you know nothing, jon snow

Happy Friday! You made it to the end of the work week! Go you, hot stuff! How have you been? Are you taking time to check-in with yourself and give yourself the care, love, and attention you need? If not, it’s perfectly okay to set aside time for yourself to do whatever you want/need to do during ‘me time.’ Maybe it’s yoga, meditation, running, reading, tending to a pallet garden you built, sewing some pillowcases for your home decor, making a dress to match your homemade mask, or even playing animal crossing with family and friends. Whatever you want to do during your assigned ‘me time,’ make sure you’re doing it and giving yourself a break.

If you didn’t get a chance to read yesterday’s post - “all aboard the RMS Titanic”— you can click here to read all about my exploration of the Titanic Experience in Belfast, as well as working with one of the movie Titanic’s stars! Also, if you didn’t get the chance to cast your free daily vote for me to be the next #MaximCoverGirl, you can click here to vote or click here to read about why it’s important to me (and then vote!). You can vote once every twenty-four hours for free, and I am so grateful for your support! Voting for the Quarter-Finals round ends July 16th, so I’d appreciate any and all support I can get to make my way to first before the 16th! Thank you for everything so far!! If you’re all caught up on the adventures thus far and Maxim Cover Girl voting, then sit tight, strap in, buckle up - whatever you choose! Let’s take a trip to another media-based exhibit: the Game of Thrones Touring Exhibition!

A lot of the experiences I’ve had and have written about during my time in Belfast have either been about the times I’ve gone by myself or the things I experienced with my dad; however, my dad was not the only one who got to experience some of the fun of Belfast with me. My best friend from high school and her fiancé visited me last summer while I was living in Dublin, but since I’ve been writing about Belfast, today’s post will be about something fun and unique I did only with them! As the three of us were all pretty big fans of Game of Thrones, we decided we’d go and see the Game of Thrones Touring Exhibition while it was in town. I am currently humming the theme song to myself, and I'm willing to bet maybe you are now, too. You're welcome. The North remembers.

So much of Game of Thrones was actually filmed Belfast. In another post, I’ll write all about the Game of Thrones location bus tour the three of us did together, but I just wanted to make sure I provided some background as to why the Touring Exhibition would stop and spend so much time in Belfast. As we entered the exhibition, we were able to see some of the stages where Game of Thrones was filmed; it was pretty cool to see something I am so familiar with in another country, having worked on countless film, television, and commercial sets in Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia. Walking into a sound stage and a world of make-believe felt like coming home to me; it was nice.

The exhibition featured so many amazing artifacts from the show (gallery of more photos at the bottom of the blog post). We got to see many of the actual costumes worn by the cast, as well as various swords and weapons, various decorative props, and large dragons and statues from the show! Whether or not you were a fan of the final season of Game of Thrones, a season and ending that proved divisive for many in the fandom, the show was able to grow into an international sensation and phenomenon. Many of my Irish friends, like my American friends, couldn’t wait to gather around each week to see how things would unfold in the complex world of love, conflict, political policy, loss, and war. No matter how you feel about the ending, it was truly incredible to see all that the show was able to accomplish in its run.

Do you consider yourself more of a Mother of Dragons, a Cersei Lannister, a Sansa Stark, an Arya Stark, or a Brienne of Tarth? Perhaps you're a witchy-woo like my redheaded friend Melisandre or a Wildling like my other redheaded friend Ygritte? Whoever you are, you're a frickin' badass. How did you feel about the ending of Game of Thrones? Let me know! Subscribe in the e-mail submission box below and reach out, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so happy you're here and that I’ve been receiving a lot of really incredible stories, questions, and feedback from a community all over the globe! Other people’s stories that I’ve gotten to read via e-mail, text, tweet, DM, etc. recently bring me such smiles, and I am so grateful for all of it! I hope I get to hear all about whatever stories you’ve been thinking about as we’ve been on this virtual journey together! Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you have any restaurants/eateries/pubs/coffee shops/ice cream joints/theatres/lookout spots you would recommend in other countries or even in your current home town or city, I'm absolutely 100% all ears!! I couldn’t do this without you! So THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, truly, thank you.

And please, if you have 10 seconds to spare, I would really appreciate your daily vote for me to be the next Maxim Cover Girl 2020. Click here to vote! Voting for the Quarter-Finals is now live and continues everyday until July 16th! I’ll need to finish first in order to advance, so I would really appreciate your help and support as I continue to try and become the next #MaximCoverGirl by moving ahead into round 7/the Semi-Finals of the competition! Thank you for all your support! I wouldn’t have made it this far without you! Click here or on the photo above to vote!

Sincerely,

Johny

P.S. - check out some more photos of the GoT exhibition!

P.P.S. - If you want to catch up from the beginning on this series of travel adventures, here's a cheat sheet to the posts (in order in which they were published):

1. Won't you join me?

2. grateful for starbucks and sandymount strand

3. Once Upon a December in the National Gallery

4. plant a smooch for that gift of gab

5. may the 4th be with you: Dingle style

6. cinco de mayo: the best Mexican food in Dublin

7. pizza in roma

8. mussolini’s window and the philosophers’ metro stop

9. father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife

10. it's the vatican, not the vatican't

11. spoiler alert: i did not lose my hand

12. more pizza and gelato and Neptune, oh my