A happy new year to you all from Further Afield Travel and Tours for 2024. The company has reached a milestone in business, celebrating its tenth anniversary. Many thanks to you all in helping us to achieve this accolade. Your support, commitment and promotion through the years is appreciated. The team are diligently working with confidence in booking more and more vacations each year.

The island of Ireland is 32,000 sq miles in total, one fifth of which, Northern Ireland is governed by the United Kingdom. The combined population is almost 7 million people. The west coast has to most enchanting scenery. The coast has been shaped and gouged out by Atlantic storms that bombard the island, having crossed 3,000 miles of a turbulent ocean. The multitude of islands off the coast vary in size, Achill island off the Co. Mayo coast is the largest and is steeped in history. The Aran Islands in Galway Bay that struggles to preserve the native language, the Blasket Islands in Kerry, famous for its history of distinctive writers, Rathlin island off the coast of Northern Ireland and its association with Robert de Bruce King of Scotland. There are about 50 other islands that are inhabited, some with only a handful of people each having their own haunting stories and myths. There are others islands that are tiny, not much more than large rocks but they are still recorded in ordnance survey maps as part of Ireland for the purposes of exploration and the rights that may pertain to the findings of such research. Ireland’s international waters extend to a distance of 200 nautical miles. 

The Cliffs of Moher, Slieve League Cliffs, the mountain ranges of Cork, Kerry, Galway, Donegal along the west coast portray themselves as a barrier against the incessant attacks of the elements. The challenges offered to climbers, hill walkers or cyclists is in proportion to one’s ability.

The Signature tour begins in the south west of Ireland in Co. Kerry. You find yourself transported back to prehistoric times, to pagan mythology and a time when humanity was exuberantly linked to the classical elements of water, earth, air, fire and spirit. Hear the stories of fairy ring forts, the fairy trees that are the portal entrance to the underworld, mythical tales of sea creatures, banshees crossing through the peat bogs. Folklore, Leprechauns and Halloween.

As you travel around the countryside you will see the ancient ruins of Castles, Churches, Abbeys, Tower Houses, Monasteries, Manor houses and 18th and 19th century farm buildings. Agriculture lands with dairy cows, beef cattle, flocks of sheep and stud farms. Relish the beauty of fields of barley, wheat, oats and canola (used in the manufacture of cooking oil), these cereals maturing and ripening in their golden colours, their heads nodding in the breeze with the weight of grain, as if to say ‘welcome’ as you pass by. 

Looking back at the history of Ireland and the devastation that the failure of the potato crops that resulted in a Famine that lasted from 1845 to 1852. The population was in excess of 8 million at this time but the numbers of hunger related deaths and mass immigration resulted in the population falling by 50%. The census of 2023 was the first time in 170 years that the population is coming up to what it was back then. 

As you visit the towns and cities you will witness the modernization of the country, with up-market office blocks, apartments, shopping malls and hotels. Buildings that have now become a symbol of modernity in Ireland, housing companies that have their European headquarters here in Ireland. Companies like Intel, Apple, Pfizer, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, PayPal and more including Banking Services, Construction and Engineering works. 

Visiting Northern Ireland and the city of Belfast you are invited to enjoy an area of the island that is now experiencing peace and prosperity instead of warfare which had been an obstacle to growth and investments. Your visits will include the Giant’s Causeway, the Titanic visitors centre, Bushmills Distillery (the oldest licensed distillery in the world), the American Folk Park and the City Hall of Belfast.

Dublin is the capital city and by far the largest city in the country with a population of 1.5 million people. A thriving cosmopolitan city with four universities and many business colleges, and hospital training facilities, the largest commercial sea port in the country, with several passenger crossings each day to Britain. 

Employment in Ireland is stable. Tourism, Education, Computer manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Technology, Engineering, Farming exports of dairy and beef products, Transportation with the amount of exports. Guinness is one of the largest breweries in the world and very popular as a tourist attraction. The unemployment figure in the Republic of Ireland for 2023 was 4.5% out of a workforce of 2.6 million people.

For a relatively small country, it packs a significant punch in the entertainment sector. Music and dance, film production and location, and a destination for many foreign companies to advertise their products or services. Cruise ships docking in the many ports around the country for 2023 numbered 150.

Some space is still available for that date in September. For further information email or call, Further Afield Travel and Tours or phone 1.844.564.1076