This past June I went on a spectacular trip to the UK and Ireland. A friend and I signed up for an extensive tour through EF Ultimate Break, and we spent two weeks traveling the cities and countrysides of Scotland, England, and Ireland.

I keep a travel journal whenever I travel, so that I can remember each place with more detail. I won’t be sharing excerpts from my journal (maybe with a few exceptions), but I will draw from my notes so that I can present a more accurate account of my travels—and I have so much to share!

If I don’t write about it in more depth, I may burst!

This was the first time I (sort of) traveled alone. My friend and I live in different places, so we had different flights and arrived at different times; however, we quickly made friends with other members of our tour group, who were all around the same age as us (EF Tours are for young adults ages 18-29.)

It was a little nerve-wracking for me at first, but even then I had the distinct feeling this trip would change my life in ways I couldn’t imagine.

It truly was the best trip of my life, not just because I love travel and I believe in its ability to inspire and heal us, but because I opened myself up in ways I hadn’t before, and made some amazing new friends.

Journals from Across the Pond is partially some of my journey, and partially a travel guide. We did so many things sometimes it’s hard to keep track of it all, but have no doubt I’ll talk plenty about things to see and do, food to eat, drinks to drink, and moments to experience.

So, over the course of the next couple months, you can look forward to reading all about traveling Edinburgh and other areas of Scotland, cities in England including York, Durham, Cambridge, London, Stratford-Upon-Avon, and Liverpool, and cities and landscapes in Ireland including Dublin, Galway, Inishmore, and of course, the Cliffs of Moher.