through the UK!
This trip was the first that we’ve been in Europe this close to Christmas and it did not disappoint. We experienced our first Christmas markets, first in Belfast, then in Edinburgh and our evening wandering around the Christmas market in Belfast was just magical. Europe does Christmas well, very well in fact and I seriously felt like I was in another world wandering around the market. Lights were everywhere as we ate apple strudel and took it all in. It was a magical night, one that I’ll always remember.
While St. Andrews was one of my favorite stops on our trip, which of course I’ll have much more to come on this charming Scottish town, our day there turned into this incredible sunset as day faded to night. For about 45 minutes, we were treated to this incredible pink and blue sky, one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve ever seen in my life. It was an evening in a magical town, a moment caught between day and twilight, a moment looking upon the fantasy lined stone buildings of St. Andrews and watching the world paint itself into night.