August might be the busiest month I’ve had on the blog to date! I started the month in Armenia, and the second leg of my trip to the Caucasus and Turkey. I then went straight back into work, worked like mad, and ended the month on a spontaneous road trip to the Scottish Highlands. Wow! What a month! Here’s what all I got up to this August.
Where I Went
Yerevan, Garni, Geghard, Khor Virap, Areni, Noravank (Armenia)
Istanbul (Turkey)
York, Jedburgh, Kelso, Dryburgh, Melrose, Luss, Tarbet, Inverary, Ben Donich, Glencoe, Kinlochleven, Glen Etive (United Kingdom)
Best Moments
MY FAMILY came to visit York!!! By far one of the best moments of August and of the year in general: my aunt, uncle, and cousins came to visit me in York! They were here for just about 5 days. It was so much fun to spend time with them, show off my city, take them to my favorite pubs and spots in town, and just be together. One of the hardest things about living abroad is constantly missing people. It was so great to be with them. This was also the first visit to York of any of my family (although I’ve had several friends come visit) and it was just so special. And writing this post, I realized I don’t have any photos of all of us together! Boo!
A spontaneous road trip to the Scottish Highlands. I’ve been saying for years that I want to do a big road trip up north in Scotland and explore the Highlands. With four days off in a row at the end of August (before Adam started back at school), we decided to make the most and set off for one of the best mini-trips I’ve had in a long time! I honestly don’t have enough space here to talk about how amazing it was. The most jaw-dropping scenery I’ve ever seen, checking off items on my bucket list, driving with nothing but the open road ahead of us. It was just a wonderful few days. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
Exploring the monasteries in Armenia. One of the reasons I loved my time in Armenia so much was because of the history, and nowhere is this better seen than in the many monasteries throughout the country. I loved seeing Geghard Monastery, Khor Virap, and Noravank. It really made me realize how small a place I occupy in the world. Some of these buildings date back over one thousand years. It was a fascinating place to explore.
Seeing the Hagia Sophia and Sultanhamet in Istanbul for the first time. If there are two main landmarks in Istanbul, these would be it. And seeing them for the first time was definitely a “pinch me” moment—I made it to Istanbul! Seeing the sunset over them was also stunning. It was a great way to round off a big Caucasus trip this August.
This view coming back home to York. I always get sad after coming back from a trip. But after so many trips, York really does feel like home. And this view was what greeted me as a “welcome home!” on the way back from the train station.
Hiking the Hole of Horcum in the North York Moors. Last year in August, almost exactly to the day, I hiked the Hole of Horcum. I was so happy to see the beautiful blooming heather, carpeting the moors in a sea of purple. This year, I did the walk again and it was just wonderful. The heather wasn’t anywhere near as vibrant as last year (a very dry, hot summer will do that!), but it was beautiful. This is one of my favorite walks in Yorkshire and I’m so happy that it’ll be an annual heather pilgrimage for me!
I finally met my friend Liza in person! Liza (along with her husband, Pepe) run the blog Tripsget, and we’ve been following each other for a long time on Instagram. She was in York for the weekend this August, and we got to meet up in person! It was so nice to chat and see each other. Their blog is great, so definitely check it out! I love meeting blogging/Instagram friends in real life and I’m glad it worked out so well for us to meet up.
Camping in Scotland. I grew up in a very outdoors family, and went camping a LOT from age zero until I was a teenager. Somewhere along the line, summers got too busy, I didn’t really like camping all that much, life happened. And for most of the past 8 (?!) years, I’ve chosen different ways to travel. Part of why I loved our Scotland road trip was because we were camping—and having the freedom to sleep anywhere we liked! (Wild camping is legal everywhere in Scotland, within reason, besides certain places around Loch Lomond National Park.) We lucked out with some amazing wild camping spots. I’ll never forget waking up part of the way up Ben Donich and seeing this view. It was just incredible, and I’m so grateful to have been raised camping and to learn to (hopefully!) love it again as an adult.
Worst Moments
Food poisoning/being sick in Istanbul. One of the worst experiences I’ve had since Moldova last year: getting sick in Istanbul. I’m not sure if it was food poisoning or just what it was, but I was very sick, had horrible diarrhea, and was in so much pain from stomach cramps I spent most of a day just lying in bed writhing around in pain. (And this was when I only had 2 days in Istanbul to begin with!!!) It was horrible. When I finally felt well enough to eat a small plate of plain rice—well, it was like heaven. This is why you always travel with an emergency first-aid kit that has Immodium!
Working so much and being completely exhausted and drained. I came back from my trip, and had 12 hours between when I got home and when I was back in the office (and this was coming off of being really sick in Istanbul, remember). I then worked 18 out of 19 days in a row, and very nearly lost my voice completely from working so much. It was awful and hopefully I’ll never have to do such long stretches like that ever again. I’m tired just thinking about how tired I was!
My blog went down for 2 days in Armenia. My computer decided part-way through the trip to basically stop working—it no longer connects to any wifi network that isn’t my home network. I couldn’t access any admin stuff for my blog from my phone, and all of a sudden realized my blog was no longer working. I lost two days (possibly more?) before I was able to get access to my admin account and get it back up and running. Luckily, I don’t rely on my blog for my income. But it was still really frustrating, and meant that I lost loads of potential views!
My computer has basically stopped working. Like I said, it no longer connects to different wifi networks, so it essentially has no use to me anymore. I’ve been needing to buy a new one for SO. LONG. And if you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll know that I’ve been waiting for over a year to get a new laptop. But with so many travels and barely earning enough income to live on, I just haven’t been able to justify a new (expensive) laptop. I’ve been so unmotivated to write and publish blog posts, just because it’s such an ordeal to do them with my laptop. I can’t really get new pictures on my computer (because I have no space), and it’s such a hassle. So hopefully a new laptop as a big investment in myself will bring a lot of productive blogging!
The midges in Glen Etive in Scotland. I’d been warned about the midges in Scotland, the tiny black bugs that can drive you crazy. I was all, “who cares about midges, I’m from Minnesota, our state bird is the mosquito, represent, I can deal with any lame British bug.” Well. After camping next to a river and opening the tent door to a literal cloud of midges, where they got up my nose, in my eyes, and I was gagging on them…yeah, they’re pretty awful. I have never moved so fast to pack up a tent and get the hell out of there. Luckily, that was the only really bad experience with them—but it was a memorable one, that’s for sure.
Posts Published
Like I said earlier, I’ve been really unmotivated with blogging. I’ve got loads of posts written, drafts, bullet points, all sorts of content planned. But with my computer being so slow, I just don’t have the energy to spend literally 4 hours trying to get photos for one post. So I published just three posts in August, but there’s lots more coming this month!
20 Photos To Convince You To Visit Georgia
The Tbilisi To Yerevan Night Train
9 Things To Do On A Trip To Kutaisi
Instagram Top 3
Here are my top 3 most popular photos on Instagram from the month! My Istanbul photos sure proved popular.
Coming Up In September
I finished up my road trip in Scotland with two more unbelievable days! The rest of the month will be spent working, with a weekend trip in the middle of the month to the Lake District for my birthday! After such a busy and hectic last month, I’ll definitely need to buckle down, work a lot, and focus. Hopefully I’ll also be (FINALLY) purchasing a new laptop this month!
What was your month like? Any exciting plans in September?!
We’re gonna send you pics ASAP!!!
Aww that would be great! 🙂
What a cracking month (if you take out those bad bits!) I had a terrible experience camping on the Isle of Arran about 10 years ago with midges! Decided never again to hit Scotland in July/August Lol….
After my first experience with them, I can honestly say I can’t blame you!! They are seriously awful! Thanks for reading! 🙂