travel-makes-you-richer

‘Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer’

Travel is one of those activities that has never been short of an inspirational quote or two and the title of this week’s blog is probably one of the better ones and certainly one of my favourites. Like a lot of people who work in the travel industry, I have been blessed over the course of the past 44 years to have traveled to a lot of exotic destinations around the world — some of

Bucket Lists and all that jazz

When people hear that I’ve spent almost all my adult life working in the travel business, the response that I usually get is ‘You must have been everywhere then!’ and whilst I have travelled extensively over the course of the past 40 plus years or so, many of those trips have been back to the same countries so people like me invariably end up with anomalies in our travel cv’s. I’ve probably been to the

The Pleasure Paradox

The pleasure paradox, also sometimes called the paradox of hedonism, refers to the practical difficulties encountered in the pursuit of pleasure. Unfortunately for the hedonist, constant pleasure-seeking may not yield the most actual pleasure or happiness in the long run—or even in the short run, when consciously pursuing pleasure interferes with experiencing it. At least so says Wikipedia. The subject of this week’s blog is the Amusement Park — that modern construct (both literally and metaphorically) beloved of holidaymakers

The true cost of that holiday!

One of the biggest mistakes that some people make when budgeting for their holiday is not considering the cost of those miscellaneous expenses on the ground when they arrive at their chosen destination which can often add up to more than the actual cost of the trip itself. Travelers can often get so obsessed with the headline cost of a package that they forget that it is but one component of a much bigger figure.

Istanbul — The city with multiple personalities!

People often assume that just because you work in the travel business, you must have been everywhere. I wish! Don't get me wrong. I have travelled extensively for sure over the course of my 40 years in the industry but what tends to happen is that you end up visiting the same destinations quite a lot — particularly if they feature heavily in the markets that you trade in — and much less so for

The Lost Continent?

The above blog title is of course just another feeble attempt by yours truly to make a play on words. The continent that I am referring to — in case you haven't guessed — is South America and the reason I decided to give the blog that title is because, of all the continents (with the obvious exception of Antarctica), South America is still waiting to be found by many Irish holidaymakers. I'm by no

How cultured are you?

When people are asked why they travel abroad on holidays  they usually cite reasons such as weather (if you're Irish!), cuisine, history, scenery, people. The list is obviously longer and more nuanced than that but I think we would all agree that one of the single most important reasons why many people travel abroad is for a taste of that other country's culture and heritage. The Google dictionary defines the word 'culture' as 'The arts

The art of getting a quote that is both competitive in price and relevant to your needs starts with gathering all the right information about what you want to do (or think you want to do!).