​So, last weekend, Charlie and I accompanied Benji when he stayed in Barberstown Castle in Straffan, Co. Kildare…a handy half hour from Dublin.  OK, so it was really a Valentine’s treat for me and Charlie.  But try telling that to Benji…..who revelled in the plush surroundings and lapped up all the attention from hotel staff and guests alike.  We were reminded that his breed of shih-tzu were bred for Chinese Royalty during the Ming Dynasty.  As he strutted his stuff around the hotel, with his head and tail in the air, he was in his element.  As if to say “my people look at me, I’m here, you may approach, prostrate yourselves and pat me on the head!” 🐶

Although I’m originally from South Tipperary, I have to admit that I haven’t seen a lot of the county.  So, this week I jumped at the chance when I was invited to stay with my lovely cousin Rose near Thurles.  We got to see the famous Rock of Cashel, enjoy Afternoon Tea in the Cashel Palace Hotel, be entertained at a great Irish-night at the Brú Ború Cultural Centre, travel down to Coolishal, Kilsheelan (Co. Waterford) where my great grandparents lived for a time before having a snack at the Horse & Jockey Hotel.  This week’s blog tells how I got on.  

​I was looking with envy at all of the great photos shared on Facebook recently of the Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society’s run of The Phantom of the Opera.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it down to experience it in person.  Knowing the amazing musical talent that exists in my little hometown, I wasn’t at all surprised to hear the rave reviews and that there were standing ovations every night.  I would expect nothing less knowing the wonderful people involved.  “Phantom” is one of my favourite shows ever.  I was lucky enough to see the Broadway production in April 2006 at the Majestic Theatre on West 44th Street in New York.  It was truly spectacular.  That whole trip with Charlie, being his first time in New York and my second, was so memorable.  In this week’s blog post I share a little of what we did and saw.  Enjoy!   

​In April 2019 we cruised the Western Caribbean onboard Harmony of the Seas out of Fort Lauderdale.  We had a lovely few days staying near Fort Lauderdale beforehand where we had enjoyed exploring the Everglades and were looking forward to taking things very easy on-board.  Over the week we docked in Labadee (Haiti), Falmouth (Jamaica) and Cozumel (Mexico) as well as having three “At-Sea” days.  It was bliss.  This week’s blog tells how we got on. Enjoy!

​21 years ago, Peggy and I took a cruise with My Travel/ Airtours/ Sun Cruises on the M.S. Sunbird.  It was our 4th cruise together and our 2nd on the Sunbird.  Although that 7-day trip wasn’t on the biggest or fanciest ship we ever sailed on, to this day it remains one of the most enjoyable.  It had just over 700 cabins with about 1,600 onboard and we thought it was huge!!  The staff onboard were just great and genuinely couldn’t do enough for us to make our holiday memorable.  We spent a week out of Palma (Majorca, Spain) visiting Naples (Italy), Messina and Taormina (Sicily), Bugibba and Marsaxlokk (Malta), La Goulette and Carthage (Tunisia) before sailing back to Palma in Majorca.  This is how we got on.  Enjoy!

​So this is the second part of the cruise blog from our trip in 2016 on the Anthem of the Seas (first part here).  This covers Days 5 to 8 in the Bahamas and onboard, our return to New York for Easter 2016 and our flight home to Dublin.  Enjoy!

​Continuing on from the last blog post where we stayed in New York in March 2016, this week’s post covers the first 4 days of the cruise we subsequently took from there.  It was an 8 day Florida and Bahamas cruise with Royal Caribbean on Anthem of the Seas and this covers the first part of the trip from New York to Port Canaveral in Florida.  It includes a memorable visit to the Kennedy Space Centre and describes what we saw.  Enjoy!

​I should preface this blog by saying that as I did this cruise within 7 months of coming home from hospital after a massive stroke, I was still in recovery mode, so I really took things very easy on-board and had decided I would only go ashore every second day.  I still had mobility and stamina issues at that stage.  In addition, I had previously done a couple of Med cruises before this one so had been to all of the ports on the itinerary a number of times before.  This therefore probably doesn’t give the full flavour of all of the things to be seen or to be done either on this ship or at these locations.  It’s just a true reflection of the relaxing and re-energising holiday that I myself had. Enjoy!

So, as you may know, I had a major medical emergency in 2017 that almost ended my life. Within 7 months of leaving the hospital, partly to celebrate the gift of life and to “get back on that horse” …. but mostly to celebrate my brother Martin’s “big roundy birthday”, I was blessed to be travelling again in 2018.  In July of that year, we decided to “push the boat out” and “splash out” on a trip for the 4 of us (Charlie & I; Martin & Mary) to Rome the Eternal City, for 4 days followed by a week-long Western Med Cruise on the biggest ship (at that time) the Symphony of the Seas.  It was hard to comprehend that the same week the previous year, I was on life support!!  Looking back I realise I was dragging myself around on this trip…..the lads will tell you I was “like a bag of cats!!” And I’m surprised I wasn’t dumped overboard somewhere approaching Majorca.  However, it remains one of the best holidays I’ve ever had.    This blog post is about how we got on in Rome for the first leg of the trip. Enjoy!!

How great it was after two years of Covid-19 restrictions to have had the Taste of Dublin back in the Iveagh Gardens this June.  The foodie festival returned to its full pre-pandemic culinary glory with an eclectic mix of well-known Irish chefs, artisan food innovators and cultural food inspired experiences. The iconic summer event had over thirty thousand people attending!
​
For those not familiar, Taste of Dublin is an outdoor festival which plays host to some of the biggest names in the British and Irish celebrity chef circles, many of Dublin’s finest restaurants and 

My mam, Peggy had “The Hills of Donegal” as one of her party pieces.  On each occasion I’d hear her lilt "Oh Donegal the pride of all" about an exile’s pain and living in the hope of seeing those hills again …but I had never been to see those hills.  Donegal in the North West of Ireland is probably the furthest you can travel from my homeplace in South Tipperary while still remaining on the island of Ireland.  So finally in 2008 and 2010 I got to see this

​Norway was on my Bucket List since I had travelled to Alaska with Charlie in 2013 (the previous year – see B30: A Whale of A Time) and realised that a holiday featuring fjords, glaciers, snow and ice was not a bad option at all.  As we had also “done” Canada, we knew that once wrapped up it could be quite cosy.  I had been to some of the Scandinavian countries before with work (see B67: Stockholm 1996) so I knew that they were generally great places to visit, well organised but pricey.  Therefore an all-inclusive cruise would also make financial sense; it would make a trip to Norway more a-fjord-able!!     
 
Sadly, my Mam, Peggy – my first ever cruise buddy – had passed away just three months previously in Feb 2014.  We went ahead with the pre-booked holiday knowing that Peggy would have wanted us to.  And we ended up enjoying the day trips even though we didn’t partake in many of the evening frivolities back on the ship.  This is how we got on.

So we booked the two-night New Year Package arriving down from Dublin Thurs. 31 Dec 2009.  As an extra treat we flew down to Cork with Aer Arann and took a taxi to the hotel.  The Hayfield Manor hotel is a gorgeous manor opposite the grounds of UCC.  Our first impressions were great as we were met by the valet who helped us with our luggage. He was very friendly and helpful as he showed us to our room.  We admired the lovely Christmas decorations and roaring log fires everywhere. 

Sweden is an amazing country, known for its clean streets, successful welfare and great design.  But none of those things are as well-known or as popular as its famous exports – ABBA, IKEA, Volvo & Saab cars, Spotify  …and Minecraft if you’re a gamer.  I’m old enough to remember ABBA’s Eurovision win in 1974 and no Christmas Party is complete for me without belting out “Dancing Queen” 😂. 

But this blog isn’t about any of Sweden’s exports….instead it’s about the country’s gorgeous capital city, Stockholm, which I had the pleasure of visiting several times when I worked for Sunrock (the Japanese Aircraft Leasing Company).  On one particular business trip in the Autumn of 1996 I was treated to a memorable walking tour of the city by our business partners during our “down time”.  Poor Sven pulled the short straw in having to show me around….but I’ll be forever grateful for the day we spent exploring this gorgeous city.  This is what we saw that day (and apologies for the quality of the photos, I didn’t have a smart phone back then).

​Now, I have to admit I have mixed feelings about London, England.  Some of my experiences of that capital city have been so stressful.  My first time there I was a nervous 23 year old travelling over on my own going for a job interview.  Ryanair was a tiny fledgling loss-making airline back then flying out of Waterford.  A better job offer from Dublin meant I never did emigrate….but London for me then became associated with training courses and business trips….lots of running through Heathrow on a Friday night to catch the last flight home….or trying to make connecting flights with minutes to spare.  Of course, I subsequently had much happier trips over there; shopping trips with my mam, Peggy…..and girlie weekends away with friends.  But this blog post is about a more recent enjoyable trip I had to London with Charlie in 2015 and what we got to see.