Advisors build meaningful connections on FAM trip across Ireland with G Adventures

Before joining 10 other travel advisors on a G Adventures FAM trip to Ireland this month, Jennifer Champagne of Go with HIPPO Travel from Windsor, Ont. was so anxious about travelling with strangers that she contemplated cancelling the trip. 

“Although I am a very well-travelled travel agent and have had the privilege of exploring many incredible destinations, this was my first solo trip. I have travelled extensively over the years, but travelling on my own, without my husband or family, was a completely different experience,” she explained. “For someone who struggles with severe anxiety and panic, the thought of doing this alone was overwhelming at times. I worried about the unknown, being away from home, navigating, and what would happen if I experienced a panic attack while travelling.”

Champagne pushed herself to take part in the FAM trip regardless, and by day 2, she started realizing what travelling with a small group and meeting likeminded people was all about.

“I stepped outside my comfort zone and discovered that solo travel doesn’t necessarily mean being alone,” she shared. “It can mean having the freedom to travel independently while being surrounded by people who support you, listen to you, and share the adventure with you. Now that I have experienced this for myself, I feel even more confident guiding my clients who may struggle with the fear of travelling solo.”

Over the course of the adventures so far, the group took part in the Highlights of Ireland itinerary, covering a mix of famous sights like the Ring of Kerry and the Cliffs of Moher with notable cities like Dublin, Killarney and Galway – along with plenty of live music and Splitting the G (a challenge where one aims to drink from a freshly poured pint of Guinness so that the line between the dark stout and the creamy white foam lands right in the middle of the letter G on the glass logo). Some came out victorious, while others weren’t successful even after nine days of practice. 

“It was an incredible journey from start to finish, made even better by sharing it with a great group of fellow advisors,” shared travel advisor Tanya Mark of Fill Your Bucket List Travel with Tisson travel group in Airdrie, Alberta. “I already sell both Ireland and G Adventures, but experiencing this trip firsthand is a game-changer. Walking the streets and seeing G’s operations on the ground lets me speak to the pace, style, and flow with genuine confidence so I can match the right clients to the right itinerary.”

Mark noted that the balance between iconic spots and local immersion were some of her favourite parts of the FAM experience. 

“G Adventures nails small-group travel. The itineraries offer the perfect mix of structured sights, local context, and hassle-free logistics, proving just how much value a great local tour leader adds,” she added. “Pay attention to how deeply G connects travellers with local communities. It’s not just a sightseeing tour; it’s an immersive experience, which is a massive selling point for clients wanting authentic connection over standard mass-market trips.”

Before travelling to the north of Ireland, CEO Ali (Alastair) Donaghy shared his personal experience of what it was like growing up during The Troubles, a roughly 30-year period of conflict that lasted from from the late 1960s until the late 1990s. A modern day Romeo and Juliet, Donaghy, who is of Irish Catholic background, met his now wife Jack, from a Protestant Presbyterian British family, on the first day of university in Derry. 

“In that bubble of university, the real world doesn’t make sense. In that bubble, things were fine. But once we stepped out of that bubble things weren’t fine. So my family disowned me. Her family disowned her. It was just us. It was very easy just to say this isn’t worth it, but we were kind of stubborn,” he shared. 

In Derry the group walked along the walled city and posed with a mural of the Derry Girls and The Undertones. Donaghy also shared information about Nell McCafferty, who led a famous 1970 protest for women’s right to order pints of beer in pubs, and the quest it took to get The Undertones’ song Teenage Kicks on BBC radio in London. 

“Nobody was signing them because all of the London record companies felt punk bands from Belfast were singing about The Troubles. These guys were singing about love, teenage love. When the song Teenage Kicks came out, people of my generation were listening to it,” Donaghy said. “Terri Hooley produced the record and printed them and sent them to London. The big DJ at the time was a guy called John Peel and everybody was listening: is he going to play it? Is he going to play it? He played it and we were listening to our transistor radios going two fingers to society.”

Not only that, but during an iconic moment on the radio show, Peel decided to play the song twice in a row.

“That changed everything. And that’s what the Derry Girls captures: is that idea that maybe, just maybe, there’s a generation coming through that can stop this and move on from this,” he said. “So when you go from the south of Ireland, which is all lovely and St. Patrick and Guinness, once you go to the north, it’s a different environment. There’s still a lot of sore points. There’s still a lot of unresolved issues under the surface. There’s still a lot of tension, and the way that we have moved from normalizing what was completely abnormal into sort of a sarcastic humour, down here it’s silly humour. It’s a totally different vibe. Hopefully that’s giving you a bit of an overview as well. When you go from the south of Ireland to the north of Ireland, you’re going into a completely different environment, completely different context, completely different vibe. Things have moved on, things have been very positive over the last number of years but there’s still work to do.”

Hearing about his experience moved some agents to tears, especially realizing how recent The Troubles were.

“During the tour, Ali shared with us his experiences growing up during The Troubles and his ongoing work in mediation during the current peace process. I’ve met experienced guides who can tell you about the history of a place but it’s different than hearing about it from someone who’s lived it,” said travel counsellor Lynn Hutchings-Mah of Travel Tickets To Go Ltd. in Stony Plain, Alberta. “Someone who has lost friends and family to a war that lasted decades. It really touches your heart differently.”

While based in Belfast, the advisors took in the Giant’s Causeway and the Dark Hedges, a famous filming location from The Game of Thrones. 

“We definitely visited some of the best sites and experiences in Ireland. I loved the wildness of the Cliffs of Moher and the amazing rock formations at the Giant’s Causeway,” said Hutchings-Mah. “Our tour also included some great cultural experiences too. We saw the amazing Celtic music and dance experience, the Celtic Steps, in Killarney. All of the different experiences will help me recommend great things for clients to see and do. Ireland has a fantastic pub culture. Pubs offer great food and music, and are a place where people of all ages gather. One of my highlights of the tour was a spontaneous meeting with a local man who came to the pub to cheer on Katie Taylor in her last professional boxing match before retirement. He asked if he could join us and I loved watching his pride – and worry – during the boxing match. It really made the evening for me.”

Notably, through fundraising efforts, bidding for ‘My Own Room,’ and donations from G Adventures, Hilary Arsenault, GPS – Global Purpose Specialist Quebec and Atlantic Canada, shared that the FAM group raised $3,932 for its non-profit Planeterra Foundation. Through the Trees for Days program, where one tree is planted in a traveller’s name for every single day they spend on a booked tour, 117 trees will be planted for the group.

“Not only that, but countless lives changed. Think of all the local restaurants that we ate at, the local pubs that we drank at. Think of Ollie and his family and how we supported his business just by showing up on the tour and being part of it. Think of Ali, our great CEO, local guide. All the information that he was able to give us, and I was even telling him earlier, hearing his story firsthand really had a big impact on me,” Arsenault said. 

Over the course of the FAM from Dublin to Belfast, the group bonded from complete strangers on night 1 to friends who were hugging goodbye on departure day — and even gained an honorary member along the way. 

“We started out as 13 strangers. We are now 14 friends. And I don’t mean me — I mean 13 of you and a big stick,” Donaghy joked, referring to Champagne’s selfie stick, which travelled with the group.

Little did the advisors know that Donaghy travelled with his own selfie stick hidden in his backpack the entire time, not wanting to steal any of the attention.