Zee Michaelson Travel
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Zee Michaelson Travel
Celtic Tours and Festivals W 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, it's Zee Michelson here, and again we are sitting here. It's the middle of summer, almost over it's August 2025. I am with Diana from Celtic Tours and, diana, I know that we haven't talked a lot about all the different festivals and art festivals and music festivals that are going on, but I would really like to talk a lot more about the festivals that you can go to overseas. So what can you tell me about Ireland and Marefest?
Speaker 3:Yeah, hi Z, it's good to be here again and I know we touched on some of them in some of our last podcasts, but we have so many to offer and again, you can actually book a whole vacation around all of these festivals.
Speaker 2:You can book vacations around the festivals.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, because there's so much to offer and people enjoy different types of things. For example, the Temple Bar Tradfest in Dublin, which is held in January and this is Ireland's largest traditional music festival and it's held in the historic venues in Dublin like Dublin Castle or St Patrick's Cathedral, and it includes different headline concerts Wow yeah and workshops, and it's very, very family-friendly. This is a huge, huge festival in Dublin, in the Temple Bar District of Dublin, so very, very popular area and how long is the festival for?
Speaker 2:does it say it's?
Speaker 3:usually a few days. Next year it runs from January 21st through the 25th. Of course, the date vary every year, but again, this is just a really really nice festival and family, family friendly and this is something that Celtic Tours can put together for you.
Speaker 2:So if you want to go over to Ireland in January yes, it'll be a little bit chilly, but if you want to do this festival, that sounds exciting, yeah, yeah, and it's a very, very popular festival.
Speaker 3:Like I said, it's one of their largest Right, so that's probably a lot of locals go to that as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, of course Great. So what else do you have for me in?
Speaker 3:I Well what about the Galway area? They have the Galway International Arts Festival. That's actually in July of 2026. A little warmer, yeah, a little warmer. A little warmer, of course, and that's a two-week celebration and it's all about the theater and the music and street performances and they actually transform into a vibrant cultural hub and they have free events all over the place. So this is a really, really nice event. Also, if you want to get, not go during the colder season, you know, and go during the July time frame.
Speaker 2:So that's the Galway.
Speaker 3:International Arts Festival. Yeah, yeah. And then, of course, Galway has a lot of festivals. They have also the Food Festival, which is in April. Also, one of the biggest festivals that they have there in Galway also, which is one of my favorites, is the Food and Cider Festival, which is September of every year. Food and Cider Food and Cider.
Speaker 2:Oh, food and Cider, cider With apple cider.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well these are more alcoholic ciders. They're hard c cider. Yeah Well, these are more alcoholic ciders.
Speaker 1:They're hard ciders. Yeah, they're hard ciders.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so they feature local ciders from local makers. They actually make the ciders there, and then the chefs and they prepare all of these different foods. So it's a really, really good cultural experience and that happens to be one of my favorite in Galway. And when is that? That is in September. I'm sorry, that's the Armagon food and cider which is in the same area, so it's all in that same area.
Speaker 2:So, you know, these are nice things for foodies, people that are into the food, and wines and beers and cider. Yeah, this is some things that they can do. And Celtic Tours can put together a tour evolving around some of these events. Yeah, can put together a tour evolving around some of these events.
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course, what else do we have going?
Speaker 3:on in Ireland Well you know we kind of talked about a little bit of. You know, obviously St Patrick's Day is very, very big in March. So I'm kind of going all over the place. But you know, you always have St Patrick's Day and that is always a big festival all over Ireland. But Dublin does have their very, very large parade and in October in Dublin you have the Yarn Storytelling Festival. Yeah oh, yarn Storytelling Festival. The Irish can sing a good yarn. Yes, they can. They celebrate the traditions and the contemporary storytelling. So that is, you know, if you're looking for something a little more low-key, you know that would be something fun. And when is that? That is in October.
Speaker 2:That's in October. Yeah, so they're trying to fool us right around with Halloween.
Speaker 3:Halloween, Of course Halloween we have in Derry.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:You know the largest, which we talked about as well. Right, halloween is a very, very large festival it's a long one, samhain celebration. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Samhain. But I love the fact of the yarn. Yeah, Because I come from a background of Irish ancestry, and boy can the Irish spin a yarn.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, oh yeah, so that would be something fun.
Speaker 2:Come to listen to the stories. Yep, yep.
Speaker 3:And what about the Puck Fair? That is a medieval fair Cut. The Puck Fair that's in August. It's a Shakespeare. Yeah, in Summer Night's Dream Right, exactly yeah. So it features the oldest. It's actually one of the oldest festivals in Ireland and it features the crowning of a wild goat, the King Puck Markets, street entertainment, all kinds of things, and that happens in August.
Speaker 2:Oh, so that's nice. It's not too hot, not too cold, that's perfect. So it's called the Puck Fair.
Speaker 3:It's the Puck Fair yeah, you crown a wild goat. Yeah, that'll be interesting to see in itself. And then you also have the Pooka Festival, which I think we briefly talked about. We talked about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's of October as well, and that would make sense because the puker is a spirit of sorts Correct Like a shapeshifter. Yeah, so that would make sense. So you have a lot of stuff going on just in the late fall, early winter in Ireland. Yeah, and you know who wouldn't want to hear about a story of the yard, who wouldn't want to see their Halloween festival, who wouldn't want to see a wild goat be?
Speaker 3:well so, and I I think I mentioned the jazz festival almost, though the cork jazz festival is held every year as well, at the one of the largest music festivals in ireland and where is that in cork?
Speaker 3:yeah, in cork yeah, and it actually takes over the entire city and that's september timeframe and it takes over all of the city and they have they have pop up jazz musicians all over the place and some really, really famous jazz musicians as well. Macy Gray has shown up. Yeah. So I mean just again, another really, really amazing festival.
Speaker 2:if you're into jazz music and people don't realize this is all going on in Ireland, throughout the different areas in Ireland, and there's so much to see, so much to do mixed in with these festivals. So if you want to go to the festival in, say, Galway, then there's other things to see in Galway, so you can actually plan your whole trip around this and Celtic tourists can help you create this Right. They can follow you through and you can say, well, I want to go to this festival, but what else is around there? And Celtic tourists can say, well, we can go here, we can go there. And again, Celtic tourists can put it together for you. Celtic tours can do the hotel stay, all sorts of different things. You know you can have private tours with Celtic tours or a little group more get your whole family together.
Speaker 3:That would be fun. That would be, yeah, multi-generational. There you go.
Speaker 2:Now you also said something about a Belfast festival at Queens.
Speaker 3:That's part of the UK.
Speaker 2:That's part of the UK, we that's part of the uk.
Speaker 3:We have a lot of festivals in the united kingdom as well, right, and and that happens to be one of them, right, but we also have in scotland. Let's go to scotland let's go to scotland real quick so, because we have a lot in scotland as well, and then I'll kind of, you know, go back to back to England and Northern Ireland. Okay, you know, they have a really, really famous festival called the Celtic Connection. That's in Glasgow In.
Speaker 2:Glasgow. Okay, now I've been to Glasgow and it can be a little chilly even in the summer. So when is it.
Speaker 3:This is in January through. It's actually like a two-week celebration. Oh wow, Two weeks and it's in January, and it's in January and it's in January it starts mid-January, I think. Next year it's January, I think 15th, and it goes through the end of January like February 1st.
Speaker 2:Now we're talking 2026 right now. Yeah, but if you're not ready to go in January 2026, I'm sure it's coming back in 2027.
Speaker 3:Most of these festivals that I'm referring to are annual festivals. That I'm referring to are annual festivals. Annuals, yeah, great. So this is a European winter music festival that celebrates Celtics.
Speaker 1:The Celts, the Celtics, yeah, the Celtic convention.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly With folk music. They have over 2,000 performers during that entire week. Yeah, so it's a very, very large festival.
Speaker 2:And considering the time of year, you know it's in January, it's cold, it is. You know, I was there in July and I had a winter coat on, but I'm from Florida.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, you know us Floridians, we get cold at 60 degrees.
Speaker 2:So that would be a lot of fun in Glasgow.
Speaker 1:And then it's a city. Glasgow is a city, it is.
Speaker 2:It is yeah, so that would be a fun thing. Now, what else is going on in Scotland?
Speaker 3:Well, what about the Innenburg Fringe Festival? Festival Fringe, yeah, it's a large art festival, okay, and again, they're always performers, because there's always music and they have dance and comedy, and this actually takes place in August of 2026. Okay, so you're not freezing, correct, correct, correct. And then, of course, the military tattoo, which is military bands that do performances, their cultural performances, and it actually takes place there at the castle.
Speaker 2:Right Edinburgh.
Speaker 3:In Edinburgh.
Speaker 2:Right, correct. Yeah, have you been there? I have. I've been to the Edinburgh Castle and they were getting ready for the tattoo when I was there, and I was there in July. The tattoo, I think, is in August. It is, it's in August yeah, and they were setting up in July. That's how big this is, yeah.
Speaker 3:And it's I mean. People from all over the world come to see this festival and tickets go quickly, very, very quickly.
Speaker 2:They go very, very quickly. If you don't have a ticket to get in, you're not getting in. You're not getting in. Yeah, and Celtic Tours again can put all of this together. Now we are talking 2026 right now. Yeah, so start making your plans today, in 2025, because by 2026, this is going to be sold out very quickly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is amazing and and you know scotland's not also known for, obviously, their scotch whiskey you know you can't go to the united kingdom or scotland or ireland without from whiskey or scotch right right so they do also have a. It's called the spirit of speyside Whiskey Festival and that takes place at the end of April into May.
Speaker 2:Okay, so April May, we have the Whiskey Festival, which is pretty cool, which I'm assuming is going to be tastings of all the different areas of the whiskey, the distillery tours of the area.
Speaker 2:I remember going on these tours and them telling me about the angel's share, which always would crack me up and the angel's share. In case anybody doesn't remember or doesn't know, that's when the steam comes out of these. I'm going to call them pots because I'm not a distiller. Steam comes out of the pots and it goes into the heavens and that's the angel's share. Yeah, so the angel gets some too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the angels share, yeah. So the angel gets some too, yeah. And you know, for those who are really into horticulture, you know kind of things, you know there is also a Royal Highland show that takes place in June, obviously in the summer months, because this is more about livestock and grass and rural traditions. So, again, something for everyone, and that's in Scotland as well.
Speaker 2:So the Royal Highlands and that would be, that would they be doing, showing how the sheepdogs work on the farms, and stuff in that one. Do you know, it's more of a it's kind of more of a fair type thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's more of all the livestock. They showcase a lot of livestock with food, crafts and just traditions around the area.
Speaker 2:Now I've been to several events, scottish events where they have the people that are competing in the Tabor Toss and things like that, so I'm sure that's floating around as well. So these are all these things, all of these festivals that are going on overseas, in Ireland and in Scotland and in England.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I'm sure there's some in Wales as well. Even though Wales is a tiny little country, it's still packed full of stuff to do. So now we've gone to the Tattoo, we've gone to the Whiskey Festival, we've gone to the Royal Highland, the Fringe, we've gone all there. Where are we going to next?
Speaker 3:Well, what about London? What about the taste of Londonondon? Oh, taste of london this is actually in june of next year. Okay, it's a gourmet food festival in regents park. Oh wow, it has chefs from all over the world and different um restaurants. They have, you know, pop-up tents there where they're serving all different types of food. So I I'm there, I'm a foodie.
Speaker 2:It sounds almost like Epcot when they have their wine and food festival Right right, where you pay for each. You taste this, you taste that? How nice, yeah, yeah, this is in.
Speaker 3:When did you say June? That is in June of next year.
Speaker 2:It's called.
Speaker 3:Taste of London. Taste of London Wow, my mouth is watering already. Yeah, I know they have a food festival in Wales as well in September. So yeah, you know, if you don't want to do London in June, you can go in September, when it's a little bit cooler, and that's in Wales. And we did talk about how Wales is a little bit smaller.
Speaker 2:It's smaller and very, very friendly.
Speaker 3:And then they have, you know, traditional type of events as well, like the Notting Hill Carnival in London. Notting Hill. Notting Hill. Yes, yes, I have to say it properly Notting Hill that's in August, and you said that's a fair, that's a festival. It's actually Europe's largest street festival.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:Celebrating the Caribbean culture with parades, music and food, you know, like Carnival, oh, carnival, carnival, exactly, it's in August. So you know, because England has a lot of islands, yes, they still own, you know, the UK still owns a lot of the islands, so they celebrate those traditions.
Speaker 2:That's great, yeah, so that would be fun too, and people always want to see Notting Hill.
Speaker 2:Notting Hill, notting Hill yes, and that's in England direct. Yeah, so that's actually over there. Yeah, now what else you got? I mean, there's so much. I mean how can somebody actually pick and choose? I'm going to say, call Celtic Tours and say what your interests are and let them know. Like, if you're interested in whiskey, they can say, oh, of course we have Scotland. But if you're interested in more like the food, oh, we have this going on in London.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think, see, it really just depends on the country that you want to go to, right, where you want to experience something and what it is that you want to do. If you're a foodie, we can definitely find you some type of food festival. Follow the food, exactly. If you're a music person, there's all different types of music festivals all over the place Jazz music festivals. If you're into the arts, we have art festivals. I mean, there's just so, so much to offer there is.
Speaker 2:I mean there's any thinking about it and talking about there is. I mean thinking about it and talking about it. It's almost like we're confusing people, but there's so much I want to get people excited about going over there. You know, you have England, you have Scotland, you have Ireland, you have Northern Ireland, you have Wales and you can just travel around in that, that area. You can stay for a couple of weeks. Yeah, you've had the time. Stay for a few weeks, exactly exactly, and go. I mean I'm going to say probably in the winter it's less crowded, right, correct?
Speaker 3:yeah, see, you know september or november, right, if you're?
Speaker 2:there in january, february, it's going to be a little more chillier yeah you know, remember where we are.
Speaker 2:We're at the northern end of the world here, yeah, and people need to know that. I mean, like I said, I was in Scotland in July and I was wearing a winter coat, so that was way up there, yeah. So these are things that people need to know and Celtic tours can help them do it. Contact your travel agent, tell them you want to do some of these festivals, let them know what you're interested in. Your travel agent, your travel advisor, can contact CelticTourscom and they can take a peek at what's on there. And, if not, they can actually call Celtic Tours and say I have a client that wants to do this, this and this and Celtic Tours can help.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah. And again, you know we really really pride ourselves in customization for anything that you're interested in and that you're looking into. So, yeah, and that's the best.
Speaker 2:And when I go over there because I don't like driving on the wrong side of the road. I would prefer someone else driving. Yeah, yeah, me too, me too.
Speaker 3:I have to say I will not drive over there. I'm going to let somebody else do it Exactly you know the highway driving isn't too bad, but once you get on some of those back roads, you know we're going to have a tendency to drive the way we know.
Speaker 2:So if you're not used to driving overseas, there, don't, and Celtic tours can find you the actual person that can take you around. So now, what else you got?
Speaker 3:Well, what did I not talk about? You haven't talked about Liverpool, liverpool, oh, it's in Liverpool. There is an event in Liverpool. From Liverpool, I'm not in the Beatles.
Speaker 2:So, if you're a Beatles fan, that would be the first thing I want to go to Liverpool. I'm a Beatles fan, but would be the first thing I want to go to Liverpool. I'm a Beatles fan, but what else do you have for me other than following the Beatles? Well, that would be the Jairs Festival. Right, the Jairs Festival, all right.
Speaker 3:Thank you, you know it was one of those things. Yes, they have a huge jazz festival there, they have a blues festival, they have concerts. They have different types of concerts there as well. Oh, of course, the International Beetle Week Festival. That is an awful every single year International Beetle Week Festival. I completely forgot about that one, yeah, oh, wow. So if you're a Beetle fan, they have the Food and Drink Festival in Liverpool. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Liverpool has more than just the Beatles. Yeah, and I have a lot of friends. Liverpool has more than just the Beatles. Yeah, and I have a lot of friends that we really do love the Beatles. But, yeah, you can do Beatles plus yeah, beatles plus plus plus yeah. And I know that International Festival in Liverpool is in February, I believe.
Speaker 2:It is it is, but in August you go see the Beatles Festival. It is, but in August you go see the Beatles festival, right? Yeah, I'm sure they're going to be playing all the Beatles and you can probably get a tour of where all the Beatles kind of grew up and started singing and all that fun stuff and the studio, the studio there, and the famous WAP, oh, the WAP, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:I know a lot of people love to do that. That's part of their pictures when they're coming to and fro. So this is all going on. You got Ireland, you know. You got St Paddy's Day, you have Galway and you have Dublin and you have a lot of Dublin again. I'm loving the yarn storytelling festival. I think that would be so cool because there's so many yarns that they can spin. And then you got to kind of wonder is that true?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, you know they do. They have a lot of stories and I'll tell you. You know, every time I'm over there I hear different stories about different things.
Speaker 2:You go into a pub and hear stories.
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness, yes, any pub over there would give you a story.
Speaker 3:I was sitting I think I was sitting next to a gentleman in a pub go figure in Ireland and I was asking. He asked what I did and I told him that I worked for Celtic Tours. Well, we went into a 45-minute conversation about the word Celtic Ah, is it Celtic or is it Celtic? So we went into this entire conversation about the whole word Celtic. So there was a lot of history behind it. There was a lot of I'm not sure how much of that is true. You know, when you're sitting there at a pub and you're having a pint, you meet the locals. It's just a wonderful, wonderful experience.
Speaker 2:It's a very friendly area. When you go into these pubs, everybody's family, oh yeah, whether you're family or not, you're family, yes, and everybody has a pint to drink. They have nibbles and dates. Everybody's talking with each other. It makes it fun. Oh, and I always tell people when you're traveling, do some of that Kind of step off the path a little Yep and sit down. People love to talk to us Americans. I don't know why, I don't know, okay, and we love to hear about these stories. We think they're great because a lot of history comes from overseas. You know, I was overseas. I was in Scotland. One of the world's oldest doors was sitting in front of me. It's like we don't even have a building that old.
Speaker 3:Right, I know, I know. So everything over there is so much older than everything here. You know, in America we're so young, we are so young compared to you, we're the babies, we're the babies. I mean everything over there. You've got 2,000-year-old buildings and ruins and I mean there's just so much and so much history. You can't see it all in one trip.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, you have to make several trips. Celtic tours can actually plan all of this for you, and I love that, because sometimes you need to handheld a little bit when you're going overseas, particularly if you haven't been overseas. But one of the easiest things when you're going over to the UK area and you're going over to Ireland is they speak English. Yeah, they do, they do. Some of them do have heavy accents, so you kind of have to listen to that they're rogue?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're little brogues here and there, some have a cockney. Yeah, every sign, okay so, but they speak English and signs are in both languages. Yes, yes, they are they? Are. They can actually see it in English and they can see it in Gilead, so there's that as well.
Speaker 3:So again, music and arts festivals, storytelling festivals, food festivals, this area is just loaded with it and, honestly, z I don't think we touched you. Know, we just gave a little sample of some of these festivals and I know we offered a lot. Yes, but if you're looking for something particular, give us a call, let us know, right?
Speaker 2:So if you've heard of a festival that we haven't talked about today, call Celtic Tours and say I heard about this festival. Can you get me?
Speaker 3:in yeah, or your travel agent. Call your travel agent if they don't know about it. Yeah, travel advisors.
Speaker 2:Celtic Tours will work very closely with their travel advisor. Absolutely so. I mean, that's something that you really need to do. And again, celtic Tours CelticTourscom Can't be any easier than that Travel advisors. If you're looking to put something together for your clients, celtictourscom. And if you don't want to go to the website, you can call them. Yeah for sure, the phone number is right there on the website.
Speaker 2:Right there, right there. It's a very easy website it is. I've been onto the site several times. You can pick and choose, you can see what's going on. You do have prepackaged tours, of course, but if you want to create something all your own, if you want to bring the whole family over, that could be done as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, our website is really, really user-friendly. We just changed our website, so it's beautiful, isn't it?
Speaker 2:It's very beautiful. Okay, well, diana, I can't believe our time already is up. I know I want to go to more parties. I want to go to more festivals. I know you too. Let's pack our bags and go. Well, thank you again for joining me. I appreciate it and hope to see you soon and we'll talk more. I hope so.
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. 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.