This is the story of four YMT-ers and three proud (well we hope you are proud!) mammies on a whistle-stop tour of Brussels, Waterloo and Bruges!
How did we come to be here? Well … during Easter our long-suffering mentor Pam O’ Brien received an interesting email from Ireland South MEP Seán Kelly which offered an exciting opportunity to participate in a trip to Brussels. He was emailing Pam to recognise the great work done by YMT- Seán is familar with our work as we had interviewed him at previous events.
So… after much negotiating and discussion, flights to Brussels were booked and hotel rooms secured. It was official, YMT were becoming #YMTontour and our famous red t-shirts were going to grace the European Parliament.
Our flight was an early one – 6.20am from Dublin, so there was a subdued silence when we met in Dublin Airport. Locked and loaded, we set out for Brussels on a packed Ryanair flight and arrived to the ‘another flight on time’ trumpet (I secretly decided that this fanfare was in fact to welcome YMT to Brussels 😂) Bernie Carroll was waiting patiently in the airport with a sign saying ‘Seán Kelly MEP Group’ and we felt like celebrities. Once the group (16 in total) was gathered, we headed for our coach for the short journey into Brussels city centre.
Home for the 2 nights was the stylish and uber eco-friendly Hotel Thon Europe in the European district. This hotel was buzzing with business people and the staff were really friendly. What was very interesting was all the eco stuff in the hotel- they had a 1st floor garden, a bike in the foyer to generate electricity and also give their left-over toiletries to charity. Nice!
Caitlin, Lorcan, Roisin & Amy
Youth Media Team