Jonny Blair worked at Best Break Bournemouth for 4 years selling ice cream

Working Wednesdays: Selling Ice Cream in Bournemouth

Selling ice cream goes down as one of my favourite jobs. I spent 4 summers doing this as one of my jobs. It did seem at one point I would actually prolong my stay in the English seaside town of Bournemouth as I was constantly working and enjoying life there. But one day it all Read more about Working Wednesdays: Selling Ice Cream in Bournemouth[…]

Backpacking in Hungary: Debrecen's Nagytemplom

Backpacking in Hungary: Top 5 Sights in Debrecen

Debrecen is Hungary’s second biggest city but you wouldn’t quite know it – it’s hardly colossal, nor is it instantly mind blowing. It’s shy and peaceful and Hungarian to the core. However, I liked it. Why life ever took me to Debrecen I’ll never know. Most tourists that visit Hungary do Budapest and Balaton and Read more about Backpacking in Hungary: Top 5 Sights in Debrecen[…]

World Borders: How to get to San Marino from Italy

In my ongoing series of World Borders, I aim to provide essential tips for crossing borders and immigration checkpoints all over the world. Today we look at the “border” between Italy and San Marino. Yes, San Marino is a landlocked country which is completely inside Italy. Italy seems to like these types of places as Read more about World Borders: How to get to San Marino from Italy[…]

Jonny Blair pushing the leaning tower of pisa

Visiting The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy

It’s sometimes a cliché in life to “tick off the major sights” but like a lot of other travellers, I do them too. It would also seem a bit ludicrous to end up in Pisa in Italy, without actually visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I was there, 4 years ago to the day, what’s Read more about Visiting The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy[…]

Jonny Blair worked on cross channel ferries and smuggled a spear gun into Guernsey!

The Day I…Smuggled A Spear Gun Into Guernsey

“The telex writers clattered where the gunships once had been” – Donald Walker. In my series of “The Day I…”, I detail random stories from my decade of nomadery. I spent two summers working on ferries (Isle of Wight, Lymington, Poole, Weymouth, Cherbourg, St. Malo, Guernsey, Jersey) and those jobs threw up some very amusing Read more about The Day I…Smuggled A Spear Gun Into Guernsey[…]

Jonny Blair of Dont Stop Living featured in the County Down Spectator in Bangor in January 2013

Working Wednesdays: Journalist for my Local Newspaper!

My Working Wednesdays series covers stories from my constantly changing career. For today’s post we head back to January 1998, exactly 15 years ago this week I was working for the local newspaper, the County Down Spectator in Bangor, Northern Ireland. Now obviously writing is something I love doing, so this seemed an obvious job Read more about Working Wednesdays: Journalist for my Local Newspaper![…]

keeping up to date with football while you travel jonny blair

How To Keep Up To Date With Football On Your Travels!!

I was once described as a “football nut” and I’m not sure what that entails, but basically I LOVE football. Ever since I saw Norman Whiteside score for Northern Ireland against Algeria in the 1986 World Cup on a black and white TV, I have been a football fan. Firstly I played it – at Read more about How To Keep Up To Date With Football On Your Travels!![…]

Jonny Blair of Dont Stop Living recommends the Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire, England

Backpacking in England: Touring Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire

OK, so in travelling the world, it’s always nice to reflect back to your homeland. Although I was born and bred in Northern Ireland, I also have an affinity with the south of England. I spent 6 years living in Bournemouth, London and Dartford and loved every minute of my time there. Back in the Read more about Backpacking in England: Touring Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire[…]

Working Wednesdays - Managing a rock band! I managed the Waves in 2006 and we toured Bournemouth, Poole, Southampton and London!

Working Wednesdays: Managing a Rock Band

Of course travel leads you to random job opportunities all the time, some voluntary, some well paid, some just for the hell of it and others because of a pure passion for something (such as my travel writing and organising football events). For today’s Working Wednesdays we head back to a cheeseburger counter in Bournemouth, Read more about Working Wednesdays: Managing a Rock Band[…]

Jonny Blair compiles a list of the best Northern Irish travel blogs

The 10 Best Northern Irish Travel Blogs, 2013

As the title suggests this is a compilation of the 10 best Northern Irish travel blogs out there, as of January 20th 2013. What do I mean by that? OK so these are travel blogs that are written by world travellers who come from Northern Ireland and are currently travelling around the world or have Read more about The 10 Best Northern Irish Travel Blogs, 2013[…]