This Week in Vacation Planning (07/14/23)

Oops. I started writing this on the 4th with the intention of publishing it on the 5th, and then got busy.

Where were we?

Still trying to figure out where I want to go and what I want to see. How do you narrow it down when it’s between “everything” and “nothing, I just want to be there, and go wherever I feel like it on whatever day I feel like it.” BRAINS ARE NOT HELPFUL.

Things I absolutely, positively, definitely must see:

• My friend Hawk and his wife and their dog
• My friend Donna and her husband and their cats
• The Titanic Museum
• The Shackleton Museum
• The convention we’re going to in Glasgow

If you’d asked me when I was in Theater School, I would have said that anything Shakespeare would be number one on the list. Now? Eh. I’d rather go to the equivalent of a State or National Park. They’re always remaking Shakespeare plays into movies; they’re not making more natural, wild spaces.

Which brings me to… Tollymore Forest Park, in Northern Ireland. It looks stunning, and I think I’d like to put that on the list. I mean, just look at all that green, and stone, and water. It’s a little bit south of Belfast, so we could easily sidetrack to it on our way up or down, whichever direction we go. If we fly into Dublin, that’s close to Hawk. If we fly into Belfast, the Titanic Museum is right there (although if we leave Ireland from Belfast, we can take the ferry to the Isle of Man, stay there a night or two, and then take the ferry on to Liverpool. Or just straight take the ferry from Belfast to Liverpool). If we fly into Galway, we get to see Hawk’s favorite city. If we fly into Shannon, we can get a reasonably priced straight through flight from Boston. SO MANY THINGS TO CONSIDER. But however long it takes me to make up my mind, if the view is like this when I get there? Time well spent.

Something else about Belfast? A gazillion Game of Thrones location tours. Except that I don’t want to dress up in costume, I don’t want to hold a sword and grin madly for the tour company, and I didn’t like the last, like, two seasons. But other than that? Haha. I guess I really just kind of want to see ruins and rugged seascapes, and I can probably do that in both Ireland and Scotland without having to suffer through a GOT trivia tour (sorry, George, but I’d rather hang out with you at WorldCon than take a GOT tour). I wouldn’t mind seeing that one road with the trees, but I imagine that since it’s a road, it can probably be found pretty easily. I am a sucker for a good tree canopy.

OK; off to look at pictures of the Yorkshire Dales, and compare Scottish rail tours.

One last thing – a new rule for luggage companies; if you don’t show me fantastic pictures of the INSIDE of your luggage? That’s a hard pass. Yes; the outside is an attractive selling point. You know what else is a selling point? SEEING THE INSIDE SO I CAN JUDGE IF MY SHIT WILL FIT. I love sites that let actual human people who use the luggage post their photos, because a lot of those people are like “omg look what all I crammed into this thing” and trust me, that is more of a selling point to me than “luxury lining” and “buckles.”