Introduction to Z Michelson Travel Podcast

Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome to the Z Michelson Travel Podcast, where every journey is a story waiting to be told. I'm your host, z Michelson, and I'm so excited to take you on a ride through the world's most incredible destinations, hidden gems and unforgettable experiences. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just starting to plan your next getaway, you're in the right place. Each episode, we'll be diving into everything from must-see landmarks to off-the-beaten-path treasures, speaking with locals and travel experts and sharing stories that will inspire your next adventure. So sit back, relax and let's wander the world together, one destination at a time. Are you ready? Let's get started. Hi, this is Zee Michelson, and I'm here with Diana again from Celtic.

Speaker 2 0:54

Tours, and we are still traveling around. This is day five now of your wonderful trip to Ireland, diana welcome back.

Speaker 3 1:03

Thanks, Zee. Thanks again for having me. It's fun being here.

Speaker 2 1:07

It's a lot of fun listening to the stories of everything that you've done in a very short amount of time. Yeah, yeah, very short amount of time. So, as I said, this is day five. Now day five. Where are we so?

Speaker 3 1:20

we are traveling from Killarney to Galway and we make so many stops on the plane. How long is that? It's not very long. It's probably about an hour. Okay, yeah, it's not long at all, but it seemed like forever only because we made so many stops along the way.

Speaker 2 1:38

Well, that's what you want to do. Some people say they're only going once, but I know for a fact when people go overseas, they say this is my only time, and then a year later, they're making plans to go again. This is so much more to see there, really is Tell me about Killarney.

Speaker 3 1:54

So well, we actually already told.

Speaker 1 1:56

I think we talked about Killarney a little bit, a little bit, just a tad.

Speaker 3 2:01

So what we basically did is we left and we started heading north to Galway and we stopped at some of the cities along the way. One of them was Adar. Adar, yeah.

Exploring Charming Adare Village

Speaker 3 2:10

Adar is this white little village and it was founded back in the 13th century and the village itself is so charming. It has a thatch roof housing oh the that, oh my gosh, so cute and a beautiful park right next to it where they host a lot of weddings. People actually come there just to get married. It was just such a quaint little town. Churches, there's boutiques, craft shops, there's award-winning restaurants, all in this little town. There's over 20 walking trails and 20 golf courses in the area as well, in this little town, in this little town of Adar. Yeah, I guess it's really it doesn't. When you're there it seems little, but it must be a little bit larger than you know, than what I actually saw. But you were walking it. Well, I walked just the downtown area, yeah, with all the boutiques and the fatch roof houses, and it was just so.

Speaker 2 3:05

When you think of Ireland, you think of the thatch roof.

Speaker 3 3:08

Yes, yeah.

Speaker 2 3:10

I always wonder do they leak? But?

Speaker 3 3:14

they never do.

Speaker 2 3:16

I don't think they do.

Speaker 3 3:17

Actually they, I mean they keep these houses original so you can actually see them and you can go in them. And I've also found out that the Ryder Cup is going to be in Adar for 2027, the Ryder Cup, which is a huge golf tournament. So that's going to be fabulous for this little town that's in 2027.

Speaker 2 3:38

2027. Is Celtic Tourist going to have any leeway in getting? We're working on it we're working on it Inside tip, inside tip. Hopefully, Fingers are crossed.

Speaker 3 3:49

Yeah, so you need to start planning now, because 2027 is just around the corner.

Speaker 2 3:53

Just around the corner and people do like to go to these things.

Speaker 3 3:56

It is yes, yes, they do yeah.

Speaker 2 3:59

So, other than walking around and shopping in Adair, what else did you do there?

Speaker 3 4:04

That was pretty much it, because again we made stops along the way.

Speaker 2 4:08

Right On our way to Galway. Right.

Speaker 3 4:09

And we had another stop to make after that.

Speaker 2 4:11

Whoa, so we're back on the bus, we're back on the bus on the motorcoach. What was next?

Business Hub of Limerick

Speaker 3 4:16

Limerick, oh, limerick, limerick. We stopped in Limerick and we sat for tea, afternoon tea at the Absolute Hotel. Was it high tea? It was afternoon tea.

Speaker 3 4:29

Afternoon tea Okay, it was afternoon tea and Limerick. I never thought, really didn't know much about Limerick and I still don't know a lot, but it was nice to know. It's a very, very business central town so a lot of people come there to do business. It's a very, very business central town, so a lot of people come there to do business. There's a lot of businesses that are located in Limerick.

Speaker 2 4:50

What kind of businesses Like industrial.

Speaker 3 4:53

No, no, technological. Technological, yeah, technological businesses Non-industrial, which again I had no idea when you think Limerick, because it's not a really, really big city. But yeah, there was a lot of technological things that we were saying.

Speaker 2 5:11

I know that word is a hard one. You know business was there, yeah. So now you stopped for tea there? We did, and what was the hotel we did.

Speaker 3 5:17

It was the Absolute Hotel. Absolute, yeah, great location. It was within walking distance of almost everything. We kind of just did a quick little tour of the hotel and walked around and then, you know, after our tea and our scones with cream filling you know, because those are amazing. We jumped back on the motor coach and we started heading again a little bit further north and we had a surprise stop, a surprise stop. Yeah, our Mickey. I think I mentioned Mickey, right, he's amazing. He's very popular in this podcast.

Speaker 1 5:54

Yes, he is, he is.

Surprise Visit to St. Bridget's Well

Speaker 3 5:56

Mickey is our amazing, amazing tour guide and also our bus driver, our motor coach driver. He made a surprise stop at St Bridget's Well and this is actually located in the green hills of County Kildare. And I don't know if anybody knows about St Bridget's Well, but it's supposed to have healing powers, so it's a natural spring and it's woven with centuries of belief of these healing powers and it has stand at the testament of time. So there's a big, beautiful statue of saint bridget there and when you go into the cave itself, the little well area cave, you'll see all kinds of things that were left off the land, like people that's offering offerings, exactly that people left for St Bridget.

Speaker 3 6:47

And then you can actually drink from the well.

Speaker 1 6:49

Did you drink? I did, I did.

Speaker 3 6:52

You can drink from it and you can also take it with you. Well, so Mickey went ahead and offered some bottles for everybody, you know, and so we could fill these bottles and take this water from this well with us. And is it supposed to be like the healing? Well, yeah, yeah, it's supposed to be healing, have healing powers. And this is in what town? And this is actually. It's in the Green Hills. It's not in a town, it's like in the hills of County Kildare. It was kind of like a side trip.

Speaker 3 7:21

Yeah, yeah hills of County Kildare. It was kind of like a side trip, yeah yeah, and it must have been very pretty. It was really nice. And the view from there, the view overlooking the hill because you're at the top of the hill the view extraordinary, absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 2 7:33

Yeah, I got some great pictures there. That's cool, very nice, very nice.

Speaker 3 7:37

So you drank from the well, so you're very healthy now I was, you know, so I haven't gotten sick, so that's a good thing.

Speaker 2 7:46

Well, that was a nice little surprise, stop.

Speaker 3 7:48

Yeah, it was really, really beautiful and, for anybody who doesn't know, there's a St Bridget's cross. St Bridget actually used to make these crosses that were woven. And she would sell them, or actually give them, not sell them, but she would actually give them to people.

Speaker 2 8:07

And it's supposed to be for luck and prosperity. Yeah, yes, I know I have St Bridget's cross over my door.

Speaker 3 8:13

I have a St Bridget's cross also that I actually wear in jewelry because you know I like jewelry Right.

Speaker 2 8:19

You do go to jewelry shops. I do, I do, I do, I do so. Wow, so you, you actually got to see that. And again, that's something that's nice about Celtic tours the drivers are with you the whole way and you get to know them, they get to know you, they know the routes, they know the area, they know where the little secrets are hidden. They can, can, actually show people, yeah.

Speaker 3 8:43

And that makes it better. I mean, it really does make it nice because he does know all of our drivers do know all of these places. When there's time they don't tell you you know, because sometimes the time runs out or things like that, so they don't want to make promises, obviously, that they can't keep, but when there's time they'll do these little stops, like we went to Shaw's Bar one time, right. It was just a great experience and I'm so glad that I was able to go.

Speaker 2 9:07

Yeah that sounds amazing. So now you have your little bottles of water and you guys are on the road again On the road again. So where are we going?

The Majestic Cliffs of Moher

Speaker 3 9:15

Our next stop, the Cliffs of Moher. Oh, the Cliffs of Moher, the Cliffs of Moher, yeah, the cliffs of Moher. This is the second time I've been to the cliffs of Moher and it's so unpredictable because it's high elevation.

Speaker 2 9:28

It's very high.

Speaker 3 9:29

Yeah, the elevation is like 700 feet.

Speaker 1 9:32

And it overlooks the water and it overlooks the Atlantic coastline. Yeah.

Speaker 3 9:36

And it's just a beautiful, beautiful sight. And they're so large and you can walk around everywhere in the cliffs area.

Speaker 2 9:44

Most of what you're doing is a lot of walking. It is so again packed comfortable shoes for walking. Yeah, A major, major thing.

Speaker 3 9:51

Yeah, so the first time I was there, the winds were really, really strong, so I was really hoping for a great day. But again, ireland weather we kind of talked about it unpredictable.

Speaker 3 10:01

It's an island, so it's very unpredictable. So we get there, I get off the motor coach, the wind is blowing me, it's blowing me. Then we get a hailstorm. Oh no, the hailstorm only lasted about five minutes. Oh, that's good. Then it went away. Yeah, but then it went away and everybody was able to go out to the cliffs and see the blitz. So don't be upset if all of a sudden you get some rain or you get a hailstorm or something like that, because again the weather blows over. It was still windy, but it was still beautiful.

Speaker 2 10:30

And it has some great pictures Packing for something like going to Ireland. You need to have I call them like windbreaker jackets. You know, something that can handle the wind, can handle the rain, a little bit warmer but also light enough that you can take it off. Yeah, yeah, everybody should invest in that.

Speaker 3 10:48

Especially and I think we talked about this before Z that you just check the weather Check the weather like a week before, but again it's very unpredictable.

Speaker 3 10:57

So a light rain jacket, like you said, something that you can kind of take on and off Right. I wouldn't bring an umbrella in because it won't last in some of those winds, you know. No, it doesn't, and that's all I did. I actually I'm a Florida girl so I can hold very quickly. So I brought a parka right and I had my little waterproof parka and it worked perfectly.

Speaker 2 11:18

I made the mistake of bringing a small umbrella. I think you know those are the ones that are small, small and small. You put them in your back pocket and I used it. I didn't lose the umbrella, but it really didn't do me any good, yeah it's no good.

Speaker 3 11:33

I can't tell you how many umbrellas I've just seen go shoot. I'm gone, it's gone.

Speaker 2 11:37

Yeah, I had it, but with the wind blowing it didn't make a difference the rain was hitting me from my neck down.

Speaker 3 11:43

Yeah, yeah, it's just again, it's an island, it's unpredictable. So because the Cliffs of Loire?

Speaker 2 11:50

are more of a cliff and it's more wandering around and looking at the sights and taking pictures. Did you stay there very?

Speaker 3 11:57

long. We were actually there a couple hours, because they do have a visitor center.

Speaker 1 12:01

Oh, do they?

Speaker 3 12:02

Yeah. And inside the visitor center you can learn all about the history of the cliffs. Oh, nice, yeah. And then they also have a restaurant there, a cafe where you can get something nice. I had a bowl of soup while.

Speaker 1 12:14

I was there. That would make sense.

Speaker 3 12:15

It was a little cold, so I had a bowl of soup while I waited for the storm to pass over. So there was a visitor center in there. It's not like you see the clips and say, okay, you're done.

Speaker 2 12:26

You can go into the visitor center and explore a little bit. That's kind of nice too, because some people want to do more wandering, Some people want to take a break, so that makes it nice too.

Speaker 3 12:32

And admission. We take care of admission for you. It's included in your package.

Speaker 2 12:36

I love it, that's always great to know that these places are being included.

Speaker 3 12:41

Yeah, yeah, they're included. Included, Everything was included. So now you got back on the bus we have to be quick, so we got back on that motor coach yeah, we've been headed on over to Galway again, heading a little bit more north, and then we stopped through this little town called Liz DuVarna and I think that man mentioned it in one of my other podcasts with you.

Speaker 2 13:05

Liz DuVarna mentioned it in one of my other podcasts with you this Jibana is where they have the matchmaking festival.

Speaker 3 13:09

Yes, you did September 1st through September 30th, and Mr Willie Daly is there at the matchmaking bar, so we didn't stop, we just kind of drove through it. But I got a picture of the matchmaking bar. I got my own picture, because I didn't have my own picture of it. So I was able to get a picture of the matchmaking bar.

Speaker 2 13:26

But you did talk about it.

Speaker 3 13:27

Yeah, and see the town where this festival, this matchmaking festival, is held.

Speaker 2 13:32

Right, and that cracks me up every time I hear it. It's a matchmaking festival.

Speaker 1 13:35

Yeah.

Speaker 2 13:36

I know, I know, but in the Irish are all about fun. They are, they are. They like to have a good time. This is what they do. They sing, they dance, they enjoy life.

Speaker 3 13:45

Yeah, and that's nice. A lot of people swear by the Matchmaking Festival.

Speaker 1 13:49

There's a lot of matches that have been made, you know the old legend.

Speaker 3 13:53

Ireland is all about legends, and the old legend is they put your hand on Mr Willie D book thing where he has his matches. He'll be married in six months, so that's the trick. I think that would be an amazing, amazing solo trip for a group of women, just to have fun, yeah, and if you make your future match.

Speaker 2 14:13

Oh, of course, Celtic Tours can do that for you. So if you're looking for your match, celtic Tours can help you In Ireland, in Lizzie Varda.

Speaker 3 14:24

So as we went through there again, we didn't stop, we just kind of went through. And then we get to Galway and we did a brief little city tour around Galway. It was just a brief little drive around, so you can kind of see.

Speaker 2 14:36

Galway.

Speaker 3 14:36

You got off the motor coaster. No we didn't get off Again. Mickey kind of just rode around and just showed us a little bit of Galway Right Before we actually got to our hotel. And that evening everybody had free time. So we all ventured out, we all ventured out.

Speaker 2 14:54

Did you venture out as a group?

Speaker 3 14:56

Everybody kind of went a separate direction.

Speaker 2 14:57

Some of us ventured out together. What hotel did you stay in? In Galway, we stayed at the Ardalan A-R-D-I-L-A-N-A-N.

Speaker 3 15:03

Forgive me if I'm butchering that. Ardalan, I think, is what it's called. Okay, yeah, and it was a very, very nice hotel. Again, it's one of the ones that we use while we're in Galway, quite often this is one of the list.

Speaker 2 15:22

Give us an idea of the ambience of that hotel, was it?

Speaker 3 15:25

high end.

Speaker 2 15:26

Right Because again.

Speaker 3 15:28

Ireland is more about the casual you know the casual feel, but you walk in it's beautiful, beautiful lobby area. They did have, of course, a pub right there. Oh, of course there's a pub right there that's part of the hotel. The rooms were beautiful, nice, oversized room for just me. So I was yeah, it was very very nice Rooms are nice. Yeah, air conditioning, all of the above Meat, didn't have to use the air.

Speaker 2 15:56

Didn't have to use the air, but they do have it available.

Speaker 3 15:59

Yeah they do, yeah, they do that's good.

Speaker 2 16:02

Because people are always worried when they go out of the country. Am I going to have running water? Am I going to have a toilet? Am I going to have a shower, right, am I going to have air conditioning? Because we are kind of spoiled, we all have air conditioning, okay. So a lot of places in Europe don't have it, but every place that you've gone so far has heat there.

Speaker 3 16:21

Yep, yep. Like I said, I know they have heat.

Speaker 1 16:25

Yes, there was a little goal.

Speaker 2 16:26

A little nippy that day, yeah.

Speaker 3 16:27

But typically they also have AC.

Speaker 2 16:30

Now you went to a restaurant. You guys went out to dinner.

Speaker 3 16:33

I did, I went. So we were going to go to this restaurant. That was recommended. However, they were closed because they were supposed to have some of the best fish and chips in town. Oh, no, and you know me and my fish and chips, so we ended up going to the Quail, which is also a very popular restaurant, and I had fish and chips. They were really, really good. Now, was this included with the trip? This was separate because we did have a night free.

Speaker 2 16:55

So we all kind of ventured off on our own.

Speaker 3 16:58

And dinner was on our own.

Speaker 2 16:59

For that particular evening. So you found the Quail restaurant and you had fish and chips at the.

Speaker 3 17:03

Quail had fish and chips and of course, I had to walk around after fish and chips, right. So according to where our hotel was located, it was a little bit of a walk. So, we stayed a little bit longer. I was with a couple of people. We ended up staying a little longer and taking a taxi back to our hotel.

Speaker 1 17:21

Yeah, so it wasn't within walking distance.

Speaker 3 17:23

But it was still. It was pretty easy to get to. So we walked around and I came across the original shop where the clatter ring was. Oh, the clatter ring, yep, in Galway. That's where it actually originated.

Speaker 2 17:35

Now, we were just talking off mic before about how many different folklore, how much different stories are behind the clatter ring. The legends, yeah, but even though they have so many different legends, the symbolism behind the ring is all the same. Yes, and that symbolism?

Speaker 3 17:51

is so you have two hands that are put together around the heart. Right, that is for friendship. Right, the heart is for, obviously, love. No, and then the crown that's on the top of it is for loyalty, woo-woo, right.

Speaker 2 18:07

So that's what the clatter means? Yeah, that's what the clatter means. Right, and they have the different sayings, like if you wear the heart in towards you or out towards you, there's different ways of doing it. Yeah, and on the left hand, on the right hand All sorts of different folk lore behind the clatter ring yeah there are. There are, and it's a nice ring and you did buy one on this past trip. Yes, you did I did, of course.

Speaker 3 18:32

I bought a St Bridget's cross and I bought a yep and I got a clodder ring, you're a shopper, I am, I am. You know, that's why I like to explore all these little cities.

Speaker 2 18:45

So now this one's day five, yes, yes, okay. Now on day six, were you coming home on day six? No, we have one more day.

Speaker 3 18:51

I've got one more day to tell you fabulous remember I went in a day early and by myself so even though the tour was only five might six days, I again I went in a day early which I highly highly recommend to anybody and we can do that for you yeah, if you want to, went in a day early, which I highly highly recommend to anybody, and we can do that for you.

Speaker 3 19:09

If you want to come in a day early before the tour, and that way it begins to jet lag and things like that. Sometimes your plane is late.

Speaker 2 19:16

Yeah, exactly, you don't want to miss a tour.

Speaker 3 19:19

So I did come in a day early and I think I mentioned in the first podcast for this tour that we had to transfer. And then I went to the hotel. I did a lot of walking that day. I walked all the way to the place and then the very next day.

Speaker 2 19:31

It sounds like you do a lot of walking every day. I do, I do. That's something that people need to know. There's a lot of walking when you go on these tours. Wear comfortable shoes, comfortable clothes, make sure you dress in layers. These are some of the things that you really need to know when you go over there and even if you don't want to do a lot of walking, you can do your own thing.

Speaker 3 19:52

If you don't want to go with the tour guide because we do have sometimes tour guides at each location you do not have to stay with them. You can get off the bus and just kind of casually walk around. Just say, okay, we're going to be back here in a certain time and just make sure you stay in touch with your driver, Exactly exactly.

Speaker 2 20:09

Your driver knows what you're doing a little bit, and they can inform you that the bus is leaving at such and such a time.

Speaker 3 20:16

Exactly right, exactly right we don't want anybody to feel like it has to do every single thing, and there are a lot of people who don't want to do the drivers. They want to go and explore themselves, and that's perfectly fine. This is your vacation.

Speaker 2 20:31

I remember you saying that about Blarney Castle. You did not go up that time to go kiss the stone I didn't, but you had stayed in the little town of Blarney and you did some exploring on your own and some shopping yeah.

Speaker 3 20:42

And some more shopping. Yeah, I did.

Speaker 2 20:48

So is that?

Speaker 3 20:48

the end of your day, you had dinner. That was it. At the end of the day, we walked around and took a cab back to our hotel. And I was exhausted because that was a pretty busy day. That was a long day. It was a busy day.

Speaker 2 21:00

There was so much included in that day. I mean that's amazing, yeah, and people get to see a lot. And again, it is a short trip. It's five nights, six days. You know they can go right to their travel advisor and say you know, I want to do this one. You know, I want to do a five-nighter, and travel advisor can contact Celtic Tours and they will get everything set up for them and they can even add more to it or take away from it. There's so many different things that Celtic Choice does.

Celtic Tours Travel Options

Speaker 3 21:28

That's a nice thing that we have so many options for all of your clients, anybody who wants to travel over there. We have so many options, anywhere from five nights escorted to a nine-night escorted Right, and we do different regions. We just have one that just does the north area, you know. Derry and Belfast, so we have all different types of options for your clients.

Speaker 2 21:52

And your website is very simple to get to. The website is wwwdickforscom. That's easy and I know for a fact. Going on the website, they can actually see all the different things that are offered Yep and then, if you don't see what you want, something can be created for them.

Speaker 3 22:10

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's the best. If you're not interested in doing an escorted tour and you want to do your own thing, we have self-drive packages. We have chauffeur drives if you want to do a private chauffeur drive, and then we also do independent journeys, where we can put together something that incorporates, maybe, a rail with a transfer or a chauffeur and includes all the tours. So right. One of the things that I love about this company is the personalization that they can do and the customizing that they can do, not saying we can do everything, but we can do a lot.

Speaker 2 22:40

There's a lot, yeah, Fabulous. Now give us a teaser. What are we going to talk about on our next podcast?

Speaker 3 22:46

Next podcast we're going from Galway back to Dublin. Okay, so we're going to head back to Dublin, Back to Dublin, and I'm telling you, the stop at the New Bridge. It was absolutely amazing. That's all I'm going to say. That's all you're going to say, Yep?

Speaker 2 23:02

Well, thank you for that teaser and thank you for explaining all of these places that you've gone to. It sounds like an amazing, amazing tour, diana. Thank you once again. Thank you for coming and can't wait to hear about the next time. Thanks again, z Thanks.

Speaker 1 23:21

Well, that's it for today's episode of the Z Michelson Travel Podcast. I hope you enjoyed our journey and found some new inspiration for your next adventure. Remember, the world is full of stories and sometimes all it takes is a plane ticket to start your own adventure. If you loved today's episode, be sure to tune in every week and don't forget to share your favorite travel moments with me on social media. I'd really love to hear about where you're headed to next. So, until next time, keep exploring, keep discovering and, as always, keep traveling with your heart wide open. I'm Zee Michelson and I'll see you on the next adventure.