All posts tagged: explore

Moving to Muscat? Top 10 things you need to know

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You’ve accepted a job in Muscat, the capital of Oman. You’ve looked it up on the map after realising you only had the vaguest notion of where it actually is. You can now confidently describe its geographical positioning  and are getting a little sick of people quoting Chandler from Friends at you ‘You’re going to Yemen?!’ Here’s some tips and hints about life in Muscat, a mix of the practical and ‘you really should know this if you live here’. #1 It’s not Dubai You know this of course- you looked it up, remember?- but I mean in more than just the literal sense. You won’t find skyscrapers and malls with ski slopes in Muscat; Oman is more traditional than its Emirati neighbours and has made a concentrated effort to preserve its own culture while modernising. Although sometimes you may curse the poor selection of restaurants and bars when compared to Dubai or Abu Dhabi, I always found that on balance, I much preferred living somewhere that has still retained its own culture. Muscat has …

14 weeks, 5 countries, 2 continents: My Flashpacking adventure

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Flash-What? Flashpacking! It’s backpacking but fancier. A new travel term coined for millenials who mix high and low end experiences to create a more authentic way of travelling. The Numbers 14 weeks, 5 countries, 2 continents, 13 flights, 11 buses, 8 ferries, 7 cities, 3 beach towns, 2 islands, 1 yoga retreat The Route Dublin- Abu Dhabi – Hanoi – Halong Bay – Sapa – Hoi An – An Bang – Ho Chi Minh –  Phnom Penh – Sihanoukville – Siem Reap –  Bangkok – Krabi – Railey – Koh Lanta – Ao Nang – Phi Phi – Bangkok – Brisbane – Shannon The Highlights Brisbane, Australia I went to Australia solely to see my brother Rory, his beautiful girlfriend Rachael and meet their almost 2 year old son, my nephew Lachie. It’s not that I didn’t want to explore the country but budget/time wise, it wasn’t realistic so this was a ten day, Christmas/family visit to finish off my trip. After almost 13 straight weeks of solo travelling and all the planning, organising and …

Nomad/Wanderer/Emigrant? On being Irish Abroad

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Why don’t you live in Ireland? It’s a straight forward question that isn’t easy to answer. Like most people, I have a somewhat complicated relationship with the place I’m from. Not quite love/hate, more can’t live there but would like to be there slightly more often. I enjoy telling people how great a place to visit Ireland is- weather aside of course. The culture, the landscape, the craic. There’s history, music, food, drink and fun. Beautiful countryside, great hiking, world class surfing. Drive the Wild Atlantic Way!  And it’s true, Irish people really are friendly.   But no, I don’t want to live there. When I travel, people sometimes nod knowingly and mention the recession. But I didn’t leave Ireland for economic reasons. I’m that curious thing, an emigrant by choice. Which is a privilege, I’m aware. Years of economic mismanagement, political corruption and bad governance led Ireland into a devastating recession in 2008. Political policies in the following years did nothing to protect young people and their employment prospects. Successive governments protected pay and …