Author: Tom Rooney

Love, love me do. You know I love you…

Liverpool has her ticket to ride after the city became the European capital of culture for 2008. Everything is going gangbusters for this historically important seafaring capital, which for two hundred years was at the centre of transatlantic shipping. Liverpool provided the last glimpse of … …

Watch out for the wee water monster!

The Scottish Highlands are dead sexy, and at the heart of all this wild and sexy stuff is a 1,500 year old mystery, featuring a legendary monster who lurks within the depths of Loch Ness. We were at the end of day one on an … …

What’s the craic?

The occupation of Northern Ireland by British armed forces turned out to be the longest in British military history, and stretched over an unimagined period of thirty five years. What started as a limited intervention to quell unrest in Derry turned into an ongoing nightmare … …

And they’re racing at Galway!

The Galway races are one of the premier annual events in Ireland, and it’s fortunate my visit coincides with the week long festival taking place in this city on the west coast of Ireland. The fillies are out for a canter on the streets, with … …

In Bruges

Belgium has proven to be quite the surprise packet, dear reader. The country is famed for the quality of the home made chocolates and beers, which guarantees a special place in the hearts of male and female travellers alike. The most impressive feature for us, … …

A new millennium

The Millennium stadium in Cardiff towers over the centre of the city, and would have to be the most incredibly placed major stadium in the world. When the train pulls into Cardiff central you are right in the heart of the Welsh capital, and all … …

The Best of British

Flying into Heathrow airport early on a sunday morning is the catalyst for more travel adventures in this wonderful part of the world. London is a buzzing metropolis … a money making machine, a giant in fact that can swallow up another Aussie backpacker without … …

La Petite Mort

An erotic male fantasy could well involve romantic Paris, and having a passionate affair of the heart with a Frenchwoman. Well, it certainly isn’t my fantasy … anymore! The city of romance has cast a magical spell over my lover and I, as this latest … …

Happy new year from Lisbon

I barely managed to extricate myself from a serious clinch with a travel friend in time to catch the overnight bus from Seville to Lisbon, and send a cyber kiss to you cherie *mwah – mwah*. Eurolines decided, in their infinite wisdom, to schedule a … …

Andalucia and the magic of the south

Southern Spain is a magical part of the world, dear reader, but situated precariously close to North Africa. Historically this has proven to be a problem for the Spanish, as Muslims conquered almost the entire Spanish peninsula by the year 714, and continued to rule … …