Dear Niall,

I'm afraid this letter is not one of the usual you probably get. I am not here to confess my undying love for you or your  music. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the music of One Direction and even went to one of the Croke Park gigs last year with a group of friends (great night!) but I don't want to marry you (not yet anyway!). 

I recently took a career break from my job as a teacher in a Dublin prison and decided to travel the world. My friend Sue and I saved up, packed up and off we went. We went to many countries where English is not the first, second or even third language. We were faced with this challenge and embraced it. Our Irish white skin stuck out like a sore thumb in places like Guatemala, Belize, Fiji, Indonesia and the Philippines. At this time, your band was on a world tour  and we were often in the same or neighbouring countries or cities. I found this interesting that we, both from humble beginnings, would be in the same country in completely different capacities and on different journeys. 

As we travelled, local people were always interested in where we were from. I am proud Irish lady, as you seem to be, Irish and proud, not the lady bit, and told them Ireland. Blank faces was my usual response from them. Many people had never heard of Ireland or had any clue where it was. I offered up Roy Keane? Blank face, Bono? Blank face, Robbie Keane? Blank face, I'd do a little jig? Blank face, I once tried One Direction ? and a "Aaahhh" and smile ensued. I continued "Niall?" Response; "yes, yes, Niall, Niall" and smiles all around, many filled with love hearts on hearing your name. 

Now I hope you don't take this in the wrong way and I certainly have no intention of causing offence, but I was truly flabbergasted. These local people live in these small towns, on islands in the Philippines, Indonesia etc. they have no connection with the western world but they know who you are and who your band is. They know what and where Ireland is, because of you. You have always striked me as a down to earth guy who appreciates all that has happened to him so far and enjoys the craic along the way. I don't know you but you seem like a good egg. 

I love Ireland, I love the people, I love the craic, I love the sense of humour only we have and somedays I even like the rain. I am proud to promote Ireland in the little way I can on my travels, and hope I have left a good impression of our country and our people in the places I have been. However, whatever impression I have made is minuscule compared to the effect you have in promoting Ireland. You didn't ask for that responsibility but so far you are going a great job, you are being yourself. You being humble, appreciative, respectful, good natured and all with a sense of humour, the many qualities that each Irish person possesses. 

Fair play to you Niall,

Caitriona 

We have been in many countries where English is not the first second or even third language! Communication quickly becomes non-verbal and our imaginations are put to the test. In most languages we pick up a word or two, but unfortunately our Indonesian, Chinese and Mongolian hasn't been up to scratch these last few months! 
Surprisingly the interaction with people who have no clue what you're saying brings me great joy! Let me explain. We arrived at a bus station in the Philippines after some random pointing in the general direction from a local child. Stage one complete. At the bus station we badly pronounced the name of the town we wanted to get to. Blank faces was the reaction. Ooookkkkaaayyy. I pronounced it badly again and the bus man replied which something that sounded vaguely familiar, I went with it! I started laughing at the awkwardness of it all, and so did he. Our friendship had started to blossom. He asked where we were from, and I replied Ireland. Blank face again. I said U2? Blank face. Westlife? Blank face. Roy Keane? Blank face. I did a little jig, Aaahhh he said Riverdance! More laughing ensued. I indicated I wanted to go to the shop before the bus left in ten minutes. He said No no and took me by the elbow towards a dark alley, eeeehhhh..... We arrived at a small restaurant that can only be described as being in someone's living room. I had the most delicious chicken curry for €1. I was worried the bus would leave so was eating fast, no no my friend said, the bus would wait! On our return to the bus, we hugged out our goodbyes, and I'd like to think we both left smiling that day. 

For me these experiences are the most memorable. From trying to explain to street vendors that Sue likes a lot of spice in China and I only like a little to playing football with kids on the street in Nicaragua and the same kid calling you his amigo the next day. We once had a three hour bus journey on a local bus that was blaring westlife and boy band tunes. We sang along badly out loud surprising ourselves how many lyrics we remembered. The love for boy bands is universal however and soon the whole bus was singing along. We might not have been able to talk to each other but we could sing!  I like to think our Irish sense of humour plays a big part. A smile goes a long way when no one has a clue what each other are saying. Connecting with someone who lives thousands of miles from where I'm from who has a different culture, a different religion, a different lifestyle, yet we are still able to find common ground and share a smile to me is a special feeling. We are all the same but different.

Since completing our diving courses in Honduras last year we have been inundated with chances to snorkel and do scuba diving. We have dived in the Great Barrier Reef,Australia,  Poor Knights Island, New Zealand and Gili Islands, Indonesia, all of these are in the top ten in the world. In some of these places the snorkelling has outweighed the diving as the majority of tropical fish are right by the coral just off the beach, mostly on islands. We have been lucky enough to see sharks (sues favourite) stingrays, turtles (my favourite) and every size and shape of fish you can think of. 

For our first week in the Philippines we spent it on the touristy island of Boracay. We were lucky that a group of friends could join us and for that week we weren't travellers, we were just enjoying a girly holiday. We spent our days on the white beaches chilling out, doing boat trips, watching incredible sunsets each evening and enjoying the many bars and restaurants. We went diving and snorkelling which was pleasant if not a tad disappointing. 

For our second week we were back to being travellers but we are now a threesome, with Eimear our friend as the newest addition. We had planned to go to see the whale sharks but as with travelling it didn't work and we headed for the remote island of Pandan, off the coast of a larger island Mindoro. Pandan is incredible, it has to be here they take the photos for holiday brochures. White sand, palm trees, sunshine and only about 30 people on the whole island. We got the snorkelling gear on but not expecting much after our experience in Boracay and we didn't bother to bring a camera. Boy were we wrong!! The reef was beautiful, before we even reached a reef we had seen several turtles and stingrays. The reef was crystal clear and full of colourful fish, starfish, lionfish, stone fish, parrotfish, pufferfish and everything  we could have wanted to see. 

As we were swimming back, a triggerfish locked eyes on Sue and headed for her. I heard a scream from about 5m away followed by laughter as the fish swam away from her. All was good the fish was just curious. Or so we thought. We swam on, and a few metres later I spotted the same triggerfish. A triggerfish is about the size of a pillow and is quite flat, fast and has vicious teeth. The triggerfish spotted me and immediately hit the accelerator in my direction. I presumed he would retreat as soon as he got near me, but he wasn't slowing down. I screamed as it seemed the only logical thing to do! Sue and Eimear looked in my direction and watched the show. I started swimming backwards, still screaming, kicking towards the fish, as he approached my fins. He showed me his teeth and I kicked like a lunatic. He tried to come at me from the side, I tried to kick that way, gracefully of course! My fin fell off and I caught it with my hand. He spotted my bare foot and went for my toes. I swiped at him several times. So here I am trying to swim backwards with one fin, hitting a fish underwater, and still screaming! Tropical paradise, how are you!!

After I retreated a few metres he lost interest and swam off, after putting the fear of God in me! I swam to the shore, the girls didn't know whether to laugh or not. Neither did I! It turns out triggerfish are highly protective if they have a nest on the sandy bottom. They will circle the nest and attack anything within a 10m radius. Sue must have been on the edge of the circle, I mutt have been in the centre! I always thought if I seen a shark underwater I would be afraid, but no, a triggerfish attack scares me more..... Google it, go on I dare you!

If Ireland and its people are seen as the friendliest people in the world, I've no doubt that the people of Indonesia came in a very close second!! We arrived onto Bali island where we expected to find our inner peace. We found a very green environment, a very hot sun, some very friendly locals and some fantastic food! We occupied our days visiting the monkey jungle, where the cheeky monkeys tried to steal my sunglasses, and visiting one of many temples in Bali. Religion is very important here with several offerings a day and several temples offering cleansing (not that I need it!!). 
Just one island over and things are very different! The religion is different, it has massive cities and thousands and thousands of mopeds (not a chance I'd drive here!) We were invited to Jember on Java Island by a friend Rudi who we had met on the cruise a few months ago. Excitedly back in November we had agreed to visit him in his native Indonesia and spend time with his family. Several months later we found ourselves reuniting. We were welcomed to open arms and treated as family for the few days we were there. Rudi and his family showed us the make up of Indonesian family that is full of joy and laughter (despite the language barrier!). We, as a family, enjoyed a day at the beach (killing a rooster on the way home/ oops!), had several Indonesian meals together and celebrated my birthday (21 again!!!). It was a pleasure to experience the daily life of the people of Jember which is full of fun, and always putting family first. We met several neighbours and relations of Rudi who all treated us like family and we definitely won't be short of a bed on our return! 

We travelled onto the Gili Islands for a few days of relaxation. On the way we had fantastic food in a family run cafe in Padang Bai, where we soon became acquainted with the chef and her husband. We complimented the food, all shared experiences and he got us a great deal on the boat across to the Gilis! Result! We chilled out, swam, sunbathed and scuba dived (some of the best!!) on Gili Air for several days before heading to Gili T (the larger party island) for St. Patricks Day. The Irish bar there had the town all in green to celebrate our special day, I think though there was actually only 5 Irish people there! That didn't stop the party and we celebrated, while attempting Irish dancing of course! We returned to Gili Air to relax and recuperate after the partying. 

Our last stop was the lovely beach town of Sanur along the coast. Although quieter, it was calm and cool. The night market offered us Indonesian food straight from the locals kitchens which was always delicious, and a very nice beach to chill during the day. Again the locals were as friendly and helpful as ever. The laughs, interaction and experience we had with the local people alone is enough to make me want to visit Indonesia again. 

We have been lucky enough to be following the sun around the world so far and have enjoyed endless days of sunshine, a very different winter to Ireland!! So as we headed to Australia we expected nothing less than glorious sunshine, after all is that not why half the country has moved there?! 
We flew into Brisbane and had plans for Bryon Bay. The downpour quickly soaked those dreams! Luckily we had a good friend in Brisbane who was putting us up for a day or two, which ended up being six, as we realised the rain wasn't going stop! Turns out we were in a cyclone who badly affected some towns about Brisbane, but we got away with some rain and a week long bonding session! 

We headed up to the coast to Airlie Beach to see the beautiful Whitsunday Islands and to dive the Great Barrier Reef. The weather gods were back on our side and the blue skies returned. We booked onto a sailing trip for three nights and headed toward the Great Barrier Reef. Anyone who has been on a boat for a few days knows it's fairly limited space, so when you are sharing your cabin with a random stranger and it's the size of a tin of beans, you get to know each other fairly well! We got lucky and enjoyed the company of our boat, even meeting a girl from the same village as me, small world! 

The next three days were spent diving and snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef and a few locations around the Whitsundays. We all arranged to meet up for an after party after we had docked in Airlie Beach. With an early morning flight we decided we were going take it easy!! We made the flight and that's the important part! 

We arrived into Sydney, where it was really hot and humid with no accommodation booked. Turns out Sydney is quite popular (who knew?!), there was no accommodation to be found! We decided to pull out the Irish card. A quick text home and a brother of a friend was soon on his way to pick us up! Just another excellent quality our great Irish people possess. The brother (who we have never met before) picked us up, gave us a tour of Sydney, feed and watered us and provided us with a double bed for the night. We can't thank him enough! He was even kind enough to drop us to our pre-booked (see we are learning!) hostel the next morning. We had a fabulous few days in Sydney visiting all the usual hotspots  (Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Summer Bay for all the home and away fans) and a few hidden ones too (Baxters Whiskey Bar). It's easy to see why Sydney has become a home for many Irish, it certainly has a certain charm even though it's a big city. 

Our adventure was short in Australia but filled with only good memories, and ideas for the next visit here! 

To really experience New Zealand we decided a campervan was to be our mode of transport. With us being as organised as ever, we didn't pre book and none were available for the first week. This turned out to be a blessing as we ventured up north past Auckland all the way to the top of New Zealand. We got to visit ninety mile beach, which is in fact a used roadway, so driving along the beach on a public bus was an experience. We reached Cape Reinga where the views were stunning and where the Pacific Ocean mets the Tasman Sea. 

We returned to Auckland after our mini adventure to pick up our new home for the next five weeks. The beauty of the campervan is the freedom to go where we want and when we want. New Zealand really embraces this culture and has freedom camping locations in every region. Freedom camping essentially means you can park up for free and spend the night as long as your campervan has a toilet. So freedom camping it was for us ! 

The designated sites can range from a shopping centre carpark to the side of cliff to the foot of a mountain! Our first night was spent in the beautiful cliff side carpark of Cathedral Cove in the Coromandel region. We woke up to stunning views. Another night was spent in a forest area with nothing around for miles and miles, just us in our little motor home! It was as scary as it sounds. The foot of Mount Taranaki was one to remember for the morning view, and the various lakes we stayed at listening to the water as we fell asleep. 

One of our favourites was the carpark of an Irish pub, The Donegal House, a few kilometres outside Kaikoura. We nipped in for a quick drink and a warm welcome. The pub soon emptied out and there was only myself, Sue and Murray the owner left. With the doors locked we blared the Pogues over the DVD player, attempting some Irish dancing moves and enjoyed a few (!) beverages until the early morning. And with our home just outside the door, it was a short walk home! 

We took a break from our little van for the Wellington Sevens Rugby weekend. We are fortunate to have a friend there who put us up for a few nights while we enjoyed the craic with our new group of Irish friends. Three days of laughing, meeting plenty of Irish and the odd Kiwi, watching very little rugby, enjoying the atmosphere was a trip definitely worth making. 

Back in our campervan for the remaining ten days we did a loop of the South Island. On our second last day we got lucky and managed to make the Cricket World Cup game between Ireland and the West Indies. The Irish fans were out in force, with plenty of green around the stadium. The banter with the West Indies fans was great with Ireland chasing down over 300 runs. Coming out victors of the game just added to the atmosphere. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to celebrate as we had a 10 hour drive to Auckland, and a flight to catch, just making it by the skin of our teeth! 

Everyone knows someone or knows of someone who has emigrated to the land of New Zealand, but before the young people of Ireland left for more opportunities, us Irish had already played a role in the development of New Zealand. This is very evident in the many street names which ring a very familiar bell. In many towns there are Dublin street, Kilkenny street, Galway street and even a Meath street much to Sues delight. 
New Zealand is a very beautiful country with outstanding landscapes and surroundings, to be honest it reminded us of Ireland a lot. Many days driving through countryside we could have easily been driving through many counties in Ireland, on a sunny day!! We clearly weren't the only Irish to think this as George Vesey Stewart from Tyrone felt the same. In 1873 George found himself in a small town by the name of KatiKati. He liked it so much he sailed back home, gathered as many people as possible and brought them all back to KatiKati. In June 1875 27 families along with George's family set sail for New Zealand, taking three months to get there. When they finally got there they had to start from scratch, building homes, planting their crops etc. The move was so successful another ship load of Irish arrived three years later. It's fair to say that these people certainly had an influence in this town!  

Nowadays there are plenty of young Irish building lives in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. Life treats them well here, so well in fact unfortunately many will not return home. For those who will stay they find comfort in the Irishness that has followed them. They are plenty of Gaelic football and hurling teams, with ladies football especially thriving. We were lucky enough to attend a session in Wellington where over 30 girls were training. Apart from the sport which gives an automatic family, there are shops that supply the Barry's tea, Tayto, Club Orange and Cadburys chocolate for those days that home seems that much further away. We got to spent plenty of time with many Irish that have emigrated (friends and new friends) and see first hand the new opportunities that brought them to New Zealand. It's a great outdoorsy lifestyle, the weather is a little better, career opportunities are endless, it'd be great if we could just move it next door to us! 

Belize is very different to any other Central America country. For one they all speak English ( my three words of Spanish were wasted here!!) and secondly they are all taller than me! Belize is very Caribbean and with the sun blazing it was a great way to spend Christmas. 

The big build up of Christmas at home is probably the most enjoyable part, the lights in town, the outdoor movies, the present buying, the cold weather and rain - we had none of that this year! Christmas came upon us quickly and to be honest probably went as quick. 

We decided Caye Caulker, an island off The mainland was our destination of choice. On Christmas Eve we had arranged a boat trip for the day. We headed off with snorkelling gear, fishing rods, and a spear gun. If we wanted to eat that night we were going have to catch our own fish! We headed out to a local reef where the lads jumped in with the spear gun and the girls stayed on board to chance their arm at fishing. After the captain had showed us what to do, it wasn't long before the screaming began. As first time fisher women the excitement got to us and the screaming got louder with every fish we caught! The captain looked astonished and the lads were probably wondering what was wrong! Approximately 26 fish later(between three of us) we calmed down, and basked in our glory as the lads returned with nothing. Next up was our turn and we jumped in with the spear gun. We were in the water five minutes when Sue took a shot but unfortunately missed. We all came up and had a chat about the great shot. We looked down to retrieve the spear only to notice the current had moved us, a lot! We had lost the spear, oh sh*t! We spent the next forty minutes working as a team to try find the needle in the haystack! Time was running out and soon we would have to admit the mistake to the captain. The dreaded call came from the boat hailing our return..... A few more missions and sue exclaimed I found it! Eureka! Disaster avoided. 

The gloating continued as we tucked into our dinner that night, as the lads gave their thanks to the girls. A few drinks to celebrate only encouraged the banter and a great night ensued. I won't divulge all information (my parents read this!) but there was a rallying golf cart, a late night swim and a missing person. All the drama that shall remain back in Belize! 

Christmas Day itself was a bit cloudy and we felt cheated! We treated ourselves to a lie in (finally!) and toasted the day with some Guinness. Christmas dinner was a big event and as usual everyone ate too much and fell asleep afterwards! 

The following two days we spent sunbathing down at the split, snorkelling off the shore, relaxing and enjoying the night life of an exotic location for Christmas. It was unfortunately our last few days together as a unit of six and with some sad goodbyes we headed our separate ways, thankful for the last few weeks spent together.

After a quiet Christmas (haha) we headed for Mexico for our last few days of Central America. We arrived, with two freshly made friends Rochelle and Thomas, to the town of Bacalar. This town is situated on the Lake of Seven Colours, and it really has various shades of blue, green and turquoise in it. We approached hostel one only to be told there were no vacancies and we would struggle to find somewhere. A VERY chilled out guy offered the four of us a lift to the next place only to get the same answer. His solution; don't worry, have a few drinks, smokes and chill, sure you might not even want a bed by then! Eh thanks for the advice mate. 

We ventured onto a neighbouring hostel, where we were offered a two man tent and two hammocks. The awkward moment of which do you want occurred between us and we struck it lucky with the tent, with a view of the lake thrown in for free. The next day we chilled out by the seven colours lake, enjoying the sunshine. 

Tulum was our next stop, and the first time we pre booked accommodation! The cute little town is very touristy but still has it's charm. We hung out in the scorching sun, and went snorkelling with turtles and stingrays. Bright and early the next morning we went scuba diving in a local cenote, Dos Ojos. A cenote is like a cavern with crystal clear fresh water, like an underwater cave. It was a specular dive with the sunlight shining through the openings and creating the most beautiful colours in the water. We chatted the ears off our instructor (of course) and we all went for lunch after with invites to Ireland and Chile ( his country) thrown in! 

New Years Eve approached quickly and we stupidly had booked a flight out of the airport at 8am on New Years Day (don't ask us why, we don't know!). We decided the only job was to party all night and straight to the airport, at least we would be on time for check in! Our friends from Bacalar, Rochelle and Thomas, kindly offered to store our bags in their hostel, which we gratefully accepted. We also jumped in with the hostel crew, all making friends after a game or two of kings drinking game. We headed for the strip of Cancun, which is like Las Vegas! All open air clubs, dancers, music blaring. We picked the cheapest one and made use of our free drink with entrance fee. Atmidnight we re grouped on the beach and brought in the new year! 

Within a few hours, we were trying to sleep on a cold, very air conditioned airport floor already dreading the hangover! It was worth every second though. Viva Mexico!