When a man is tired of London …

The full quote is ‘When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford’ and it was written by Samuel Johnson (aka Dr Johnson), who was the author of the ‘Dictionary of the English Language’ which was published in 1755. Johnson was also a renowned poet, essayist, literary critic, biographer, editor and philanthropist. London is, according to the Globalisation and World Rankings Research

When they’re gone, they’re gone!

Back in the mid-eighties, I secured a booking for a large GAA group that wanted to undertake a multi-city tour of the US, taking in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. As is standard practice with large groups, I brought two of the group leaders out with me on an inspection tour of all three cities so that they could stay in the various hotels that we had chosen for them and deliberate on

The Vegans are coming — live long and prosper!

I LOVE my food! I love eating out. I love watching cookery programmes and browsing through cookery books. Indeed, I don’t think there is a world cuisine that I don’t enjoy. A lot of those cuisines are based around the use of meats or fish of some kind and whilst I am a life-long, card-carrying member of the carnivore society, the older I get, the more I’m beginning to come around to the questionable morality

The reasons why we travel and the criteria by which we choose our destinations

People travel for all sorts of reasons. For some, travel is the antidote to the way they live the rest of the year. It provides excitement, change, challenge, relaxation, new experiences. People travel to recharge their batteries and get a bit of sun — a high priority indeed, when you come from someplace like Ireland — ‘the land of perpetual autumn’, as I often describe it! (more…)

The culinary landscape around the world is changing!

When we think of culinary excellence, we tend to think of places like New York, Barcelona, London, San Sebastian or Lyon. Countries like France, Spain and Italy have been — with much justification it must be said — lauded for centuries as representing the epitome of culinary art. In more recent years however, the centre of gravity has begun to move away from these traditional gastronomic capitals as tastes change; new processes have come into

Move out of your comfort zone in 2013

Carrying on from last weeks' blog in which I suggested that you combine one of the most typical new year resolutions (getting more exercise!) with that of choosing a destination ideal for walking or trekking, I would like to suggest that even if you don't want to get that energetic in 2013 that you at least take the opportunity to move a little bit outside of your comfort zone this year. This doesn't have to

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!).