On top of the world -- or at least the tallest mountain in Wales

Tom and I decided to do a big trip this year -- the biggest we've ever taken: a two week trip through the UK and the Republic of Ireland.  I'm not exactly sure what spurred on this trip, but we've talked about going to Europe for some time.  I've always wanted to explore the lands of my heritage. I've already been to Honduras (and have been able to visit family there on more than one occasion), but the rest of my heritage is from England, Ireland and Wales.  I did a bit of genealogy research  before the trip and traced my family back to a town in Wales called Merthyr Tydfil -- so that was definitely added to the itinerary, along with London, another (beach) town in wales called Tenby, and a week in Ireland including Rosslare Harbour, Kenmare, Dingle, Doolin and Dublin.  It took a ton of planning (some of which was probably not necessary), and we were constantly on the move, which didn't end up being too stressful and allowed us to see quite a bit of these countries in two weeks' time. We rented a car in Ireland, but we wanted to take public transportation (mainly the Tube [subway] and trains) in the UK.  We also wanted to stay at primarily Bed and Breakfasts -- which we did in every town save London.  As such, we decided that we should really try to pack everything we needed in backpacks so that we could more easily make the trek from train station to lodging, etc. It was difficult (for me), but we did it!  I first pulled aside everything I wanted to bring, then separated out everything I thought I could bring -- packed it all in the bag, and then got rid of a few things to ensure that my bag would suffice as a carry-on.  Tom had no issue packing everything in his medium-sized backpack.