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I think most of that was in the past...our own Kirstie is from Belfast and I think it`s okay to visit now.

My boyfriend's sister studied abroad in Ireland last summer and she's visited places like Giant's Causeway, Derry, and Belfast without any trouble at all. She had a lot of fun. :)  You can probably look up some information from travel websites and such to see for yourself.  We also have quite a few people here who've visited and/or live in Ireland; maybe they can help you out. ;)

hey :) no one should take offence from your post :)
Northern Ireland NOW is perfectly safe to visit, and the murals and stuff make for finding out interesting history, what happened between catholic/protestant  :)
there's a lot of past with Northern Ireland which can cause people to think twice about coming to visit, but i can assure you the trouble and fighting has stopped, and catholic's and protestants can get on as one now, although some prefer not to (stuck in the past but each to their own hey!)

http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/ - for places to visit, things to do in Northern Ireland, and http://www.discoverireland.ie/ for the same about Ireland :)

but you will be safe in either part of the country :)

Northern Ireland and Belfast is perfectly safe now....except for the part where Kirstie has just got her license to drive.....just keep an eye out    ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D   

Thanks everyone, I guess I was reading the wrong website's. I will check out that link Kristi.

Owing to the distant and recent past your question is a fair one. My wife and I just returned from vacation in the Republic of Ireland which included two seperate visits to Northern Ireland. I can support what kirstie_x wrote by telling you Northern Ireland is totally peacefull at present. In sighting just one evidence, we drove in and out of the two nations without the need to stop for security checks. In other words it was just like driving across state lines in the US.

However, none of us can predict the future so please stay abreast of current events prior to making travel plans.

In this regard I would like to PM you with some pictures I took from the atop walls of The Walled City of Derry (aka: Londonderry) and brief comments.

Sure that would be great, I would love to see the pics and hear your comment's.  ;D

Having some performance issuses with my 'puter right now. I promise I won't forget... but don't hold your breath.  :D

In the meantime there is The Dubliners cover of The Town I Loved So Well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=wDC_LC_Pzzs

Our tour "minders", Men of Worth, included this song in their nightly music performance the day we visited Derry, aka: Londenderry, Northern Ireland.

not a full license yet... but im a good driver!:D

  famous last words of Captain Smith..... ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)

LOL! i can drive, i haven't hurt anyone :)

good question!! I always heard and read about that! very scary! but i think its ok now! belfast, giants causeway, titanic museum (looks ammmaaazzzinnnggg!) etc! but if its ur first time do a bus tour!! there are so many different options w agencys!! looks fun! i was gonna go this summer but w the olympics it might be too hectic!! but, def. going next summer! and most of the strictly ireland tours focus a lot on the northern half!!!

  do you drive a stick shift car??????  Something like 97% of cars sold here are automatics. As my car dealer told me" we can`t give stick shift cars away"  he told me about a girl that saw a car she liked on the lot and he said " okay, let`s go for a test drive"  She got in , looked down and said" why does it have 3 pedals?"  He said"uh, this isn`t the car for you" ::) ::) ::)

yeah i drive a manual, my aunt drives an automatic, but there SOO expensive to buy... i want to try driving her car, but cos im still learning i'm best off sticking to a clutch lol!! oh deaar, that would be funny though!

When I visited a friend in England several years ago, she let me try  driving her Mini on a country road for a while. Surprisingly, it wasen`t that hard to drive on the " wrong" side of the road ...like in Ireland... and shifting with my left hand wasen`t too bad either....it was those "roundabouts" that confused me.

oh cool, yeah i think it would be okay to get used to being on the opposite side of the road, but awkward for changing gear (for me at least!) ohh i HATE roundabouts, always get confused on them :(

then I`m NOT the only one who found roundabouts confusing. Kirstie, you HAVE to visit America and try driving on the " correct" side of the road   ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D  chances are, it`ll be an automatic  ::)

I think I would just fit right in!  I am a true lefty and it would prob. be easy for me to get uused to driving on the left side!! Had that trouble and had to quickly correct it when I first started driving! Shifting on the other hand is a different story! Wouldn't even be able to move an eight of an inch!! lol! Automatic all the way!! But sounds like fun!!!

haha my driving instructor goes crazy at me for them (i  need to THINK!) haha, i would love to!! SO MUCH, i'd like an automatic no clutch, no gears life would be so easy haha!

it felt weird in the U.K. sitting in the left  front seat and NOT having a steering wheel in front of you...they should offer a fake one to comfort  tourists  ::)

I love automatic, I tried to drive a stick shift but the dang car kept dying on me. I guess I'm not coordinated enough.

  When I was a teenager, my older brother tried to teach me how to drive a stick ( a Volkswagen Beetle)  and I ended up plowing over somebody's mail box. That was the end of THAT experiment!  ;D 

Hahahaha, That sounds like something I would do.

haha yeah def, i've seen a few people with left hand drives over here... they look weird to me, i've just about got the hang of a normal car haha!

my neighbors niece from County Langford, Ireland was here recently and she was amazed  that all of our cars are automatics....she thought it`d be weird driving without a clutch.

aw haha! yeah an automatic is so uncommon here because there SO expensive...i suppose if your used to it it's fine lol :D

  since almost ALL of our cars are automatics anyway, the cost isn`t noticed as much. Most come ONLY that way...no choice.

ah makes sense then :)

I wanted to post an update for anyone who may look at this post.

At this current time, I take back what I said about Northern Ireland being safe to visit, CURRENTLY it is not...
We've had 'peaceful' protests and riots for almost a week now, over the removal of the Union Flag - something which has been done, with the understanding of what chaos and destruction it could and has caused.

I also just want to say, (because of the Internet & the fact Hilary Clinton has passed comment) that the media is shedding bad light upon the protestant (British) citizens living here. We are not all like what is seen, the media only show the bad bits.

A lot of people have reacted in a disgraceful way, but the majority are trying to deal with it in a calm manner, and I just want to clarify that people shouldn't be put off visiting Northern Ireland in future because of this recent turn of events:)

it`s unfortunate that the people there get so upset at what religion you are......I know, my elderly neighbor is from Dublin  and I swear, she`s so Catholic, she makes the Pope look Jewish. People are people...let them practice their own religion. As long as people respect each other. we have to accept ALL beliefs.Stay safe Kirstie.

hahaha!! brilliant! I'm annoyed about the flag, but because of my family/friends I'm not kicking up a fuss, as long as they don't try to tell me I'm Irish I don't really care lol! Thanks Kevin :)

My parents lived in England back in the 70s and they were touring Europe at this time, and they were going to visit Ireland but they didn't because of conflict with Northern Ireland or something. That's all I know. :P

 What's this I heard a while back about the current president of Ireland wanting schools there to stop teaching the Irish language in schools?     

Yeah back then it was bad, from what I've been told, like you couldn't speak to certain people if they where catholic/protestant and that's how people have been brought up... but from then things have changed loads, places aren't as segregated now. But now because they've taken down the union flag it;s kicked up a fuss & protestants are being badly reflected on, because we don't want a united Ireland (to be honest it's cheaper to be British haha!) 


 I haven't heard that, but I don't know much about Ireland, I don't think many people now speak Irish though, I know it's taught in Catholic schools, but that's about it lol :)

The idea has been floated around recently to stop teaching Irish because it's not really used much outside of the Gaeltacht areas. I'm sure Maggie could shed more light on it--but it would take removing Irish as an official language in the south for that to fully happen.

Given who runs the Education and Culture ministries in the north, it wouldn't surprise me to see Irish (and even Ulster Scots) at least offered in integrated schools soon.

Thanks for the info.     8)   

My elderly neighbor that was born and brought up in Dublin said when she was little, she wasen`t allowed to play with anyone that wasen`t Catholic.  :o

Even though I am not cotholic (greek orthodox) I think the situation their is terrible. I heard alot and I mean alot of bad stuff about northern part of ireland :( It is really sad. I read a book by colm toibin (famous irish aoutor ) - a true autobiograpghy of when he was growing up in the northern part of ireland and how hard it was. I read the first chapter and i could not bare to think of how people live like that.  And yeas this was all in the last 50 years or so.  And armed guards preventing people from the south coming in and warish type zones. (interesting  true book if you guys ever get a chance to read it!) But it should not bee like this now.  Even when I was looking up england ireland tours I overlooked the ones that went to the northern part of the country.

That'll have changed now. My grandmother's generation was like that as well--imagine a Cork girl marrying a Protestant from Antrim.

And Barb--I would say that avoiding the North isn't necessary nowadays. While there has been protests over the flag flying issue in Belfast, I (along with many other hopefuls) don't see this movement lasting for much longer. Plus, I'm a bit biased--you should visit Armagh at least once. :)

that's how it used it be, and that's what it's gonna go back too, like i'm protestant, and my best friend is catholic, and i wouldn't change her for the world!-we all have a laugh about it, shes wraps me up in a tricolour, i wrap her up in union jacks, its how we roll... the rest of this messed up country needs to cotton on!


Northern Ireland isn't all bad now, well at this precise moment and time, it is. I'll admit it- but this is for reason, as I've mentioned in this post previously, but I don't agree with the riots which are happening now, our community is falling apart, and causing chaos on themselves. but it isn't help by the catholic community living in belfast either, they are adding to hassle, which is being retaliated to... Until last month, Northern Ireland was beginning to become quite a peaceful place, renaming the 1st - 12th July as the OrangeFest, and we celebrated it St Patricks as one. We have moved on from segregating communities completely, and people are starting to be able to live in peace, but every so often theres a spanner thrown in the works, and we go back to how it was. But because Northern Ireland isn't under Irish rule, and we have both Protestant (British) and Catholic (Irish) communities, it can get a bit sticky at times. But PLEASE don't judge us by that book, times have changed. We're just going through a sticky patch at the minute :)



That's how my grandad and granny where, grandad was protestant, granny was catholic (and joined the protestant community-kids got catholic names thought hahaha!) I'm seriously hoping this flag business dies down soon, it's becoming a ridicule of Northern Ireland, and getting OLD fast!

When I told my elderly Irish neighbor that the girl across the street WASN`T Catholic, I thought I`d have to call 911(that`s the emergency phone number Kirstie) from the look of horror on her face. As far as she`s concerned, the world is Catholic, everyone in the world is Catholic and should be in Catholic church.

lol on the last part of your post!! I thought the same thing for a while and felt odd about not being greek!  but, that is def. not the case now!!!  And I know it will not last must longer!! (watch lincoln, even though it is american it kinda has that north south  democrat republican stop war type thing going on and yes it does get better towrds the end  like how we live nowadays!) And I would love to visit donegal,cliff of moher and the giants causeway! :)

Can we get you two upta Stormont? Marty and Peter could learn a thing or two!  :P

hahaha! thats hilarious....bless her soul!! thats the ONe thing  i want to do before I die, go to Mass dunno why all churches are boring haha!!


haha YES i vote for us to run the country, it would be a shambles but no riots over flags lol!! where are you from Dan? :)

I live in America. My family is from Armagh and Cork, though. :)

ooh cool :)

I just read an article either on BBC NI or the Telegraph, but I saw where Martin McGuinness started a dialogue with the flag protesters--are the protests still going on? It seems like after two months they've stopped reporting on it.

they are still going on, but now they are a lot more peaceful, sometimes they are resulted in riots! which isn't to good

That's better to hear, I guess. I'm an avid reader over at Politics.ie and it seems that in the rest of the UK flag flying is only on designated days, so Belfast City Council technically brought the city in line with Britain. I also think these riots are pointing to a bigger problem than just a flag, though. Sadly this group of people has been kind of left behind in the "new" Norn Iron. If it's truly meant to be a shared future, then it should be for all sections of the nationalist and unionist communities.

There, rant done.  :P Were my grandparents alive, I shudder to think at their reaction to this still going on. 

Yeah, it seems to be getting better, wish they would stop now though. Yeah I get that every where else only flies the flag on designated days, but our flag has been flying for 100 odd years, and never seemed to cause offence. I get that we should be in line with the rest of Britain, but theres to much history. Which leads on to the riots pointing to a bigger problem, the bigger problem is that certain political parties want a United Ireland, they don't want us to be a part of Britain, which is why the flag is so symbolic to the protestant community, because people have fought in families for their nationality - my friends tried to tell me I should be taking part in protests because my grandad fought in WWII, I didn't even mention that Irish soldiers fought  within the British Army during the war. But yeah, life goes on, I think protestant communities need to grow up (literally half of the rioters are kids!) and get with the times, which have changed drastically, we have no need for this. but I also believe that Catholic communities need to stop trying to get a United Ireland, no matter what each side is going to disagree and it will end like this. Until now I did believe we had changed as a country, and moved on, but obviously I was wrong.

I don't even know if that relates to what was said now, I kind of got lost in my rant, hahahaa!!!
 

Here's to hoping it's just one little blip on the radar. :) In all fairness, I feel like both national flags represent both communities. At least that's how I've always been raised to see it! Living in County Donegal with Ulster Scots heritage didn't negate the ties some family felt to GB, and others living in Belfast under a Union Jack in a part of Ireland (the island) that is still part of the United Kingdom didn't make the other family members any less Irish.

As for Gerry babbling about a border poll, I feel like Arlene Foster had the best reaction. She's a favourite of mine. :p

The flags really shouldn't make a difference, and more often than not don't make a difference... until situations arise. Although I think they are to represent both communities, well the Tricolour is, I think it's green for northern ireland, white for peace, gold/orange for Ireland, I could be very very wrong about that though, so don't hold me to it  ::)

Flip it round, and you've got it right. :)

haha knew it was something like that, never really paid attention when I was told :D

Too bad the Irish people are sooooo comitted to one religion or another. In America it`s difficult to understand that " they`re Catholic or Protestant so I can`t assiaciate with them. Isn`t religion supposed to bring people TOGETHER?  I must be missing something here  :(

It's so silly, I'm fed up with it all, it shouldn't be that way anymore, and hasn't been for a while until now lol!

My 85 year old neihbor from Dublin can`t understand why EVERYONE isn`t in church......doesn`t matter if you`re Jewish....you SHOULD be going to church ....to her EVERYONE on the face of the earth is Catholic.

hahaa, bless her :)! IT's been quiet for ages now, still got protests going on, but no trouble! hopefully they're getting bored :D

Hey, Kirstie--I've a completely random question. Do the number plates on cars in NI have a GB, IE, or both on them? My brother and I have been arguing that. I say GB, he says IE.

I'm almost certain it's generally GB or none -unless it's a car travelling up from the Republic then it's IE but the registration is completely different :)

AHA! I win!

You know...it never occurred to us to ask our Aunt who lives in Ballymena.  :P

haha... oh well :) Irish number plates confuse me compared to Northern Irish, then England is different again haha :S

I had a friend in England and what surprised me most about the plates is that they stay with the car when it`s sold, unlike here where the plates are transferred to a new car.

so you'll always have the same registration? weirdd

yes, when you trade in a car for another one, the plates on that car come off and are transferred to the new one.

wow that's strange lol

when cars are for sale on a car lot here, they have NO licence plates on them. If you want to go for a test drive, the dealer has a special dealer plate he attaches. If you buy the car, you have to provide your own set of plates.

that's so strange, we just change over ownership... I'm sooo experienced with this having bought a total of one car lol :)

we change ownership , it`s just that the plates are registered not only to the car but the owner as well.

Replying to the original post -

Since last year was the 100th anniversary of the launching and sinking of the Titanic, there were several articles in "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine about the ship and the fact that the Harland & Wolff Shipyards now house the Titanic Belfast® Exhibit.


At the end of April / first of May (2013), my parents and I will be spending 2 weeks in Ireland.  The first week, we're renting a cottage near Ennis in County Clare, which is a good location to tour around the West and South-West (we visited this area in 2001).  During the second week, we'll be renting a cottage near Drumconrath in County Meath, which is a good location to tour around the North (including Belfast and the Titanic Exhibit) and the North-East (including Dublin).


Take Care,
David Baldock

oooh I just seen a car, wanted it and bought it :) everything else is like a foreign language to me :)



the titanic exhibit looks great, though I haven't been...
hope you have a brilliant time!

Thanks!

In one week, we'll be on an airplane flying over the Atlantic, headed for the airport in Dublin...  ;D


Take Care,
David Baldock

Awesome... I LOVE Dublin :) going in July woop woop!!
have a great holiday