My Trip to Ireland, the UK and the British Isles with Tauck

When my parents asked if I wanted to join them on a cruise to the British Isles, Ireland and the UK I of course said yes.

I’ve been to London a few times now both as a family and traveling on my own to visit friends but I was excited to explore some new-to-me places. I’ll be honest, I never thought of Ireland as a destination I wanted to visit but holy moly did I love everything we saw in Ireland. If it’s not on your bucket list of places to visit, you should def add it.

For our trip, we started in Dublin where we spent a few days before hopping on a cruise ship to go to:

Belfast and the countryside in Northern Ireland
the Isle of Man
Liverpool
Cork
Scilly
Guernsey
and then we spent a few days in London

What You Need To Know:

This should probably go without saying but the weather is super unpredictable in that region of the world — we saw rain just about every day and some days it was pretty chilly with the rain. We kept joking that if we lived in Dublin we’d want to spend all our time in bed sipping tea or chicken noodle soup.

I also kept joking throughout the trip that the real MVP of the trip was my new Lululemon puffer jacket I purchased right before we left. Holy moly did it come in handy.

I like that it has a detachable hood. There’s fleece lining in the pockets (and a little pouch for your phone!). The jacket also smooshes down into a little carrying pouch which made it super helpful for those unpredictable days that alternated between delightfully sunny and rainy. AKA every day on this trip. I typically wear a size 4 in all things Lululemon but sized up to a 6 so I could fit layers underneath it. Even in the bigger size the fit still felt tapered.

Overall I recommend dressing in layers, I always wore a little bomber jacket or sweatshirt underneath my puffer. I wore my rain boots a few times but mainly just wore my low leather boots.

Oh and bring an umbrella. Even if it looks sunny outside when you leave, bring an umbrella. We learned that that hard way during our last day in London…

Where We Went + What We Did:

I didn’t plan jack shit for this vacation. It was all my parents and I tagged along like a blissfully unawares child. For most of the trip we were on a guided tour with Tauck. The cruise portion of the trip was a collaboration with French cruise company Ponant and Tauck on the stunning ship L’Austral.

Cruising on L’Austral

I’ve only been on two cruises prior and didn’t particularly love either experience. This, though, was totally different being on a small ship with only about 200 passengers. While there wasn’t a ton to do on the ship as far as entertainment goes, it didn’t really matter since we were only really on the ship to eat and sleep.

The crew on the ship took SUCH good care of me, especially the restaurant staff.

When I travelled on a cruise to Bermuda with Jeremy a few years ago I had a few food related meltdowns. They weren’t super helpful when it came to navigating dietary restrictions.

The restaurant staff on L’Austral was on it and checked in on me at every single meal. They made sure I knew what I could / could not eat and offered alternatives if nothing on the menu was dairy-free. I know I don’t have a serious allergy and won’t pretend lactose intolerance is life threatening, but traveling on a cruise ship isn’t the time to be sick with a dairy related issue.

I never want to be a diva when it comes to eating dairy-free (and red meat / pork free) but I cannot stress enough how great everyone was.

Overall I found Dublin, London and most of the places we visited to be way more aware of allergies and dietary restrictions than we are in the US. I know NYC has come a long way even in the last 5+ years. But Europe definitely is a few steps ahead of us with super well labelled menus, lots of vegan options everywhere and even oat milk at Starbucks.

Traveling With Tauck

As far as traveling with Tauck goes, I’m not their target audience at all — in fact I was the only person under the age of 40 on the tour and the average age was closer to 70.

For me personally I didn’t care — uh I was traveling to Europe at the invitation of my parents. I sure as hell ain’t complaining. I will say, the whole experience with Tauck was spectacular and very well planned out. The trip worked like a well-oiled machine and it felt good to sit back, relax and not have to do a ton of research on where we were going and what we were doing. Besides choosing which excursion we wanted to go on at every port, there was minimal decision making. My brain really appreciated it, ha! And I think it made traveling with my parents way less stressful too since we weren’t fighting about the nitty gritty details of what to do 😂

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All Things Dublin

We spent about 4 days in Dublin which gave us plenty of time to explore this adorable city. Since we arrived a few days before the official tour started it gave us some extra time to just aimlessly walk around and explore whereas the rest of the trip was a bit more rigid and planned.

Having lived in NYC for almost 11 years now, I found Dublin to be the most charming, adorable European city. Definitely less overwhelming than London (or NYC) while still having plenty to see and explore.

Where we stayed:

The Westbury. We all agreed that the hotel location was perfect. We were only a few steps away from tons of great shopping and food.

What we did:

▶︎ Hop On, Hop Off Tour: Whenever I travel with my parents we try to take a Hop On, Hop Off bus tour as a way to see a lot and cover a lot of ground. I highly recommend it as a way to see the whole city and learn about it’s history as well.

▶︎ A lot of shopping: Yup, I did a whole lot of a shopping in Dublin. The exchange rate was in our favor and a few places were having sales. My favorite find was definitely a pair of white Birkenstock sneakers that I don’t think are available in the USA yet.

▶︎ Trinity College: The college campus is stunning. Worth exploring.

▶︎ Oscar Wilde Statue: You gotta see the Oscar Wilde statue, which is situated across the road from his childhood home.

▶︎ EPIC Museum: This new museum traces the history of Irish emigration. Even though we are not of Irish descent (despite my red hair and freckles…) we still found it to be a super interesting and beautiful designed museum.

▶︎ Dublin Castle: I’m not a huge castle person but I always love seeing these epic palaces that have been around forever.

What we ate:

▶︎ Milano Pizza: I recognized the branding of Milano as similar to Pizza Express in London. Some of you will probably think it’s weird that I’m shouting out a chain of pizza restaurants but we had SUCH a good dinner at Milano. I was super impressed with the vegan pizza options (and how tasty their vegan mozzarella cheese is!). For a low key dinner it hit the spot.

▶︎ Yamamori: For our last night in Dublin we wanted sushi since we figured it’s something we wouldn’t be seeing a whole lot of for the rest of the trip. I found Yamamori on Yelp and it definitely lived up to the high reviews. Be warned though: Their rolls are HUGE. Order carefully.

▶︎ Avoca: Avoca is an adorable restaurant and little gift shop. We had lunch here on our last day before boarding the ship and loved the homey feel and huge portions.

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Belfast + Northern Ireland

Situated in Northern Ireland, Belfast is rich with history related to the Titanic (it was built there!) and is where many scenes in Game of Thrones have been filmed.

Sadly we only got to spend a few hours in Belfast and the coastal town of Donaghadee.

What We Did:

▶︎ Greya bbey: Even though it was pouring rain the day we went, I was totally blown away by how cool it was to see the remains of this abbey from 1193. It also has the cutest little medicinal herb garden.

▶︎ Donaghadee: We stopped for Irish coffee and a snack at this adorable little waterfront town. I loved all the colorful homes and doors.

▶︎ Walking around: We walked around the heart of Belfast near their city hall for about an hour before we had to get back on the boat.

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Isle of Man

The Isle of Man feels like a fairy tale island with it’s charming, colorful houses situated on the beach. The island is also known for the popular TT Race which happens every spring.

What We Did:

The bulk of our day was spent taking a train ride on the Manx Electric Railway up to Snaefell. Unfortunately the weather was not in our favor and we couldn’t see anything at the top because it was SO foggy.

Even though the view was less than scenic (just very very very foggy) I still enjoyed learning about the history on the Isle of Man. And the train reminded me of an amusement park ride — almost too cute to be real!

After lunch on the boat, we headed back into town to enjoy some sunshine (of course the sun came out after our train ride!) and walked around the waterfront town.

But seriously, how freaking CUTE is the Isle of Man? I loved the colorful buildings.

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Liverpool

The few hours we spent in Liverpool were totally devoted to all this Beatles. We drove around the area to see the houses where both John Lennon and Paul McCartney grew up as well as now iconic spots like Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields.

We finished up at The Beatles Story, a museum devoted to the fab four. If you go, leave yourself plenty of time to wander because there is a lot to explore — we only had about an hour in the museum and it felt a bit rushed.

I’m OBSESSED with the little houseboats outside the museum. Hello, buddha!

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Cork

When I found out our cruise would stop in Cork I knew I had to kiss the Blarney Stone. I may never find myself in Cork again — gotta take advantage and get that gift of gab.

I spent a few hours at the Blarney Castle which includes the beloved (and a tiny bit gross…) Blarney Stone.

I swear the whole Blarney Stone experience felt like waiting for Space Mountain at Disney. There are warning about how long the wait could potentially be, and they even take your picture as you kiss the stone which you can purchase after.

We lucked out with timing and did not have to wait 60 minutes. But by the time I left the castle the line was past this point! Insane.

The stairs leading up to the stone are super narrow and the walk is a bit tight at times if you’re claustrophobic. To kiss the actual stone you have to lie down on your back, hold onto these rails and then throw your head back essentially while someone holds your legs down. It’s a bizarre experience to say the least… and because I’m so short I really had to arch my back to reach that damn stone. But I did it! For the record, I don’t to think about the ICK favorite as a germaphobe…

I’m not sure if the Blarney Stone powers are bubbling up to the surface just yet, but hey it’s a cool thing to say I did!

Besides the stone, the whole Blarney Castle grounds area is stunning and home to one of the most beautiful gardens I’ve ever seen.

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Isles of Scilly (Tresco)

The Isles of Scilly are made up of a few islands southwest of England. We spent our time in Tresco which is home to Abbey Gardens.

My parents and I both agreed that it was one of the most stunning and exotic gardens we’d ever been to. Many of the plants were native to various other countries (I noticed a lot were from New Zealand!) and the only place you can find them in Europe is at Abbey Gardens.

We also got to see this STUNNING golden Chinese pheasant casually roaming around the gardens. I’ve never seen a pheasant so vibrant.

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Guernsey

It’s hard to choose a favorite part of this trip, but I think Guernsey might be the winner. This island feels like paradise in many ways — and I learned it’s only a short 35 minute flight from London making it an ideal weekend getaway for people in the city.

What I did in Guernsey:

I ditched my parents in Guernsey (with their permission, of course) and signed up to take a hike around the southern part of Guernsey. I’m so freaking happy I did because WOW was it stunning. And the perfect weather on this day certainly helped. Shout out to our tour guide Gill for being a fantastic hiking guide.

After our hike the group went to The Bella Luce hotel for a Gin tasting. I’m not a big gin drinker… or drinker in general… but I enjoyed learning about the different types of gin and recommendations for what to mix them with. Our gin master, George was also hilarious and made the whole experience super fun.

Later on in the day I walked around the town near the port with my mom. I could’ve happily stayed a few extra days soaking up the sun and chill vibes in Guernsey.

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London

As I mentioned before, both my parents and I have been to London a few times now mainly to see theater and visit friends. We knew we wouldn’t have a ton of time to do exploring on our own but even so we still enjoyed our quick stop in London.