galmc2Report

Before I commence I should acknowledge that whatever comments I make are based on an obviously limited exposure to these interesting cities. We’ve been to many places in our travels which have histories that are intertwined with conflict and violence. Columbia, Uganda, Vietnam, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and now Northern Ireland, specifically Belfast and Derry/London-Derry. As…

I am part of an Ireland travel group on FB that has been very helpful with planning our itinerary and deciding on our stops and activities. We have followed many of the tips and got some great advice. So, on our approach to Dublin, I had very few expectations as many people in the group…

Why do we have a desire to visit certain places? The motivations can be many, and in my case a few times I can track the “hey I’d like to go there” origin to seeing a locale as part of a good movie. That’s part of why I had a desire to visit Iceland in…

We have no family connections or ties to Ireland but it’s been a country that we have wanted to visit for a long while now. We had images of green rolling hills, sing alongs in pubs (mostly from being at the Blarney Stone and the Unicorn in Vancouver during our younger years), castles, lakes and,…

First, second, once removed,.. no idea but, I do know how happy I am to call them family. When Paul and I were planning the last stage of our trip, the only thing we knew for sure is that we would need to reserve some time in England and Wales to see the Shelbourne (Gallilee)…

The first time I visited London with Heather (and Chloe) was 2006. My Dad had passed away the previous December and in a fit of “live your life now” I realized I had been saving Aeroplan points for “someday”, and that “someday” was now. Heather turned 40 in 2006, so we used the points to…

It is our last day in Greece and tomorrow we will head to England. I see this adventure of ours in 3 stages: Stage 1 – Bali, Vietnam, Thailand, Jordan, Morocco. (Paul would divide this stage into 2 separate ones – SE Asia as 1 and Jordan&Morocco 2). For me, this stage involved travelling through…

We had such a wonderful time at Dimitra Hotel on Agia Prokopios with the family (14 of us anyway), that moving on to Santorini with 5 in the group seemed like a good transition for Paul and I before being on our own once again. We only had 1 full day on this iconic island,…

We were in the midst of travel planning at home last Fall when there was a Gallilee family meeting that I was unable to attend. I remember getting a text from Heather with a “what do you think about Greece” message? I believe my answer was a simple “yes.” From there the planning moved forward…