Every now and again you get opportunities that are too good to pass up. This past fall, one of my friends moved to Mexico for a few months, where he spent the winter travelling from north to south and back again. Since I work remotely he invited me to join him for the month of November, when he'd be based in a small seaside town called Puerto Escondido, in Oaxaca. I priced the flights: they were expensive. I did some research: the place was a surfer town popular with digital nomads. I made my decision: why not? Puerto was a little more built-up than I had imagined and a little more touristy than I was expecting. Still, the vibes were chill, the people were interesting, and it took only ten minutes to get out of the urban centre and onto the serene dirt roads. Those four weeks opened my eyes to the possibilities of remote work. I'll definitely be making trips like this more often.
Flick through some moments from this adventure below!
The Big Bad British Columbia: 2022
During the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, I was finishing off a master's degree and living at home in Ireland. Once my thesis had been submitted and borders were starting to reopen, I applied to emigrate to Canada. At first I thought Montréal or Québec City, because French, but a friend living in Vancouver convinced me that it was the place to be for outdoor types like myself. I landed in Vancouver at the tail end of summer. I spent the fall and winter getting my bearings, working, and generally keeping to myself. However, as the Pacific Northwest emerged from hibernation in early spring, I too emerged from hibernation. I began making friends, exploring, and adventuring. The next twelve months were a whirlwind of good times. I ran up hills and down them, ate some damned good food, met some damned good people, and saw at least seventy sunsets. It was a year for the books -- or should I say the albums?
Flick through some moments from this adventure below!
The RCNI Marathon Challenge: 2019
Every now and again, we need to try and do something we're not sure we can do. This is a distinctly modern and Western psychological need, brought on by our physically comfortable modern and Western lifestyle. I was starting to get the itch about a year ago, and thought maybe I could scratch it in a way that benefited others as well. I hit on the idea of the RCNI Marathon Challenge: run ten marathons in six months for the Rape Crisis Network Ireland. The challenge took me from Paris to Bordeaux to Stockholm to Waterford to Santiago de Compostela to Hallstahammar to Dingle to Cooley to Galway and, finally, on to Dublin. When I arrived at the finish line in Dublin, I'd clocked up 2000+ kilometres and 2000+ euros for the RCNI. My thanks go out to all the people who supported me, from friends to family to local radio stations and news outlets. You can access news reports on the challenge here, here and here.
Otherwise, flick through some moments from this adventure below!
El Camino Primitivo: Summer 2019
Having studied, worked and travelled in cities for much of my late teens and early twenties, I was thirsty for a different kind of tourism. I was getting into hiking and mountain running when one of my friends mentioned she had done the Camino de Santiago, a variable-distance, multi-route, multi-week hike across northern Spain. I'd never heard of it before, but after doing some research and getting in contact with the Camino Society Ireland, my mind was made up. The primal aspect of the Camino really appealed to me: nothing but you, your pack, your shoes and the road ahead. So I took two weeks' holidays and walked the Camino Primitivo: 300+ kilometres from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela and on to Finisterre. The trail took me up and down mountains, through towns, villages and plains, with beautiful scenery, solitude, cuisine and company.
Flick through some moments from this adventure below!
Slieve Foye & Barnavave: Spring 2019
Slieve Foye is the tallest peak in the Cooley Mountains at 589m. It overlooks Carlingford Lough and the Mournes in one direction, while in the other it affords views across much of County Louth. On a clear day, you can see halfway down the east coast of the country, as far as the Eye of Ireland and Howth. On the slopes of its smaller sister mountain, Barnavave, there are the remains of a deserted settlement. People often mistake this for an abandoned 'famine village', but even if the story of its abandonment isn't so dramatic, it has many fascinating features. I spent an afternoon exploring and photographing Slieve Foye and Barnavave. I later discussed my impressions (along with some other musings) in a brief exposé, which you can read here.
Flick through some moments from this adventure below!
Obama Foundation European Town Hall: Spring 2019
The Obama Foundation was founded by Barack and Michelle Obama in 2014. Initially, it limited itself to social, civil and political initiatives in Chicago, then across the US. More recently, however, it has decided to broaden its horizons and bring its operations to three new territories: Africa, Europe and Asia-Pacific. To kick-start their European venture, the Foundation organised its first ever European Town Hall, to take place in Berlin. The event assembled youth activists and entrepreneurs from all over the continent to troubleshoot the problems plaguing our modern society. I was honoured to be invited to attend the Hall as a representative for Ireland. I met many other young leaders with exciting plans for the present as well as the future and had countless enlightening conversations. My thanks go to the Council on International Educational Exchange, who nominated me and sponsored my travel and accommodation.
Flick through some moments from this adventure below!
CIEE Civic Leadership Summit: Summer 2018
The Council for International Education Exchange (CIEE) is a non-profit organisation that facilitates cultural exchange programmes all around the world. It was thanks to them that I was able to go to the US in 2018. Each summer they hold their Civic Leadership Summit in Washington DC, where they gather forty youth activists from all across the globe for a series of lectures, think tanks and workshops. I was lucky enough to receive an invite to the Summit, and to hear from speakers like Kevin Saba, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Private Sector Exchange in the US; Mentor Dida, co-director of the Youth Venture project at Ashoka; and Lauren Manning, senior manager at Girl Rising. Those three days were so formative and inspiring that they prompted me to write about my experiences and what I took away from them. You can find that piece of writing here.
Otherwise, flick through some moments from this adventure below!
The United States: Summer 2018
A rite of passage for many Irish students is what is known as the J1. This is a special type of visa that allows young people to come and work in the US from May to September each year. I ended up living in Brooklyn, New York, and working for a bike rental company in and around Central Park. I spent three months in NYC, which were filled with boat rides in the Lake, outdoor cinema-going, umpteen different kinds of eateries, underground jazz bars, skyscraper nightclubs, strolls around downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn, trips to Coney and Long Island, the occasional jaunt to nearby cities like Philly and Boston, dollar pizza, the obligatory encounter with at least one absolute character per day. Then, in September, myself and two friends set off on a road trip. We dipped down into the South, passing through Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas, then headed West. Sleeping in motels, under the stars and sometimes in the car, we made our way from San Francisco down as far as LA and San Diego, then journeyed inland to Yosemite National Park and the Grand Canyon.
Flick through some moments from this adventure below!
Erasmus in Bordeaux: Autumn & Winter 2016
Fearing the Sorbonne, I opted for Bordeaux and the Université Michel de Montaigne when I went on Erasmus in my junior sophister year. When I wasn't in study mode, I was most often ambling around the city, its museums and its parks; drinking cheap white wine along the banks of the Garonne; and meeting up with other Erasmus students for viennoiseries or entrecôte. La Plage, the three-storey nightclub along the quay, and IBOAT, a blackout basement joint in the hull of a trawler, were also haunts. Not to mention the filthy halal kebabs. To end on a more wholesome note, I think Bordeaux is one of the most beautiful places I've experienced autumn in. The image of dead leaves falling and tessellating on the ground inspired me to write a short reflection on travel and identity, which you can read here.
Otherwise, flick through some moments from this adventure below!
Spain & the Basque Country: Summer 2016
Working summers abroad is the bread and butter of any university language student. In my senior freshman year I decided to travel to Spain to get a feel for the country and improve my Spanish. I spent the first half of my trip working as a camp counsellor. The camp was in the middle of nowhere, on the grounds of an abandoned convent outside Tarazona, a remote little town about an hour's drive from Zaragoza. With just us and the children there, all day every day, cut off from civilisation and the internet, the job was 24/7. But in the end this intense interaction allowed us all to bond quickly (the kids as well as the counsellors) and I look back on the madness with fondness. For the second half of my trip I travelled to Bilbao, in the Basque Country, where I enrolled in language classes. I spent my time exploring the city, hanging out with friends from the language school and going on day excursions to nearby towns like Guernica and San Sebastián. Flick through some moments from this adventure below!