u/DirectorCyrus

Also packed was a REI quarterzip, and Columbia boots that I'm wearing in the picture, along with a target Packable tote bag for purchases.

We started the trips wearing jackets and pants, and ended it with heatstroke, did not expect that range of temperatures.

We met in New York and flew from JFK to Dublin, spent 3 nights at a Generator Hostel, and had a nice time exploring the city, did many distillery tours, and a walking tour of the city, and were recommended to see the Howthe Cliffs by a pair of Canadian travelers we'd met. Overall Dublin was a great first stop and had lots of variety.

Next was Belfast for 3 nights, I'll fully admit timing might have had something to do with it, but we weren't loving Belfast from the get go, and there were riots happening in the wake of an attack, so we were told to avoid many areas because Ryanair wouldn't let us change our flight. There was some nice places we went to in the city, but we ended up just using it as a base and did Day trips to Derry, and Giant's causeway, which we did immensely enjoy.

Edinburgh for 3 nights, I'd been there when I was younger, my friend hadn't, but this was a totally different experience. Our Hostel, Castle Rock was incredible, and had the best location, we loved exploring the city, and even bough Kilts secondhand. Met up with a College friend who I'd met on exchange in the US. Easily was our favorite city of the trip despite me getting sick one day.

Inverness for 2 nights was a change of pace to be in the country, our hostel was very homey and had some fun people, and we ended up going out with everyone to watch the World Cup game in our kilts at a pub, and was one of our favorite nights of the trip, and made a lot of great friends and memories. Loch Ness was nice, did a trail but not really anything to write home about. At this point we were able to get away with just wearing shorts, I wore my quarterzip when it got cooler.

Glasgow for 2 nights provided some breathing room, we only had a day there with the way travel worked out, but saw the city, went to the National Piping Museum, saw a parade, and did some other tourist things but enjoyed the city. There was also a music festival going on when we were there and that seemed fun.

Manchester for 1 night, this was our first night in a hotel, and we really loved that part, but Manchester was lovely too, walked the city, saw everything we needed to, could've done more time there.

Nottingham we stopped at on our way to London, it was at this point things were getting much hotter, and even though we stashed our bags, after we'd seen everything we ended up deciding to take an earlier bus just so we could go to sleep earlier.

London for 3 nights was definitely interesting. I'll preface this by saying I've gone many times before, I have family there I grew up visiting, so I've already done anything I wanted to, but I wanted my friend to appreciate the city. We got there during the heatwave and it was hot, humid, and quite miserable. Our hostel told us we'd have AC, they lied, and while we stayed in some rough accommodations on the trip, this was the most narrow, packed, and hot room we'd ever had, at times hotter than outside.

We tried to do one night, did our laundry, but my friend woke up severely dehydrated and sick and we realized we had to get out of there, because it just wasn't functional. We were sweating uncontrollably and it was the worst sleeps we'd ever had. We booked a last minute hotel, and went to the British museum while we waited, and my friend couldn't enjoy it because he had such a headache, and when our hotel was ready, we just booked it on the tube and packed up. The Hotel was a Hilton, I'd stayed there with family, and it was definitely pricier but my family was helping with points, my friend immediately passed out, and slept for 6 hours, and was recovering, I walked around a bit.

The next day he was feeling better, but ironically, our AC broke at the hotel, and as they were full they couldn't do anything, and eventually refunded 1 night. Our second night there was still manageable because the hotel was cooler than the hostel, but still ridiculous to be paying for it to be broken during a heatwave. We did some tourist stuff, but I think at this point my friend was just waiting to leave London, we saw a West End show, did some more touristy things but still left with the sour taste in his mouth.

The next morning we took a coach to Southampton, and our driver apologized because the AC was also broken and he opened the roof hatches for airflow, 2 hours and people started fanning themselves with the reserved seat signs.

We arrived in Southampton, and boarded the Queen Mary 2, when we were booking we found it was actually cheaper to sail back to the US than it was to fly, by a good amount, (599$ per person to sail, versus 800$ from LHR to JFK with 2 connections).

Cruise was great, no complaints, arrived in New York July 3rd, met up with some friends for the 4th and went our separate ways.

Overall, enjoyed the trip, was it too long? definitely, if I had to do it again I'd stick to 1 country and see more of it, but I don't feel like I missed out. I packed a lot but I'd stick to 1 climate if I could next time to make my life easier. Lots of Tesco's Meal deals in the UK, which I'll miss, and really had an amazing time.