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New Mexico - another seemingly endless straight road I don’t think you would describe this as a travel blog, but the reader can be the judge of that. I get bombarded with articles on Medium, most by Americans. Nothing wrong with that of course, but many of them are critical of other places. I have to say at the outset that these writers are not stating that the US is perfect although there is an inference that perhaps things are better there, and maybe they are. I have trave

Beautiful Dunluce on the Antrim Coast For those of you unfamiliar with Irish colloquialisms, Norn Iron is short for Northern Ireland, or the six counties of Ireland which are still part of the UK. It probably derives from the inhabitants’penchant for speaking rapidly. People will be aware that the region suffered over thirty years of civil strife, during which over three thousand people lost their lives. Consequently, there was very little investment in the six counties durin

Ait Benhaddou Oasis in the Sahara I haven’t written much recently as I’ve been travelling a lot. So I thought another l blog might be a way to get back to writing. I recently spent a week in Morocco. Starting in Agadir, I hired a car and visited Essouira, Marrakech, Casablanca, Meknes, Volubilis, Fez, then took an 800km trek across the Atlas Mountains to Ourzazate, on the edge of the Sahara. From there to Ait Benhaddou, Tarradount and back to Agadir. I possibly took on too mu

I’m not sure whether this will fly as a Medium story but having seen that people write about every subject under the sun here, I’ll write it anyway. I was writing recently about cultural differences between Irish and German people and it reminded me of another encounter which this time took place in Turkey. It was quite hilarious at the time but may not transfer to print. I was in Istanbul undertaking a review at the airport and I had been in town for just over a week. My Ger

The Summit of Lovcen Mountain I have long been an admirer of Pat McDonagh. Who is he, most international readers would say? He is the founder and owner of a fast-food chain called Supermacs, which operates mainly in Ireland, although they have some international outlets. Pat is the guy who took on the giants of McDonalds, Burger King and KFC and beat them at their own game. His burgers are better (and bigger), than McDonalds; his chicken is tastier than KFC, and he sells all

Donough O'Malley - Ireland's pioneering Minister for Education I saw an article recently which listed and compared the world's top economies. There were two listings, the world's biggest economies and the world's richest economies. In terms of the world's biggest economy, the obvious largest was the United States, followed by China and so on. Naturally, Ireland didn't feature in this listing at all as it only went down to about number 20. But in the other list, which was the

Slea Head, Dingle Peninsula During a brief visit to Co Clare last weekend, while we were enjoying the beauty of the Burren, my partner said, ‘why not do an Irish travel blog?’ It’s a great idea and I will, but not today. What follows is mainly a critique on the Irish tourist industry. Also, to do an Irish blog, the problem is where to start? As I know Ireland so well, I am going to resist the temptation today to get into specific locations as it would not be fair on the many

St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow - old Soviet days I guess if we examine what the foreign services departments of countries do, apart from diplomacy and trying to maintain good relations, the logical assumption would be that they try to learn as much as possible about other nations. Of course nowadays, technically, all knowledge is available at the touch of a button on the internet but I reckon foreign intelligence services have a more refined, more focused version. The first t

What inspires us to write? Why do some of us feel an overwhelming need to put our thoughts down in print? Personally, I’ve always felt that I could express my thoughts better in writing than through the spoken word. If I had a view on anything, I often tended to write it down as well as expressing it verbally. But writing is not easy. You can sit for hours playing around on your computer and produce nothing. Then on some days, there aren’t enough hours in the day to get your

This is written in response to Chris Snow’s excellent article on present day Russia, which we have corresponded on. Chris — there’s no doubt that your and Peter Zeihan’s estimate of young men leaving Russia is accurate. I know quite a few of them personally. They are people I worked with and unfortunately from Russia’s viewpoint, they are among the best and the brightest. Where I do disagree is in relation to your assertion that Putin is evil or that his regime is evil. He ha

Sliabh Liag in Co Donegal, Ireland When writing travel blogs, people try to keep them general or generic as opposed to being critical of or praising individuals or specific places, hotels or destinations. I am no exception to that. I realise most people do their best and while that might not always reach people’s expectations, it’s best not to individualize criticism of it. It is therefore with some caution that I’m writing this article. There is no criticism of any individua

Dunottar Castle, east Coast, near Inverurie. I have visited Scotland about a half dozen times, but only twice for holidays, until now. The first time was in 1980 when we toured most of the country and camped. Second was in 2003 when I undertook a tour of distilleries with colleagues from the duty-free business. As these are numerous, we visited quite a lot of different locations to sample Scotch Whisky. Last week, I had no such commitments so I toured the entire country, more

I told this story to someone a few nights ago, just in passing, and they were fascinated by it; not just the details but the background information and the conditions pertaining at the time. They suggested I write it down and publish it, so here goes: The story relates to my time in Russia and to the relatively brief period after the Soviet break-up and prior to the implementation of what I would call western style regulation. Many people refer to this period as lawless but i

St Mark's Square Venice I've never done a travel blog about Italy, even though I’ve been there many times. Then again, I never did travel blogs at all until a couple of years ago.  So here goes: I don’t get it. Sacrilege to an Italian I’m sure, but let me explain: First I’d better explain what I don’t get – it is said that Italy is the world’s favourite and most visited tourist destination because it is so beautiful. I am willing to concede that there are many parts of Italy

Today’s tale is not a travel blog but it is  a story about travel, particularly permanent or semi-permanent travel for work. Having been a working expatriate in multiple locations for many years, I can empathise with both concepts. I have always been fascinated with the way people adapt to new environments and cultures (or not) and how some can integrate seamlessly and take to their new domicile like a duck to water whereas others struggle and long for their home place. I am

This story may only be relevant to Ireland or possibly similar small states but I feel it is worth telling, if only to demonstrate that not all change is for the better and that there should be exceptions to every rule. When Ireland joined the EU, it brought the country many benefits, not least the structural and development funds that allowed us to improve our infrastructure. We also benefited greatly in agriculture although this was at odds with our huge loss in the fisheri

There is obviously a huge world spotlight on Ukraine right now and rightly so, given the dangers and deprivations that those proud people are suffering. I mention this because I received more reaction to the one article I wrote about Ukraine recently than any other. I am still being snowed under on a daily basis by receiving numerous articles on the war and the situation in the country.   There are people who are based there and others with knowledge far greater than mine who

Motorway Interchange near Frankfurt In addition to writing travel blogs, I have always been fascinated by cultural differences and local customs in places I have visited and I have speculated on and sometimes investigated their origins. I hope to expand on this in future articles but let’s start with an anecdote which demonstrates the contrasts between Ireland and Germany.  I once had a conversation with three Germans about road safety. We were in Russia at the time and the c

Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, was the 90 th  country I have visited. While it’s nowhere near the top of the list in terms of the travel experience, it’s not at the bottom either.  You probably won’t find too many travel blogs on Eswatini as it’s not the most visited place on earth; in fact, I don’t know anyone else who has been there and having spent a lifetime in the airport industry, I know people who have travelled to almost everywhere on earth. School children wa

Seal Island near Cape Town, South Africa I have written many travel blogs that are country specific and I’m due to do a few more. On recent trips, I found things recurring and I realised they had happened on previous trips also. Let’s face it — there are many issues that travelers can encounter regardless of the destination. I’m talking about things that, in my opinion are unnecessary, bureaucratic, poorly organised and either slow down or take from the enjoyment of travel. S