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- Tag: cades cove -

Best Hikes in the Smokies (Smoky Mountains National Park)

If you're visiting the Great Smoky Mountains or Gatlinburg area, going on a hike is THE main attraction! These are (in my opinion) the best hikes in the Smokies: Having visited nearby Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg on many separate occasions, these are the hikes that stand out to me most over the years. Check the park website for trail conditions and closures before setting out. Map with my favorite Smoky Mountain hikes pinned: Some links…

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The Best Things to do in Valencia, Spain: My 10 Favorites
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Scotland Road Trip Itinerary (10 Days)
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Full transparency here! 🙈 What did I spend on a Full transparency here! 🙈 

What did I spend on a 10 day Scotland road trip? 

🩵 My husband is a data analyst, so he kept track of every penny in a detailed spreadsheet (😂) which I later organized to figure this out! 

⭐️ Keep in mind this is for the cost of ONE person, assuming you are splitting it with one or more others

🏨LODGING: We stayed in budget or midrange hotels ranging from $85/nt to $175/nt. We did a combination of hotels (via @bookingcom), AirBNB and one private room in a hostel. This cost $390 total per person, or $39/day

🍽FOOD/GROCERIES: We did a combination of grocery shopping, eating included meals from our lodgings, and going to restaurants or pubs. 🍻 

We only ate at one “expensive” spot the whole trip, and tried not to go too crazy. Excluding alcohol, our meals and snacks ended up at $280 total per person, or $28/day

🚙TRANSPORT: If you don’t do a road trip of Scotland, this would be significantly cheaper. However, car is what we wanted! 

Using our @costco membership, our rental was $580 total. If you split this cost, it would be $58/day or about $29 per person per day. 

⛽️GAS & PARKING: This added up, I’ll admit. 🙃 We did drive around 1,200 miles total, though! 

Between gas and parking in the bigger cities where it wasn’t free, we spent a total of $375, or about $19 per person per day.

🎟ATTRACTIONS/TICKETS/EXCURSIONS: We spent a total of $250 on things like admission to historic sites, fun activities, walking tours, etc. 

This would be about $25/day, or about $13 per person each day.

⭐️These prices do NOT include alcohol, souvenirs, or the round trip ferry ticket we purchased to Orkney. ⭐️

What questions do you have? 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

#scotland_insta #scotlandtravel #visitscotland #budgettravel #discoverscotland #scotland_greatshots
Helen, Georgia at Christmas is the perfect place f Helen, Georgia at Christmas is the perfect place for lovers of small towns looking for a Christmas-y backdrop. 🎄

This mountain town was designed with Bavarian architecture, & most of the restaurants, shops & bars have Alpine style & German fare. 🇩🇪 

Several Lifetime Channel Christmas movies have been filmed here, & it’s easy to see why! 🎥 

Here you can attend a “lighting of the village” event (with appearances by Mr. and Mrs. Claus! 🎅🏼), or a German style Christkindlmarket full of food, live music, & a craft show 🎨 

The main thing is to simply stroll the streets, enjoying the lights & decor 🎄

Grab some glühwein from Hofer’s bakery, a giant pretzel from Ludwig’s 🥨 & enjoy! 🍻 

There’s also a nearby “Christmas in the Mountains” parade & a “Victorian Christmas” event at the local Hardman farm site. 🎄🎅🏻

Plus, the area has loads of wineries & scenic waterfalls- there’s always something to do! 🍷 

We really enjoyed our visit, & made it to nearby Dahlonega too (another cute small town)! 

The southern hospitality truly is alive & well here- everyone was super chatty & friendly. 😇

#helengeorgia #bavarian #christkindlmarkt #visitgeorgia #christmastown #usatravels
#christmasinspiration #georgiatravel
#northgeorgia #smalltownusa
If you want to travel to Scotland and need help do If you want to travel to Scotland and need help doing it, I’m your girl! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Follow along for help planning your dream trip to Scotland 💕
I can feel the sadness melt away the minute I’m in I can feel the sadness melt away the minute I’m in a European country ✨

Can you relate? 

#europetravels #ringofkerry #ireland_insta #castlesofeurope #castlesofinstagram
GO WATCH PART 1 😇 More info ⬇️ Yep, even with re GO WATCH PART 1 😇

More info ⬇️

Yep, even with researching I still made mistakes! 💁🏻‍♀️ 

📌Be intentional about looking up places with highland cows beforehand, you might not just randomly see them while driving 🐂

📌If you have a US phone number, you can’t use the parking app they have for public parking, so be sure to have coins on you 💰

📌 Have a backup plan in case your ferry gets canceled. ⛴️ Thankfully we found another way home after ours was, but you might not be as lucky!

📌 Don’t rent a car unless you feel confident in yourself and your ability to handle the left side driving, roundabouts, narrow roads, and single lane roads with passing places. 🚙

For my detailed Scotland road-trip itinerary with daily schedule, route map, things to do, hotels+ …head to the link in my bio! 🌎 

I have another blog with my Scotland packing list too! 🗺️ 

#scotlandtravel #scotland_insta #scotland_lover #visitscotland
More info ⬇️ Yes I researched the weather ahead o More info ⬇️

Yes I researched the weather ahead of time, but I didn’t realize how dramatically it could change! ⛈️ 

I think we experienced all 4 seasons in one day 😂 !

In all seriousness though, we went in June & had rain, wind, cold & sleet! ☔️ Then we went in May, & had perfect sunshine every day & not a drop of rain even once! ☀️ 

Moral is: be prepared for anything and DRESS IN LAYERS - Yes, like a stylish little onion 🧅 

Oh yeah, & for visiting @edinburghcastle it is sometimes possible to get tickets the day of- depends on season, day of week and time of day- 🎟️ but to be safe just book it as far in advance as you can! 

Same goes for visiting the underground amazingness of @marykingsclose 😇

#scotlandtravel #scotland_insta #scotland_lover #visitscotland #travelblogger #familytravel #travelmistakes #iwishiknew THINGS I WISH I KNEW BEFORE MY FIRST TRIP TO SCOTLAND
Comment “schedule” for my full itinerary! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Comment “schedule” for my full itinerary!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 So much to see in Wales, and there were no crowds anywhere- even in summer. 🎉 Get yourself to these beautiful gems! 💎 

We started this trip in London, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 then drove over to the Cotswolds, followed by Tintern Abbey and began going counter clockwise basically around the country. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 

When we finished up, we then drove to Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Have you ever been to Wales? ⬇️

#walesadventure #walescoastpath #uktravel #ukhiddengems #visitwales UK road trip itinerary
Type “schedule” for all the details! 🍀 This Irela Type “schedule” for all the details! 🍀

This Ireland road trip itinerary was a great mix of nature, castles and pubs and city culture 🍻

As it was my second visit, we didn’t go to some of the usual tourist spots, but explored some slightly lesser known places instead! 🎉✨

#ireland_insta #ireland🇮🇪 #ireland_gram #travelireland
Hope you’re a fast screenshotter-er person and you Hope you’re a fast screenshotter-er person and you can read later! 😅 Learn anything new?? 👇🏼

This list took me an hour to write ✍🏼 It really is the sum of my cheap budget travel knowledge!

Shout out to @kayak @bookingcom @agoda @hostelworld @couchsurfing for making the cut 😇

#budgettravel #travelhacks #travelplanner #cheaptravel #travelblogs #cheapflights
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