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All roads don’t lead south

We have a habit in Ireland of only looking south or east when we consider holiday destinations. It’s partly because we associate such destinations in Mediterranean Europe with guaranteed sunshine. It’s also partly due to conditioning and assumptions — false assumptions as it turns out. We assume that it is only southern European destinations such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and, to a lesser extent France, that hold the monopoly on good weather and whilst

The best fun you can have standing up!

2018 will go down as one of the best Irish summers ever — certainly the best one that I can recall in almost 60 years. Eight weeks of almost unbroken sunshine, warm temperatures and blue skies created feelings of ambivalence in travel people such as myself because the selfish hedonist in me wanted it to last for ever whereas my pragmatic side new that it wasn’t good for business — after all, our job is

Water Babies — Cities that live in, by or on the water!

When one thinks of cities that are dominated by water, the place that almost instantly comes to mind is that unique piece of history that is Venice — one of the most successful city states that ever existed and where, unexpectedly, the concept of assembly lines in manufacturing originated from. The Venetian Arsenal was Europe’s first and largest military-industrial complex prior to the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, when Venice was a major maritime power

Is anywhere safe anymore?

After the tragic events that took place last week in Barcelona, Cambrils and Turku, that surely must be a question that more and more people are asking themselves nowadays. We live in an increasingly dangerous world it would appear but according to academics such as Stephen Pinker in his 2011 bestseller ‘The Better Angels of our Nature’ the statistics would suggest otherwise. Indeed, if you look at the accompanying graphic to this week’s blog you’ll

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 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

Timely Advice

    It’s that time of year again when most people’s minds turn to New Year resolutions, the next credit card statement and of course the inevitable where to go on this year’s holiday and, equally importantly — when to book it? Many people still mistakenly think that if you are flexible in when you can take your annual leave and are also a bit of a gambler then it is always worth your while

Are you a tourist or a traveller?

Why do you travel? Is it to have new experiences or meet new people? Is it out of curiosity? Is it for bragging rights? Is it literally just for a change of scenery or a change of pace perhaps? If you were to conduct a poll of 100 people chosen randomly, chances are that you could get a 100 different answers — such is the diversity of reasons that motivates people to leave the comfort

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
safeness

Where should I go on my next holiday?

There are all sorts of reasons why people choose the destinations that they do. For some it’s simply price, for other’s weather is their primary concern. Some choose destinations based on their proximity whilst other travellers choose places based on their ‘safeness’. It is therefore interesting to note the results of the latest biannual report from the World Economic Forum which rates countries around the world based on a wide ranging set of metrics that

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

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