Ireland

After being home for a few days, I'm somewhat caught up on sleep, but not really haha.

Ireland was so beautiful! It really is as green as everyone says it is. And holy cow, the name O'Brien is everywhere there, so that was neat to see. 

We stayed in a cute not-so-little house in the countryside of Kiltannon that my dad found on airbnb. I had my own bedroom AND bathroom for the first time the whole trip, so that was awesome. I really can't even describe to you how pretty it was. The outside of the house was covered in vines and everything was so so green. Even the inside of the house was decorated so cute.

After resting up, the next morning we went to the Caves of Moher, which is where part of the Princess Bride was filmed. How cool is that!? And there was a mini castle called O'Brien's Tower. It was SO windy. Half the time I couldn't even see anything because my hair was blowing every which way. 

After we finished up there, we went down to the pier, and ended up booking a boat tour to go see the Cliffs of Moher up close with a guy named Liam O'Brien, who gave us a discount just because our last name was O'Brien! We had an hour or so to kill before the tour, so we went to a pub that Liam had suggested.

The boat ride was.. fun. And also terrifying. It had been stormy all day, so the waves were HUGE, making the ride very rocky, and everyone very seasick. 

One of the crew members was passing out garbage bags to everyone inside the boat in case they had to puke. Ew. But luckily, we stayed outside the whole time, so it wasn't as bad. I still got pretty seasick, but it was fun anyway! 

The next day, we went to Blarney Castle. It was a two hour drive, but it was definitely worth it. There was so much more to see than just the castle. And, I kissed the Blarney Stone! Legends say that if you kiss it, you receive the gift of gab. 

The next day, our last day, we went to two castles. Dromoland and Bunratty. The Dromoland estate was owned by O'Briens for hundreds of years. One man, Sir Edward O'Brien once bet the whole estate on a horse race, and won. There's a memorial spot on the grounds of the castle where the horse was buried.

My mom and I found a little booklet of all the castles in Ireland and there are soooo many. And they're all so different. There was one called the O'Brien Castle, so I wanna go back someday and see that one. 

Ireland was wonderful and I loved every second of it. Learning about my heritage was so cool and seeing my last name on so many different things was too. I'll definitely be back someday!

High On Life (& Switzerland)

Ever since I was a kid, when people would ask me what super power I'd want if I could have one, I would always answer "to be able to fly." Like birds. They're free to go wherever they please, without having to fill up a car with gas, or stop at red lights. And you would just get to see the world from a whole different view. Although I didn't grow wings overnight, or gain a super power, I did go PARAGLIDING IN SWITZERLAND. It still doesn't even feel like it really happened because it was so surreal.

We took the same three gondolas back up to where we had gone on our hike, and met up with everyone else who was going. The pilot I went with was named Julian. He was a total granola and was super nice. (He let me take my GoPro even though it was against the rules.)

I got all suited up and whatnot and then he asked me how I felt about running. I said pretty good, and then he said "okay! Start running then!" I about peed my pants I was so scared. It was actually quite hard to run forward when a giant parachute is pulling you the other direction. My dad took a video, and I look like a retarded unicorn prancing off the mountain hahaha. 

But HOLY COW. When we finally got off the ground, it was absolutely amazing. All I could see in every direction was pine trees and mountains. Two of my favorite things. It was so green and so pretty!! Definitely one of the coolest things I've ever had the opportunity to do and something I will never ever forget. The adrenaline rush, the wind blowing my eye balls out of my head, the pure beauty of it all. It was an amazing experience.

We also took a train to Murren that day in hopes of doing the Via Ferrata. But literally as soon as we got there, it started thundering and raining, so we couldn't do it. I was pretty bummed about it. But that's how life goes. And traveling. Things just don't always go as planned! But it was still cool to see different towns and different parts of Switzerland! Check my vsco for more pics. xoxo

Take A Hike

We took three gondolas up to the top of a mountain, and then hiked a few miles to First Lake. What a beauty. Hiking in Utah is great, but it will never compare to hiking in Switzerland. Like holy cow.

When we got back down to grindelwald, the boys and I went to eat at a pizza place. The pizza was delicious, but the pestering flies almost ruined it.

After that, we went and made reservations to PARAGLIDE and then went to Trummelbach Falls, which was amazing. It's a bunch of waterfalls inside and around a bunch of caves. It was super cool.

Jungfrau

We bought 3-day train tickets which included one trip to Jungfrau, also known as the top of Europe.

So, that morning we hopped on a train and headed for the top of the mountain! Riding a train through the alps was so incredibly beautiful. 

When we got to the top, we walked through some ice glaciers which was super neat. I slipped and almost took out a little Chinese guy when I was trying to take a picture so that was embarrassing🙈 there were SO MANY ASIANS. Seriously there were several times when I had to remind myself that I was in Switzerland and not China.

After the glaciers, we made our way to the mountain peak and took some pictures. There were these two little Indian dads who took their shirts off to take a picture by the Swiss flag, so that was interesting.

Another thing I love about Switzerland is they're always giving out free chocolate. We went to a Lindt factory/store and they gave us free samples. #winning

Cemeteries & Scenic Views

Switzerland has been at the very top of my list of places to travel for a few years now. And thanks to my awesome parents, I finally had the chance to go there. We flew from Barcelona into Geneva. And apparently the Geneva airport is right on the border, meaning that literally half of the airport is in France, and the other half is in Switzerland. Isn't that odd?

In order to fit all 7 of us and our luggage into a car, we had to get a huge 9-seater van. It was brand new, no one had ever driven it before. But it didn't have air conditioning in the back, which was quite miserable.

We stopped in Lausanne for lunch. McDonald's. And it ended up being $70! Switzerland ain't cheap. Even at Mickie D's. From there, we drove to Grindelwald, an adorable village up in the alps where our airbnb chalet was. We got settled in, went to the grocery store to buy food, and then my mom, my brothers and I went for a walk to the prettiest cemetery and had a little photo shoot in front of the mountains. I LOVE SWITZERLAND.

Montserrat

My dad booked a tour to go to a monastery called Montserrat. So naturally, I dressed in normal clothes and sandals.

We met our tour guide a couple blocks away from our apartment and all got on a nice, air-conditioned bus for the hour long ride. All I had for breakfast was a doughnut, which I should've known would be a recipe for a migraine, and it sure was. That's number two of the trip so far :( so I just laid my seat back and closed my eyes. Then when I opened them again we were in these beautiful mountains!! Apparently that's where the monastery was.

We walked a little ways and then got on a tram that took us up near the top of the mountain. Then, we hiked up to a place called St. John's chapel. The view was stunning. 

After that, we proceeded to hike down the entire mountain, through a pretty rough trail. Mind you, I'm still wearing my flimsy billabong sandals and can hardly stand because of my stupid headache.

And at one point I slipped and cut my toe open. Yuck It was gushing blood so that was real gross. Thank goodness for first aid kits. Needless to say, by the end of our 4 mile downhill hike and a whole lot of stairs, my legs were JELLO.
When we got back to the bottom, we went inside the monastery. It's crazy how many cathedrals and monasteries there are in Europe and how different each one is. 
Next stop.. SWITZERLAND!!!!!!!!

Segrada Familia

We got to Barcelona yesterday morning. Getting off the ship was a JOKE! There were two ginormous lines and on top of that, after we had been in line for 30 minutes, they let the people who had suites cut in front of us.

We had a ride lined up already, thank goodness. The line for a taxi was probably a good two hour wait. We arrived at our airbnb apartment at like 10, but couldn't check in until one! That was sucky. So we walked a few blocks to the Segrada Familia cathedral, but the soonest tickets were for 2:45. So we walked around and ate lunch at subway. 

The cathedral was unreal. The detail on the outside, the size, and especially the stain glass windows inside. It was super cool to see. 

After that we went and relaxed in our sauna of an apartment, and then went and had dinner at some random place. It's times like those when I wish I knew another language. It's so frustrating not knowing what anything says or means! But I had some delicious creme brûlée so that's all that matters ;)