Zee Michaelson Travel
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Zee Michaelson Travel
Celtic Tours and Luxury Experiences with Diana
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.
Speaker 2:Hey, this is Zee Michelson again, and I am here with the lovely Diana from Celtic Tours, hey, diana, and you know, we're always talking about all the different things that Celtic Tours can do and where you can go. Celtic Tours is not only Ireland and Scotland and Ingram, but it does many, many other types of tours. But today we are going to be talking Ireland and we are going to be talking luxury in Ireland and a couple other fun things you brought to the table. So let's talk Ireland, let's talk luxury. Tell me about the luxurious experience you can have going to Ireland.
Speaker 3:Well, I think a lot of people think when you go to Ireland, you have to do escort tours or you have to do something, that where somebody's going to take you places. But you know there's so many luxury items to do and you don't have to go just to the Clos Amour, to the La Blanc Pins. There's so many different luxury experiences. So let's say, for example, you know you've got a family of four and you want to go and you want to do it right. This is your only time going to Ireland, so you want to do it right. So let's do a private chauffeur right.
Speaker 3:Private chauffeur, private chauffeur right, where we take you on scenic tours anywhere you want to go, you on scenic tours anywhere you want to go You're not on an escorted tour we will go ahead and put together an entire package, the entire itinerary for you. Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to experience. That could include, of course, culinary experiences, tailored different itineraries, golf or wellness festival. Also, we could offer all five-star accommodations, which include castle stays, boutique manors and luxury estates that you might not be able to get anywhere.
Speaker 2:Okay, so let's take it from the top. There's so much that you can do. So you have this nice shelter-driven. Now the same chauffeur is with you through the whole tour.
Speaker 3:Yes, the chauffeur is one of our chauffeurs and he is with you throughout the entire tour. Yes, the chauffeur is one of our chauffeurs and he is with you throughout the entire tour. What we would do is actually customize your itinerary for you, depending on what you want to do and the experience that you've been Okay.
Speaker 2:So if they want to stay in a castle for one night or they want to stay at a five-star one night, they can do all of that. So now they have their chauffeur, and of course, the chauffeur is part of Celtic Tourism. Yes, and they pretty much know the area. Yeah, they're well-educated, they know the area. Yeah, and most of the people when they go over there they say, well, I'm going over to Ireland and I don't want to just eat meat and potatoes. So with these luxury experiences, these people are going to see the culinary delicious meals that they can get. Oh, yes, so give us an example.
Speaker 3:Let me tell you I don't think a lot of people realize that Ireland has several Michigan star restaurants.
Speaker 2:Several, several, so they have several other. I mean, when people say Michelin restaurants, they don't realize that these restaurants are fabulous. They have unbelievable chefs there. They are Michelin chefs and they have unbelievable meals. They don't realize how much they can enjoy different delicacies over in Ireland.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so Michelin restaurant is actually. You know, they have to work really, really hard to be a star. Yes, and it's that. I don't know if anybody's ever seen a TV show there, but it kind of gives you an idea. And they actually have five two-star Michelin restaurants on the island, including Chapter One, and then they also have several like 16 or 17 one-star Michelin restaurants all throughout the Ike.
Speaker 2:And if someone say is a foodie and that's what they wanted to do, they can contact Celtic Tours and say, listen, I want to experience all of these restaurants because I'm a foodie and I want to try this food and I want to try this restaurant. They can just do those types of tours. Yeah, that's great. They can actually do those types of tours.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's great, they can actually do an entire tour of just food and drinks If they wanted to do let's say they wanted to do an Irish tasty. You?
Speaker 3:know with the Michelin food Right. We can just include all of these different distilleries and do VIP experiences for them, so they won't have to actually be with other people. We can just do a VIP experience. Let's say they wanted to do different festivals. I know I've mentioned several, several different festivals in some of our other podcasts. Yes, we have, of course, st Patrick's Day Festival, so they can actually do a VIP experience at St Patrick's Day Festival.
Speaker 2:Because everybody knows St Patrick's.
Speaker 3:Day in Ireland, exactly, yeah, where they can do. They can actually have their own private seating for the parade, they can go to one of these amazing restaurants, they can go to have a private viewing at the Jameson Whiskey Facillery. I mean, there's so many things that we can do for.
Speaker 2:And this would be considered their luxury experience, correct, correct. So now that they're doing all of this, they get a chauffeur Correct. So now that they're doing all this, they get, they get a chauffeur. They go into these Michelin restaurants. They're staying in facilities that are actually five star facilities.
Speaker 3:Yes, and some castle and people can actually do a forest bathing and mindful movement session there at Germanen Castle. They can go at Germanen Castle, Whoa. So I mean, and let's say, you know, husband wants to golf or they want to go to golf. I mean, that doesn't. Well, speaking to the stars, you know, whatever they'd like to do, there's just so many different experiences and so many courses that we can do this for.
Speaker 2:So now, if somebody is going and they want to do the golfie, do they?
Speaker 3:need to bring their own club. I definitely recommend bringing your own club. You do not want to golf with somebody else. You know, with rental clubs, particularly if you're an avid golfer. Exactly, I strongly strongly recommend bringing your own golf club. That's fine. Yeah, okay, exactly, I strongly strongly recommend Bernier and Valslis. That's fine, yeah, okay. So, and this is at the castle. This, yeah, there's castles. I mean, there's forest bathing, there's yoga retreats that you can do, there's all kinds of fun escapes that you can do. Also, did I mention all of the iconic filling locations that you can do today?
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, I know there's a lot of iconic filming locations in Ireland, and one that everybody and their brother constantly talks about is an older picture with John Wayne the Quiet man. The Quiet man, I mean. They have a big town and everything all built around.
Speaker 3:They do, yeah, they do. They actually have a plot where it says this is where it was filmed. And it's actually quite an experience because you were standing exactly where the film was being Right when John Wayne was there.
Speaker 2:Now, but they also have several other filming locations that people may or may not be aware of. So where did they film? I hear they filmed the Outlander.
Speaker 3:The Outlander? Yeah, and there's an actual trail. It's built all over Ireland where you can follow Jamie's tour all throughout the island, where it comes from Exactly Now anybody that's seen the show or read the book knows that Jamie's supposed to be Scottish.
Speaker 2:So that's kind of a but you know that's a fun thing to do. Now another one for those people that are avid people Game of.
Speaker 3:Thrones oh my gosh, game of Thrones. I know that is all over the island as well, and we actually can take them to those places where Game of Thrones was actually filmed and the tour guide, the driver, will actually tell them exactly what was filmed there.
Speaker 1:Right Christmas.
Speaker 3:This evening it was this filmed there, so it's quite an experience.
Speaker 2:Now, if somebody wanted to do that, they would have to say, well, I want to see all the filming locations. Now do they have to tell exactly which ones they want to see, or if they just say, well, I want to see four or five of the different filming locations?
Speaker 3:We can go ahead and put that together. I mean, it does help if you give us as much information, because we don't want to put something together that you don't want to go see.
Speaker 2:Right? Somebody might say well, I don't want to see where the quiet man was still, but I want to see where Alinda was.
Speaker 3:I've never seen the quiet man Right. So who knows, you know? So, yeah, exactly, I think if they can give us as much information as possible, then we would go ahead and set up the itinerary for them, for the driver right, and again we can tweak it as we go, you know, as the right, before they go. And the nice thing is we put profession chauffeur driver right and we have extra time. He takes you to a certain spots that you might not know about yeah in the sign a little, yeah, little places here.
Speaker 3:He might say, oh you know what? We have some extra time, so I want to take you here or I want to take you there. So it's really quite a personalized experience, really really amazing.
Speaker 2:Now, when you say a chauffeur-driven experience, if they only have four?
Speaker 3:what type of vehicle would they be? It's typically like that town car, oh, a town car. They're comfortable Right Exactly, specifically like that town car. A hotel they're comfortable Right, exactly. Sometimes we might even get poor people and it might be a Mercedes Springer.
Speaker 2:Okay. So I think it just depends on the driver, Because sometimes it's, you know, mother, father, you know two kids and maybe grandma, grandpa want to come along too, Right? So that's kind of a nice thing, and they can when they're putting these tours together, when they're staying in these locations. Like if I go to Ireland, I want to go see as many castles as I can possibly see. So I can contact Celtic Tourism and say I want to see all the castles you got. I want to stay in as many as I can. They can do that for me. Yes, yes, yeah, Instead of going to castles they have study ghosts.
Speaker 3:Well, there's so many. And again, the castles are amazing. There's so many great restaurants in some of the castles, for example Adar Manor Hotel. Ah, that is a must, a must.
Speaker 1:Why.
Speaker 3:Absolutely must, because they actually have one of the first Michelin-starred restaurants there and it's still, to this day, just impeccable, and it's in Limerick.
Speaker 2:It's in Limerick and that's a castle or a manor house. No, that's a manor house, that's a manor house?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a manor house.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm going to stop you right there. Explain what a manor house is.
Speaker 3:So a manor house is a home that used to belong to somebody Right that they have turned into, so it's a nice size house that somebody owned. Well, manors, back then they were quite large, right the Korean cities versus, you know, the castles. So they were, let's say, some of the politicians used to own these large homes, and so they have since taken them and turned them into restaurants and hotels.
Speaker 2:Now speaking, of these manor homes and these castles. Some people in the United States do they have bathrooms Do they have?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely Everything is in the room.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's nice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, everything is in their room. Well, of course, suites are available. You know, depending on the size of the family, you might even be able to do a suite. Okay, so tell me, tell me about the suites. A suite you can, you could have a. You know, depending on the size of the family, you might be able to do a suite. Okay, so tell me about the suite. A suite you can have a, you know, two bedroom suite. Or you know it's a family of four, you'll have two separate bedrooms, so not necessarily kitchen, not like a suite that we have here Right.
Speaker 3:But you know, maybe a little, just a little kitchenette or something. But you know, again, it depends on the location, depends on the location, but you can actually book a private seat.
Speaker 2:Right, because sometimes when parents are going and their children are a little bit younger you know they're not, you know 17 or 18, there might be 10 or 12, they want to be able to be closer to their kids, go around and be separated.
Speaker 3:Of course, yeah. They don't like to have the room across the hall. A lot of these places don't have connecting rooms because these are old, old rooms. Yeah, so they don't have connecting rooms. So you have to have a separate room for the kids and a separate room where they don't connect in the middle of it. Okay, so we're stopping. Again you say old, old hotels.
Speaker 2:I don't want anybody panicking. Yeah, oh my God, it's all old. I'm not. They've been renovated, they're beautiful, they're a five-star, four-star accommodation.
Speaker 3:They were just built a long time ago, right yeah?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they're beautiful places to stay. I love the idea of the manor homes. That sounds like a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:Cottage homes. There's cottage homes, there's manor homes. Now, when you say cottage homes, I think of the thatched roofs, Kind of sort of. We don't have the thatched roofs any longer, but they're along the same lines. That's what's on, when it's actually a little house that you get.
Speaker 2:Right Now. Can Celtic tourists also bring people to discover their own heritage? I know they have heritage things that Celtic tourists can. You know, if I said, okay, I want to go to this town and this town because that's where my family came from, and blah, blah, blah, celtic tourists could put that together for them too.
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, I think we could do that one, and now we wouldn't be able to, obviously, research the heritage Right, so it would be something that they would have to do research the heritage Right, so it would be something that they would have to do, right. But I can tell you there's a couple places in Ireland, including the Epic Museum Right, if you're not familiar, and should go to the Epic Museum and research your heritage there.
Speaker 2:I remember we talked about that once before, so that's really good. So now I am going to talk a little bit more about the VIQ experiences. So tell me a little bit more about that.
Speaker 3:So there's different Yadki experiences. For example, you want to explore Ireland by sea? How about a private yacht? Oh, I like that and it sounds great, right, yeah, so you can go around the island. There is no better way than to actually see all the views of Ireland than exploring through a private yacht, and there are several different ways that we can do that. You know a luxury they can actually stay on the yacht if they'd like to. They can, you know, explore the wild Atlantic way. There's dolphins and sharks. There's so many things that they actually see.
Speaker 2:So it would be a completely different experience that really would Now, would the yacht be able to dock at certain places Absolutely, and would the yacht be?
Speaker 3:only theirs, or are they on there with others? Again, it would depend on what they fly to do, right? We can do this so many different ways. If we wanted to just rent a yacht for the day we're going to swore the island, or if they wanted to rent the yacht for the week, that's something that we can do for them as well. Again, that is a very high-end experience.
Speaker 2:And then that would be we're their captain, we're the crew, so they're not sailing it themselves. Correct, correct, correct. And then again they could say well, I want to go over here on the ship. Yep, oh, cool beans.
Speaker 3:And some of the other VIP experiences that we had. Let's say, for example, again you know mentioning some of the festivals, you know as they want to do some of the festivals. You know as they want to do some of the festivals. So you have up in Tumming, we have the Oyster Festival in Tumming, oysters, the incoming Oyster Festival in September that's coming in, the Galway Oyster Festival and that you can have a BIT experience where you have, you know, somebody who pamper you and takes you, you know, to all the different locations and you know we'll give you an experience that you wouldn't get with everybody else just walking around Galway.
Speaker 2:And a lot of people don't realize there's a lot of fresh seafood that goes on in Ireland. They don't realize this. There is so much.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's an island, there's so much fishing. Yeah, yes, if you ever ever get a chance to go to Dingle. Dingle is a little fishing town and it has some of the best seafood I've ever had. Yum, I love seafood. Yeah, I do too. I do too.
Speaker 2:Now we had talked a little bit off off mic about cultural tours. Tell me a little bit about cultural tours. We can do a cultural tour of whatever town we're in and learn more about the culture of that town.
Speaker 3:Yeah so, for example, the cultural tours, such as the art tours, art right yeah, so they have different types of arts tours that we can do, so if they wanted to experience the different Irish culture of art. We also, of course, have the private whiskey taste. Really Culinary tours. If you want to learn how to cook, that's great. You know where we can do the culinary.
Speaker 2:We have the chef's markets there's actually a chef market tour, so we can actually go to an actual chef and they can say well, what are you going to be cooking this dish and this is what you need, and this is what you need, or they're certainly out of shop for it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I like that All kinds of artesian workshops that can actually lore and she talks about some of the heritage sites, right, but there's also historical heritage sites that they can go to and see Nice. So I think we have a little bit of something for everybody, depending on how you want to vacation, right.
Speaker 2:Which way you want to vacation. So it's not. I'm going to put it this way Celtic Tours does have prepackaged tours. Yes, yes, but if that's something that you don't want, Celtic Tours can put together a tour package designed just for you.
Speaker 3:Yes, and that makes it nice. It makes it really nice because you're not stuck, you know, doing something that you don't want to do.
Speaker 2:Right, you know, and this way you can get to. Like I said, I would love to do ghost tours of the entire island.
Speaker 3:Oh, Halloween in there.
Speaker 2:Halloween in there. I would love to do it any time of year. Apparently, you got all the little people over there, so you want to make sure that you're doing stuff you want to do, and Celtic tours can do that for you. Now, something that we're going to just touch on today and we're going to talk about it on another day is you got wellness available and you have eco-friendly and apparently spas in some of these places.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I mean, give me a little teaser. Yeah, let's talk a little teaser. All right, we're going to talk about it, we're going to talk about it, we're going to talk about it, we're going to talk about it, we're going to talk about it, we're going to talk. There's a location where you can actually sleep in a bubble. Sleep in a bubble, it is, and we can see the sky and everything. We can see the sky. It's beautiful. It's kind of like glamping. You have a campsite and everything, and then you're sleeping in a bubble. How cool is that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you're going to have eco-friendly tours. There's spas there.
Speaker 3:Wellness, wellness, wellness, yoga. For those who want to put maybe a trip, a group trip, for yoga, we can do something like that where they're actually doing yoga at some of the castles, on the grounds of the castle.
Speaker 2:Can you imagine doing yoga in the morning? That would be so much fun, so much fun. Now, I know that's going to be next week when we come back and talk about that, but right now, celtic Tours. If you want luxury, Celtic Tours can do it for you. Yeah, you got DIP, you got all the adults, you got these experiences restaurants, culinary homerunage there's so much to go by. Yachts, yachts. I love the water, I can live on the water and that would be fabulous for me. I would love to take that around.
Speaker 3:There's even tours where you can actually rent a private jet Whoa and see the island via private jet instead of by chauffeur.
Speaker 2:Right, so they can bring you to and from. Like, if something is like off the beaten path, so to speak, the private jet can bring you there. Now I'm going to let people know that this is not going to be your standard package no, it's not. But if this is something that's been on your bucket list for years or you wanted to take your family and show them where you grew up or where grandma and grandpa grew up, you can do this with Celtic Tours. And if you go on a yacht or a private jet, make it really special, maybe a big anniversary, you and your wife, you know. Hey, it's our 30th anniversary.
Speaker 3:Let's do this. It would so so be worth it, especially, you know, if you surprise your wife and say hey let's do this? That would be an amazing surprise. But yeah, there's just. I mean, the style, really, honestly, is the limit with us, right? There's nothing that we probably cannot put together for you, right? Yeah?
Speaker 2:And the best way to start is they should one contact their travel advisor. Correct, tell them what you want. Basically, they can send their travel advisor. This is what I want to do. The travel advisor can then contact CelticTourscom Very easy, yes and say I have a client that wants to do this, this, this and this. Celtictours will say okay, let's see what we can do and put something together. Give the travel advisor a price point, yeah, so we can go back to their client and say here's what I got for you.
Speaker 3:Correct. It would be nice if the clients can go ahead and give us a price point, because when you do something like this, you know if you come to us and say, oh, $2,000 a person for seven nights during a private ship, that might not happen. I want to say what is this worth to you.
Speaker 2:What is this worth to you? Because a lot of times, you know, when I've been a travel advisor and you're a travel advisor, you know people will say, well, I want to do this, this and this and I only want to spend $1,500. And then if you faint and say, well, it's going to cost just that for a day, yeah, or just for the air. So basically, let your travel advisor know your budget Correct and then when they're putting this together for you, they can guide you and the Celtic tourist can help your travel advisor put you in the right tour. Yes, I like that. Yeah, isn't that nice, it is beautiful, I love to do that and, like I said, the luxury and the culinary.
Speaker 2:And again when you go to Ireland not eating just meat and potatoes.
Speaker 3:Having a culinary experience? Yeah, absolutely, and I think you know that really makes it special. I mean, ireland is special to me anyway. I love Ireland and it's one of my favorite places to go. My last name is Sheehan, so who knows? There's that, you know. I think it just makes it a little extra special, and especially if you're celebrating something special.
Speaker 2:Right, and also tell your travel advisor that you're celebrating something special. Oh, please do, because you can make it even more special and that is a fabulous thing to know, to know that Celtic pros can do luxury trips. You know I personally don't like to drive overseas, and this you don't have to drive.
Speaker 3:You don't have to. After driving to somebody else you have somebody who will do everything for you, be it your beck and call.
Speaker 2:Go with an empty stomach to taste all that fabulous food. And if you want to do whiskey tastings or things like that, wine tastings.
Speaker 3:I mean Iron, that isn't known for their wine, but there are a few wineries.
Speaker 1:There are.
Speaker 3:There's wineries and, of course, the beer, you know beer all over the place so you can make those exclusive experiences just for you.
Speaker 2:And then we'd have to plan this in advance. Yeah, you can't call them today and say I want this trip tomorrow, Because that's when you wind up, you know, with a package. If you want to do this, you know the anniversary is coming up next year you and your wife, you and your wife and your kids.
Speaker 3:Make plan. Planning ahead is always, always the best way to do it Right.
Speaker 2:So make plans. So again, diana, I can't wait for you to come back next week and whether it's eco-friendly and all of that fun stuff in Ireland which nobody even realizes. But thank you again for coming and joining me today. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.
Speaker 1: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.