July has been a bit of a whirlwind. Despite spending all of the month in the UK, I have been busy! A trip to Edinburgh, a trip to Nottingham, and a few daytrips meant that I didn’t spend very much time at home in York. Here’s what all I got up to this month!
Where I Went
York, Edinburgh, Bishopthorpe, Grassington, Linton, Hebden, Nottingham, Durham, Newcastle (United Kingdom)
Best Moments
MY VISA RENEWAL APPLICATION WAS SUCCESSFUL!!! By far the best moment of the month was on 18 July, when I received the news that my visa application was successful, and my leave to remain in the UK has been extended. My BRP was delivered to my office and I immediately burst into tears when I opened it.
The relief was unreal. I talked about the stress of applying to renew my visa in my May recap. I’ll be writing a huge post on the process as well (as there’s literally no information online, including on the official government website). But my visa determines my career, my ability to live with my husband, and the right to be able to live in the UK. The Home Office is a national disgrace (not only because they make up to 800% profit on some visa applications), and it is an expensive and horrific process. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. So I am extremely happy and relieved that everything worked out, and that I now don’t have to worry about visas again until 2022. You can read about the experience getting my first visa here.
I GOT MY FIRST EVER GOOGLE ADSENSE PAYMENT!!! I first put ads on my blog in October 2017, when I realized I needed to make the effort to monetize in some way. Google Adsense has a payment threshold of £60, so you don’t receive your first payment until you make over £60. After nearly two years, I have finally reached that threshold and received my first payment in July!!!! It is a huge validation of my efforts to grow my traffic and increase my blog following, and a very tangible reward. I only have 4 ads on my website (because I find lots of them really annoying) and I could have reached the threshold faster had I have had more ads. But it was a huge step for me and I’m over the moon about it!
Huge growth for my blog. I’ve put a lot of work into my blog recently. And this month, I really feel that it is genuinely paying off in big ways. Not only have I earned money, but my page views have been increasing in leaps and bounds. I started off the month, hit my most ever page views for a day, then beat that record the next week, and then beat that record again the week after! AND THEN I beat that by 10% just three days ago!! A few of my posts (like my post about wild camping on the Isle of Skye) have had HUGE results for search engines lately, which is fantastic—I wrote the post since there was no blog post about it online! So I wanted to answer the questions I was looking for! I’ve felt really proud of myself and can’t wait to see what the next few months bring!
A fantastic weekend in Edinburgh. I started off the month with a short weekend trip to Edinburgh. While I’ve been to Edinburgh twice before (and a weekend is a bit short, I really could have used another day for exploring), I had so much fun. I did some of my old favorite things, and new things! I got to enjoy this beautiful city and visited some really fun bars. There are so many places I love in Scotland, but Edinburgh is a firm favorite.
Seeing the sunset from Calton Hill. One the things I really wanted to do on this trip to Edinburgh was go up to Calton Hill for sunset. The sun sets fairly late (around 9:30-10:00pm) so I had a full day of exploring and then was greeted by a gorgeous sunset. I loved seeing the colors over the city, and watching the light change. It was one of my favorite things I did in Edinburgh by far.
Two shows at Shakespeare’s Rose Theater! Last year was the first year of the pop-up Shakespeare’s Rose Theater, which makes a home out of a parking lot for a fantastic summer of Shakespeare shows. This year, I planned on seeing just Henry V, which has been a favorite Shakespeare play of mine (I love the St. Crispin’s Day speech!). It was so good that I booked to go back to see Twelfth Night the next week! It is such a unique experience, with fantastic staging, phenomenal acting, and a really fun environment. If you’re in York (or near Blenheim Palace, where they have another one this year!), definitely don’t miss out! You can find more information here.
A wonderful visit to Nottingham! I lived in Nottingham during my study abroad over 5 years ago. It is one of my favorite cities in the world, and one that means so much to me. I always love going back! One of my good friends (who I actually met during my study abroad in Nottingham) is leaving to move back to France, and so we went down for a short visit to see her. It was a bit sad but really fun to go back to some of our favorite places and favorite bars, and just hang out. I’ll miss her being just a couple hours away!
A great day out in the Dales. I took advantage of the DalesBus that runs from York to the Yorkshire Dales, and spent most of a day in and around Grassington. I’d never been to this part of the Dales before, and it was gorgeous! I saw Linton Falls, walked around Grassington, and then did a short walk to Hebden and back to Grassington along the River Wharfe. The weather was a bit touch-and-go, but overall it stayed really nice. It is a beautiful area and one that I will definitely be returning to!
Finally (FINALLY) returning to Durham. Durham is one of my favorite places in the UK. It is a charming place, and home to one of the most stunning cathedrals I’ve ever seen. I first visited in February 2014, as a daytrip from Nottingham. I’ve been wanting to go back ever since I moved back to the UK, but (to be honest!) wanted to wait until the scaffolding was off the cathedral and the renovations were done. Well, nearly 3 years later, I finally got to go again.
Durham Cathedral is amazing. I had such a wonderful visit, in awe of every inch of the cathedral. I climbed up to the top of the tower, and remembered just how amazing the views are. I walked along the river and took a stroll through town. It is just the best place and I’m so happy I got to go back for another visit.
Worst Moments
The extreme heat in the UK. This summer has seen some pretty high temps in the UK, a country known for being rainy with fairly mediocre temperatures year-round. Well, at the end of the month the temperature hit 98˚F (37˚C) in England!!! It was even hotter in southern areas of the country. I couldn’t even believe it. England does not get that hot. The country is horrifically prepared to deal with any extreme weather. There are very few places that have air conditioning (you literally only need it for 2-5 days a year), stores sell out of their entire stock of fans, trains are cancelled due to speed restrictions as trains can’t travel as fast in super hot weather… it’s a complete disaster. To say that I regularly lived through summers with that heat in Minnesota, it was awful to deal with in the UK! I sweat so much that day. I’m glad it was only one really hot day!
Besides the heat, I didn’t really have any other bad experiences or upsets in July. The weather is a very minimal thing to be less than ideal, so I’m really grateful for that.
Posts Published
I managed to catch up a bit on my big backlog of posts from my past travels. Here are all the posts I published this month!
16 Of The BEST Places To Visit In The North York Moors
All Aboard The Rocky Mountaineer: Vancouver To Banff!
A Daytrip To Malbork Castle From Gdansk
Staying In The Camasunary Bay Bothy On The Isle Of Skye
The Complete Guide To The Best Instagram Spots In York
How Much Does It Cost To Travel The Caucasus And Istanbul For 2.5 Weeks?
Review: Ellas Crag Guest House, Lake District
Instagram Top 3
For the first time in a long time, I feel like my engagement on Instagram is growing! I’ve just nearly cracked the 2000 followers mark (it varies as people follow and unfollow, sigh). I go up and down with Instagram pretty much every day but have been feeling good about it this month. Here are my top 3 posts!
Coming Up In August
With the news of my successful visa renewal, it means I also get to go away on a very exciting trip in August! We didn’t know if we’d be able to go until I got my visa back, so I’m very VERY happy to be going back to the Balkans for two weeks! We’ll be in North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania, all of which are new countries to me. I should also complete a major life goal of mine by visiting these three countries—these will be my last countries in Eastern Europe!!! I’ll also be making a short trip over to Snowdonia in Wales, and have at least one day hiking in the North York Moors. So stay tuned for a very exciting August!
What was your July like? Any plans coming up in August?!
