27 April 2012

Travel-Inspired Series {Part 1}: Megan from Across the Pond

I'm so excited to have Megan from Across the Pond here today kicking of my travel-inspired guest series.  I'm pretty sure she doesn't need an introduction since she's kind of a big deal in the blogosphere {she did coin the term "blate" after all}, but since she's practically my real life twin I thought I owed one to her.

Megan's blog was one of the first that I started following and I immediately fell in love with her fairy tale life in the UK, sarcastic humor, love for Cheetos, and inhumanly quick metabolism {ok, that last one might involve jealously more than it does love}.  She's sweet, funny, gorgeous, and just an all around good person to know, if you know what I mean.  Plus, it turns out that we have sooo much in common that it's kind of downright creepy {just see below}.

Today she's here sharing about some of the things she loves about being an ex-pat in the UK :)

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I don't know if you all know this,
But Jenna is my expat twin..
We are both from Southern California,
have brown hair,
boyfriends with accents,
and our moms went to the same college.
I know...creepy.

except she is the smarter one for picking the warmer climate...

I am Megan and I blog over at Across The Pond 
and I am expatting it (just made that up) in Glasgow, Scotland.

this is me..in case you were confused.

Since it is easy for me to get caught up in the things I miss about home,
and the things I dislike about where I currently live..
I thought I would do a little reverse psychology on myself and tell you what I love about living in the UK.

I have lived in the UK (England, and now Scotland) for almost 2 years..
so here is my list of loves.

1. men with accents (duh)

2. Castles..you can tour them, eat in them, and get married in them..win.

3. Spring time wild flowers... (tulips, daffodils, cherry blossoms..love)

4. Easy travel to other countries on affordable airlines (what a concept). Hop on Ryanair to Italy for 30 pounds.

5. History...America is a baby compared to the UK

6. Free health care, free prescription medication (i know, before you get political on me, I'm not saying this healthcare system is better, or perfect..because it is far from it..but being a poor grad student and not having to worry about co-pays and health insurance or paying for meds really is a big stress reliever let me tell ya)

 7. Soup. They do soup WELL out here.

8. Architecture...Universities look like hogwarts.

9. Drinking outside...ok wait for it...this is not to make me sound like a drunk..but i kinda love that you can grab a bottle of wine, some cheese and crackers and plant yourself in a park on a nice/rare warm day and enjoy a cold glass of wine without worrying about be fined.

10. Parks. they are everywhere..not man made..lush and beautiful. Ive never seen parks like this in the US. 


Picture time, because that's what you all were waiting for.

northern ireland

Wollaton Park, Nottingham England

Dumtochty Castle, North Scotland

Glasgow, Scotland

Northern Ireland


Northern Ireland

Kelvingrove Park, Scotland

Loch Lomond, Scotland

Glasgow University, Scotland

Loch Lomond, Scotland

soup

Edinburgh, Scotland


beer garden (aka patio) Stirling, Scotland

Edinburgh, Scotland
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See what I mean?  She's pretty darn awesome.

And the fact that our Moms went to the same college... creepy, right???

On the rare chance that you don't already follow her, do yourself a favor and hop on over to her blog here.

Thanks so much for guest posting for me Megan!

11 comments:

  1. She is just so glamorous. Great guest post!

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  2. Wonderful! I now have a new blog to follow and those pictures are just stunning. And yes, I love being able to drink outside as well here in France ;)

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  3. Those are fabulous photos and I will be sure to check out her blog!

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  4. I'd reckon that almost everything on this list is also why I love living in Malta. Except the parks - this island is too small to have green-rolling-hills parks. Alas.

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  5. I loved this post! And those are some good things to love about northern Europe :)

    And I always like seeing a Swedish cider in any picture :) That's life when you're a Swede...seeing anything from a Swedish company abroad is amazing! I'm guessing you american's aren't as impressed when you see someone drinking a coke in Paris??

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  6. I love reading what people like about the UK. Wonderful photographs, too!

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  7. wait. Where did you grow up in so cal? I went to school with megan!

    ps- if we've already discussed this, i'm sorry. I forget things sometimes, LOL.

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  8. What absolutely gorgeous pics!!!! You live a gorgeous life darling!

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  9. gorgeous pictures! i pray that i'll get to visit there someday!

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  10. you all both have such fairy-tale-o-rific lives! I mean bf's with accents - ya'll WIN! This was awesome. I think I'm gonna love this series!! :)

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  11. this woman has some serious gorgeous going on.


    xo

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Thanks for the love!