31 October 2024

A city break to Washington DC has been on the cards for a while so myself and the husband decided to escape for a long weekend in mid-October. We took the late afternoon flight out of Dublin and arrived early evening in Washington Dulles airport. The metro train station is located at the airport, you can download an app and pay as you go using your phone, but we decided to purchase a metro card (similar to an oyster card in London) and made our way into the city. It took around 40 minutes to take us from the airport to our stop at ‘Foggy Bottom’ and a further 10-minute walk to the hotel. We stayed at The Melrose Georgetown Hotel which we found to be a great base for exploring the city. Our room on the 8th floor was very spacious and well-appointed and due to our late evening arrival, we dined in the hotel bar and found the food to be very good. The following day we had a tour of the Capitol building booked which was very informative and we got to see the amazing domed ceiling and hear about its history. Tickets to the Capitol building are free but do need to be booked well in advance. From here we took the underground tunnel to have a look at the Lincoln Library, another very impressive structure. The weather was glorious during our visit, and we took the opportunity to enjoy a walk along the Mall which is lined with museums, most of which are free to access but require advance bookings. We took a detour off the Mall to the Museum of the Bible which we found to be very informative and had a number of interactive exhibits. We continued our walk along the Mall to the Washington Monument, the war memorials and watched the sun set from the Lincoln Memorial. To finish off the day we had booked dinner in the Old Ebbitt Grill which has a bustling atmosphere and is very close to the White House, food was delicious but quite pricey! The next day we headed for Arlington National Cemetery which was only 2 stops on the metro from our hotel. We took a hop on hop off tour, where the onboard guides were very informative. A visit to the tomb of the unknown soldier is not to be missed but make sure to time it with the changing of the guard which happens every hour on the hour. This evening, we walked about 15 minutes from our hotel into Georgetown which has a small town feel with lots of boutique style shops and eateries. We dined at Martin’s Tavern which is an American style bar restaurant venue, and the food was delicious. The next day we made a beeline for Founding Farmers for breakfast, the queue was huge, and we hadn’t booked but it was worth the wait especially for the beignets which we had on the side of our main breakfast which was delicious. We took an Uber out to Tanger Outlets, about a 30-minute drive from the city centre and approximately $30 each way. There is a large choice of outlets here with something for everyone, needless to say we didn’t go home empty handed!! Sadly, the following day our trip came to an end, and we made our way back to the airport for our return flight home but we both agreed we would come back to Washington DC. As cities go it felt very safe, the metro system was clean, easy to use and never overcrowded. Lots of museums to choose from most of which are free to enter. We felt you could really do a lot without having to spend too much. If you would like help to plan your next trip, please do get in touch!

20 September 2024

Marvellous Mauritius In 2019, I was lucky to have been taken to Mauritius on a work trip courtesy of Beachcomber Tours. This was a short 5-night trip, but our group got the opportunity to visit Beachcombers stunning 8 hotels on the island and experience their dining and spa facilities. In the short time I had in Mauritius, it left such an impression on me, that I knew I would be back. Fast forward to September 2022 and myself and my husband were boarding the plane for our own Mauritius adventure. We booked a 7-night stay and decided to split this between 2 hotels. For our first 3 nights we stayed at 4-star Mauricia Beachcomber Resort and Spa. This hotel is in an enviable position, just a short walk from the heart of the lively town of Grand Baie. Ideal if you want to explore nearby restaurants, shops and bars. We stayed in a superior room on the ground floor which had a lovely terrace looking out at the ocean. The rooms here are simple and contemporary in design. There is a buffet restaurant with a huge amount of choice and different themes each night. There was always evening entertainment, and this varied from traditional dancers, stunt fire shows and live music under the stars. The hotel concierge arranged a hire car for us for one day and we ventured off to the southern part of the island where we visited some beautiful beaches and the coloured sands at Chamarelwe saw, there we saw some giant tortoise! Driving on the island was easy as they also drive on the left-hand side and all the signs are in English. Our next hotel was the absolutely stunning 5-star Trou Aux Biches Beachcomber Golf Resort & Spa. Only a 10-minute drive from the Mauricia hotel but it felt a world apart! This is a very large resort with accommodations set out in crescents or tropical gardens. There are various room types available, we opted for the Senior Beachfront Suite. The room itself was huge, with a separate living room area, a bathroom the size of a small apartment with a large wardrobe area, rain shower, a huge free-standing bathtub and an outdoor shower. Outside there was a lovely outdoor seating area with a swing seat and an amazing private pool. We were on a half board basis and had the choice of 6 restaurants (prebooking advised), three of which were beachfront and all of which had amazing food. Whilst the hotel has a fabulous complimentary kids and teens club, for me this resort had more of a couples/honeymoon feel to it. Beachcomber hotels offer complimentary land and water sports if you want to avail of it, we just relaxed and took the complimentary glass bottom boat trip to view the coral reef surrounding the resort. We booked an excellent day trip through the hotel to the Botanical gardens, history museum, Aquarium and Port Louis with a very knowledgeable guide. This resort also features villas with private pools which are ideal for families or groups of friends travelling together who want their own space but the convenience of access to the hotels facilities. We travelled at the start of September which is winter time in Mauritius but heading towards spring. This is a great time to visit as the weather is mainly dry (we only had one rain shower) and temperatures a comfortable 20-26 degrees. I can certainly see myself coming back to Mauritius again, the friendliness of the people we met, and the hospitality received were superb!

03 September 2024

Marching Band Groups As a member of a marching band for over 30 years combined with many years’ experience in the travel industry, I have an in depth knowledge of what is required to create a band trip of a lifetime! Whether your band is competing in a competition, taking part in a tattoo or attending a parade globally, I along with the expertise of our local destination management companies and valued contacts within the airline industry can assist you to put together a tour which is tailormade to your specific requirements. So if you’re a band of 10 people or 200 or anything in between, I can look after everything from group flight and accommodation bookings, instrument carriage, coach transfers, attraction tickets and local tour guiding. One of my most recent group trips involved organising 3 bands from Donegal on a tour of Ontario, Canada where they combined sightseeing with performances in various locations. One of the highlights of the tour for the bands was performing in glorious sunshine with the thundering sound of the majestic Niagara Falls in the background. I will work with your group to achieve an itinerary that will make the most of your time and create lasting memories. If you’re a band, church group or a sporting organisation that has a special occasion coming up and you’d like to celebrate in a unique way whilst also attending an international event do get in touch with me and I will do all the hard work for you.

30 August 2024

Refined cruising along the Spanish Coast I’ve been lucky to have cruised quite a lot and sailed on the major cruise lines such as Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and MSC. When a beautiful Spanish intensive itinerary was spotted, myself and a friend decided we would give Azamara Cruise line a try. We started off by flying out to the gorgeous city of Lisbon in Portugal for one night before the cruise staying at the very central Brown’s Boutique Hotel. As the name suggests it’s a small boutique hotel with quirky décor in an excellent location. We dropped our bags and headed for the hop on hop off bus for a tour of the city to get our bearings. We got off the bus at Belem as it would be rude not to sample the famous Portuguese custard tarts! Lisbon is easy to get around, there are trams, buses, underground and funicular rail networks which are simple to navigate but if you prefer to explore on foot, do note that Lisbon is a hilly city! After a busy day of sightseeing we made our way to the famous Lisbon Time Out Market for dinner, this is certainly an experience that every visitor to Lisbon must try. The following morning we embarked our cruise ship the Azamara Pursuit and started exploring. This ship is baby sized compared to some of the large cruise liners, with a capacity of 777 passengers but what it lacks in size and facilities it makes up for in character and staff (more about that later). We sailed at the end of March and our itinerary involved skirting around the Spanish coastline. March is early in the season for the Med and some days we were unlucky with the weather but that didn’t stop us making the most out of the trip. We had an amazing itinerary and after we left Lisbon we had a day at sea before arriving into Seville in the early hours of the morning. We got up early to witness the ship squeeze in through the lock gate on the approach to Seville and dock right in the city centre. A key benefit of being on a small ship is the ability to get closer to location. We had an over night stay in Seville and this timed with the Semana Santa holy week celebrations in Spain and meant we could explore the city at night and watch the procession still going strong at 2am! Seville is a gorgeous city, with streets lined with orange trees and beautiful buildings. Due to the tail end of a storm, it was too rough for us to dock in our next stop Gibraltar so we had an unexpected extra day at sea but this is when the crew jumped into action and provided an amazing brunch experience and additional activities onboard if you wanted to participate. The following day we docked in Malaga and had time to explore the city and visit the famous Cathedral. Semana Santa celebrations were also taking place here. That evening a local troupe of Flamenco dancers boarded the ship for a specially themed show in the Cabaret lounge. Cartagena was our next stop, this is a much smaller port town but nice to have a walk around, They have some ancient roman ruins here that are worth going to see. Back on board the ship we got ready for the famous Azamara White Night Party where the crew put on an amazing outdoor BBQ and the guests had the opportunity to show their appreciation to the multinational crew onboard and there was a party out on the pool deck with the in house band. The following morning we got off the ship in Alicante, the weather was gorgeous and you could head to the beach for the day but we ventured to the Castillo de Santa Barbara via the lift through the mountain and were rewarded with amazing views over the city. We spent our last day in Valencia and took the hop on hop off bus around the city for a tour and stopped off at the Oceanografic aquarium which is amazing. Valencia nicely blends traditional architecture with the modern contemporary designs of famous architect Santiago Calatrava. The following morning we disembarked in Barcelona and flew back home. Important to note: Azamara ships are much smaller and therefore don’t have all the extras that the large cruise ships offer. There is no theatre onboard but they do have a Cabaret Lounge and a show is put on each evening. There is an excellent in house band and DJ so you can dance the night away if you wish. Although there were some families on our sailing, the majority of people were couples or friends travelling together. The small nature of the ship means you bump into the same people regularly so its easy to strike up conversation and make new friends if you wish. This also is true of the crew onboard, who are exceptional, the service levels are of an extremely high standard and by chatting to some of the guests onboard, it’s the key reason they keep coming back. If the thought of getting on to some of the large cruise ships with several thousand other passengers is not for you, consider sailing with Azamara.

30 August 2024

Road trip through the Canadian Rockies in style I’m no stranger to Canada, I’ve visited 6 times and have been right across the country from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island. So when my husband Robert had a big birthday to celebrate, I surprised him with a road trip through the Canadian Rockies. We took a direct Air Canada flight from Dublin to Vancouver at the start of September and arrived during the Labour Day holiday. We began our trip with one night at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. It is close to the subway station for the airport metro train and in a super downtown location. The following morning we picked up a hire car and made our way along the “Sea to Sky Highway” to Whistler where we spent our next two nights in the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. (This hotel is a short walk away from the ski lift and ski rental shops so if you’re coming for a ski break this location is excellent.) Whistler is a gorgeous mountain town and there are many shops and restaurants to choose from. We took the opportunity to ride the famous peak to peak gondola that connects Whistler and the Blackcomb mountains – the sun was shining and the scenery was spectacular, what a feat of engineering it must have taken to build it! We then headed for the quaint resort of Sun Peaks where we stayed for one night in the Sun Peaks Grand Hotel. The drive from Whistler to Sun Peaks boasts the most amazing mountain scenery but the roads are very bendy and steep in places. From here we made our way to Jasper where we stayed for 3 nights in Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. Jasper is a good base for a few days as there are plenty of activity opportunities in the area. We tried out white water rafting and took a trip to Maligne Lake where we went on the boat ride here, the scenery was breathtaking. Our hotel in Jasper had lots of activities available onsite and an amazing heated outdoor pool which was lovely to relax in, especially in the evening whilst star gazing. In the early evenings we took a drive into the Jasper Townsite and were amazed by the wildlife we encountered so close to the town. We were so lucky to spot a Bear and two cubs, Moose and Deer. Enroute to Lake Louise we stopped off at the Columbia Icefields and took the specially built Explorer Bus up to the Glacier which was a unique experience. We had lunch in the onsite café and bumped into some people from Donegal Town – it really is a small world! We spent the night in the Lake Louise Inn as we had booked the Parks Canada shuttle bus very early the following morning to be able to access Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. Due to the volume of visitors, personal vehicles are not permitted on some roads and you are advised to plan ahead and book your shuttle if you want to see this area. Our next 2 nights were spent in the Fairmont Banff Springs, where there is a shuttle bus service which takes 5 minutes to bring you into the town centre. There is a lovely atmosphere in Banff, the streets are full of beautiful flowers and lots of shops and restaurants. We spent a glorious afternoon canoeing on the river and got some amazing pictures. My husband thought he had struck gold on our drive from Banff to Calgary when he came across a vintage American/Canadian car rally! We spent our final night in the Fairmont Palliser in Calgary before flying home. Most Memorable Moment It’s hard to decide on one memorable moment but I would say it had to be stumbling on a local small town country fair and rodeo. It was captivating – we sat for hours watching the cowboys and girls compete for first prize. A truly Canadian experience and has whet my appetite to visit the famous Calgary Stampede. Important to note Attractions can be expensive! We stopped off at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park outside Vancouver and the entry fee was around $75 per person. The boat tour on Maligne Lake was around $80 per person. The scenery in Western Canada and the Rocky Mountains is spectacular and no photograph can do it justice, you simply must go and see for yourself! Please get in contact with me so I can help arrange your magical trip to Canada.