Just A Little Slice Of Eden

Ahhh our last stop on our tour of the UK was The Eden Project, in St. Austell! From Penzance we first made a short detour in St. Ives though! 

We would highly recommend making a quick stop in St. Ives. The train station is right on the beach which is very travel​er friendly. We explored the beach and just chilled out. We also ate at one of the best restaurants of our whole trip on St. Ives beach, the Porthminster Beach Café.  It was so delicious! You must get their Rosemary Fries if you go!

From St. Ives we made our way to St. Austell! To get from the train station to The Eden Project and the YHA is super easy, they have buses right outside the station marked for direct trips to and from. The YHA associated with the Eden Project is incredible! It's everything your tiny house loving heart could ask for! Fashioned out of storage containers, each "room" had a bathroom, 3 beds able to fit at least 4 people and plenty of storage! Let's also not forget the giant tv and lime green theme!

Our first night in Eden we only had about 2 hours to explore So we got our passes, which were free with our stay at the YHA and vailid for up to a year. At first look Eden just takes your breathe away! The biomes are one of the coolest things I have ever seen and mom who is definitely a botanist at heart was completely overwhelmed by all the plants!

We only really had time to walk through one biome before they closed and seeing as the Mediterranean dome was closed for a wedding (which like honestly, how cool is that) we explored the Rainforest dome! Just stepping through the door you are hit by the humidity. It felt like I was all of a sudden back in Costa Rica and with how cold and windy the weather had been during our trip it was such a nice change! The Eden Project is known for having the biggest rainforest in captivy. 

The next day we started off with thrills. For the first time in her life mom went ziplining and it was epic! There is a secondary company that supplies thrill seekers with extreme activities such as ziplining, free falls, and alleviated swings right on the Eden Project property. If you only have time for one I highly suggest ziplining because you get this incredible birds eye view of the Eden Project and both the biomes! 

We spent the rest of the day exploring the grounds. So many beautiful flowers and plants! So many picturesque landscapes. It was amazing. Also because the Eden Project is so devoted to sustainable living and the environment there was plenty of vegan food options to choose from.  

If you find yourself making it down near St. Austell, I highly recommend visiting the Eden Project. They even have the occasional music festival there which I can only imagine is magical. 

After our day we were on our way to Newquay to catch our flight back to reality. What an incredible trip and until the next!

It's an adventure! 

The Pain in Penzance

Before I even start, let me give you a disclaimer about Penzance. Penzance, while beautiful, supplied us with the greatest challenges we faced during our entire time in the UK. So if some of this comes off sounding a little bitter it is probably because it was a very difficult situation and it is still too soon. 

Now that we got that out of the way! We got to the Penzance train station after 1 in the morning. This was after spending the first half of the day in London and the second half at Stonehenge in Salisbury. Now when planning our trip we got the smart idea that seeing as we were getting into town so late we would just skip the boarding expenses and just sleep in the train station. (I would like it to mention that we were under the very wrong impression that ALL train stations were similar to airports.) Needless to say, staying in the train station was not only a bad idea because it was an outdoor platform, but it was also just not possible because the station was closing down. 

Okay, so it is after 1 am. We are in a very small town. No reservations. No real knowledge of the town and to top it all off we were walking around with all our gear on in icy cold, hurricane like wind and drizzle. Everywhere we found was either closed for the night, or had no vacancies. 

After walking around for probably about an hour and a half, we finally came across the Queens Hotel and couldn't have been more relieved. The hotel is super old, but that is definitely its charm. With our heads on pillows, we were quickly out and the challenges of the night and the tension between us melted away. 

The next morning we set off for the most picturesque spot on our trip: The Minack Theatre and Porthcurno Beach. The hike up to theatre is quite steep and along the major roadway. I would not recommend this to someone who has trouble with up hill hikes, but, If you make it to the top it is so worth it. The Minack Theatre looks as if it has been there for hundreds of years and as if the universe meant to have something so magical placed there. The detail of every seat and step and archway creates this unexplainable emotional response. We wondered around the theatre for a while, even had a snack and partook in some lovely entertainment from a member of the theatre's troupe.  

When leaving the theatre you have two choices, either hike back down the steep hill to where the buses come and go from OR take the extremely difficult, highly advanced hike down the ocean cliff path to Porthcurno Beach. This is wear Penzance once again got the best of us. After some coxing on my part we agreed to hike down the cliffs to get to the beach. 

After getting a good enough distance down the cliff (enough that was too much to turn back) mom took a slide on one of her steps. Before I continue, let me just say this was the most terrifying thing that had ever happened to me while traveling. There was no way I could carry her and there was still at least 15 more minutes of treacherous hiking. Mom definitely learned that flipflops were not the ideal hiking shoes and I learned that I can carry a lot more weight than I thought. What ended up happening is I took both of our packs all the way down the hill and then came back to help mom the rest of the way down. It was a challenge, and there were many pauses as we made it the rest of the way to the beach but once again we were able to overcome and move forward.  And, during one of the pauses we got to see a sea lion enjoying the surf.

The beach was absolutely gorgeous even if it was freezing. As Floridians, it was very funny to see so many people out in water that I ended up describing as colder than ice water that had kept in the freezer. Other than the lack of warmth, the sand was familiar and squishy between our toes and the waves were hypnotic and relaxing.  

That night we stayed in another YHA. And let me tell you, traveling can be tiring. When our heads hit the pillow that night, it was a most-luxurious feeling. Penzance was an incredibly beautiful town, but it tested us. You just have to remember...

It's an adventure! 

Stonehenge

Day trip! 

Sometimes, when you are traveling, there are places you will want to see that are not in the big cities you are planning on staying in. They may be just one city away or even half a day's journey, but that doesn't mean you can't go see those places anyway! 

That was the case with Stonehenge for us. When we were planning our tour of the United Kingdom there, was no doubt that Stonehenge was a must-see destination! Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, Stonehenge is one of the best known prehistoric monuments in Europe. The energy, both spiritual and supernatural, openly flows through this site and all it's visitors. 

The actual Stonehenge site is about 8 miles outside of Salisbury and is an easily accessible destination from London and is a perfect candidate for a day trip. We caught a midday train out of London to Salisbury. The tour company that we booked with, and suggest booking with, picked us up right from the train station. The bus was a double-decker, and as always, I suggest trying to get the very front row seats on the second level.  The panoramic view is so worth it. 

The bus takes you through Salisbury, giving you a taste of the town and a chance for some brief sight-seeing before you head out of town and towards Stonehenge. The cost of admission was included in our tour, but even without the tour, it is not very expensive. As a whole Stonehenge was very easily accessible. There were buses that took you from the Heritage Pavilion (where the gift shop, cafe and bathrooms were) to the site or if you were looking for that nice hike you could also walk to the stones.

Seeing the stones is absolutely breathe-taking. It is just one of those places that everyone has heard of, even seen pictures of, but somehow it does not seem like they are real. Standing in front of them, seeing that they are indeed real, yet still a mystery to the world. I one way we realized our size in the universe, yet felt super-connected with that universe. 

I, totally not caring who was watching or what people were thinking, got down on the ground and did a short yoga flow. I also got some journaling in as well. It was really nice for us to just sit and take in everything that was around us. Lots of pictures were taken and then we were off to our next destination!

It's an adventure!

The One With The Really Big Clock

 "In London everyone is different, and that means anyone can fit in." - Paddington

Ahh, London, the whole reason for our trip. We made it to London a little after midday, and no shame, we got off the train at the wrong station. In our defense. it was King's Cross and in the end we were actually way closer to our Airbnb than we would have been had we gone all the way to Charring Cross. 

It is definitely a personal flaw, but when I am traveling, I am always trying to make every little second count.  So, when we ran into the problem of not being able to contact our Airbnb host, our stress levels started to climb to, well, a Big Ben height.  TRAVEL TIP: Always know your passwords just in case you have to use other devices to access your accounts.

Of course everything worked out in the end, we made it to our Airbnb. My cousin and his wife made it to the flat and then we all got food! Well, they did. Being vegan proved to make life a little difficult and I ended up eating an avocado and broccoli as my dinner, with a blueberry cider of course. 

Once we made it back to the flat we started going a little stir crazy. It was probably the first time we had just sat the whole trip, but not for long! We caught an Uber over to Trafalgar Square, frolicked with the lions and then we just started following our feet. We made it to Buckingham Palace, a little underwhelming at night because it wasn't very lit up. We kind of made a big loop and headed towards Westminster Abbey, walking along St. James Park. We were so surprised by how close all these big landmarks were to each other! Right next to The Abbey was the majestic Big Ben. Now we have all seen Big Ben in movies and pictures, but nothing can compares to seeing him in person. I think one of the coolest moments of our trip was definitely standing below Big Ben as the clock struck midnight. We both just stood in awe of this moment, realizing that we were different people for just having lived that.

Westminster Abbey

King's Cross

Big Ben at Night

The moment ended as all moments do and we made our way back to our Airbnb to get a good nights rest before another busy day of exploring, and for me, an extremely anticipated day at the theatre!

Bright and early the next morning we headed out to pick up our London Passes ( I super recommend getting these! So worth it!) Then we caught a bus to one of my must see locations, Winston Churchill's War Rooms! I 100% recommend visiting the War Rooms, especially if you are weirdly sentimental about history like me! After our walk through history, we had just enough time to get some food before I had to meet my cousin at the theatre and once again we fond ourselves exponentially disappointed with our food. I am sorry but what is up with all the cold pasta!!! 

The play I was seeing was Harry Potter and The Cursed Child. I know how did we get tickets? Well let's just say we are no mere muggles. The show was absolutely fantastic, had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Above all, I would have seen that play purely because of it's technical aspects. They were doing magic of their own up there. We left the show on practically a sugar rush, especially after getting to meet most of the cast! Stuff like that gets me so inspired and motivated.

Kew Garden

During my time at the play mom went off to explore on her own:

 While Brandy was enjoying the show, I went off on an adventure of my own. I decided to experience the London Underground. I left out from Tottenham Station and took the 55 minute ride to the Kew Gardens otherwise known as The Royal Botanical Gardens. If you know me, you know that I am a total flower and plant lover, so the gardens did not disappoint!  My only regret is that I would not have enough time to see even a small fraction of the gardens, as it is quite expansive! I meandered around the gardens following paths and snapping pictures of plants I'd never seen before while recognizing the common landscaping plants that both England and Florida share. And just like, that it was time to make my way back to meet up with the group.

We ended the night with a short stroll down to Piccadilly Circus, which is so reminiscent of Time Square in New York. The next day we would only have a few hours before we had to catch our train to Salisbury but we had one more must see on our list, the recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre!  

I completely nerded out, but once again, we would not have been able to see any of it, had it not been for awesome, completely amazing, and understanding tour guides who let us hop into an earlier tour group and leave whenever we had to so that we would have enough time to get to the train station. Nice people make traveling so much easier and enjoyable!

London was really amazing, and for the very little amount of time we had, we got to see and experience so much! I have a feeling we will be making a return trip to London in the future BUT until then....

It's an adventure!

York, Our Stay In The Shambles

On to our next adventure.

Ahhh York, one of our most recommended destinations on our trip. Such a quaint little walking town but before we got to the peaceful York we had to get out of Edinburgh.

Now let me start by saying traveling can be a stressful thing. Our train from Edinburgh to York was our first train ride of the trip, which left from Waverly station. We had everything under control. Tickets printed. Luggage on us. Platform right in view. Nothing could go wrong, right? Well in the end nothing did go wrong BUT for about 30 seconds I was sure I had just completely left mom in Edinburgh and me without my train ticket.

You see what had happened is when we had boarded our train we had found the previous passengers had left their gross half full coffee cups in our seats. Mom being the good person that she is, took the garbage and went in search of a bin. This is when another one of our running jokes was created. Mom had completely left my sight to go find a bin and she went in the direction of the train doors looking. In my head my mother had gotten off the train to use a trashcan on the platform and then the train started moving. Panic coursed through my veins as I came to the belief that I had left my new-to-the-world-of-travel mother on a platform in Edinburgh. In that moment I quickly turned to look out the window and audible said "Mom?" My fears and worries were snuffed out as soon as mom returned to her seat and after I explained the mini-crisis I had just gone through we were off to York. 

With only about 24 hours to go exploring we hopped off the train from Edinburgh and made a B line for the nearest vegan restaurant. We were rather disappointed in our choice of food, I honestly can't even remember the name of the place. We had bought day bus passes which were super handy! We went and dropped off our bags at our hostel and then were off to explore the town.

Cute architecture throughout York

View of York Minster from Monksgate Bar

York is absolutely breath taking, something you would expect to see in a Harry Potter movie! And in the center of all the beauty was York Minster Abbey. This cathedral is absolutely stunning with it's stone gothic architecture and imposing presence. We were lucky enough to sneak a peek inside as they were preparing for a service, the interior is just as exquisite as the exterior. Just walking around the grounds gave you this sense of peace and relaxation, dozens of people were lounging about enjoying the weather and the ambiance of the Abbey grounds. 

View from the lawn behind the York Minster

View from our hostel

After we did a bit of lounging ourselves, and of course a mini-photo shoot, we set out to see what else York had to surprise us with. That is when we found a stone tower, Monksgate Bar. At first it looked like we wouldn't be allowed to go up. The only entrance was this super narrow, one at a time staircase and people just kept filing out one after the other. Once there was a break in people we both scurried up the stairs before anyone else tried to share the space with us. The tower took us up to a stone wall that surround beautiful English gardens and took us on a walking tour above the part of town near the abbey.

York definitely had a small village vibe and by 6 pm the shops were closed and before we knew it, we were nearly the only ones walking around the square. We decided this was the time to catch the bus back to our hostel. We spent the majority of the night out in the common area, playing on our phones, journaling and sampling their assortment of ciders (we of course were very partial to the Swedish-made ones).

York Castle

The next day only supplied us with a few hours before it was back on the train and off to London. So in order to make the most of it we got up and made our way over to York Castle, went through some mini street fairs with amazing live performances. (I must say finding street fairs that you had no clue about while traveling is probably one of the best surprises!) 

Las Iguanas from the street!

The last stop before off to London was a stop for food and oh boy I will never forget this restaurant. We honestly just stumbled upon Las Iguanas right as they were opening. Honestly some of the best Hispanic food we have ever had. I mean fresh guacamole and a beautiful rooftop dinning area! Can't go wrong.

With full bellies and happy hearts we made the trek back to the train station and were off to London!

Las Iguanas roof top dining.

It's an adventure!

It's All Up Hill From Here

Next stop... Edinburgh, Scotland

After our race against time in Ireland, our quick 40ish minute flight was actually quite a treat. We flew with Ryanair, which for a short flight, was absolutely worth it but kind of reminded us of a New York taxi with wings. It was actually pretty cool because, with the Fringe Festival in full swing, there was a troop of actors on our plane heading to Edinburgh to perform.

Once we arrived in Edinburgh, the air was brisk and we were exhausted. The travel clock had reached a whopping 39 hours. We took a tram from the airport to our Airbnb which was extremely central! We stayed with Jess and we couldn't have lucked out more! With Fringe going on, it was quite hard to find accommodations, however, our Airbnb was beautiful. We were in a good location, with an amazing, unique host, and a hip atmosphere. We would absolutely recommend staying here! Jess, our host was incredible, bright pink hair and a personality to match! She filled us in on all the info for the flat and places we should go. Exhaustion had truly set in so we called it a night.

Sunday morning we made a makeshift breakfast out of all the snacks I had brought and then we were out onto the streets of Edinburgh. We set out with only one aim, find a tattoo parlor, other than that, we were just going with the flow. The streets of Edinburgh were just beautiful. I personally knew very quickly that I would love living there. We wandered around a little until we came to a hill that clearly led to great sites. 

Mom had already joked around about Edinburgh being nothing but hills. She said "Even when you're going downhill you are still going uphill." That became one of our running jokes for the whole trip. We accidentally stumbled upon the monstrous Calton Hill. In all honesty, it was not a very long hike but boy was it steep! You had the option of stairs or a paved hill but there was no escaping the daunting incline.

View from atop Calton Hill.

After just a few stops to catch our breath we made it to the top. The climb was definitely worth it!  This was the very top of the city! You could see everything from up there, from the sea to Edinburgh castle. It was breathe- taking. It also had several monuments atop the hill including the National Monument of Scotland, Nelson Monument, and the Dugald Stewart Monument.  

After we were done exploring Calton Hill we found ourselves some Vegan grub at a restaurant called Hendersons. They had a good variety of options including vegan haggis which I have regretted a little not trying. Overall it was not the best meal we had ever had but we both enjoyed our falafel burger and chocolate cake! From Hendersons, we found ourselves in the heart of the Fringe Festival. There were street performers and people flyering left and right. We saw some cool stunts and magic and as well as some very cheesy vaudeville-inspired acts.

Our feet seem to be drawn to adventure because we honestly just kind of stumbled upon the Edinburgh Castle as well. This was another uphill trek but by then we were getting used to it! The Castle and National Gallery were there fairly close to one another. It was really cool because so many of the galleries had been turned into venues for the Fringe Festival. There were people everywhere!

We didn't go into the Castle, just walked its grounds but that was enough to get a feel for the culture surrounding us. We made our way back to the Fringe Market where we bought some small sterling silver jewelry from a lovely man from Spain. We, of course, sampled a local Starbucks and recharged a little. Pokemon Go may or may not have been involved.

Our day was coming to a close, and we had not found a tattoo place that could take us in but we had been on some amazing adventures! We closed out our night with some Vegan Italian food from Nova Pizza, which was delicious and owned by a true Italian, himself. Then, with full bellies, we made the pleasant 30ish minute walk back to our Airbnb, trying to take in every last sight before we left for York the next morning. 

Edinburgh was gorgeous, definitely a place we would be willing to return to.

It's An Adventure...

Every Minute Counts

One thing about travel is always trying to pack as much adventure as possible into the shortest amount of time without getting stressed out. On yesterday's trip to Ireland we managed to make one of those things occur.

Our plane from Charlotte, North Carolina landed in Dublin, Ireland at 6:35 am. We then had exactly 13 hours until our plane left from Dublin to Edinburgh. Determined to see as much of Ireland as we could, we decided to book a tour of the beautiful Wild Wicklow with a little time in Glendalough. 

From the airport we got coffee at Cafe Nero (delicious) while waiting for our "Wild Wicklow" tour bus to arrive. Our pick up location was just across the street from the posh Hotel Shelborne in the middle of Dublin, which may we say had some very pleasant doormen! Once our tour bus arrived we met John, our tour guide and proper Irishman, "You best believe". 

The tour began with a short trip through the City Centre as well as surrounding villages on our way up to the Wicklow Mountains. Our first stop was in Dun Laoghaire at Sandycove Beach where wetsuit-clad Ironman contestants were practicing for competition and let's just say this was not proper swimming weather for us Florida girls. 

As our journey continued we got to see both Bono and Enya's castles and stopped again at the Avoca Kilmacanogue Store and Cafes. This is where we found a beautiful garden/greenhouse housing gorgeous native and non-native plants including an amazingly beautiful California Redwood. 

We saw some sights and landscapes that you only see in movies. In fact, we stopped at a bridge that had been used in the film "P.S., I Love You" which had a beautiful little stream running through it. We also passed an adorable little church which we were told was the church that Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were secretly married in after filming the movie "Far and Away".

We stopped for lunch in the little village of Glendalough where we found a mom and pop cafe that used locally grown and sourced produce to create their Vegan fare. This was the first real restaurant overseas. The owner even gave us a couple of fresh plums that she had just picked from the tree out back, and they were delicious!

After lunch, we made our way to our final stop, St. Kevin's Monastery, which is also considered Glendalough. John led us on a guided walking tour of the monastery and then released us to take the hike up to the Upper Lake to see one of the most photographed locations in Ireland. The Upper Lake was of course absolutely gorgeous but one look down at the watch and we realized that our flight from Dublin to Edinburgh was quickly approaching.

We made it back to the bus early but we couldn't say the same for everyone. Needless to say, we started to stress a little which is when our amazing tour guide John swept in to rescue us. First, we all toasted to a wonderful tour with a shot of Jameson Whiskey. John was honestly so awesome! He told us that not only would he take us to the airport himself, but he would also personally make sure we were not late (a big promise). Every minute made our hearts beat faster but true to his word, with only us aboard, John rushed us to the Dublin Airport.

We arrived at the airport with a little time to spare... or so we thought. In reality, our flight was supposed to be boarding at that very moment and according to our tickets, the gate would be closing in five minutes. Stressful? Just a little. After practically breaking down one of the security gates, we were so luckily assisted by members of the Dublin Airport Security team. Now all that stood in our way was a sprint across what seemed to be the largest airport terminal ever!!! But in the end, we made it to our gate on time, and ironically enough, our flight had actually been delayed. We had plenty of time, which gave us a chance to catch our breath, use the restroom and board the flight comfortably.

Once aboard, it was hard to believe that not even 24 hours before we had been in the United States. Thus ended our first day aboard and then we were on to Edinburgh. What an amazing and thrilling way to start our trip!

But you know what we say! It's an adventure!

UK Playlist!

As we are gearing up for our biggest trip yet, I decided to compile a list of some songs that have some attachment to the destinations and locations we will be visiting! Hope you enjoy!

The Great Magical Beginning!

It is often heard to pinpoint the exact moment where everything changes and you find one of those things, that truly makes you happy. I am Brandy, the daughter half of Pure Life Travelin. Growing up I had always been determined to never step foot on a plane. I was a nervous, panicky child and planes were at the top of my no-go list. However, something changed in me around my 16th birthday, a little cliche I know but it did. I had wanderlust so strong that it was crushing somedays. And for my birthday I had the world opened to me!

My aunt giving me the chance to fly for the first time and to New York City changed my life forever. It was magical and I got to share it with my mom. From there we went on trips to California and the mountains in North Carolina but it wasn't until college until I left the country. It was love that took me to Sweden twice, once in the summer and once in the winter! And it was adventure that took me to Costa Rica! Traveling makes my heart happy and I am so excited to start traveling more with my mom!

I’m Melissa, the mom in these stories.  My love of traveling started at age seven during my first “big” trip with my grandparents when we toured the Great Smoky Mountains’ cities of Cherokee, Asheville, and Gatlinburg. It’s a trip I remember to this day even 39 years later.  My family would travel some around the Southeast, but we never traveled too far from home. My first flight was at the age of 22 when I traveled to Dallas, TX for work training.

Once I married and had my two amazing children, and as the demands of owning our own businesses and raising children took precedence over seeing new places, travel seemed to be a luxury we couldn’t afford. Brandy’s 16th birthday gift from my sister would prompt her first flight and our first “big” trip together to New York City. Two years later we would travel to Los Angeles, Anaheim, Palm Springs and Vegas as a family to celebrate her graduation. Since then, she’s been traveling to places I’ve only dreamed of!  Last year she said, “mom, we need to start traveling, so I’m buying you a Passport”.  And so we will!  In a few days, we will embark on my biggest travel ever, a trip across the pond to explore both Ireland and the UK.  And thus begins our travels together!!

It’s an Adventure!!