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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.

Orange is the new orange

It's that time of year again when intending travellers or betrothed couples start the time-consuming and frustrating process of deciding where to spend their next long haul holiday or hopefully — their one and only honeymoon! There are many contenders out there and all have their pluses! The USA, The Caribbean, Mexico, South Africa, The Seychelles and Mauritius usually appear high on most peoples wish lists but it is Thailand that often comes up trumps,

A great location in London

With the Euro now only buying you 75 pence sterling (as of 02/02/'15), London has become even more expensive than it normally is so all the more reason to choose your accommodation carefully — particularly if staying in town for a couple of days. As with all large cities, choosing your location carefully is extremely important if you don't wish to spend half your time getting from A to B and whilst the term 'central'

Get it in writing

I recently paid a return visit to Hong Kong, having last visited there way back in 1989. One of the things that I noticed straight away since my last visit was the degree to which English had diminished as a language that many locals had competency in. Now whether that is due to the fact that Hong Kong reverted back to Chinese ownership in 1997 after some 150 years of British rule I don't know

It’s not just great, it’s %!$£*& amazing!

The Chinese must clearly be an extremely modest and unassuming people! Why do I say that? Because recently, I ticked yet another item of my rather long and (probably) overly ambitious bucket list and got to walk a section of the Great Wall of China! The wall itself — when you experience it up close and personal — is not huge and in your face like the pyramids — it's much more subtle. For starters,

Now that’s what I call value!

On a recent trip to China, I have to say that I was hugely impressed by the subway system in Beijing. Not only was it clean, safe and efficient but it was also exceptionally good value for money. The subway is the oldest metro system in mainland China — the first line having opened as recently as 1969, and it has grown to 18 lines, 319 stations and 527 km of track in operation, making it the second longest

Where is the most visited place on Earth? The asnwer may surprise you!

We all know that the most visited place in Ireland is the Guinness Storehouse with just a shade over one million visitors per year. To put that figure into perspective, even the world-famous Blarney Stone receives just 329,00 visitors per annum. But what about the most visited tourist attraction in the world? Any guesses? A lot of potential candidates come immediately to mind such as the White House in Washington, The Vatican in Rome or

Hong Kong — New York’s alter ego!

I was last in Hong Kong in 1988 so a return visit has been on the cards for a very long time. If you've never been then let me tell you it is an electrifying city! I would describe it as the New York of the Far East — a dynamic, fast-moving and exciting international metropolis that is just buzzing with energy — and that's before you even get out of the airport! Seriously though,

Rioja — a little piece of heaven!

I have been travelling to Spain for almost 40 years now. My first visit was back in 1975, shortly after I had entered the travel industry and working for a Waterford-based travel agency. I spent a week on the Costa del Sol and familiarised myself with the regional capital of Malaga and the tourist resorts of Torremolinos and Fuengirolla and the small hillside village of Mijas. It was my first ever trip outside of Ireland

How good is your geographic knowledge?

I recently retuned from an enchanting city less than two hours flying time from Dublin which is served by direct flights three times a week by a major international carrier. The city is not large by international standards — being somewhat smaller than Belfast but almost twice that of the Province's capital when you take its greater metropolitan area into consideration. It is located approximately 15 miles inland on a river and yet will play

There’s more to life than getting a tan!

Us Irish are obsessed with getting a good colour. Like many of our fellow northern Europeans, we crave the heat of the sun on our backs, probably because for the most part, it tends to be such a relative novelty for us — this summer just past notwithstanding! It should therefore come as no surprise that the most popular holiday destinations out of Ireland all tend to be sun destinations in either the southern Mediterranean

Glamping — Don’t dismiss it until you’ve tried it!

I'll never forget the very first time that I went camping. I was about nine or ten at the time and I had just joined the scouts (there were no 'cubs' back then). I had seen the large canvas bell tents erected and in my childish naivety, I had just assumed that we would sharing two to a tent, on collapsible beds with mattresses and all the trimmings.  Imagine my shock on that first night

Where’s the best tourist destination in the world?

When people find out that I'm in the travel industry, one of the most common questions that I tend to get asked is 'where is the best place you've ever been?' It's an impossible question to answer in many respects — not least because every destination has its own charm and unique selling points but also because you can't very well compare apples with pears. Add to that, the fact that such exercises are ultimately

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