Ideas, suggestions and recommendations that can help you choose from a more limited palette of options that we know — both from professional and personal experience.

2016 is not the year to hold off booking your holiday arrangements!

It is part of the human condition to want to try and beat the system and the travel industry is no different in that respect. Every year, intending travellers tend to look into their respective crystal balls to find out when they should book their holiday arrangements. They reason (not unreasonably) that since commodities such as airline seats and hotel rooms are essentially perishable products, it makes more sense to leave making such arrangements until

Take the hassle out of travel

Business travellers discovered a long time ago that there is a lot to be said for stripping out the little inconveniences that make regular travel such a pain in the proverbial! Let's face it, the whole travel experience has deteriorated to such an extent in recent years that some people have even stopped taking holidays — such is their aversion to long queues, flight delays and security protocols that wouldn't seem out of place in

If it sounds too good to be true — it most probably is!

It's that time of the year again when many people start thinking about booking their annual two weeks in the sun or long haul dream holiday and like so many decisions that people make nowadays, price is often a determining factor with cheaper being mistakenly confused for better. Aside from the oft-cited fact that price is what you pay but value is what you get, is the more ominous reality that is often just a

Keeping the magic alive!

Every year in the weeks leading up to Christmas Day, conversation increasingly turns to the subject of whether or not we'll get to experience a white Christmas. Sadly, because of the temperate latitude that we enjoy in Ireland that is a statistically unlikely event. There are, however, many many places around the world (and particularly around Europe) where one can experience a picture postcard white Christmas — just like they do in the movies! Last

Where to go for next year’s holidays?

It's a question that many people begin to ask themselves around this time of year; the plan being that they'll book their next holiday once they get the expense of Christmas out of the way. The question of where often comes down to a few critical issues such as price, availability and accessibility. Next year, people will be adding at least one more criterion to that list: security! Following the recent spate of terrorist attacks

Now that’s big!

As Irish consumers begin to vary their travel diet more and more, some of them are starting to discover the joys of cruising. Long considered the preserve of the `newly-wed, over-fed and almost dead', cruising still suffers from an image problem — mostly, it must be said — in the eyes of those who have never stepped aboard a cruise ship. The fact of the matter is that there are as many cruise products as

There’s ‘free’ … and then there’s ‘FREE’!

The word 'free' is one of the most powerful trigger words in the English language. It grabs our attention and forces us to read on further. It is a marketing guru's tool that many of them use to good effect. We, as consumers, are suckers though and when a lot of the claims of free this and that fail to live up to the hyperbole, we're left feeling foolish for having been duped — yet

Variety is the spice of life!

Imagine if you happened to find yourself in conversation with an overseas visitor of any nationality who was a regular visitor to Ireland but who always came to the same place. What do you think your reaction would be? You'd most likely say that Dublin (or Cork or Kilkenny etc.) whilst beautiful and well worth the visit was nonetheless not completely representative of all that Ireland has to offer. You'd most likely recommend that they

Is it just me?

Like most people, I love to travel and even though I do a lot of it, I never tire of the expectation, the excitement and the sheer joy of discovering new destinations and having new experiences. What I could well do without though is the hassle that is increasingly part and parcel of the 'getting to' such destinations — particularly where travelling by air is concerned. The long queues in airport terminals; the surly staff

Perception is reality

The news — e.g. the commentary that you see on the TV or read in newspapers and magazines is a commodity and just like any other kind of commodity it is perishable and thus must be sold by its sell-by date. By 'sold' I mean distributed or broadcast. Describing the 'news' as a commodity that is bought and sold may sound counter-intuitive but it's true and because of its perishability, there is a constant pressure

The thrill that is History!

I'm Irish and very proud to be so. I think that for such a small country, we've made a disproportionate impact on the global stage. Both our history and our mythology are extremely rich — as is our almost unique culture — some of which we share with our Celtic cousins. There are times though when I travel, that I'm reminded of how all such things are relative and that by comparison with some other

All travel doesn’t have to be International!

I came into the travel business back in 1975 so I suppose that that makes me a 40-year veteran of the industry at this stage. Over the course of those 40 intervening years I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel all over the world and experience some of the most beautiful places on earth. But do you know what, I wouldn't trade any of them for the little piece of heaven that I

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!).