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):
Well, welcome to day three of Diana's trip to Ireland
.
Diana, welcome back, Thank you.
And how are we going tocelebrate day three in Ireland?
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Waterford, waterford, crystal, yeah, coe.
And then we end our day in Cork.
And in Cork, yes, that's a longday it is Okay, so start me out
.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
We get up in the morning, you're getting
breakfast.
Everybody's kind of meandering.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Exactly so, I think, when we left off in Kilkenny,
correct?
Correct, so we get up the nextmorning, of course, you know,
from our hotel and we have anamazing breakfast again and we
leave all of our luggage outside.
That's something that we do aswell.
We leave our luggage outside sothat our driver can go ahead
and take it up and put it intothe bus and while we're enjoying
(01:42):
a beautiful breakfast, and thenafter breakfast, we all load up
on the motor coach and we wereheading to Waterford.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Waterford, very gorgeous crystal.
I have some Waterford crystal.
I have to admit, yeah, I do too.
I do too.
Now I have more.
Now I have more.
So how long did it take here onthe bus?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
So it was a little bit of a drive.
It was probably about an hour.
It wasn't too far.
An hour, an hour and a half,that's not bad, it's not bad at
all.
And of course, the sceneryalong the way, the Irish scenery
was beautiful.
And our driver guide, who isthe same person you know, our
driver guide Mickey, he was justso wonderful and he's telling
(02:24):
us all these different storiesalong the way.
He's telling us about thefairies, the Irish fairies that
they believe in but they don'tbelieve in, you know, and the
history of them.
So you get so much history andyou learn so much along the way
because he's just sharing all ofthese stories with you.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So the driver is actually part of the trip.
Absolutely, he becomes one withyou guys.
You travel with him.
He knows everybody by name bynow, yeah, and he can tell
stories.
He's probably from the region.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
He is yeah, he's from Ireland.
He is from there, so he wasborn and raised and he knows
everything there is to knowabout everything.
Any location that you go to oranything that you're looking for
, he can actually help you withas well.
So if you get to a certain cityand you're looking for
something specific, just ask him.
He'll be able to help you withthat Well that's great.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, because that's kind of a neat thing to know
that the driver is with you allthe way and he's able to tell
you what's going on and whereyou're going and kind of give
you a little backstory to things, which makes it more fun.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yes, and mickey is filled with lots of jokes.
Lots of jokes, irish jokes ordad jokes, some of them.
You know some of our irish,irish dad jokes, right, yeah, he
makes the trip fun that's good.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, so now you got to waterford and everybody kind
of gets off the bus.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So we go ahead and we get to waterford and we of
course you know we stop ofcourse at the House of Waterford
.
That's the reason why westopped there.
And the House of Waterford wasactually established in 1783 by
George and William Penrose andthey started manufacturing flint
glass in Waterford.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Do you know what flint?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
glass is Flint.
Glass is a mineral glass.
It actually comes from, likeFlint, the mineral Flint.
Okay, so yeah so it's actuallya mineral glass, and then they
kind of went from there and theybuilt their legacy off of this
little store, this littlemanufacturing store in Waterford
Crystal, and that's kind of howit grew Now.
(04:24):
Is it still family owned?
It is not.
It has changed hands.
It is no longer family owned.
But when you go in to WaterfordCrystal, of course we did a
full tour.
That was also included in ourpackage.
We did a full tour and it was awalking tour and you had a guide
who actually walked you throughthe entire factory.
And you stop along the way andyou get to see the different
(04:44):
techniques, from the lastblowing, the actual glass
cutting to pressing of the glass, to the details in some of, for
example, the trophies, some ofthe trophies that are given at
golf tournaments, at basketballtournaments and things like that
, so you get to see the detailthat actually goes into it and
(05:04):
you're there live watching thesepeople actually do these things
.
It was just a wonderful,wonderful process to watch and
to actually experience and seehow they do all of this from the
heat of the glass all the waythrough the creation till the
very very end, when they sell it.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, where they sell it.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Exactly.
It's just a great, greatprocess and they walk you
through that entire thing that'snice.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So you were brought over there.
You were able to see the entireway of blowing glass and
creating these beautiful crystalpieces, and then, of course,
you can go shopping Right Ofcourse.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Where do they dump you?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
no-transcript.
Exactly, you do Mail service.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, and they have, which is what I bought when I
was there.
I bought some whiskey glassesthat have a distinctive pattern.
That was just done for thatarea of Waterford, so you can
only purchase it there, at thatstore, and that's what I like,
because I won't be able to findthat anywhere else you can find.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Waterford crystals everywhere.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
But that was unique to the area.
And of course they have, youknow, different Christmas
ornaments every year, and I'm aChristmas ornament girl.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I have to get a Christmas ornament everywhere.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I don't know so of course I had to get a Christmas
ornament everywhere I don't know.
So of course I had to get myChristmas ornament as well,
naturally Before that particularyear.
Well, that was fun too.
They also had jewelry.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Oh wow, jewelry, Jewelry.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Silver I got a silver pottery.
You got a pottery, that's notgood, I mean, you know.
So I mean, as I say, it's a bitof you know one thing, yeah, so
that's very nice.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Now, how long did that take you to go through A
couple hours?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Oh, okay, because by the time you go through the tour
and then they give you sometime to shop.
Right, and you didn't want toshop.
You can actually wander thelittle area right there where
they had some cafes If you wantto get a little nosh.
You know something to eat theyhad some cafes and then you get
back on the motorcoachEverybody's back on the
(07:30):
motorcoach Now.
Some of our tours do include,of course, stops in Waterford,
where they stay the night, andthey have some amazing, amazing,
beautiful hotels in Waterford.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So if they want to stay longer, that's something
that can be prepared by thetravel advisor to say okay,
where do you want to go?
How long do you want to stay?
Yeah, that's nice too.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, and they can stay right there in Waterford
and, as I mentioned, it's areally beautiful town and it's
the oldest city in Ireland, theoldest city in.
Ireland.
The oldest city in Ireland, Iwouldn't have thought that, yeah
, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
That's interesting In and of itself.
So you were there for a coupleof hours meandering and looking
at how to make crystal andshopping, and now you got on the
bus and you're going to thenext town called Cove Cove.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yes, so the heritage of Cove is.
It used to be spelled C-O-V.
Then it actually becameQueenstown and I think a lot of
people might know Queenstownfrom back when all of the
immigrants actually left Ireland, ireland, queenstown, where the
ships left the shipway.
Yeah Well, after Queenstown,after all the immigrants.
(08:37):
They decided to change it backto Cove, but it's spelled the
Celtic way C-O-B.
Yeah, instead of C-O-V it'sspelled C-O-B-H.
Yeah, h, h correct.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Okay, now, speaking of that, when I was overseas and
I was over there, you would seeeverything in English and you
would see everything in Celticspelling.
People were afraid that wewouldn't understand people, but
everybody speaks English.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So we have to let people knowyeah, they do speak English.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, so we haveto let people know yeah, they
(09:09):
do speak English.
Oh yeah, some of them do have abigger, broken other.
Absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah,but you know, you can
communicate very easily.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Oh, yeah, the.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Irish are friendly.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
They are very friendly people.
Very, very friendly, and youdon't find a lot of people
actually speaking Gaelic.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
No, this cold.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
So, yeah, it was, we stopped at the Heritage Center.
It talks about all about theQueenstown story Because, again,
as I mentioned, Queenstown wasthe name of the pier there.
That city where all of theseimmigrants left.
So the story of about 3 millionpeople leaving from the port
(10:06):
there, traveling all over theworld Virginia, New England,
Barbados, Jamaica, Australia.
I had no idea they went toAustralia and, of course, New
York City.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
You know where a lot of our.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Irish friends live.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So it tells the stories of these immigrants, and
what's really, really nice isthat you also are given when you
get your ticket, you're givinga person or a family to follow.
Oh cool, yeah, so you find outtheir story of how they left.
Now, most people left duringthe potato famine.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
The potato famine.
Yeah, the 1800s Exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Exactly, and that's when most people left, because
they were just starving, theyneeded to go find something else
.
So you get to actually followthe family and see where the
family landed.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Oh, where they wound up.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
And what ship they went on.
How exciting, because therewere so many different ships
that went out of Queenstown, soyou got to experience that
family.
So as you're walking throughthe Heritage Center, you're
looking for your family or thatperson.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That's fun.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, so it's really really a lot of fun and then you
get to see and follow.
You know what happened to themwhen they landed where they
landed.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
That's such a great history lesson for kids too, you
know, when they're learningabout all the different places,
it's kind of nice.
It gives them a moreinteractive way of learning.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Yeah, and of course it, you know, follows a lot of
the ships Right, the Australiaships with the prisoners.
Most of the prisoners went toAustralia.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Right, they went to Australia.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
It was a colony, exactly, and they weren't even
prisoners.
They weren't even prisonersthat did something horribly
wrong.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
They may have sold a loaf of bread, you know, and
they were sent to AustraliaRight.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
And then, of course, the telling of the stories of
the two most biggest shipdisasters of the 20th century,
and of course that was theLusitania.
The Lusitania and of course,the most famous.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
The.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Titanic.
Yeah, so, because that's wherethose people actually boarded
the Titanic actually left fromthat pier.
That was a major port.
It was, and there's actuallystill a piece of the pier right
around the corner from theHeritage Center that you can go
see.
That's still there.
Oh wow, they don't use it anylonger.
(12:25):
It's really old, you know andso, but it's just the history
there is really really fabulousand it's nice to see that.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Did you have somebody else talk you through?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Was there a guide in the Heritage Center?
No, it is actually a self-tour.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Self-tour.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah so you walk yourself through.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
It's a self-paced tour.
We were there a couple of hours.
We were there a couple of hoursand then also at the Heritage
Center.
You can actually, if you'reinterested, hire a genealogist
for an hour.
And they'll follow.
They'll go ahead and trace downyour history of your own
personal heritage.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I didn't have enough time.
I wonder if they would do thatlong distance.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I don't know that they do it long distance because
the genealogist is actuallythere, actually, there, you know
, and you just set up theappointment With all the digital
that's going on.
Maybe you could email, but I doknow they had a few computers
set there.
There were four computers whereyou can go in and if you had a
heritage you can put in the lastname and it would give you some
of the heritage of that.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
That's pretty cool, very cool, very nice.
Yeah, so you were wanderingaround there and it's like a
different type of town.
It's a sea-bearing town, what?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
else did you do there ?
You know, honestly, I didn'thave enough time to do much of
anything.
I'm so engrossed in thecharacters that I didn't have
enough time.
You were following that familyand it took me a long time to
find them also and they actuallyended up.
The family I was following wasin Venezuela.
Oh, wow, yeah, yeah that's odd.
So it was very interesting.
(13:53):
There really wasn't too muchelse time-wise for me to follow.
It's a very, very small townbecause it is a port town, so
it's a very small town.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
So that was several hours there too, a couple hours.
So what time.
I mean.
You went to Waterford first,then you had a drive to Coates,
and now where?
Now, helen, our wedding is along journey, so far already.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I know, yeah, I think it was about 3 o'clock at this
point and then we went to Corkand we went to Cork that's where
we were going to lay our headsin Cork and we stayed at the
Vienna Wood.
I highly highly recommend thishotel.
It is one of our hotels that webook with our tours.
And it was beautiful, beautiful,great location, great place for
(14:35):
weddings.
The rooms were so nice andquaint.
One of the things that I'venoticed about a lot of the
hotels is the amenities arealways different in all of the
rooms.
I did mention, I think, in oneof our sessions.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
They all have hair dryers which I was very excited
about.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
However, some of them they all have also coffee
makers, but some of them have,like, an espresso machine, you
know, and some of them have justlittle hot water pots with
instant coffee, but thisparticular one also had an
espresso machine.
I was very excited about thatas well.
So you'll notice that theamenities are different in all
the hotels.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Now a lot of people do ask me are the hotels air
conditioned in the summer?
Are they hip heat in the winter?
Are they hip-heat in the winter?
Things like that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Both.
Yeah they're both AC and also,of course, heat, because Ireland
does get a little nippy.
So, yes, it was very, verycomfortable.
I actually.
It was so beautiful, I justopened my window, I didn't turn
on any.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
AC.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
It was so beautiful outside in the evening time For
me, you know, being a Floridagirl, and again you were there
in early spring Exactly, so itwould be a little chilly and a
little warm, but the sun wasprobably shining on and off,
exactly so.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
I just opened my window at night and left the
windows open and it wasbeautiful.
Yeah, beautiful temperatures.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, open, and it was beautiful.
Yeah, beautiful temperatures,yeah, that's good.
So I like to hear that.
Now, what else did the ViennaWoods offer to you?
We?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
had a great dinner At the hotel.
At the hotel we had a wonderful, wonderful dinner, wonderful,
wonderful.
Yeah, it was really really gooddinner, and they kind of had a
set menu for us and a privatedining room for us, because we
were a group, you were a crowd,yes.
So then we had the owner of theVienna Woods.
He actually came out,introduced himself to everybody.
(16:24):
Yes, which he typically does forall of our groups.
And he also showed us he won acompetition for an Irish coffee
competition, really, it wasapparently a national, european
competition and he won.
And so we stood there, took thetime to show us how to make an
original Irish coffee, realIrish coffee, a real Irish
(16:45):
coffee.
How was it?
I again not a big whiskeydrinker, not a big whiskey
drinker, but it was justabsolutely amazing.
And there is actually a certainway to put the cream on the top
right, because you don't wantit to seep through the cough
right.
It has to stand on the coughright, you know.
(17:05):
So it was just, it wasabsolutely wonderful, wonderful.
And it was so nice for him totake the time to show us that,
you know, and then have awonderful dinner that evening.
And the service was amazing.
They had a banquet area, justwonderful.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Now, again, this meal was included in the tour.
Yeah, that's great.
I mean, people can eat, theycan go travel and it's all
included.
And, naturally, if they wantsomething different, they can
call a travel advisor and say,hey, listen, I want to do this,
but I don't want to do that.
I want to do this, I want to dothat.
And they can actually createCeltic tours, can create their
(17:42):
own personalized tour for them,yep.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yep, I love that.
I love that.
It's great.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So now you're telling me all about the hotel.
What about CORE?
What's?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
going on in CORE so unfortunately that evening I did
not get to see C.
We wanted more informationabout what we saw the next day.
Hang on a minute.
Hang on a minute.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
It was the end of our day.
So did you have a lot of traveladvisors running around town?
Well, I didn't go hunting themdown.
After you, have an Irish coffeethat makes you nice and mellow,
puts you in a nice, relaxedmood.
Now Cork is that a big city?
Speaker 3 (18:14):
It's not overly big.
No, it was actually a very nice, you know, small.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Walkable.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Yeah, walkable.
And all of our hotels.
We tried to put them citycenter Right so that you can
walk anywhere that you'd like.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
So if somebody is like me, I'm up all hours of the
night and sometimes, you know,after dinner I just want to take
a stroll yeah, so it's a goodway of burning off calories and
take a stroll and see the sights.
Yeah, absolutely, and that'sreally good.
Now, that was a long day.
It was a long day Waterford inthe morning, cove in the
afternoon, and then Cork in theevening.
(18:49):
And now you're going to besetting him for day four.
I know Day four is coming.
Day four is coming, so now giveus a teaser.
Where are we on?
Day four is coming.
Day four is coming, so now giveus a teaser.
Where are we on day four?
So?
Speaker 3 (19:01):
on day four we are actually in Cork, of course, so
I'll tell you a little bit moreabout Cork, and then Killarney.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Oh, killarney, killarney, Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
So I can't English.
You know Exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Killarney.
So that's all happening on dayfour.
Yes, they're Irish, you knowExactly.
So that's all happening on dayfour.
So now if people are interestedin going on a Celtic tour, they
can actually contact theirtravel advisor and say I heard
about all these wonderful placesin Ireland I want to go see and
I heard about it from CelticTours, and their travel advisor
can contact Celtic Tours andCeltic Tours has a very easy
(19:37):
email and they have a very easywebsite and what's the website?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
The website is wwwceltictourscom.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Now can they call their travel advisor and the
travel advisor can actuallycontact Celtic Tours and say I
have a client that wants to dothis, this, this and this.
Yes, and you have peoplestanding by saying, okay, we're
ready, we can put them on.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yes, we actually have somebody who will answer the
phone immediately.
Oh, phones, people on phones,what is?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
that, well, we'll look at going online and they
can actually go onlinethemselves, look at the website
and see what's out there andthen call their travel advisor
and say you know, I've seen thisand this is what I want.
So it makes it very easy, verysimple.
Yeah, well, diana, I can't waitto hear about day four.
Thank you for stopping in today, and I will see you next time
(20:26):
Sounds good.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Thanks again for having me.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Well, that's it for today's episode of the Z
Michelson Travel Podcast.
I hope you enjoyed our journeyand found some new inspiration
for your next adventure.
Enjoyed our journey and foundsome 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
(20:51):
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 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):
Well, welcome to day three of Diana's trip to Ireland
.
Diana, welcome back, Thank you.
And how are we going tocelebrate day three in Ireland?
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Waterford, waterford, crystal, yeah, coe.
And then we end our day in Cork.
And in Cork, yes, that's a longday it is Okay, so start me out
.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
We get up in the morning, you're getting
breakfast.
Everybody's kind of meandering.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Exactly so, I think, when we left off in Kilkenny,
correct?
Correct, so we get up the nextmorning, of course, you know,
from our hotel and we have anamazing breakfast again and we
leave all of our luggage outside.
That's something that we do aswell.
We leave our luggage outside sothat our driver can go ahead
and take it up and put it intothe bus and while we're enjoying
(01:42):
a beautiful breakfast, and thenafter breakfast, we all load up
on the motor coach and we wereheading to Waterford.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Waterford, very gorgeous crystal.
I have some Waterford crystal.
I have to admit, yeah, I do too.
I do too.
Now I have more.
Now I have more.
So how long did it take here onthe bus?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
So it was a little bit of a drive.
It was probably about an hour.
It wasn't too far.
An hour, an hour and a half,that's not bad, it's not bad at
all.
And of course, the sceneryalong the way, the Irish scenery
was beautiful.
And our driver guide, who isthe same person you know, our
driver guide Mickey, he was justso wonderful and he's telling
(02:24):
us all these different storiesalong the way.
He's telling us about thefairies, the Irish fairies that
they believe in but they don'tbelieve in, you know, and the
history of them.
So you get so much history andyou learn so much along the way
because he's just sharing all ofthese stories with you.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So the driver is actually part of the trip.
Absolutely, he becomes one withyou guys.
You travel with him.
He knows everybody by name bynow, yeah, and he can tell
stories.
He's probably from the region.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
He is yeah, he's from Ireland.
He is from there, so he wasborn and raised and he knows
everything there is to knowabout everything.
Any location that you go to oranything that you're looking for
, he can actually help you withas well.
So if you get to a certain cityand you're looking for
something specific, just ask him.
He'll be able to help you withthat Well that's great.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Yeah, because that's kind of a neat thing to know
that the driver is with you allthe way and he's able to tell
you what's going on and whereyou're going and kind of give
you a little backstory to things, which makes it more fun.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yes, and mickey is filled with lots of jokes.
Lots of jokes, irish jokes ordad jokes, some of them.
You know some of our irish,irish dad jokes, right, yeah, he
makes the trip fun that's good.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, so now you got to waterford and everybody kind
of gets off the bus.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So we go ahead and we get to waterford and we of
course you know we stop ofcourse at the House of Waterford
.
That's the reason why westopped there.
And the House of Waterford wasactually established in 1783 by
George and William Penrose andthey started manufacturing flint
glass in Waterford.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Do you know what flint?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
glass is Flint.
Glass is a mineral glass.
It actually comes from, likeFlint, the mineral Flint.
Okay, so yeah so it's actuallya mineral glass, and then they
kind of went from there and theybuilt their legacy off of this
little store, this littlemanufacturing store in Waterford
Crystal, and that's kind of howit grew Now.
(04:24):
Is it still family owned?
It is not.
It has changed hands.
It is no longer family owned.
But when you go in to WaterfordCrystal, of course we did a
full tour.
That was also included in ourpackage.
We did a full tour and it was awalking tour and you had a guide
who actually walked you throughthe entire factory.
And you stop along the way andyou get to see the different
(04:44):
techniques, from the lastblowing, the actual glass
cutting to pressing of the glass, to the details in some of, for
example, the trophies, some ofthe trophies that are given at
golf tournaments, at basketballtournaments and things like that
, so you get to see the detailthat actually goes into it and
(05:04):
you're there live watching thesepeople actually do these things
.
It was just a wonderful,wonderful process to watch and
to actually experience and seehow they do all of this from the
heat of the glass all the waythrough the creation till the
very very end, when they sell it.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, where they sell it.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Exactly.
It's just a great, greatprocess and they walk you
through that entire thing that'snice.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So you were brought over there.
You were able to see the entireway of blowing glass and
creating these beautiful crystalpieces, and then, of course,
you can go shopping Right Ofcourse.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Where do they dump you?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
no-transcript.
Exactly, you do Mail service.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah, and they have, which is what I bought when I
was there.
I bought some whiskey glassesthat have a distinctive pattern.
That was just done for thatarea of Waterford, so you can
only purchase it there, at thatstore, and that's what I like,
because I won't be able to findthat anywhere else you can find.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Waterford crystals everywhere.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
But that was unique to the area.
And of course they have, youknow, different Christmas
ornaments every year, and I'm aChristmas ornament girl.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I have to get a Christmas ornament everywhere.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
I don't know so of course I had to get a Christmas
ornament everywhere I don't know.
So of course I had to get myChristmas ornament as well,
naturally Before that particularyear.
Well, that was fun too.
They also had jewelry.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Oh wow, jewelry, Jewelry.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Silver I got a silver pottery.
You got a pottery, that's notgood, I mean, you know.
So I mean, as I say, it's a bitof you know one thing, yeah, so
that's very nice.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Now, how long did that take you to go through A
couple hours?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Oh, okay, because by the time you go through the tour
and then they give you sometime to shop.
Right, and you didn't want toshop.
You can actually wander thelittle area right there where
they had some cafes If you wantto get a little nosh.
You know something to eat theyhad some cafes and then you get
back on the motorcoachEverybody's back on the
(07:30):
motorcoach Now.
Some of our tours do include,of course, stops in Waterford,
where they stay the night, andthey have some amazing, amazing,
beautiful hotels in Waterford.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So if they want to stay longer, that's something
that can be prepared by thetravel advisor to say okay,
where do you want to go?
How long do you want to stay?
Yeah, that's nice too.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, and they can stay right there in Waterford
and, as I mentioned, it's areally beautiful town and it's
the oldest city in Ireland, theoldest city in.
Ireland.
The oldest city in Ireland, Iwouldn't have thought that, yeah
, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
That's interesting In and of itself.
So you were there for a coupleof hours meandering and looking
at how to make crystal andshopping, and now you got on the
bus and you're going to thenext town called Cove Cove.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yes, so the heritage of Cove is.
It used to be spelled C-O-V.
Then it actually becameQueenstown and I think a lot of
people might know Queenstownfrom back when all of the
immigrants actually left Ireland, ireland, queenstown, where the
ships left the shipway.
Yeah Well, after Queenstown,after all the immigrants.
(08:37):
They decided to change it backto Cove, but it's spelled the
Celtic way C-O-B.
Yeah, instead of C-O-V it'sspelled C-O-B-H.
Yeah, h, h correct.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Okay, now, speaking of that, when I was overseas and
I was over there, you would seeeverything in English and you
would see everything in Celticspelling.
People were afraid that wewouldn't understand people, but
everybody speaks English.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So we have to let people knowyeah, they do speak English.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, so we haveto let people know yeah, they
(09:09):
do speak English.
Oh yeah, some of them do have abigger, broken other.
Absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah,but you know, you can
communicate very easily.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Oh, yeah, the.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Irish are friendly.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
They are very friendly people.
Very, very friendly, and youdon't find a lot of people
actually speaking Gaelic.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
No, this cold.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
So, yeah, it was, we stopped at the Heritage Center.
It talks about all about theQueenstown story Because, again,
as I mentioned, Queenstown wasthe name of the pier there.
That city where all of theseimmigrants left.
So the story of about 3 millionpeople leaving from the port
(10:06):
there, traveling all over theworld Virginia, New England,
Barbados, Jamaica, Australia.
I had no idea they went toAustralia and, of course, New
York City.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
You know where a lot of our.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Irish friends live.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So it tells the stories of these immigrants, and
what's really, really nice isthat you also are given when you
get your ticket, you're givinga person or a family to follow.
Oh cool, yeah, so you find outtheir story of how they left.
Now, most people left duringthe potato famine.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
The potato famine.
Yeah, the 1800s Exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Exactly, and that's when most people left, because
they were just starving, theyneeded to go find something else
.
So you get to actually followthe family and see where the
family landed.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Oh, where they wound up.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
And what ship they went on.
How exciting, because therewere so many different ships
that went out of Queenstown, soyou got to experience that
family.
So as you're walking throughthe Heritage Center, you're
looking for your family or thatperson.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That's fun.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, so it's really really a lot of fun and then you
get to see and follow.
You know what happened to themwhen they landed where they
landed.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
That's such a great history lesson for kids too, you
know, when they're learningabout all the different places,
it's kind of nice.
It gives them a moreinteractive way of learning.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Yeah, and of course it, you know, follows a lot of
the ships Right, the Australiaships with the prisoners.
Most of the prisoners went toAustralia.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Right, they went to Australia.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
It was a colony, exactly, and they weren't even
prisoners.
They weren't even prisonersthat did something horribly
wrong.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
They may have sold a loaf of bread, you know, and
they were sent to AustraliaRight.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
And then, of course, the telling of the stories of
the two most biggest shipdisasters of the 20th century,
and of course that was theLusitania.
The Lusitania and of course,the most famous.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
The.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Titanic.
Yeah, so, because that's wherethose people actually boarded
the Titanic actually left fromthat pier.
That was a major port.
It was, and there's actuallystill a piece of the pier right
around the corner from theHeritage Center that you can go
see.
That's still there.
Oh wow, they don't use it anylonger.
(12:25):
It's really old, you know andso, but it's just the history
there is really really fabulousand it's nice to see that.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Did you have somebody else talk you through?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Was there a guide in the Heritage Center?
No, it is actually a self-tour.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Self-tour.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Yeah so you walk yourself through.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
It's a self-paced tour.
We were there a couple of hours.
We were there a couple of hoursand then also at the Heritage
Center.
You can actually, if you'reinterested, hire a genealogist
for an hour.
And they'll follow.
They'll go ahead and trace downyour history of your own
personal heritage.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I didn't have enough time.
I wonder if they would do thatlong distance.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I don't know that they do it long distance because
the genealogist is actuallythere, actually, there, you know
, and you just set up theappointment With all the digital
that's going on.
Maybe you could email, but I doknow they had a few computers
set there.
There were four computers whereyou can go in and if you had a
heritage you can put in the lastname and it would give you some
of the heritage of that.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
That's pretty cool, very cool, very nice.
Yeah, so you were wanderingaround there and it's like a
different type of town.
It's a sea-bearing town, what?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
else did you do there ?
You know, honestly, I didn'thave enough time to do much of
anything.
I'm so engrossed in thecharacters that I didn't have
enough time.
You were following that familyand it took me a long time to
find them also and they actuallyended up.
The family I was following wasin Venezuela.
Oh, wow, yeah, yeah that's odd.
So it was very interesting.
(13:53):
There really wasn't too muchelse time-wise for me to follow.
It's a very, very small townbecause it is a port town, so
it's a very small town.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
So that was several hours there too, a couple hours.
So what time.
I mean.
You went to Waterford first,then you had a drive to Coates,
and now where?
Now, helen, our wedding is along journey, so far already.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I know, yeah, I think it was about 3 o'clock at this
point and then we went to Corkand we went to Cork that's where
we were going to lay our headsin Cork and we stayed at the
Vienna Wood.
I highly highly recommend thishotel.
It is one of our hotels that webook with our tours.
And it was beautiful, beautiful,great location, great place for
(14:35):
weddings.
The rooms were so nice andquaint.
One of the things that I'venoticed about a lot of the
hotels is the amenities arealways different in all of the
rooms.
I did mention, I think, in oneof our sessions.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
They all have hair dryers which I was very excited
about.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
However, some of them they all have also coffee
makers, but some of them have,like, an espresso machine, you
know, and some of them have justlittle hot water pots with
instant coffee, but thisparticular one also had an
espresso machine.
I was very excited about thatas well.
So you'll notice that theamenities are different in all
the hotels.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Now a lot of people do ask me are the hotels air
conditioned in the summer?
Are they hip heat in the winter?
Are they hip-heat in the winter?
Things like that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Both.
Yeah they're both AC and also,of course, heat, because Ireland
does get a little nippy.
So, yes, it was very, verycomfortable.
I actually.
It was so beautiful, I justopened my window, I didn't turn
on any.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
AC.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
It was so beautiful outside in the evening time For
me, you know, being a Floridagirl, and again you were there
in early spring Exactly, so itwould be a little chilly and a
little warm, but the sun wasprobably shining on and off,
exactly so.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
I just opened my window at night and left the
windows open and it wasbeautiful.
Yeah, beautiful temperatures.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, open, and it was beautiful.
Yeah, beautiful temperatures,yeah, that's good.
So I like to hear that.
Now, what else did the ViennaWoods offer to you?
We?
Speaker 3 (16:03):
had a great dinner At the hotel.
At the hotel we had a wonderful, wonderful dinner, wonderful,
wonderful.
Yeah, it was really really gooddinner, and they kind of had a
set menu for us and a privatedining room for us, because we
were a group, you were a crowd,yes.
So then we had the owner of theVienna Woods.
He actually came out,introduced himself to everybody.
(16:24):
Yes, which he typically does forall of our groups.
And he also showed us he won acompetition for an Irish coffee
competition, really, it wasapparently a national, european
competition and he won.
And so we stood there, took thetime to show us how to make an
original Irish coffee, realIrish coffee, a real Irish
(16:45):
coffee.
How was it?
I again not a big whiskeydrinker, not a big whiskey
drinker, but it was justabsolutely amazing.
And there is actually a certainway to put the cream on the top
right, because you don't wantit to seep through the cough
right.
It has to stand on the coughright, you know.
(17:05):
So it was just, it wasabsolutely wonderful, wonderful.
And it was so nice for him totake the time to show us that,
you know, and then have awonderful dinner that evening.
And the service was amazing.
They had a banquet area, justwonderful.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Now, again, this meal was included in the tour.
Yeah, that's great.
I mean, people can eat, theycan go travel and it's all
included.
And, naturally, if they wantsomething different, they can
call a travel advisor and say,hey, listen, I want to do this,
but I don't want to do that.
I want to do this, I want to dothat.
And they can actually createCeltic tours, can create their
(17:42):
own personalized tour for them,yep.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yep, I love that.
I love that.
It's great.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So now you're telling me all about the hotel.
What about CORE?
What's?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
going on in CORE so unfortunately that evening I did
not get to see C.
We wanted more informationabout what we saw the next day.
Hang on a minute.
Hang on a minute.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
It was the end of our day.
So did you have a lot of traveladvisors running around town?
Well, I didn't go hunting themdown.
After you, have an Irish coffeethat makes you nice and mellow,
puts you in a nice, relaxedmood.
Now Cork is that a big city?
Speaker 3 (18:14):
It's not overly big.
No, it was actually a very nice, you know, small.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Walkable.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Yeah, walkable.
And all of our hotels.
We tried to put them citycenter Right so that you can
walk anywhere that you'd like.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
So if somebody is like me, I'm up all hours of the
night and sometimes, you know,after dinner I just want to take
a stroll yeah, so it's a goodway of burning off calories and
take a stroll and see the sights.
Yeah, absolutely, and that'sreally good.
Now, that was a long day.
It was a long day Waterford inthe morning, cove in the
afternoon, and then Cork in theevening.
(18:49):
And now you're going to besetting him for day four.
I know Day four is coming.
Day four is coming, so now giveus a teaser.
Where are we on?
Day four is coming.
Day four is coming, so now giveus a teaser.
Where are we on day four?
So?
Speaker 3 (19:01):
on day four we are actually in Cork, of course, so
I'll tell you a little bit moreabout Cork, and then Killarney.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Oh, killarney, killarney, Okay.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
So I can't English.
You know Exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Killarney.
So that's all happening on dayfour.
Yes, they're Irish, you knowExactly.
So that's all happening on dayfour.
So now if people are interestedin going on a Celtic tour, they
can actually contact theirtravel advisor and say I heard
about all these wonderful placesin Ireland I want to go see and
I heard about it from CelticTours, and their travel advisor
can contact Celtic Tours andCeltic Tours has a very easy
(19:37):
email and they have a very easywebsite and what's the website?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
The website is wwwceltictourscom.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Now can they call their travel advisor and the
travel advisor can actuallycontact Celtic Tours and say I
have a client that wants to dothis, this, this and this.
Yes, and you have peoplestanding by saying, okay, we're
ready, we can put them on.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yes, we actually have somebody who will answer the
phone immediately.
Oh, phones, people on phones,what is?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
that, well, we'll look at going online and they
can actually go onlinethemselves, look at the website
and see what's out there andthen call their travel advisor
and say you know, I've seen thisand this is what I want.
So it makes it very easy, verysimple.
Yeah, well, diana, I can't waitto hear about day four.
Thank you for stopping in today, and I will see you next time
(20:26):
Sounds good.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Thanks again for having me.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Well, that's it for today's episode of the Z
Michelson Travel Podcast.
I hope you enjoyed our journeyand found some new inspiration
for your next adventure.
Enjoyed our journey and foundsome 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
(20:51):
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 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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