Touring Northern Ireland

Some trips are just more memorable than others. For me it was a trip I took to Northern Ireland, not because of its amazing sites or jaw-dropping scenery, but because it gave us some insight in life. I was living in Dublin at the time and a colleague and I hopped on a Tir Na Nog tour. It was a three day Northern Ireland backpacker tour that would take is from Dublin to Derry/Londonderry, the Giant's Causeway and Belfast a country steeped in a bloody history.

On the first day, we arrived in Derry/Londonderry where we were taken on a city walk through the town centre. Now a city walk through any town centre sounds pretty mundane, but this one was a bit different. The town centre looks much like any other town centre in the UK, but standing on top of the old city walls we had a good view on the surrounding residential areas and what stood out weren't pretty church spires or lovely parks. What stood out here, were watchtowers and walls topped with barbed wire were cutting through neighborhoods, keeping residents with different political views and beliefs separate. Our guide pointed out an area called the Bogside where chilling murals were painted on the side of the houses. This is the neighborhood where the troubles started back in 1969 with a three day protest, and the spot of Bloody Sunday in 1972 when 26 people were killed by the British army.

                      This photo of Paddy Campbell's Tours is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The following day we drove on to Belfast via the Giant's Causeway, a peaceful break from all the historic bloodiness. Here we went on a black cab tour that took. Our guides and drivers gave us unbiased accounts of the history of the city's segregation and what it was and is like living here. They took us to Shankill road where red, white and blue flags strung across a field were flapping in the cold wind. The unnerving murals on the sides of the houses surrounding the empty field were staring us down. The painted snipers and balaclava-ed soldiers aiming rifles back at us, made us all feel a tad jumpy and when the wind picked up an empty beer can, we all let out a scream.

We drove past the International Peace Wall, drove through the wall's gates and stopped at Sinn Fein's HQ and Bombay street and also had a look at a catholic family's back yard. Their garden was covered by chicken mesh to protect them from petrol bombs thrown from the other side of the wall. Imagine your kids playing in a garden like that.

                      This photo of NI Black Taxi Tours is courtesy of TripAdvisor

After touring the two cities and seeing all that barbed wire segregation and violent murals and hearing about so much bloodshed and human losses, I couldn't imagine living in a place like that. Till we went to the pub that night. My friend and I ended up sitting in a booth with a catholic Northern Irish couple and their very English and protestant friend. There was no fighting or arguing at that table. Just a jolly good night with lots of beers and good conversation. The way it always should be.

Tir Na Nog Tours doesn't seem to exist anymore, but there are plenty of other backpacker tours out there. Try Shamrocker or Paddywagon.

My Most Memorable Trips

What do you do when you are not going away for a while and the weather at home only makes you want to crawl into bed and sleep till spring? You go through old boxes of photos from trips gone by. Yes, my travel adventures predate the digital era. Reminiscing about past trips is the perfect remedy to forget the wind and rain, but I won't bore you with listing all of the trips that passed by over the weekend, so here is my top 5.

St Maarten

Buenos Aires

Working for American Airlines ten years ago, allowed me to travel to exotic places for next to nothing. Now when you have cheap tickets at your disposal, you tend to go on whirlwind. I went shopping in NYC for one day, travelled to Tokyo for a long weekend, but my most memorable airline staff trip was when I flew to Buenos Aires for a friend's birthday party. It was only a three day trip, but besides showing up at the party dressed as Super Woman, we managed to see the grave of Eva Peron in the Recoleta cemetery, go out in the  Santelmo area and taste empanadas and dance a little tango in La Boca.

Tokyo

Another one of those memorable staff trips was a round the world in one weekend trip to Tokyo. Three of my friends flew out on ANA across Asia and discovered the weird and wonderful Japanese culture, before flying back home on American Airlines via Chicago. We did get some weird looks from fellow travellers when they asked us how long we were travelling for.

Cuba

There was a nomadic life before my travel career and when I was a student I was looking for a holiday as a newly single girl and decided to learn Spanish in Cuba. I stayed with a Cuban family and enjoyed private lessons in my teacher's home, which allowed me to see what day to day Cuban life is really like. Something you don't normally get to experience when staying in a 5 star resort.

Northern Ireland

When I was living in Ireland I went on a three day tour of Northern Ireland. We saw a few natural and urban gems, but what made this trip one I still remember vividly was the visual division between the two religions wich really came to life during a tour of Belfast in a black cab tour. You only realise the segregation in cities such as Belfast and Londonderry/Derry when you see it with your own eyes.

NYC

Number 5 maybe doesn't count as a trip as I was living in NYC at the time, but I will not forget the summer of 2001 any time soon. I was living in Queens, working a season as a holiday rep for an inbound tour-operator on 11th September. Luckily I was at home and none of my friends and colleagues were hurt, but those days were probably the most scary and uncertain of my life.

So there you have it. My 5 most memorable trips taken over the past 20 years. Happy ones and shocking ones, but memorable either way.