Chasing the craic

Since the age of seven, Belfast-born Niall Allsop has been an indefatigable traveller. That said, his definition of 'travel' isn't just about going from A to B. While, for example, the adults in his life were blissfully unaware of his several days truancy, he was learning how to fare as an independent traveller of sorts. Until he was discovered, of course, and shown the error of his ways. But his urge to explore new horizons persisted and, from the age of twelve, he was regularly travelling to and from Dublin by himself. Five years later and he was off to Germany where he spent almost three months working in a jam factory. He left Belfast in June as a teenager and returned in September as a young adult. Five years later, as a newly-qualified teacher, he left Belfast for good. Beyond the Craic is an irreverent travelogue, tongue-in-cheek, foot-in-mouth tales of Niall's travelling encounters across mainland Europe, the United States and, of course, Ireland in search of a bit of the craic. He has always seen himself as a traveller rather than a tourist and would argue that there is a distinct difference between the two: the traveller has experiences and encounters that are his, or hers, alone while the tourist generally only interacts with people, often other tourists, in an environment chosen and promoted by others. To travel is to have a mind of your own; to be a tourist is to do what you're told. Niall has never had the inclination to do as he was told. With his propensity for engaging with people while travelling, Niall frequently gets drawn into any local craic on offer; he's even been known to initiate it. Sometimes he gets himself into situations that he could easily end up regretting; but generally he survives his indiscretions, potential and actual. For Niall, travelling is also about experiencing people and places no matter what the original impulse or intention may have been; pleasure per se is not the only motive for taking to the road. On a few occasions he has found himself in what some would regard as tourist destinations for reasons other than leisure. Beyond the Craic i is a largely chronological compendium of tales and anecdotes, adventures and misadventures, observations and reflections, of an inveterate wayfarer, of someone who always assumes that the people he encounters, wherever it might be, are more likely to be open and generous if you share a bit of craic with them. But be warned ... Beyond the Craic i is a travelogue; it is not about places, nor is it a guide to the locations where Niall found himself, whether by accident or design. Of course these locations do have a part to play in each tale but generally it is the people and the occasion that are the stars; settings are the backdrop, little more than co-stars and extras.