I was a walking guide for many years in Liverpool, running day and weekend trips for international students studying English in the UK. I would design, sell and run the tours myself which was great, but getting to focus solely on the running of the tour now is a dream!
I’m very performative, passionate about travel and a big history buff so tour leading allows me to combine all of these qualities into one all-encompassing package of awesomeness.
Not only do I get to combine three of my passions into one, but I also get paid for it! That, and I’m always looking for new ways to improve my public speaking and this is the perfect platform to do so.
I also feel that communication is one of the most important qualities we possess as a species. This job has not only helped me to develop my communication skills but also the ability to communicate effectively with a huge variety of demographics.
This job really is the ultimate in deepening our ability to connect with others.
Everyone travels for different reasons but the main motivation is to see the sites, take photos and eat some nice food, right? This also applies to Ireland but there’s a whole other level of depth in that the main reason people travel there is to explore their own heritage.
They travel there not just to know a new destination but to know themselves. When people travel with this as their motivation, it becomes more of a pilgrimage than a vacation.
Getting to lead people around a destination they feel is a part of themselves is infinitely more satisfying. Your group’s passion for history and folklore is unrivalled on other tours and you feel a much stronger connection to them for it.
You know Ireland is a special destination to tour as it’s always the hardest tour to say goodbye to people at the end.
My big passion other than Tour Leading is surfing. The place that got me surfing the way I do today is Morocco and it’s had a big piece of my heart ever since. I go back for at least a month every year to hit the breaks that got me surfing and I can’t believe Expat Explore is now running tours there too!
Gdansk in Northern Poland. It’s a two-night stop on Expat Explore’s Best of the Baltics & Scandinavia tour and people, including myself, often come with little expectation in that they don’t know much about it.
The city was completely flattened during WW2 but rebuilt in its original late Northern Renaissance style. The city did a wonderful job but it’s really only in the last 12 years that tourism has arrived and so it’s still not widely known internationally. When I arrived I was blown away by its beauty and it’s now the highlight of Northern Europe for me!
Hawaii! Get me out on those big iconic waves!
- Vietnam for a month-long food tour
- A hiking trip through the Himalayas
- Snowboarding in The Rocky’s
Mongolia on horseback, purely because it sounds like the most rugged and epic way of seeing a country that not a huge amount of people visit. Wild beauty at its finest is what I’ve heard.
Surf, Surf, Surf, Snowboard, Surf...
Whilst I’m a showman in every respect whilst on tour, I can actually be quite introverted in my personal life. I enjoy my alone time and tend to travel alone fairly regularly. I save most of my social bandwidth for tours and, whilst I have many friends that I love dearly, I love hitting the road solo. That and, during the pandemic, I was an undertaker!
Everyone thinks that Ireland is called so because it’s an island. It is an island but that’s not where it gets its name. In the Mythological Cycle of Irish Mythology when the Milesians arrive in Ireland they’re met by the old gods, the Tuatha de Danann.
The story goes that they were met by three goddesses of Sovereignty who said that they could stay and inhabit the lands if they promised to honour them by forever referring to the lands by their name. One of the goddesses was called Ériu, Land of Ériu, Land of Eire, Eire’s Land, Ireland. And there we have it. In a patriarchal world, it’s a goddess that Ireland is dedicated to.
Korean Bibimbap without a doubt!
I truly believe that open minds lead to a better world and the best way to become more open-minded is to include as much variation in your experiences and perspective as possible… how can you do this? Travel!
To learn to love and be loved in return… if you know, you know.
