Let's Catch Up on my crazy life

Sydney Dodson
Nov 23, 2018
7 min read

This semester has flown by but before it is over I want to take some time to tell you about the most amazing two weeks of travel ever!! As most of you may have seen I miraculously was able to keep it a secret for over a month that I was flying home to surprise my family for Halloween. Anyone that knows my family knows Halloween is a pretty big deal and some of you may not know that my grandparents (Susie and Scooter Dodson) or Grandma and Papa to me are moving to the mountains of North Carolina in 2019. Papa is the mastermind behind our crazy Halloween and it only seemed fitting to surprise my family for the last big Halloween party for a long time. With the help of Steve Barker, Betty Tanner, and Tom McKevitt my surprise was a success. Steve Barker is one of the most selfless and giving people you will ever meet and he used his frequent flyer miles to fly me home at no out-of-pocket cost to me and Betty Tanner was so helpful and planned every last detail. Tom McKevitt is a friend of my moms from years ago when she was my age and he let me crash with him and his family in Dublin and then got me to the airport for my flight home. No issues yet but my mom did think I was in London for the weekend, so as I Ubered from London City to London Heathrow for my flight home I told her I had to go onto airplane mode to save battery and data. After a battering of questions and my friends contact info being sent to her with the cover story conveyed to them my phone was on airplane mode with location services turned off until I landed in Charlotte. Every minute of travel was worth my moms priceless reaction to seeing me walk up on the deck, as she exclaimed "What! What! What!" she could not even process how I could really be home. The video is on my Instagram and Facebook if you did not see it or want a good happy cry check it out, it's pretty heart warming. In the meantime enjoy these pictures that show best how happy everyone was to see me :)

The week I spent with my family and my sweet boyfriend William Boggs was perfect and so much better than I could've imagined. Check out this tattoo that I've wanted for the past few years that expresses my love for travel, exploration, and experiencing new places and cultures that I finally got!

The time I spent at Western Carolina University, my home away from home, the week I was state side was all about enjoying my time and not taking as many pictures so enjoy these pictures I did take and just know it was much needed R&R.

I wish that week home could have lasted forever but I am just so grateful for every minute I got and I still have some exciting time ahead of me!

Galavanting back to Europe I go and this next week is about to be a whirlwind! I flew on a redeye back to Dublin, getting in at 9am I had all day to kill at the airport waiting for my friends Annalisa, Ryan, and Ian to meet me to fly to Copenhagen, Denmark for the weekend. I used Google Flights and found us a great deal on a roundtrip flight from Dublin for around 60 Euro which is a great price. My friends took the train to Dublin and were doing some shopping in the city before coming to meet me, you better sit down for this part because I was on the edge of my seat. One mishap after another and they were so late getting to the airport that it was less than an hour before departure so they would not let Ian check his bag. Boarding time came and I was in line and had already informed my family that if they did not make it I would still be going as I had flights and a hostel booked. Annalisa and Ryan were the last two people they let board the plane and from what they told me they were Amazing Race style running through the airport. Woohoo we made it and our Hostel is AMAZING!! If you are ever in Copenhagen, make sure to stay at Urban House Hostel Copenhagen! (Book on Hostelworld to look at pictures and read reviews and get the best prices) We took the night to get settled in as you can imagine we were all exhausted and planned to set out and explore in the morning.

Christiania Freetown is the first place we visited and it is a community with no laws and is not considered part of Denmark or the European Union. You are not allowed to take pictures once you are inside so here are a few I snapped before we were actually inside

Next Stop was the Ice Bar which as you can imagine was very cold and very unique! A little pricey but entry into the bar included a free cocktail and just our luck the bartender was Irish so also a free shot for each of us, check out the photos! Definitely worth checking the Ice Bar at the Generator (which is another cool Hostel).

From the Ice Bar we we finished exploring Copenhagen in what little daylight was left before making our way back to our hostel for some R&R before an evening of Jazz in Christiania. Here are some cool pictures I took walking around city centre and unfortunately no videos of the jazz but just know it was a crazy experience!

This is where the world gets really small when I get an Instagram message from my high school friend Kyle Fossum (who is studying abroad in England for two years) that is flying into Copenhagen in the morning and wants to connect. I immediately messaged her back to make it happen and as it happened she was staying at the same hostel as us so we met up in the morning. Kyle was there with three of her classmates and a few possible ideas for the day tossed around we were headed to the train station and for ridiculously cheap we caught a 30 minute train to Sweden for the day. One of Kyle's classmates is known for her knack for finding great free walking tours so within 15 minutes of arriving we embarked on a free 2 hour walking tour of Malmo, Sweden. Enjoy these photos I got on a whirlwind of a day before we flew back to Dublin that evening.

Totally fell in love with Denmark and Sweden and I hope I can go back again sometime, Copenhagen is quite expensive but worth visiting for a few days despite the confusing Danish Kroner.

A huge thanks to my Irish family (Aideen Hetherington a classmate of mine is from just outside of Dublin) and her family was incredible and picked us up from the airport, let us crash at their house, got me to the bus stop for the airport, and took Ryan and Annalisa to the train station. My sweet travel companions made their way back to Castlebar for college and I met my gram, Patti Aston, at the Dublin airport to head to Scotland for the rest of the week.

Thank Goodness Gram already knew had to drive manual she just had to figure out how to do it on the left side but she got the hang of it pretty quickly. We got a very tasty Scottish dinner and settled into our BnB for the evening.

Our first full day in Edinburgh, Scotland we did a free walking tour of the Edinburgh Castle before taking our time to explore it on our own and learn about the history of the castle. Incredibly beautiful and despite the overcast weather the view still made some for some great pictures. Totally worth checking out despite it being a little pricey and sadly no student discount. Most people may not know this but they actually have a cannon go off everyday at 1pm which was super cool to watch!

Next stop, Arthur's Seat while it is a great view of the city, the weather was uncooperative and it rained my whole walk up. Not a super easy walk up and I was a bit more winded then I expected but I am still very glad I made the trek and just wish it had not been too strenuous for Gram.

Scotland taught me that I had an undiscovered affinity for flavored Cider and these are three ciders I tried in different parts of Scotland that I loved, Pear was my favorite!

One more night in our quaint little BnB and then we were on our way to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. I attended my first ever distillery tour and despite not drinking Scotch Whisky it gave me an appreciation for the work that goes into perfecting it. Inverness, Scotland may be one of my new favorite small European towns despite getting food poisoning from this delicious restaurant called The Mustard Seed (still recommend it, the food was that good and so is the Raspberry/White Chocolate Cheesecake). Within driving distance of Loch Ness where we stopped for some pictures of the beautiful lake and we decided the museum was overrated for the price and continued on our way back to Edinburgh.

We are headed back to Dublin early tomorrow morning for one last day together before we part ways. Gram and I do not get to see each other nearly frequently enough so this time has been cherished by both of us. We spent our last night in Scotland at this castle/hotel that was very beautiful from the outside but their food/drink selection was not that impressive. Off to Dublin we go!

Gram booked us a 2 hour walking tour in Dublin that included a pint of Guinness at the end. We dropped our bags at this beautiful giant old Georgian house that a young family is renovating that was our BnB for the evening. Off to our walking tour we go!

Our tour guide was a recent graduate of Trinity College (one of the many universities in Dublin) and had a vast knowledge of the history of the city. I have avoided visiting many of the tourist spots of Dublin prior to now so it was fun to be a tourist for the day.