Ross William "Will" Evans, 32, recently enjoyed a trip to Ireland with friends.
To help fund his trip, he used money he earned delivering the Williams Lake Tribune, a part-time job he's held for eight years.
"I was planning the trip years ago and saved up," he said after delivering 165 newspapers Thursday, Sept. 5, and accumulating 12,000 steps.
He went to Ireland with a small group, including his caretaker Shane Barr.
They left from Vancouver on May 26 for the two-week trip.
"The flight was seven hours from Vancouver to Iceland and another two hours to Ireland," he said. "They had a nice little airport in Iceland."
They travelled on Iceland Air, which he enjoyed.
"I highly recommend travelling with Iceland Air if you want to visit Ireland," Evans said in an article about the trip that he wrote for the SelfAdvocateNet.com, which he forwarded to the Tribune. "This is because the people who work for them are so kind."
When asked why he chose Ireland, he told the Tribune because his caregiver's father, Tom Barr, wanted to go there.
Evans enjoyed the food in Ireland, especially Irish stew and shepherd's pie.
He thought the Guinness, however, was disgusting.
"I had one glass - I'll never do that again, " he said, adding a friend had told him to drink the Guinness warm.
He does like beer, he noted, but prefers Corona and Heineken and tropical drinks like Palm Bay.
While in Ireland they toured around to different places such as Belfast, Dublin, Ballydehob, Galway and Castleblayney.
"I enjoyed our trip to Ireland," Evans said. "I loved the sightseeing and sure learned a lot. I learned a lot of interesting facts about the history and the culture. The people were very kind and helpful."
Aside from delivering newspapers, Evans volunteers every Wednesday at the Salvation Army Thrift Store.
He looks forward to the Downtown Williams Lake Art Walk each year and tries to visit all the venues, he added.
"I'm hoping to win one of the draws," he said, explaining he had filled up the Art Walk booklet with stamps from the venues.
Evans also likes the restaurants in Williams Lake, but said there a few he has yet to try.
Born in Williams Lake, he attended Wildwood Elementary, Williams Lake Secondary, left for six months to live in Prince George and went to Prince George Secondary, and then returned to Williams Lake and attended Columneetza.
For the last seven years he has lived at Chimney Lake with Shane on the north side of the lake.
"It's so nice there," he said.
