Hello dear readers, how are things?
I’m sure many of you can relate but I haven’t really had the motivation for blogging for much of this year. What good is a travel blog if you’re not traveling? Credit to those of you who’ve consistently put stuff out to your audience but I just haven’t been that interested in writing.
Travel has been very limited this year for a number of reasons so I’ve spent the majority of 2021 at home in Peterborough.
As most of you will know, I’m a Londoner at heart. I was born in North London and it’s the city that will always be home to me. That said, I’ve really grown to love Peterborough and that’s probably never been truer than right now.
Living in the US for a couple of months last year certainly helped, as did a pandemic which has really made me embrace all things local. As the country has began relaxing restrictions and opening up, I’ve made a real effort to find things to do locally. If I could find things to do in a tiny town such as Moses Lake for two months, surely there’s plenty happening in Peterborough that I’ve been missing out on?
So those of you following on Instagram will see I’ve been pretty busy in and around Peterborough. Nevertheless, I’ve been itching for some ‘real’ adventure. I did have a few days booked down at the coast in June and then a handful of days beforehand the hotel cancelled, advising that they wouldn’t be open, which completely scuppered my hopes of visiting the coast – I couldn’t be bothered re-planning things so settled on a day trip to Bury St Edmunds (surprisingly nice) so that my day off wasn’t completely wasted.
Having got my second vaccine dose at the end of July, I’ve been holding off as long as possible making plans for the second half of the year but I’ve finally settled on what I’m going to do with my time off.
September
The original plan was to get married in Washington State this month, so I had four weeks booked off of work. That obviously isn’t happening, we’ve postponed to April (fingers crossed), so I was left with all of this time off and nothing to do with it.
I was hoping that I could hold off nearer the time and perhaps get out to Washington anyway, just without the big celebration. As it is, the border remains what feels like indefinitely closed. 18 months later there’s still no sign of the US opening its border, whilst Americans fly off to anywhere in the world (space included!). It’s quite frustrating haha. On the plus side, it did allow Haleigh to finally come this way and spend ten days in England in August after 16 months apart!
Anyway, back to the travels.. I’ve held off and held off and held off but the US isn’t happening. I cancelled a week of my holiday but with three weeks off this month I was still determined to go somewhere – anywhere!
I’ve looked at a number of options and finally settled on a first trip to Ireland. I’m off to Dublin and Cork this week – flying out tomorrow! I’m excited to finally be getting on a plane and going somewhere outside of the country.
I might yet go elsewhere in September but I haven’t planned that far ahead. I might just enjoy a few day trips in England instead – watch this space I suppose?
However, Ireland for the first time! It’s surprisingly a country I’ve yet to visit. If you have any recommendations for Dublin, Cork or suitable daytrips from either – let me know?
November
I also have some time off in November and it’s keep your fingers crossed time. Will the US open their borders? I’d like to think yes but then half of the country can’t be bothered to go and get vaccinated so who knows? The situation is by no means perfect in the UK of course but there’s at least some assurance that the vast majority have been vaccinated here.
I’m hoping that I’ll get to Washington for Thanksgiving but I was saying the same thing a year ago and settled on a trip to Gibraltar in the October instead.
Plan B this time around is Slovenia. After stepping away from football I’ve already been sucked back in. Admittedly I did actually give up the season ticket, a painful decision but the right one. Nevertheless another season of European football has its hold over me.
With Tottenham’s participation in the Europa Conference League confirmed, I was hoping for an adventure to some of the more obscure parts of the continent. Tottenham were drawn with Rennes (France), Vitesse (Netherlands) and NS Mura (Slovenia) last week.
Slovenia seemed the most attractive of those so I was hoping it’d overlap with my time off in September. As it was, we’re off to Rennes in September, which didn’t have quite the same appeal to it but.. the Slovenia date lines up with Thanksgiving which I already had booked off work anyway.
So Thanksgiving 2021 will be spent in either Washington State or Slovenia dependent on what happens with the US border (and UK restrictions of course).
I really want to say it’ll be Washington but we’re inching ever closer to November and it doesn’t feel like much time before then if the US are going to open up. With Canada opening up this week, my hope is the US will soon follow suit but I guess we’ll wait and see.
Anyway, that’s what I’m up to. If you want to keep tabs on what I’m up to in Ireland, Instagram will probably see it first but I’ll be back with photos and thoughts on the blog in the near future (hopefully).
Hope you’re all doing well!
Until next time!
Jason
Jason likes to travel 
Dublin and cork sound like great choices. Gibraltar too. Thank goodness you were able to see Haleigh. Good things come to those who wait. You guys will certainly know what perseverance looks like as you begin your life together. Glad to see you back. Donna
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Yeah, I’m quite excited by both. Gibraltar was lovely last year too.
Thanks Donna, it’ll be worth all the waiting in the end. Hope you’re well too 🙂
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Safe travels to Dublin, Jason! I enjoyed reading your update. If you decide on Slovenia for November, I spent 10 days there and have many recommendations to share! For Dublin, I’d recommend checking out Howth, a little seaside village just outside of Dublin with great fish and chips, views, and a pretty impressive castles.
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Thank you! If I do end up in Slovenia I’ll be sure to come back to you for recommendations! 🙂
Howth is on my list to check out on one of the days I’m there 🙂
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You will love Dublin! Definitely take some time for a bike ride in Phoenix Park, it was my favourite Dublin activity. You can also visit Howth, the fishermen village, and Glendalough for some history. Safe travels!
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Thank you so much! I’ll keep a bike ride in mind, although the weather forecast looked miserable the last time I checked so might favour staying indoors haha.
Howth is definitely on the list to visit! I need to research how easy Glendalough will be to visit as a few people have recommended that too 🙂
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If there’s no rain, I’d take anything else! Ireland is not exactly famous for its sunny weather anyway haha. If you’re looking for food recommendations I would tell you to go to the Elephant and Castle restaurant, both in Dublin and Cork. I’ve only been to the one in Dublin but it was definitely worth it!
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Haha yeah, I expect no guarantees on the weather here or in Ireland.
I’ll add the Elephant and Castle to my list to check out. Thank you 🙂
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Dublin is an awesome city Jason and you will love it. I’ve not been to Cork so will be interested to read your posts. How are you getting between the two cities? We’re hoping to get away very soon too! I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag but think about our joint Duolingo efforts! Can’t wait, fingers crossed both out plans come to fruition and you get over to Washington State to be with Haleigh.
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I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve only got a couple of nights in Cork but that should be enough to get a decent glimpse of it. I’m hoping it’ll be easy getting a train or bus between the two cities, I’ve not booked that much yet.
Excited to see if your plans come to fruition. I’m itching to get there myself, haven’t ruled it out for later in the month!
Thank you! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you too! 🙂
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Do let me know if you decide to go there as we’ll be there the last two weeks of the month and we could meet up!
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If it happens I’ll be sure to let you know. It’d be great meeting up 🙂
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Great post, thanks for sharing! ❤️
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Hey Jason! It is great to hear your plans for travel. Your trips will be amazing. Unfortunately, all international travel is “up in the air” because of the virus. I booked trips to Greece and Phuket, Thailand in October. Phuket allows entry with no quarantine for vaccinated travelers. The airlines I can use with points stopped flying there; so that trip looks like a no go. Good luck with Thanksgiving. Last year domestic travel over that holiday caused a spike in cases here. Best of luck to us all. John
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It’s good to have you back Jason. Congrats on getting fully vaccinated and indeed on your upcoming wedding. Your wife-to-be is from Washington state I presume? Both Ireland and Slovenia sound great to me, two countries Ive yet to visit. Like you, we finally set off on a new adventure last week after being grounded in Serbia for a year. Montenegro is just next door, so to speak, but the combination of sea, sun, peace and quiet and gorgeous old churches is just what we needed! Looking forward to hearing about your travels.
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Hi, Jason, I am sorry to hear you had to postpone your wedding due to the pandemic crisis. It can be frustrating at times knowing that the COVID rules and regulations doesn’t apply to all and that there are people who can come and go as they please. I am delighted to hear that you are coming over to Ireland. Your timing couldn’t be any better as at the moment we are basking in the shimmering sun that is set to last for a few day. Have a great time in Dublin and Cork. Can’t wait to read all about your trip 🙂 Aiva xx
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Glad to hear you have some travel plans at long last. Sorry the US is being such a killjoy. I really do hope you can get over to Washington for Thanksgiving (I’ve seen that date bandied about in the press, too, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it), but at the same time, I’m very interested to see your travels to Slovenia! (In my mind I have a circular Balkan road trip planned that starts and ends in Slovenia.)
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Dublin and Cork sound great – I hope you enjoy your trip! And I also so hope you can get to the US in November. And given I’m in P’bo every week, I’ll wave as we’ve probably passed each other plenty of times without realising it 🙂
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This would be a fabulous place to go to visit Ireland .Loved our visit Slovenia .. ..Good for you have wonderful getaway.
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Love your post on Travel, I am sure we all hope to travel the world some time that’s why I hope you read and get insights from my post on ‘How to Plan a Luxury Vacation in 7 Quick Steps” https://misspresident.home.blog/2021/11/08/how-to-plan-a-luxury-vacation-in-7-quick-steps/
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hope you go to Slovenia!:)
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Thank you, Slovenia didn’t pan out but I made it to the US for Thanksgiving instead. Slovenia will hopefully happen next year.
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At least you visited the States,so Slovenia in 2022
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Hi Jason, did you make it over for Thanksgiving? I really hope you did! 🤞🏻
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You’ve obviously since seen that I did but thank you! 🙂
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Hi Jason,
We are heading over to England soon (if our two countries will stop and we were so excited to meet up with you, but under the circumstances (Omicron) and our need to not get infected with this incredibly contagious virus, we are limiting our contacts while we are over there. Thus, a blog buddy meet-up and seeing Catherine of Aragon’s tomb will have to wait until our next visit, I’m sad to say. The good news is that will almost certainly be a summertime visit. Have a wonderful Christmas – I hope you get to spend it with your fiance!
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That’s so exciting! I completely understand, it’s difficult at the moment.
If by chance you do make it this way, and dependent upon what dates you’re coming, there’s actually a Catherine of Aragon festival here in January.
Hopefully you have a great trip and hopefully see you in the summer too!
We got to spend Thanksgiving together but Christmas probably won’t happen, hopefully won’t be long until we see eachother again though as long as Omicron and our countries behave!
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