Welcome to #dublintodijon
By Conal Healy
In April 2019 we decided we wanted to return to Paris, France. My partner Fran and I had landed in the city 18 hours earlier from Australia … but already the City of Light had cast its spell.
“We are coming back next year” Fran declared with passion.
We were preparing plans for a return in 2020 when the Covid-19 Pandemic threw the world into turmoil.
In 2022, with the skies filling with planes and restrictions easing, we dusted off our Back to Europe travel plans and dreamed of being in Ireland and then France.
– Conal Healy and Fran Silk
You can find me online in the links below or just send me a message to say hi.
Meet: Conal Healy
I have been running away for most of my life … to see the world. The first time I saw Paris was in 1977. I was still a teenager and made the trip by myself – train, ferry and train – from Ireland. In the next four decades I would return to Paris regularly.
That first adventure opened my eyes to the beauty of this world. I wanted to explore, to have adventures, to travel …and experience the world.
I left Ireland in 1987 for London. In 1988, I migrated to Australia to work and to explore the Great South Land. When money allowed, I travelled in Oceania, New Zealand, America, Europe and Asia.
Sometimes, I write. Sometimes, I take happy snaps. Wherever I go I try to see the world anew.
“I travel because it makes me realize how much I haven’t seen, how much I’m not going to see, and how much I still need to see” – Carew Papritz
Meet: Fran Silk
Fran is a third-generation Murwillumbah resident who has lived in the family home for 53 years. Deep roots but itchy feet. Fran loves to get away and in recent years has travelled near and far with Conal. Gardens, old stuff, quirky moments, laughing when things go wrong as they often do – Fran loves it all. Except packing. She’s not good at that. And her French sucks even after 256 says on the Duolingo app. C’est la vie!
on the road less travelled in Ireland and france 