Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Z Michelson Travel Podcast, where
every journey is a story waitingto be told.
I'm your host, z Michelson, andI'm so excited to take you on a
ride through the world's mostincredible destinations, hidden
gems and unforgettableexperiences.
Whether you're a seasonedtraveler or just starting to
(00:22):
plan your next getaway, you'rein the right place.
Each episode, we'll be divinginto everything from must-see
landmarks to off-the-beaten-pathtreasures, speaking with locals
and travel experts and sharingstories that will inspire your
next adventure.
So sit back, relax and let'swander the world together, one
(00:46):
destination at a time.
Are you ready?
Let's get started.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
This is Zee Michelson , and today, I am with Diana of
Celtic Tours and you know what?
We are really excited that sheis going to be with us for the
next several weeks.
We're going to be talking allabout Diana's adventures in
Ireland with Celtic Tours.
So every podcast for the nextseveral weeks we are going to
(01:12):
travel along with Diana on herday-to-day adventures.
Doesn't that sound great, diana, welcome.
Thank you.
Now we are going to go day byday of your trip to Ireland,
because you just went over toIreland not too long ago and
your first day is in Dublin.
(01:34):
Yes, absolutely, tell us, ringus there, give us the theater of
the mind.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Well, let me tell you , of course, the first day,
traveling overnight and thengetting into Dublin, I was
running on adrenaline Because,of course, you don't sleep much
on a plane.
You don't sleep much on a planeat all.
So I know I'm running onadrenaline, but we get there and
(02:00):
we get a transfer from theairport and takes us to the
Grisham Hotel.
So Celtic.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Tours actually takes care of your transfers and it
takes us to the Grisham Hotel.
So Celtic Tours actually takescare of your transfers and it
took you to the Grisham Hotel,which is part of the tour.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yes, okay, yeah, and so we went to the Grisham, which
was a beautiful, beautifulhotel.
The rooms are very, veryspacious, and all of the rooms
in Ireland which is reallyreally an important thing do
include hair dryers.
Not a lot of people do that, butevery single hotel I went to
(02:31):
had a hair dryer, so you don'thave to worry about a hair dryer
.
Everybody thinks you have toand you really don't.
They have a hair dryer.
You might have to go huntingfor it, but there is one.
Now is it a very large hotel.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
It is.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
It's a very, very large, spacious hotel.
The shower was absolutelybeautiful, had a waterfall
shower in it.
It was just a beautiful,beautiful hotel okay, so highly
highly recommended.
It's it's city center in dublin.
Oh, I was able to walkeverywhere that afternoon oh,
you must have been exhausted.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I was exhausted.
I got a lot of fun, but it wasfun.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
It was fun like I said, I was running on
adrenaline, it was a lot of fun.
So so, where did you fun?
It was fun.
Like I said, I was running onadrenaline, it was a lot of fun.
So where did you go when youwere wandering around?
Well, my first stop, my veryfirst stop, was at the White
Bear Church, where I wanted tosee St Valentine's remains, the
relics that are actually thereat the White Bear Church.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Not a lot of people know about this and of course I
actually did a whole series onfreight valentine, so of course
I had to go see it personally.
Yeah, now is this part of thetour.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
It's actually something I did on my own.
Our tour didn't actually startuntil the next day because
people were still coming in, soso a lot of people want to know.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You know, oh my gosh, am I gonna have one thing after
the other, or can I do somewandering?
And apparently you can.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah, I did a lot of wandering by myself and just
walked around all over the place, and this is what I did for the
first day, and then thatevening we all had dinner
together.
So it was really, really nice.
Then you got to meet everybody.
Everybody was coming in, so itwas very, very nice.
So before you met everybody fordinner, you went to the white
(04:06):
bear, I did went to the whitefair where I was again able to
do that no more less of saintvalentine and it was absolutely
beautiful and it was actuallynot far from the temple bar area
, oh and a lot of people don'trealize it's not an actual bar,
it's a bar of Dublin and, ofcourse, went by the famous
Temple Bar itself, you know,which is real red right there on
(04:29):
the corner, and walked pastthat.
It's just an amazing experience.
Then, actually after that, wetook a stroll and we went to
Jameson oh, the distillery thedistillery in Dublin as well and
, oh, what an amazing experience.
I had to do the tour.
I've never done the tour ofJameson Really and not, nope,
this was my first time.
(04:50):
And so I go in and I ask fortickets to do the tour and they
hooked me up with James fromJameson.
Oh, how nice.
That made it easy.
He was actually our guide andwhat a personality, what an
amazing personality he was.
He took us through the entiretour, told us all about I'm not
(05:12):
going to give you too muchinformation because I want
everybody to go and experienceit themselves but was able to
give us all of the history ofjameson and how it came to be
and actually how they make thewhiskey.
And then we did a whiskeysipping and a tasting.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Oh, of course you have to have a tasting, you know
, with three different whiskeys.
So did they do the eight-year,12-year.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yes, they did, they did, and I'm not a real big
whiskey drinker, but I reallyenjoyed this because he tells
you how you need to sip it, howyou need to look at it.
It's almost like a wine.
You look at it, it doesn't haveas many legs as a typical wine
but it does have legs.
I never knew whiskey had legsand then, of course, you sniff
(05:56):
it.
You would sniff it, of course,and you smell all the different
the oaks and the fruits andeverything.
And then when you take a sip,you're supposed to breathe
through your nose, as you'reactually sipping the whiskey,
and you let it sit on yourtongue for about five to ten
seconds, depending on thewhiskey, so you could feel it in
your mouth.
It was an amazing experienceand it really gave me a new
(06:22):
outlook on Irish whiskey.
So how long did that tour take?
It was probably about 45minutes.
Oh, from up there.
And then after that I had to doa cast draw tour at Jameson,
where they take you into aspecial room where they're
actually aging the whiskeys andhe tells you all about the
(06:45):
barrels and all you know thebarrels that the whiskey is
aging in.
And then he takes a whiskeydrawn as a 25 year old barrel
and he gives you a sip of the 25year old barrel whiskey that
has not even been filtered yetand he actually he has to filter
it in front of you, oh wow infront of you and that was strong
(07:08):
whiskey.
I took one sip and that was thestrongest whiskey I've ever had
in my life, so I didn't finish.
But just to be able toexperience something like that
and those are just differentchores that you can do at
Jameson it was just really,really a fascinating experience.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
And this is something that you did, aside from Celtic
tours, correct, because you gotthere before the group arrived
and then you decided to do alittle traveling on now while
you waited, which is fabulous.
People can do before and afterson these tours, of course yeah,
which is a good idea For tours.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
We do include the Jameson.
Oh, fabulous If they want it,they can ask for it and anytime
we customize anything whatsoever, we can add all of these tours.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And that's another thing.
A lot of people are looking outfor more customization, so
that's another thing Celtictours can do.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
They can customize what you want.
We do a lot of customization,especially for clients who don't
want to do, let's say, anescorted tour that we already
have put together.
They want to do a privatechauffeur drive.
Or let's say, they want to doan independent journey, where
they want to stay in Dublin fora couple of days and do some of
these things Right, so we couldgo ahead and get their transfer,
bring them to the hotel Right,we could do a hop on, hop off in
(08:13):
Dublin.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
That's nice.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, it's amazing where they can go all over, and
then they just hop on, hop offand visit all of these locations
.
Of course, the GuinnessStorehouse Brewery.
Well, which all of theselocations?
Of course, the GuinnessStorehouse Brewery, which is
right there in Dublin as well.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Right, if you're coming to Dublin, you've got to
go to.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Guinness you have to go to Guinness.
You have to go to Guinness.
I did not go to Guinness onthis trip, but I have been to
Guinness.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah, I've been there before.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yeah, I wanted to experience something different.
What else did you do on thatday?
And I did not do the Book ofKells Mm-hmm or Kells.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Right Book of Kells.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Kells.
Forgive me, I said it wrong soI did not do the Book of Kells
because it was a little crowded.
But the grounds Next time yougo you're going to go to Kells.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I've seen the Book of Kells.
It's amazing.
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, so I would really like to do it.
I was kind of running out oftime because I had to go meet
everybody for dinner I did a lotof walking, a lot of walking,
and then, of course, StPatrick's.
I had to go to St Patrick's.
Oh yes, St Patrick's, it is €11to get in.
(09:24):
It's not a free visit but, itis €11.
I've been to St Patrick's aswell, but it's worth it.
It's so beautiful to just walkthrough there and walk through
the gardens and grounds, and itwas again just something you've
had to do while you were inDublin.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So you checked into your hotel Grisham and you went
to the White Fair Church with StValentine's.
Relics, Relics yes, and then youwent to the Temple Bar area and
wandered around.
Then you went to the JamesonDistillery and had some tempting
liquor, and then you went toTrinity College.
You just wandered the groundsof Trinity College and there's
(10:04):
more to do on Trinity College.
People need to know that.
Just like you said, the book ofKells is there.
And then you went to StPatrick's yeah, which is
different from the St Patrick'sin New York.
Oh, yes, much different, muchdifferent and it's also a
different religion a little bit.
Yes it is and that's whathappened, and I just wanted to
tell you it is.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah.
So what else did you do thatday?
After that?
I was tired.
No, I came in there feelingtired on that day, so I actually
wandered back to the hotel, gotcleaned up and met everybody
for dinner that evening.
Now, did you see the statue ofMolly Malone?
I did not see the statue ofMolly Malone.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Did you?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
No, oh, I did not see the statue of Molly Malone.
I missed it.
I missed it, no.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I've seen the statue of Molly Malone.
I missed it.
I missed it.
Now I've seen the statue ofMolly Malone and the funny thing
is I was working with somebodyand both of us went on vacation
at the same time.
We didn't realize, both of uswere where we were going Me and
my husband went and he and hiswife went.
Found out when we came back wewere there at the same time, saw
the same statue and everythingelse At the very same time, at
the very same time, but wedidn't bump into each other.
(11:10):
So, it was.
You know it's a city.
Dublin is a city, it is.
I love the fact that you canwander around and get things to
eat and I wanted to let myhusband experience a scone and
clotted cream, so we went intoone of the restaurants and we
stopped in there and I said,okay, you're going to be
experiencing stone and clottedcream.
(11:31):
And the person that waited onus was a student at Trinity
College who happened to be fromthe United States wow so Dublin
is definitely high on the listof tours the people need to go
to.
Now, if somebody wanted to be ontour with Celtic Tours, celtic
(11:55):
Tours does have package toursfor this as well correct?
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yes, yes, we can.
Actually again, as we mentionedabout customization, but we do
have escorted tours, and so wecan go ahead and they can go on.
Some of these escorted toursthat would include a lot of
these things in Dublin, right,so including the Guinness
Storehouse.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
You know, personalized.
One of the things that weactually do as well is we give
you a lot of downtime in yourtours.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
That's great, you can go off and experience some of
these things that you want to.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
You know what you want to do on your own as well.
So we always like to give atleast two days in every single
city on our escorted tours.
We always like to give at leasttwo days in every single city
on our included tours.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So two days in every city, yeah, two days in every
city, that's good.
Sometimes you're running,running, running.
Okay, we have six hours here,five hours there.
You want to kind of soap up thelocal color.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And not a lot of people get todo that.
Not everybody wants to go toTrinity College, not everybody
wants to go to Jameson Right toTrinity College, and not
everybody wants to go to JamesonRight.
Not everybody wants to do thesame thing.
So it's really great that weput you city center so that you
can walk anywhere that you'dlike to go on your downtime when
you're not on the tour.
And if you wanted to go aheadand include it in a customized
(13:04):
tour, we can include anything.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Now, how large are these escorted tours?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
So our escorted tours , our Ireland escorted tours,
are very, very small.
We don't do more than 28 people, so it's very nice.
Now our chauffeur drives are upto 12 people.
So if you have a family, let'ssay you know grandma and grandpa
wants to take the entire family, which is really nice.
We can actually again do achauffeur drive which would be
personalized to the family andthey can do anything they want.
(13:31):
They can request what we wantto see With a professional
driver who knows, of course, allof Ireland.
Right, yeah, that's really nice.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
So now we went back to the hotel.
Where was everybody meeting?
At the hotel?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
We were meeting at the hotel at the Grisham.
Yeah, we all met at the Grishamand we actually had dinner
right there at the hotel.
So what them?
And then we actually had dinnerright there at the hotel.
So so what kind of, what kindof dinner?
Oh my goodness, the dinners,the food you know, everybody
thinks, I mean, when I firstthink of of ireland, everybody
thinks of, you know potatoes andand meat potatoes and fish and
(14:05):
chips.
Right, oh my goodness, the foodwas impeccable.
I had the best butternut squashsoup.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I have ever had.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I love butternut squash soup it was so good.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
And it was at the hotel.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
This was at the hotel .
Yeah, butternut squash soup, ofcourse.
Then I had a nice beet salad,and then I had a grouper Whoa, a
fish, a fish.
It was fish, but it was agrouper, a large piece of
grouper on a bed of risotto.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Really, it was absolutely amazing.
When you think Ireland youdon't think risotto, you don't
think risotto.
So you're having a meal thatmost people don't realize.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
I think everybody.
It's a misconception.
Everybody thinks that Irelandis pubs and you know fish and
chips Right, and it really,really isn't.
And noodles and noodles,exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah, well, that's really really good.
So now you're having all thisfood.
Now is food included on these?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Estroded tours.
Most of the food is included.
For example, our food wasincluded for our group dinner
Okay, because we had acustomized tour.
Our group dinner Okay, becausewe had a customized tour.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Because I brought 30 travel agents with me.
I know we had a customized tour.
I know I missed out.
Thank you, oh, so, yes, so wecan include the food.
We can include the dinners.
Breakfast is included daily.
It's all in the hotel.
Breakfast is included.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Oh, that's nice.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
All of the hotels.
Breakfast is included and, ofcourse, we can include dinners.
We can include, which I'll talkabout a little bit later, but
we actually had an amazingdinner show experience as well
that's a little bit further downa little teaser so, yeah,
you're gonna be learning everyday everything that you did in
one day.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah, today was doubling yeah, today was
doubling today was doubling forme.
Yeah, so you said you had 30people there were 30 30 travel
agencies.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
That kind of tour bus or you want.
We're on a full-size motorcoach.
A full-size motor coach doeshave wi-fi.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
It does get a little choppy when you're in certain
areas it gets a little bitchoppy, just like here when
we're driving of course, ofcourse, and it also has a
bathroom.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
It's not a bathroom that you would use on a regular
basis, but in just the same caseas you're driving, it does have
a bathroom on the motor coachand our driver, mr mickey nolan,
was amazing.
Was he with you for the wholetour, was with us for the entire
tour.
Yeah, and that's what happenswhen you book with us, you have
one driver.
One driver works directly forus.
(16:32):
He doesn't work for anybodyelse who works directly.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Now, when you have the one driver, do you also have
one tour guide?
He's a tour guide.
Oh, so they're the same driver.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yes, yes, mr mickey nolan was our tour guide and our
, so they're the same.
The driver is yes, mr NickyNolan was our tour guide and our
driver at the same time.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Now a lot of people will ask me is their tip
included?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
in price.
It is not Okay, it is not.
Yeah, those are pretty much.
The only thing that's notincluded is any gratuities that
you'd like to give to yourdriver tour guides If you have
additional tour guides that areactually taking you into, for
example, jameson, things likethat, those are not included.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Now what is recommended?
A recommended tip.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
So, with our drivers, the typical recommendation is
anywhere between 10 to 15 eurosper day.
So it's per day, yeah, per day,you know, for your entire tour
per person.
Right.
So if you're there for six days, that's about what it?
Takes, yeah, exactly.
I mean that would be typical,because he does.
He also ports your baggage.
So, like he picked up my bagfor me and they deliver them to
(17:31):
your room, then you put themoutside your door the very next
day and he takes them and putsthem right back on.
So that is included in the priceas well.
You know one bag is included inthe price as well.
You know one bag is included.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
One portage bag is included.
Now the weight on the bagwhat's?
Speaker 3 (17:45):
recommended Again, standard weight 50 pounds.
You know because you knowstandard airline weight.
So 50 pounds, so you don't haveto worry about schlepping your
luggage.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
You know, once it's in front of your room, you're in
your room.
Once it's back out in front,then it's in the bus.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Back out in front, then it's in the bus and you go
on your very own way, and thenif you go to another hotel, then
he's going to go ahead and takeit and they actually deliver it
in your room, in your room, andso every day I saw my bag in my
room, which was just amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
That would be amazing , because you don't want to have
to mess with your luggage allthe time, right?
And then you said most of theseare two-day adventures, correct
, correct, which makes it nice,so you can actually breathe.
Yeah, and then again, you'realso giving people some free
time.
Yeah, so they can wander aroundand explore on their own.
Yeah, and I'm sure becausethere is a person that can say,
(18:36):
okay, definitely want to seethis while you're here, kind of
thing.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
They would also tell you that as well.
Oh yeah, the the driver.
I mean any questions you mighthave.
He was full of so much historyand just really, really just
gave us so much as we were goingalong, and he had a couple
surprises for us as well, whichI will share with you places we
had no idea we were going toeven go that he stopped at,
which was just amazing.
He was just an amazing, amazingguide and so friendly and
outgoing.
I mean, the people there arejust so, so friendly.
(19:10):
Anyway, Everybody in Ireland isjust so welcoming.
They like to, they like toenjoy themselves and he's got a
lot of good dad jokes you knowgood dad jokes.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Again, I'm talking with Diana from Celtic Tours and
she's talking about her trip toIreland.
This was day one in Dublin.
She had a fabulous, very, verybusy day, and then she met for
dinner and then collapsed lateron in her hotel room Collapse.
Yes is the word, Collapse is theword yes is the word, collapse
(19:44):
is the word and, like I said, weare going to be meeting with
diana every week for the nextsix weeks and talking about each
day's adventure in ireland.
So can you give us a teaserwhat's coming on day two?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
well, I can give you a little teaser, just a little
teaser.
So what we did?
Of course, the next day, we youknow, and we have our bags and
everything, and we ended upgoing to La Ratte Estate, la
Ratte.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Estate.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
La Ratte.
It's L-Y-R-A-T-H.
La Ratte Estate.
Ooh and uh, wait until I tellyou oh boy, so that's coming
tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
That is tell you oh boy, so that's coming tomorrow,
that is coming tomorrow.
Oh, fabulous.
Or should I say week two, weektwo, week two and day two for
you, diana, thank you forjoining me.
This is going to be a funadventure with you.
You are going to bring us thereeven if we weren't there.
Yes, absolutely, I'll do mybest.
Spoon say thank you for joiningme today.
Yes, absolutely, I'll do mybest.
Thank you for joining me today.
This is Zee.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Michelson.
Well, that's it for today'sepisode of the Zee Michelson
Travel Podcast.
I hope you enjoyed our journeyand found some new inspiration
for your next adventure.
Remember, the world is full ofstories and sometimes all it
takes is a plane ticket to startyour own adventure.
If you loved today's episode,be sure to tune in every week
(21:08):
and don't forget to share yourfavorite travel moments with me
on social media.
I'd really love to hear aboutwhere you're headed to next.
So until next time, keepexploring, keep discovering and,
as always, keep traveling withyour heart wide open.
I'm Zee Michelson and I'll seeyou on the next adventure.
Welcome to the Z Michelson Travel Podcast, where
every journey is a story waitingto be told.
I'm your host, z Michelson, andI'm so excited to take you on a
ride through the world's mostincredible destinations, hidden
gems and unforgettableexperiences.
Whether you're a seasonedtraveler or just starting to
(00:22):
plan your next getaway, you'rein the right place.
Each episode, we'll be divinginto everything from must-see
landmarks to off-the-beaten-pathtreasures, speaking with locals
and travel experts and sharingstories that will inspire your
next adventure.
So sit back, relax and let'swander the world together, one
(00:46):
destination at a time.
Are you ready?
Let's get started.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
This is Zee Michelson , and today, I am with Diana of
Celtic Tours and you know what?
We are really excited that sheis going to be with us for the
next several weeks.
We're going to be talking allabout Diana's adventures in
Ireland with Celtic Tours.
So every podcast for the nextseveral weeks we are going to
(01:12):
travel along with Diana on herday-to-day adventures.
Doesn't that sound great, diana, welcome.
Thank you.
Now we are going to go day byday of your trip to Ireland,
because you just went over toIreland not too long ago and
your first day is in Dublin.
(01:34):
Yes, absolutely, tell us, ringus there, give us the theater of
the mind.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Well, let me tell you , of course, the first day,
traveling overnight and thengetting into Dublin, I was
running on adrenaline Because,of course, you don't sleep much
on a plane.
You don't sleep much on a planeat all.
So I know I'm running onadrenaline, but we get there and
(02:00):
we get a transfer from theairport and takes us to the
Grisham Hotel.
So Celtic.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Tours actually takes care of your transfers and it
takes us to the Grisham Hotel.
So Celtic Tours actually takescare of your transfers and it
took you to the Grisham Hotel,which is part of the tour.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yes, okay, yeah, and so we went to the Grisham, which
was a beautiful, beautifulhotel.
The rooms are very, veryspacious, and all of the rooms
in Ireland which is reallyreally an important thing do
include hair dryers.
Not a lot of people do that, butevery single hotel I went to
(02:31):
had a hair dryer, so you don'thave to worry about a hair dryer
.
Everybody thinks you have toand you really don't.
They have a hair dryer.
You might have to go huntingfor it, but there is one.
Now is it a very large hotel.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
It is.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
It's a very, very large, spacious hotel.
The shower was absolutelybeautiful, had a waterfall
shower in it.
It was just a beautiful,beautiful hotel okay, so highly
highly recommended.
It's it's city center in dublin.
Oh, I was able to walkeverywhere that afternoon oh,
you must have been exhausted.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I was exhausted.
I got a lot of fun, but it wasfun.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
It was fun like I said, I was running on
adrenaline, it was a lot of fun.
So so, where did you fun?
It was fun.
Like I said, I was running onadrenaline, it was a lot of fun.
So where did you go when youwere wandering around?
Well, my first stop, my veryfirst stop, was at the White
Bear Church, where I wanted tosee St Valentine's remains, the
relics that are actually thereat the White Bear Church.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Not a lot of people know about this and of course I
actually did a whole series onfreight valentine, so of course
I had to go see it personally.
Yeah, now is this part of thetour.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
It's actually something I did on my own.
Our tour didn't actually startuntil the next day because
people were still coming in, soso a lot of people want to know.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You know, oh my gosh, am I gonna have one thing after
the other, or can I do somewandering?
And apparently you can.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah, I did a lot of wandering by myself and just
walked around all over the place, and this is what I did for the
first day, and then thatevening we all had dinner
together.
So it was really, really nice.
Then you got to meet everybody.
Everybody was coming in, so itwas very, very nice.
So before you met everybody fordinner, you went to the white
(04:06):
bear, I did went to the whitefair where I was again able to
do that no more less of saintvalentine and it was absolutely
beautiful and it was actuallynot far from the temple bar area
, oh and a lot of people don'trealize it's not an actual bar,
it's a bar of Dublin and, ofcourse, went by the famous
Temple Bar itself, you know,which is real red right there on
(04:29):
the corner, and walked pastthat.
It's just an amazing experience.
Then, actually after that, wetook a stroll and we went to
Jameson oh, the distillery thedistillery in Dublin as well and
, oh, what an amazing experience.
I had to do the tour.
I've never done the tour ofJameson Really and not, nope,
this was my first time.
(04:50):
And so I go in and I ask fortickets to do the tour and they
hooked me up with James fromJameson.
Oh, how nice.
That made it easy.
He was actually our guide andwhat a personality, what an
amazing personality he was.
He took us through the entiretour, told us all about I'm not
(05:12):
going to give you too muchinformation because I want
everybody to go and experienceit themselves but was able to
give us all of the history ofjameson and how it came to be
and actually how they make thewhiskey.
And then we did a whiskeysipping and a tasting.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Oh, of course you have to have a tasting, you know
, with three different whiskeys.
So did they do the eight-year,12-year.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yes, they did, they did, and I'm not a real big
whiskey drinker, but I reallyenjoyed this because he tells
you how you need to sip it, howyou need to look at it.
It's almost like a wine.
You look at it, it doesn't haveas many legs as a typical wine
but it does have legs.
I never knew whiskey had legsand then, of course, you sniff
(05:56):
it.
You would sniff it, of course,and you smell all the different
the oaks and the fruits andeverything.
And then when you take a sip,you're supposed to breathe
through your nose, as you'reactually sipping the whiskey,
and you let it sit on yourtongue for about five to ten
seconds, depending on thewhiskey, so you could feel it in
your mouth.
It was an amazing experienceand it really gave me a new
(06:22):
outlook on Irish whiskey.
So how long did that tour take?
It was probably about 45minutes.
Oh, from up there.
And then after that I had to doa cast draw tour at Jameson,
where they take you into aspecial room where they're
actually aging the whiskeys andhe tells you all about the
(06:45):
barrels and all you know thebarrels that the whiskey is
aging in.
And then he takes a whiskeydrawn as a 25 year old barrel
and he gives you a sip of the 25year old barrel whiskey that
has not even been filtered yetand he actually he has to filter
it in front of you, oh wow infront of you and that was strong
(07:08):
whiskey.
I took one sip and that was thestrongest whiskey I've ever had
in my life, so I didn't finish.
But just to be able toexperience something like that
and those are just differentchores that you can do at
Jameson it was just really,really a fascinating experience.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
And this is something that you did, aside from Celtic
tours, correct, because you gotthere before the group arrived
and then you decided to do alittle traveling on now while
you waited, which is fabulous.
People can do before and afterson these tours, of course yeah,
which is a good idea For tours.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
We do include the Jameson.
Oh, fabulous If they want it,they can ask for it and anytime
we customize anything whatsoever, we can add all of these tours.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And that's another thing.
A lot of people are looking outfor more customization, so
that's another thing Celtictours can do.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
They can customize what you want.
We do a lot of customization,especially for clients who don't
want to do, let's say, anescorted tour that we already
have put together.
They want to do a privatechauffeur drive.
Or let's say, they want to doan independent journey, where
they want to stay in Dublin fora couple of days and do some of
these things Right, so we couldgo ahead and get their transfer,
bring them to the hotel Right,we could do a hop on, hop off in
(08:13):
Dublin.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
That's nice.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, it's amazing where they can go all over, and
then they just hop on, hop offand visit all of these locations
.
Of course, the GuinnessStorehouse Brewery.
Well, which all of theselocations?
Of course, the GuinnessStorehouse Brewery, which is
right there in Dublin as well.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Right, if you're coming to Dublin, you've got to
go to.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Guinness you have to go to Guinness.
You have to go to Guinness.
I did not go to Guinness onthis trip, but I have been to
Guinness.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah, I've been there before.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yeah, I wanted to experience something different.
What else did you do on thatday?
And I did not do the Book ofKells Mm-hmm or Kells.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Right Book of Kells.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Kells.
Forgive me, I said it wrong soI did not do the Book of Kells
because it was a little crowded.
But the grounds Next time yougo you're going to go to Kells.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I've seen the Book of Kells.
It's amazing.
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, so I would really like to do it.
I was kind of running out oftime because I had to go meet
everybody for dinner I did a lotof walking, a lot of walking,
and then, of course, StPatrick's.
I had to go to St Patrick's.
Oh yes, St Patrick's, it is €11to get in.
(09:24):
It's not a free visit but, itis €11.
I've been to St Patrick's aswell, but it's worth it.
It's so beautiful to just walkthrough there and walk through
the gardens and grounds, and itwas again just something you've
had to do while you were inDublin.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So you checked into your hotel Grisham and you went
to the White Fair Church with StValentine's.
Relics, Relics yes, and then youwent to the Temple Bar area and
wandered around.
Then you went to the JamesonDistillery and had some tempting
liquor, and then you went toTrinity College.
You just wandered the groundsof Trinity College and there's
(10:04):
more to do on Trinity College.
People need to know that.
Just like you said, the book ofKells is there.
And then you went to StPatrick's yeah, which is
different from the St Patrick'sin New York.
Oh, yes, much different, muchdifferent and it's also a
different religion a little bit.
Yes it is and that's whathappened, and I just wanted to
tell you it is.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah.
So what else did you do thatday?
After that?
I was tired.
No, I came in there feelingtired on that day, so I actually
wandered back to the hotel, gotcleaned up and met everybody
for dinner that evening.
Now, did you see the statue ofMolly Malone?
I did not see the statue ofMolly Malone.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Did you?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
No, oh, I did not see the statue of Molly Malone.
I missed it.
I missed it, no.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
I've seen the statue of Molly Malone.
I missed it.
I missed it.
Now I've seen the statue ofMolly Malone and the funny thing
is I was working with somebodyand both of us went on vacation
at the same time.
We didn't realize, both of uswere where we were going Me and
my husband went and he and hiswife went.
Found out when we came back wewere there at the same time, saw
the same statue and everythingelse At the very same time, at
the very same time, but wedidn't bump into each other.
(11:10):
So, it was.
You know it's a city.
Dublin is a city, it is.
I love the fact that you canwander around and get things to
eat and I wanted to let myhusband experience a scone and
clotted cream, so we went intoone of the restaurants and we
stopped in there and I said,okay, you're going to be
experiencing stone and clottedcream.
(11:31):
And the person that waited onus was a student at Trinity
College who happened to be fromthe United States wow so Dublin
is definitely high on the listof tours the people need to go
to.
Now, if somebody wanted to be ontour with Celtic Tours, celtic
(11:55):
Tours does have package toursfor this as well correct?
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yes, yes, we can.
Actually again, as we mentionedabout customization, but we do
have escorted tours, and so wecan go ahead and they can go on.
Some of these escorted toursthat would include a lot of
these things in Dublin, right,so including the Guinness
Storehouse.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Right.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
You know, personalized.
One of the things that weactually do as well is we give
you a lot of downtime in yourtours.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
That's great, you can go off and experience some of
these things that you want to.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
You know what you want to do on your own as well.
So we always like to give atleast two days in every single
city on our escorted tours.
We always like to give at leasttwo days in every single city
on our included tours.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
So two days in every city, yeah, two days in every
city, that's good.
Sometimes you're running,running, running.
Okay, we have six hours here,five hours there.
You want to kind of soap up thelocal color.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And not a lot of people get todo that.
Not everybody wants to go toTrinity College, not everybody
wants to go to Jameson Right toTrinity College, and not
everybody wants to go to JamesonRight.
Not everybody wants to do thesame thing.
So it's really great that weput you city center so that you
can walk anywhere that you'dlike to go on your downtime when
you're not on the tour.
And if you wanted to go aheadand include it in a customized
(13:04):
tour, we can include anything.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Now, how large are these escorted tours?
Speaker 3 (13:09):
So our escorted tours , our Ireland escorted tours,
are very, very small.
We don't do more than 28 people, so it's very nice.
Now our chauffeur drives are upto 12 people.
So if you have a family, let'ssay you know grandma and grandpa
wants to take the entire family, which is really nice.
We can actually again do achauffeur drive which would be
personalized to the family andthey can do anything they want.
(13:31):
They can request what we wantto see With a professional
driver who knows, of course, allof Ireland.
Right, yeah, that's really nice.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
So now we went back to the hotel.
Where was everybody meeting?
At the hotel?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
We were meeting at the hotel at the Grisham.
Yeah, we all met at the Grishamand we actually had dinner
right there at the hotel.
So what them?
And then we actually had dinnerright there at the hotel.
So so what kind of, what kindof dinner?
Oh my goodness, the dinners,the food you know, everybody
thinks, I mean, when I firstthink of of ireland, everybody
thinks of, you know potatoes andand meat potatoes and fish and
(14:05):
chips.
Right, oh my goodness, the foodwas impeccable.
I had the best butternut squashsoup.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I have ever had.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I love butternut squash soup it was so good.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
And it was at the hotel.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
This was at the hotel .
Yeah, butternut squash soup, ofcourse.
Then I had a nice beet salad,and then I had a grouper Whoa, a
fish, a fish.
It was fish, but it was agrouper, a large piece of
grouper on a bed of risotto.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Really, it was absolutely amazing.
When you think Ireland youdon't think risotto, you don't
think risotto.
So you're having a meal thatmost people don't realize.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
I think everybody.
It's a misconception.
Everybody thinks that Irelandis pubs and you know fish and
chips Right, and it really,really isn't.
And noodles and noodles,exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah, well, that's really really good.
So now you're having all thisfood.
Now is food included on these?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Estroded tours.
Most of the food is included.
For example, our food wasincluded for our group dinner
Okay, because we had acustomized tour.
Our group dinner Okay, becausewe had a customized tour.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Because I brought 30 travel agents with me.
I know we had a customized tour.
I know I missed out.
Thank you, oh, so, yes, so wecan include the food.
We can include the dinners.
Breakfast is included daily.
It's all in the hotel.
Breakfast is included.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Oh, that's nice.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
All of the hotels.
Breakfast is included and, ofcourse, we can include dinners.
We can include, which I'll talkabout a little bit later, but
we actually had an amazingdinner show experience as well
that's a little bit further downa little teaser so, yeah,
you're gonna be learning everyday everything that you did in
one day.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah, today was doubling yeah, today was
doubling today was doubling forme.
Yeah, so you said you had 30people there were 30 30 travel
agencies.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
That kind of tour bus or you want.
We're on a full-size motorcoach.
A full-size motor coach doeshave wi-fi.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
It does get a little choppy when you're in certain
areas it gets a little bitchoppy, just like here when
we're driving of course, ofcourse, and it also has a
bathroom.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
It's not a bathroom that you would use on a regular
basis, but in just the same caseas you're driving, it does have
a bathroom on the motor coachand our driver, mr mickey nolan,
was amazing.
Was he with you for the wholetour, was with us for the entire
tour.
Yeah, and that's what happenswhen you book with us, you have
one driver.
One driver works directly forus.
(16:32):
He doesn't work for anybodyelse who works directly.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Now, when you have the one driver, do you also have
one tour guide?
He's a tour guide.
Oh, so they're the same driver.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yes, yes, mr mickey nolan was our tour guide and our
, so they're the same.
The driver is yes, mr NickyNolan was our tour guide and our
driver at the same time.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Now a lot of people will ask me is their tip
included?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
in price.
It is not Okay, it is not.
Yeah, those are pretty much.
The only thing that's notincluded is any gratuities that
you'd like to give to yourdriver tour guides If you have
additional tour guides that areactually taking you into, for
example, jameson, things likethat, those are not included.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Now what is recommended?
A recommended tip.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
So, with our drivers, the typical recommendation is
anywhere between 10 to 15 eurosper day.
So it's per day, yeah, per day,you know, for your entire tour
per person.
Right.
So if you're there for six days, that's about what it?
Takes, yeah, exactly.
I mean that would be typical,because he does.
He also ports your baggage.
So, like he picked up my bagfor me and they deliver them to
(17:31):
your room, then you put themoutside your door the very next
day and he takes them and putsthem right back on.
So that is included in the priceas well.
You know one bag is included inthe price as well.
You know one bag is included.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
One portage bag is included.
Now the weight on the bagwhat's?
Speaker 3 (17:45):
recommended Again, standard weight 50 pounds.
You know because you knowstandard airline weight.
So 50 pounds, so you don't haveto worry about schlepping your
luggage.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
You know, once it's in front of your room, you're in
your room.
Once it's back out in front,then it's in the bus.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Back out in front, then it's in the bus and you go
on your very own way, and thenif you go to another hotel, then
he's going to go ahead and takeit and they actually deliver it
in your room, in your room, andso every day I saw my bag in my
room, which was just amazing.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
That would be amazing , because you don't want to have
to mess with your luggage allthe time, right?
And then you said most of theseare two-day adventures, correct
, correct, which makes it nice,so you can actually breathe.
Yeah, and then again, you'realso giving people some free
time.
Yeah, so they can wander aroundand explore on their own.
Yeah, and I'm sure becausethere is a person that can say,
(18:36):
okay, definitely want to seethis while you're here, kind of
thing.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
They would also tell you that as well.
Oh yeah, the the driver.
I mean any questions you mighthave.
He was full of so much historyand just really, really just
gave us so much as we were goingalong, and he had a couple
surprises for us as well, whichI will share with you places we
had no idea we were going toeven go that he stopped at,
which was just amazing.
He was just an amazing, amazingguide and so friendly and
outgoing.
I mean, the people there arejust so, so friendly.
(19:10):
Anyway, Everybody in Ireland isjust so welcoming.
They like to, they like toenjoy themselves and he's got a
lot of good dad jokes you knowgood dad jokes.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Again, I'm talking with Diana from Celtic Tours and
she's talking about her trip toIreland.
This was day one in Dublin.
She had a fabulous, very, verybusy day, and then she met for
dinner and then collapsed lateron in her hotel room Collapse.
Yes is the word, Collapse is theword yes is the word, collapse
(19:44):
is the word and, like I said, weare going to be meeting with
diana every week for the nextsix weeks and talking about each
day's adventure in ireland.
So can you give us a teaserwhat's coming on day two?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
well, I can give you a little teaser, just a little
teaser.
So what we did?
Of course, the next day, we youknow, and we have our bags and
everything, and we ended upgoing to La Ratte Estate, la
Ratte.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Estate.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
La Ratte.
It's L-Y-R-A-T-H.
La Ratte Estate.
Ooh and uh, wait until I tellyou oh boy, so that's coming
tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
That is tell you oh boy, so that's coming tomorrow,
that is coming tomorrow.
Oh, fabulous.
Or should I say week two, weektwo, week two and day two for
you, diana, thank you forjoining me.
This is going to be a funadventure with you.
You are going to bring us thereeven if we weren't there.
Yes, absolutely, I'll do mybest.
Spoon say thank you for joiningme today.
Yes, absolutely, I'll do mybest.
Thank you for joining me today.
This is Zee.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Michelson.
Well, that's it for today'sepisode of the Zee Michelson
Travel Podcast.
I hope you enjoyed our journeyand found some new inspiration
for your next adventure.
Remember, the world is full ofstories and sometimes all it
takes is a plane ticket to startyour own adventure.
If you loved today's episode,be sure to tune in every week
(21:08):
and don't forget to share yourfavorite travel moments with me
on social media.
I'd really love to hear aboutwhere you're headed to next.
So until next time, keepexploring, keep discovering and,
as always, keep traveling withyour heart wide open.
I'm Zee Michelson and I'll seeyou on the next adventure.
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