About Faith | Ireland, UK & European Travel Writer
I’m Faith Coates, an Irish-Canadian travel writer, food entrepreneur and cultural travel specialist with more than 30 years of experience in food and travel.
I write about Ireland, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom and Europe, drawing on years of living and travelling in the places I write about. My approach is practical and experience-driven: how long somewhere really takes, how much walking is involved, what the road or pavement is like, whether public transport actually works, and what is worth making the effort to see.
I’m less interested in collecting highlights than in understanding a place through its history, food, landscape, culture and everyday life.
A Life Built Around Food, Travel and Culture
I have a degree in Anthropology and Women’s Studies, and my working life has centred on food, travel and restaurants.
I have lived in ten countries across Europe and beyond, including Canada and Mexico, and have built a life abroad more than once. Those experiences influence the way I write. Living somewhere teaches you things that a short visit often doesn’t: how a neighbourhood changes during the day, how people actually get around, where everyday food comes from, and what life looks like beyond the main tourist sights.
Food has always been part of that understanding.
What people eat tells you how they live.
That idea runs through much of my writing, from traditional Irish food and local markets to the history and cultural traditions behind the dishes we encounter while travelling.
Why Xyu and Beyond Exists
Xyu and Beyond grew from a simple frustration with much of the travel information available online.
A destination can look easy on a map and be considerably harder once you are there.
A supposedly short walk might involve steep streets. A historic attraction might have steps where you least expect them. A rural destination may be difficult to reach without a car. An itinerary that looks manageable on paper can leave very little time to actually experience the places along the way.
I want my travel guides to help you understand those practical details before you arrive.
The site focuses particularly on Ireland, the UK and Europe, with travel guides, itineraries, food and cultural history, accessible travel information and practical advice for travelling at a realistic pace.
Accessible Travel
Accessibility has become an important part of how I travel and how I write.
I travel with my own mobility challenges, so I pay attention to things that can easily disappear from conventional travel guides: walking distances, steps, slopes, uneven surfaces, seating, toilets, parking, public transport and how much physical effort a day actually requires.
I don’t believe accessibility should simply mean putting a wheelchair symbol beside a destination.
A place can have an accessible entrance and still involve 500 metres of uneven paving. A museum may have a lift but require a long walk across a large building. A beautiful viewpoint may be technically accessible but involve a steep approach.
Those details matter.
My accessible travel guides for Ireland, the UK and Europe aim to explain what travelling somewhere is actually like, so you can decide whether a destination works for you.
What You’ll Find on Xyu and Beyond
My main areas of expertise are Ireland, the UK and Europe, particularly destinations I know through repeated travel and lived experience.
Ireland
My Ireland travel guides cover destinations, regions, itineraries, road trips, food, history, culture and practical travel planning.
The United Kingdom
I write about travel across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with an emphasis on history, culture, food and practical planning.
Europe
My European travel guides cover destinations including France, Spain and Italy, as well as practical advice for planning longer trips and travelling between countries.
Food and Culture
Food is one of the ways I understand a destination.
You’ll find guides covering traditional food, restaurants, markets and food traditions, alongside writing about women’s history, folklore, mythology and the cultural stories that give places their character.
Some of these include:
- Historic Women Who Shaped Ireland
- Walking the Suffragette Trail in the UK
- Chenonceau: The Château of Women Who Shaped an Era
- Irish Witches: Folklore and Legends
- Witch Trials in England
- Fontevraud: Where Eleanor of Aquitaine Reigns in Stone
My years in Mexico also continue to influence my writing about food, markets and cultural traditions.
How I Travel
I enjoy a quiet back lane, a local market and a historic town just as much as a major attraction.
I’m also perfectly happy taking a hop-on hop-off bus when it makes a destination easier to navigate.
That’s because I don’t think there is one correct way to travel.
Sometimes the best choice is a long walk through a city. Sometimes it is a taxi. Sometimes it is hiring a car because the bus simply doesn’t go where you need to go.
Good travel planning isn’t about doing everything. It’s about understanding the effort involved and choosing what works for you.
I favour slower travel, realistic itineraries and enough time to actually see a place rather than racing from one attraction to another.
What Makes My Travel Guides Different
I don’t write from a checklist.
When I visit somewhere, I’m interested in the details that affect a real trip: the surface under your feet, the distance between places, whether there is somewhere to sit, what happens when the weather changes, where the food comes from and what remains of the history beneath the modern destination.
That means my guides often include information that doesn’t appear in a standard destination description.
My aim is simple:
to help you understand a place before you arrive, so you can decide how you want to experience it.
Start Exploring
If you’re planning a trip to Ireland, travelling through the UK or Europe, looking for accessible travel information, or interested in the food, history and culture behind a destination, you’ll find those guides throughout Xyu and Beyond.
Start with the Ireland Travel Guide, explore the Europe Travel Guide, or browse the Accessible Ireland guides.
Slán go fóill,
Faith