May was the month of crazy. I thought April was nuts and then May came. Some highlights include not only a ton of traveling and adventure, but a new blog!!! I’m still tweaking it and will be changing hosts at the end of this month (faster site for the win!), but with all of the sponsorships we’ve been able to land over the past few months, we figured it was time to upgrade from our free theme. Word to the wise — upgrading themes is not exactly “easy” and after multiple days of struggle, it’s finally coming together! So, other than updating the blog what were we up to in May? Read on to learn all of the crazy adventures we got to embark on this month and our plans for June.
May Adventure Time
If you read last month’s recap post, you know that April was a crazy month for us. I thought that May would be a slower month, but somehow it got even crazier! From horseback riding to in-laws visiting to helicopter trips and finally a birthday trip to Spain this month did not slow down one bit. While crazy, it was probably one of our best months so far this year. We really enjoyed our time together and with friends and family and were reminded of how lucky we are to live the life we do. 🙂
Ireland – Horseback Riding
When I was a kid my dad sent me off to horseback riding camp for the summer and I fell in love with horses. I haven’t really ridden since then and when I found a tour with Hilltop Treks that included a ride through the Irish countryside I immediately jumped on the opportunity. Since the hubby doesn’t like heights (and therefore horse riding) I went with two of my friends from work and we had a blast not only riding the horses but also touring throughout Wicklow and Glendalough after the horse riding. Stay tuned for a post on this awesome experience in the coming days.
Ireland – Helicopter Tour
I follow The Irish Experience on Facebook and saw that they had a huge discount on helicopter tours and after convincing a few friends jumped on it. I have always wanted to take a helicopter ride and since it was my birthday month didn’t feel bad splurging on the experience. I LOVED it. We had so much fun flying over the beautiful Irish countryside. It’s amazing how green this country is and seeing it from above gave me all the feels.
Ireland – Blarney Castle, Rock of Cashel, and County Clare
The hubby’s parents came to visit this month and we did a whirlwind tour of Ireland in less than a week. From exploring Dublin to some coastal towns to County Clare (and the Cliffs of Moher) to the Blarney Stone, the Rock of Cashel, and Cork we really did a LOT in a week’s time. My mother-in-law’s dream has been to come to Ireland and it has been very high on her bucket list for a very long time. To see her face light up multiple times throughout the trip made everything more than worth it and we really enjoyed having them around. She even got to kiss the Blarney Stone which she said about 100 times in a 24 hour time period because she was so excited about it. 🙂 This is why we love traveling — it brings so much joy to experience things that we otherwise thought we would never have the opportunity to see.
Birthday Trip to Spain!
Most first-timers to Spain hit Barcelona or Madrid or maybe Granada. Us? We went to the amazing Basque region to experience Spanish wine culture (the Rioja wine region is out of this world), small towns in the mountains, and the best foodie-city in the world — San Sebastian. My expectations were pretty low for this trip and I left pleasantly surprised. Our trip was one of my favorite vacations thus far and I am so excited to write all about it in the coming weeks. Definitely one of the most underrated regions in Europe!
So, what’s next?
Last month on the blog was a bit slow with all of the crazy traveling and the blog revamp. But, no worries I have a bunch already written up (productivity for the win!) including my horseback riding trip, our Budapest weekend guide (finally!), our amazing stay at Bodegas Valdelana in Spain, and how to best experience the Rioja region of Spain. I’m really excited to get back to writing since last month was so slow and I really missed writing for you guys!
In terms of travel, the only trip I have planned at this point is to Croatia next weekend! I’m headed to Zadar with a girlfriend for the weekend and can’t wait! We’ve booked a tour of Kornati national park and the rest of the time we’ll probably just hang in Zadar. If you have any recommendations I’d love to hear them! We might also head up to Belfast for a day trip to see the Titanic museum this month, but we’ll have to see how everything pans out over the next few weeks in terms of budget (we’re a bit broke after our two crazy months!).
Enjoy quiet time in Zadar this time of year. 📷 from @vanilla_angie
A post shared by Zadar Region Croatia (@zadar_region) on Jan 22, 2017 at 10:27pm PST