Ryan Thomas

So here I am sat at my kitchen table. I occasionally glance at the oven digital clock face while I wait for dinner to cook. This despite knowing that I have set an alarm on my phone to indicate the readiness of said food. I know that in slightly over one week I will by flying to Dublin with Ana and my sister. I have never travelled to Ireland and it will be the second new country that I will have travelled to this year. I have an idea in my mind what to expect of Dublin. A jovial city. I am not sure if this is what we will find there. I have no real plans for our three-night visit except my sister’s insistence on visiting the Guinness Factory (surely she means brewery?). I am excited to be visiting a new place, a new country. I don’t expect Ireland to be very different to my own, only minor but noticeable cultural differences. I am looking forward to exploring the street, parks, pubs, museums and other attractions of a capital of a culture that punches far above its relative size. As t...

There are times that I feel an overwhelming wanderlust. It's not just a desire to jump on a plane for a weekend city break. It's a calling to pack everything in - my job, my public duties, sell my home, throw away almost all my commitments. I know I am not alone. My partner Ana sometimes suddenly declares that we should go and live in Paris for three months next summer, or that we should simply travel for the rest of our lives. The human brain is fascinating. One moment you are struggling with your ordinary life. The next you are backpacking through the Himalayas. At the beginning of this year we decided we would travel. We somehow agreed that we would visit five foreign countries this year. Life and money get in our way. But we decided that we really would travel so be just bought tickets, booked a hotel and spent Valentines week in Paris. We always knew that we would be visiting Bucharest in June for Ana's sister's wedding. We also managed to spend a few days in Londo...