Just off the Normandy Coast of France lies a series of small islands can be easily overlooked if you don’t look closely. For those that do find them on a map, many simply erroneously assume that the islands are part of France itself. In reality, these islands, known as the Channel Islands (or Îles d’la Manche locally) today, are the oldest possessions of the British monarchy, and have a long an interesting history involving Bretons, Normans, and even more recently Nazis.

At the same time, the islands themselves are gorgeous, the weather is much better than in most of the rest of the British Islands, the people are kind and relaxed, and the taxes are low. For these and for numerous other reasons, these Channel Islands are quite popular for businesses and residents, who come to enjoy these historic and picturesque islands.

My idea for a journey here started with a comment on this travel blog from Gus Fraser, a resident of Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. He noted that the Bailiwick of Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, both defined as ‘countries’ in the Traveler’s Century Club list of countries that I track were both conspicuously missing from my list. He also mentioned that there is a large IT community here, and that they held regular sessions and that I’d be more than welcome to speak at one. That was all the excuse I needed, and I took the opportunity provided by a trip to speak in Bavaria to take a side trip to these amazing islands, a diversion that proved to be highly entertaining for me.

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