Philly PR Girl Goes Global: Ireland & England

Philly PR Girl has been having one busy summer! Alongside some exciting new clients and the planning of big upcoming events, we’ve added a handful of new members to our team. But we’re not about all work and no play. In fact, in the spirit of one of our partners, Global Philly 2013, three of our team members took off to different parts of the globe for some R&R. We’ll be recounting their adventures in a series, so stay tuned for them all! First to embark was Jess who took off on a two-week trip to Ireland and England. Read on for some of the highlights of her trip…

 We took a red eye flight from JFK to Dublin and picked up a rental car right away to drive an hour and a half to get to Kilkenny and explore the Kilkenny Castle and surrounding area. We didn’t know it at the time, but our first 24 hours set the pace for how the rest of our vacation would go: nonstop.

After spending the night at a quintessential little B&B you could imagine, we traveled right across the whole country in three hours to see the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs were unbelievably gorgeous at sundown, and the narrow pathways inched right up close to the edge without any real barrier. That’s kind of how all of Ireland feels – like there is no distance between yourself and the all of the different places you want to go, the people you want to talk to, the nature, livestock, and crumbling fortresses.  Though however fond I became of the rolling hills and jagged cliff sides, it was nothing compared to city life. It took only two days for Dublin to bump up from something completely unknown to one of my top 5 favorite places in the world.

The best adjective I could use to describe Dublin is “insane.”  It’s insanely clean, insanely diverse, full of insanely nice and insanely talkative people. We explored Trinity College, the Newgrange solstice passage tomb, the Rock of Cashel, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, The National Museum of Archaeology, Irish Museum of Modern Art, and Christ Church Cathedral, where we watched a live performance by upcoming band Ham Sandwich (who I hear is already opening for Mumford and Sons). The worst part of the whole trip was having to decide between a tour through the Jameson Distillery or the Guinness Warehouse. I came home a proud, certified Guinness pourer. The best part was undoubtedly breakfast. Waking up at 7am could only be made bearable with a large plate of runny eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, beans and toast.

A quick, two-hour ferry brought us over to England, where we spent the remainder of our vacation. I fell in love with the London underground and have now seen pretty much everything Harry Potter-related there is to see in the entire country, including an amazing visit to Leavesden Studios, and Lacock Abbey and village. Once again, we hit all of the must-see tourist attractions: Stonehenge, the Globe Theatre, Westminster Abbey, Hampton Court Palace, Churchill War Room, and National Gallery. There was something so fascinating about learning the history of these two countries on location.

My absolutely favorite part of our vacation was a three-hour bike tour by The London Bicycle Tour Company through Central London. If you know how to ride, they come with my full recommendation. It is a great way to see all of the sights and develop a wish list for places you’d like to visit. (Not to mention, it feels great to zip past pedestrians after so many days of walking tours!) Our tour was a bit more treacherous than on any other day of the year, as we happened to schedule our ride on none other than the Queen’s birthday! We pedaled through unbelievable amounts of traffic, but were able to see the annual parade of the guards right up close from the street. It was one of those perfect little accidents that helped to make our entire trip eternally unforgettable.

If you thought Jess saw a lot on her vacation, just wait for Victoria’s story to Paris before shipping out to sea on a Mediterranean cruise through 12 different cities!  Stay tuned for the second part of Philly PR Girl Goes Global series.