Auld Pickie Bed & Breakfast Bangor

Went shopping in Belfast (cheaper in the north) and was surprised to find an Auntie Anne's pretzel store in a Westfield Mall. I must admit I was so excited about having a pretzel but no one who really knows me would not be surprised since pretzels are one ...

... rd protestant area and were shown around by one of the protestant taxi drivers. it was just a quiet suburban area but it was quite scary listening to him talk. the uda (ulster defence army - pro uk) and ira (irish republican army - pro republic of ireland) have a cease fire now but aparently they're still active just not officially armed. when we first got in the taxi the driver asked us if we'd seen any ira members, we said no and he said how do you know? then he asked if we ...

... out
catching some waves. Too bad we couldnt post pics yet, but we'll probs
post them a few times in between countries if we have time. We're in
Belfast
now and once again, have found a great B and B...tomorrow we head to
Scotland ont he Ferry. For tonight, just an internet cafe and a cup of
Starbucks coffee. Home Sweet Home.

This was high on Scott's list of things to see in Ireland. I came along too, mainly to see the countryside as we drove. And have more fish & chips instead of pizza, pasta, pizza, and pasta.

Millions of years ago, ancient lava flows in the North Atlantic cooled slowly and began to expand & contract in unique ways. This created a huge field of approximately 50,000 hexagon-shaped columns of rock beside the sea.

My favorite ...

Dad and Kevin were supposed to arrive today, but a blizzard in Chicago caused them to miss their connecting flight to Dublin. So now they're set back a day, and won't arrive until Sunday morning. But they are on their way. The process of communicating this news was pretty funny. It was basically a huge ...

... and after ten minutes she came back out. Now RyanAir as a company are notorious for ****ing up and charging you more, so my wallet was ready, ready to buy three tickets back to London, and then came the hit, RyanAir would give us three free tickets on the first flight back to London the next morning. Yes it was going to cost us a night in a hotel, but we did get something out of it. Yes we kind of ****ed up, but it won't happen again, trust me, I learn from my mistakes !!!

I've had a really nice couple of days. My tour to the Causeway was great. For those who don't know the Giant's Causeway is a place right on the very North Coast of Northern Ireland where there are basalt columns that you can walk on. Ok, really that is the crappiest description of them...do a web search to see what I'm talking about. But anyway I had a fantastic walk along the cliffs and then the Causeway was beautiful it was ...

"...it's a tragedy that his...", said Adam, and so yet another round of raucous laughter broke out. I might have done a lot, and seen a lot since I last saw these guys but rarely, if ever, do I laugh or relax as much as in their company. Thrown together by the hands of fate more years ago than we'd care to remember, at a defining point in each of our lives, a handful of ...

Never go back! Don't ever, ever try to recreate the past or go back down your own path. Look ahead, don't look back. My mottos for life and travel.....and I'm going to break them with my old university mates. We've met many times since and always have a ball, but never been back to the scene of the crimes in North Wales. 10 years on it's happening. I'd like to say I'm writing this to document the concerns before anything happens and then to report ...

... I’d long desperately wanted to see it for myself, so it was no disappointment to be visiting Belfast for the second time in less than a year.

In the centre of the city itself there is no obvious hint to outsiders of the Protestant/Catholic divide, Belfast could be Bristol, Birmingham or any other British city starting with a ‘B’ you can think of. But the most famous thing to do in the city to see some of the heartlands of sectarianism is to take a ...