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.

Speaker 1: 0:51

Hey, it's Zee Mifelson here, and I am with the lovely Diana from Kelting Tours. Hi Diana, Hi Zee, it's good to see you again. I know We've been having so much fun doing these podcasts and learning all about Ireland and Scotland, Germany, just the other week, Italy that we went to, I said I got to see all of these places. Now, Now, I got to see these places. So, knowing that there's some places that we just kind of touched on we were talking about Celtic Tours does England and Wales?

Speaker 2: 1:26

as well. Yeah, the UK. I knew we'd touch on Scotland, because you know Scotland has a lot to do with Ireland when they're right there next to each other. But my goodness, the United Kingdom itself has so much more to see.

Speaker 1: 1:39

And it's so exciting to know that. I mean, I've been to England. You know the UK when I went overseas to travel by ship. Yeah, I've been to Wales.

Speaker 2: 1:50

I've been to Scotland.

Speaker 1: 1:51

I've been to Ireland and I had a blast, but today we're going to be talking a little bit more about Wales and London, wales and London.

Speaker 2: 1:58

Yeah, I think we really haven't talked a lot about those two particular locations. No, you know, in the United Kingdom we talk about Northern Ireland, we talk about Scotland.

Speaker 1: 2:07

So yeah, so we haven't talked about Wales, so tell me a little bit more about Wales and London.

Speaker 2: 2:12

Well, let's talk about Wales. You've been to Wales? I have not been to Wales, but I know we do have some amazing tours there that you can actually go to Wales.

Speaker 1: 2:25

So what can I do other than what I did in Wales? What can Celtic tours do for you?

Speaker 2: 2:29

There's all kinds of coastal villages and Roman ruins and beautiful white beaches and just an experience that is really, really welcoming throughout the entire country. So so much to see in Wales, but we do offer. If you just want to see Wales and you don't want to go anywhere else, we do offer Discover Wales. It is a seven-day, six-night, seven-day tour that we offer and it starts off in London. So you're in London for a couple of days, for two nights, and then you go to Wales for four nights and you actually do have a choice of either doing a B&B or a hotel, though it is your choice. It's kind of a customized tour. But again, some of the sites to see there you have the Welsh Borderlands, the Cambrian Mountains, yeah, and the Harlot Castles, pembrokeshires Coastal National Park and Castle Combe. So there's really really a lot to see in Wales and I really don't know that four days is really to see, I don't think that's enough.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Now, when we go to London and we head out to Wales, are we on a bus? Are we flying?

Speaker 2: 3:39

It would be private transportation. So, yeah, it would depend on exactly what it is that you want to do. So it is private transportation because this is, like I said, it's kind of a customized tour. So, yeah, it would just depend. You have five days of customizing the tour, including the national parks and, of course, and Harlech Castle as well, so there's really really a lot to see, but we would definitely customize it all for you that sounds fabulous.

Speaker 1: 4:12

Now, when I was in Wales, I went to the port in Holyhead, nice, and I had a ball there. My husband and I decided we were just going to wander around the little town, and sometimes when you're touring, that's such a nice thing it is. We went into a local pub, yeah, and when we arrived in the local pub, the locals found out that the Americans were there and we had people coming in. We had a pint, everybody had a pint, we were all chatting, and the Welsh people are so friendly, are they? They were. I mean. A little old lady sat down next to me and she was so excited to meet an American. She said you know, I danced with a young during the war. I thought she was so adorable.

Speaker 2: 5:02

Because you know it is a different part of the United Kingdom. It is considered a different country.

Speaker 1: 5:08

It is.

Speaker 2: 5:08

It's not part of England itself. It's actually considered a different country, and I understand their accents are different as well.

Speaker 1: 5:15

Yes, their accents are very different. When we were in the pub we were able to understand most people, but somebody was speaking with a heavy, heavy I want to say Cockney style and we had to have a translator.

Speaker 1: 5:28

I can imagine, I can imagine, but we had such a ball and we were taking pictures around the town and people would say, oh, take a picture of us, take a picture of us. We were taking pictures of people. And when you just said Roman ruins, there was a lot of Roman history in Wales. Yeah, so that surprised me Really.

Speaker 2: 5:48

Yes, I don't think of that. I know you don't, because you think of the English. You don't think of the English have been here for so long, so you don't think of the Romans actually taking over. You think of Italy in Rome, you know. But yeah, I mean, there's so much again, that came from Welch, a famous poet by the name of Dylan Thomas, oh yeah, so you can actually trace his footsteps and there's just so much to see. And this is just in Wales. It's just in Wales alone.

Speaker 1: 6:17

Yeah, people in Wales, like I said, are so friendly. I was on board a ship when I went over there and when our ship was leaving they told our captain they had a special surprise for the Americans on board. We were there for the 4th of July. Oh how nice so when our ship was pulling out, they decided to do a firework show for us.

Speaker 2: 6:34

That is wonderful.

Speaker 1: 6:36

So again go to Wales, yeah. See the people Mix with the people. The food is fresh, the beer is delicious.

Speaker 2: 6:42

Yeah, and the smallest city in Britain is actually in Wales.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Really.

Speaker 2: 6:46

Yeah, it's called Pembrokeshire and it's the smallest city in all of Britain and you can go to the Grand Cathedral there called St David's yeah, nice. So again, just an amazing, amazing city. I can't wait to actually go and check it out myself. Of course there's a colorful little town called Tenby. It has kind of beachside Georgian houses, oh nice, yeah, cobblestone alleys. A very, very medieval town with walls.

Speaker 1: 7:17

Now where do people stay? Because I know Wales is kind of a small little self-contained country. Where do you put them up? Where will people?

Speaker 2: 7:27

go. Again, they have their choice. They can do a B&B Right, b&b style, or they can do a hotel. So we kind of give them their choice of what they'd like to do.

Speaker 1: 7:35

Okay, and again, these are high-end. They don't have to worry that they're going to be cleaning the walls or anything.

Speaker 2: 7:42

Correct, they're going to be cleaning the walls or anything. Correct? Correct, yeah, no, not at all. I mean, the guest homes are like a three-star, four-star plus. You know, those are the B&Bs and, of course, the hotels we always do. You know, we try to do our four-star hotels. So because we have obviously a reputation.

Speaker 1: 8:00

So you know of doing high-end hotels. We want to make sure everybody's doing it. Correct no bad, because even though Wales is a small country, it's something that you probably can't see in just a few days, correct?

Speaker 2: 8:10

You know? I mean, I think you could really do more than four days there if you really chose to.

Speaker 1: 8:15

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 8:15

And we have. The pricing is just amazing for this particular you know tour. I mean, it's starting anywhere from like 2,153 dollars, depending on the time of year that you go, and we're booking already into next year for this particular tour, right, and?

Speaker 1: 8:30

as we're sitting here chatting, we're talking, we're in the middle of summer 2025, right, right, so you want to really stop looking for next year, oh yeah absolutely that into high gear and say, okay, it's time to go. Yeah, so now, now we're in wales, and when you said Pembrokeshire, whenever I hear the word shire, it's the Lord of the.

Speaker 1: 8:49

Rings and the shire. So I'd like to see that myself. So I'm going to have to go back to Wales because, like I said, the people there were so friendly and it was so fun to be there and enjoying it. And when people go on these tours, Celtic tours not only gives you places to go and stay, they also give you free time. Yeah, and sometimes the free time can be part of the best experience.

Speaker 2: 9:14

Oh my gosh, I can't tell you what I've done on my free time, what I've stumbled across when I'm on my free time, that you have absolutely no idea. Some of the tours that I did for example, when I was in Paris I stumbled across the catacombs had no idea. Some of the tours that I did for example, when I was in Paris, I stumbled across the catacombs, had no idea I was just walking and stumbled across them, though you know it really is great to have so much free time to just go out and venture on your own and do some discovering on your own and enjoy the culture, enjoy the culture of the people, enjoy the food. Yeah, the food there is always so different than it is over here. So I highly highly recommend don't go in your room and go to sleep. No, you can sleep when you get back. Enjoy and sleep later. Enjoy your vacation.

Speaker 1: 9:59

Now, we've talked a lot about Wales today, but London area, you folks Celtic tourists are both there too, we do.

Speaker 2: 10:07

We actually have another tour, it's called the Heart of England, and it does Wales, yorkshire, of course, starting it in London as well. But this also is an amazing tour. It kind of takes you back through Shakespeare country, where you go, yeah, you go through Stratford, avon, and I'm trying to remember Chester York, and Right, you have that. Yeah, York of Dales, I think it is yeah, cambridge Iron Bridge, the mountains there, the castles, the peak national park, that's there. So I mean, there's so much to see in this particular tour as well.

Speaker 2: 10:49

And again, this is a six night, seven day that takes you not just through wales, but takes you to yorkshire as well now this part of england a lot of people don't don't realize england's more than just london.

Speaker 1: 11:03

And you know, when you're talking the UK, you are talking Scotland, you are talking Wales, you are talking England. Right, and you have parts of Northern Ireland in there. So this whole area of the UK is full of history and different styles and you see different cultural houses and landscapes, cultural houses and landscapes. It's a relaxed atmosphere when you go to things like Avon and Chester. But now a lot of people say, well, I want to go to London, I want to see them, I want to ride on the train, I want to do this.

Speaker 2: 11:38

And so I do love London. I have been to London, yeah, I do love London. And doing the eye, I did the eye, which is the Fer been to London.

Speaker 2: 11:47

Yeah, so I do love London and doing the eye I did the eye which is the Ferris wheel there, yeah, and of course you want to see the jewels, the crown jewels and all of the history that's there. I mean, england is probably one of the oldest countries in the world, right, you know it's, it's where America started, you know? So again, just there really really is so much to see in London, so give us an example of things that they can see.

Speaker 1: 12:12

We already said the eye, the London eye, which I know my sister has been on. I believe my daughter has been on it as well, yeah. And you know they loved it. My sister stayed in a flat in St Colm.

Speaker 2: 12:23

A flat yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:24

St Colin, a flat in St Colin, so she stayed there and her and her husband wandered around. So there is a lot to see. And if I go to London because when I'm in London I'm usually in London just to pass through, yeah, and I want to go and see certain things like the bee feeders.

Speaker 2: 12:43

Yeah, buckingham Palace, yeah, where they stand still and you, they don't. They don't smirk, they don't smile or anything. That's actually. It's actually fun to watch people try to get them to smile, to laugh, you know. So, buckingham Palace, absolutely. What about for those Harry Potter fans out there?

Speaker 1: 13:03

You know, because Harry Potter was from London, right, and I believe a lot of it was filmed in Oxford. Yeah, yeah, yeah, or they at least designed the set based on Oxford.

Speaker 2: 13:13

Yeah, but they have an actual studio tour, you know, a studio tour right there at Warner Brothers In the heart of London, in the heart of London.

Speaker 1: 13:20

Yeah, so it's, I think it's a little bit outside of London, but yeah, that's where you would start from is in London.

Speaker 2: 13:28

Take it off in London. Yeah, and Stonehenge, oh, stonehenge, I would love to go see Stonehenge. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:33

When I was overseas I was so torn because I wasn't going to be there that long, so I was like, okay, where do I go first? What do I do first? Now Celtic tourists can actually say okay, where do you want to go?

Speaker 2: 13:53

Yeah, let's see the area that you want to go in and kind of design stuff where you want to go, based on your budget. Oh yeah, oh yeah, and again, I've mentioned this, but you know, that's one of the things that we really really pride ourselves on is customization of tours. So if you want to do something customized, absolutely we can do that for you. We don't have a tour that actually includes, like, the Harry Potter or anything like that, but if you wanted to add it, if you're on one of our signatures and you have some free time and you want to add it, absolutely let's add it for you.

Speaker 1: 14:20

So Celtic tours can look into adding things like that. Oh yeah, which would be nice because a lot of people love the Harry Potter stuff. I personally have seen all the Harry Potter movies, have you? Yes, I've seen them all. I didn't read the books, though I've seen the movies, but that's because my daughter was growing up with the books.

Speaker 2: 14:37

Yeah, I bought the books for my son as well.

Speaker 1: 14:39

Right.

Speaker 2: 14:40

So now my grandson has them, I'm going to patent them. You'll be going to all the movies. Oh yeah, oh yeah, again for the second time. Yeah, I will. Can you get tickets for the?

Speaker 1: 14:50

Changing of the Guards. How does that work? So it would depend.

Speaker 2: 14:54

You could. You definitely could. You could go ahead and give us a call and let us know when you wanted to go ahead and see the Changing of the Guards, and we can do that for you. So yeah, that's something we can do for you as well.

Speaker 1: 15:10

That's great, and I know they have night tours. I'm not sure where Is it? At the Tower of London, tower of London.

Speaker 2: 15:13

Yeah, actually, they have, you know, kind of some spooky tours at night. You know, for the Tower of London, for those who are a little adventurous, henry VIII's one. A lot of people lost their heads, a lot of people. So they do have a lot of stories, actual stories that happened where the history of the towers. So, yeah, there's there's a lot going on there. So, and this can all be done with Celtic tours. Yeah, what about a cruise, you know, a dinner cruise on the Thames.

Speaker 1: 15:45

Yeah, oh, my goodness Right, that would be nice, wouldn't?

Speaker 2: 15:50

that be nice, yes, where you go underneath the London Bridge and hope it doesn't fall down, right.

Speaker 1: 16:00

Some people want to, but we come from the same school. Yes, we do, we do, but that would be really nice, so you can actually arrange this. Oh yeah, like a nice dinner cruise yeah, sweet and new, but that would be really nice, so you can actually arrange this. Oh yeah, like a nice dinner cruise, yeah, Now, what size groups go to these?

Speaker 2: 16:15

You know they're small groups. We usually do anywhere from 16 to 20. We usually keep them very, very small for London, so, which is very nice, because you're not traveling with 40 or 45 different people. Most of our groups are small.

Speaker 1: 16:29

Now I know that there are. I come from New York. New York has Broadway. I know England. London has their theater district as well. Is this something else that Celtic Cruise can arrange if they want to see a play in London?

Speaker 2: 16:43

You know I wouldn't recommend us doing that, okay, yeah, because you can get the tickets on your own. Okay, and you know, booking them through us, you might pay a little bit more. So I would recommend if you want to go to see a play, you know, just go ahead and look at your itinerary, see what dates you're going to be you know, near the theater or near the area and then just go ahead and book your tickets, because it's very difficult for us to keep up also with the different shows and everything that's going on over there.

Speaker 2: 17:11

So yeah, we don't really include those in our packages, but again, it's something that you could do while you're there.

Speaker 1: 17:17

And again, like I said earlier, it's nice to have the free time, and Arctic Tours allows you to have that free time so you can go off on your own and you do have tour guides. So if you have kind of I'm going to say a little befuddled yeah, they can kind of point you in a direction at least. Oh yeah, oh yeah. So that's also nice. Now you said you've been to London several times.

Speaker 2: 17:40

You didn't let me know why I've been yeah, I've been to London twice. Yep, Okay.

Speaker 1: 17:44

And what else did you see in London when you were over there?

Speaker 2: 17:47

Well, what I did is we left London and we took the speed train. So I highly highly recommend doing the speed train.

Speaker 2: 17:55

You know, from one place, if you haven't done it and you'd like to do the speed train, that takes you underneath the ocean there, you know, it goes over to Paris, it goes over to Paris, yep that it goes over to Paris, Yep, Um, so you know that that again, in itself is is a whole different tour, which we probably talked about a different day, but that was actually one of the most exciting things for me. But, um, again, we had free time. So what I loved doing is I would go to one of the locals and I would ask you know, where do you guys dine? I didn't want to stay in the touristy area, Right? So I always asked where they went, or you know a local pub where I could walk in, because I love experiencing the culture.

Speaker 1: 18:38

Just like us, the locals.

Speaker 2: 18:39

Yeah, the locals. So I actually found a restaurant. It was about four blocks from where we were staying when the locals said, oh yeah, there's a great pub there. So we found a pub, an English pub, and oh my goodness, the food was amazing, the people were great. I had a lot of fun. I actually even had somebody buy a drink, a beverage, for me.

Speaker 2: 19:00

You know, like I told them where I was until I was American you know which, which I didn't think they would you know, but they were, they were just amazing. And, of course, everybody speaks English, so you don't have to worry. You don't have to worry about any traveling.

Speaker 1: 19:14

I said to myself I'm going to go to a place that speaks English first. Get used to the traveling mode. So this is kind of a nice way of starting your adventures overseas. Yeah, To go to places that do speak the language that you speak. It makes it easier for you. It does so nice to have that little free time to go and see this, to have great food, meet with people, especially if you've never traveled abroad before and you're concerned about the language.

Speaker 2: 19:42

Right, england would be a perfect, perfect place to go. United Kingdom would be a perfect place to go. So, because you don't have to worry about any kind of language different, right?

Speaker 1: 19:52

so they do have heavy accents sometimes you might not understand too much, like when I went to Wales. They spoke English, but that one person that came into the pub, yeah, heavy, heavy accent I cannot understand. But these are some of the great things that Celtic tours can do for you Get your family together. What a great time to go to England during Christmas, can you imagine? Yeah, beautiful, right, it's awesome. You know that Father Christmas During the holiday.

Speaker 1: 20:25

During the holiday. So these are places that you don't think of going to. Regularly. People say, okay, london, they go see the Eye, they go see Buckingham Palace, all these other little things they don't know about, right right, and we actually have a lot of tips.

Speaker 2: 20:41

A lot of our reservation agents have been over there, so they have a lot more tips than I can actually offer. But there's also a place. We don't really talk about York that much, but I really, really would love to talk a little bit about York and exploring the medieval heart of York and the rich history. Again, I'm a history buff, so the rich history that goes back to the Romans, the Vikings, the Normans, I mean there's so much history in the town of York. There's museums, the amazing York Minister, so it's just such an amazing little town and this is part of one of the tours that.

Speaker 1: 21:20

Celtic tourists can put together for you. Now, you know, you always hear York, but nobody knows about it. Oh yeah, york, england, okay, but they don't know, right, and this is something that would make them aware.

Speaker 2: 21:34

Yes, absolutely. There's pretty little market towns, some remote valleys, the scenery of the eastern dales, and then we offer free time so you can actually go out there and explore as well. So it's just a nice little town that I think everybody should at least see one time. Now I have to ask when?

Speaker 1: 21:55

you think of London and you think of Wales and you think of Ireland and Scotland. Some people want to celebrate or enjoy high tea. Can that also be arranged on?

Speaker 2: 22:05

any one of these tours.

Speaker 1: 22:06

Oh yes.

Speaker 2: 22:09

We actually, in some of our tours we actually already include high tea. So if you go to a certain tour, maybe you go to a silver factory and we include a high tea at the end of the factory tour because they give you a total tour. So it just depends on what it is that you like to do, but a lot of our tours will include a high tea all over the United Kingdom, ireland, scotland you know that whole area.

Speaker 1: 22:34

Now some people are into the Downton Abbey. Downton Abbey.

Speaker 2: 22:39

I forget the name of the castle. I'm not a Downton Abbey. I don't know yeah.

Speaker 1: 22:45

I know and I know that's available. I know they do have tours so I'm sure if somebody wanted that, I'm sure Celtic tourists can look into it If they do have tours of that castle.

Speaker 2: 22:54

Yes, they do. That I do know because I have put it together for another client of mine, so I know that. I think it's called High Clara, high Clara, high Clara. Yes, I think that's the name. Yeah, that name of it, it just came to me.

Speaker 1: 23:11

But no, they can do that, and I think they can actually do a high tea there too when they're doing it. Yes, so they can.

Speaker 2: 23:16

Well, you can't do downtown Ande without high tea, right? I mean, I know I don't, I'm not real, I have not watched the show much, but you know, you have to know something.

Speaker 1: 23:29

I don't assume commercials Unless you lived in a closet, you know yeah, so these are some of the things that Celtic Tours can put together for you. You should contact your travel advisor and let them know you want to see London, you want to see Wales, you want to see all the different things that the UK can offer to you. Give your travel advisor your budget, what you want, how many people when they want to you. Give your travel advisor your budget, what you want, how many people when they want to go. Right, please, yeah, I want to go overseas during the holidays. I think that would be really fun.

Speaker 1: 23:59

I always love to see Christmas in different places, yeah, same here. So these are some of the things that CelticTourscom can do for you, and look for the red phone booths, the red phone booths.

Speaker 2: 24:11

Make sure you get a picture inside a red phone booth. They're all over the place there.

Speaker 1: 24:16

They're still up. I mean here in the United States, if you find a phone booth, it's amazing yeah.

Speaker 2: 24:22

It's like Anticuse. Yeah, I don't think they do it for money any longer, or actually the use of it. It's just they're very, very popular because everybody knows the red phone booth. I think there used to be a show, wasn't it? Like Dr who? Didn't they use a phone booth or something I believe they did?

Speaker 1: 24:38

A booth. Well, Superman used a phone booth. That's true 10 kind of places without phone booths anymore. But yeah, so I mean, these are some of the things that you should really look into. And before we say goodbye for today, you know again, Diana, thank you for coming. Go to CelticTourscom, See what's there and if it's not exactly what you want, contact your travel advisor. Say I like this tour, but I want to add this to it. Yeah, Let them know.

Speaker 2: 25:13

Yeah, let us customize your United Kingdom vacation, you know, let us tailor it just for you.

Speaker 1: 25:18

However, you'd like to put it together, I think that would be a great idea. Yeah Well, again, thank you for coming and joining me today, and I can't wait to see what you have for me next.

Speaker 2: 25:26

All right, sounds good. Thanks again.

Speaker 1: 25:31

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.