Downtown Bantry and Glengarriff's Bamboo Park

Today was a bit boring for clients but it was relaxing for us, hanging out with Florence in Bantry for the morning, chatting over a cup of organic coffee and a homemade organic scone at Organico. Ireland is on the organic kick as well as the environmental wave – even ATM machines remind you to dispose of your receipt carefully (if you print one at all!) Time alone with Florence was great and we got to know her just a little bit better than the previous trips.

Back at home Florence decided not to join us at The Bamboo Park in Glengarriff, a bamboo garden set on 12 beautiful acres (when the sun is out!) and overlooking a small bay. Claudine, the owner, greeted us and knew exactly who we were as Florence rang up to let her know we were coming. Claudine gave us a map and quick overview of the gardens, the bamboo having been imported from France and adapting very well to the subtropical climate in Glengarriff. The gardens were gorgeous and we walked the perimeter, stopping to bask in the sun and enjoy the views of not only the gardens but the water as well.

Back to the entrance (not sure how we found it!) we stopped in to talk with Claudine a while, opting for a wonderful piece of homemade apple tarte with cream and a cup of coffee. At some point another American couple stopped in for the same as we talked to Claudine. At one point Claudine congratulated us on adopting – word travels fast in a small community and we were happy to share our experience. She asked quite a few questions and we were more than happy to answer them, knowing that our next visit to Ireland will probably be with baby.

Thanking her for the tour, conversation and wonderful tarte we decided to head back to see Raymond and Florence and help prepare dinner. The night was out usual except we decided to pick our next painting which we’ll post online soon. I think this is our 10th painting of Raymond’s that we’ve collected.

Baltimore and Sherkin Island Excursion

Today we set out for Baltimore, a small harbor town about 30 minutes from Bantry. Our goal was to stay local this trip, exploring the smaller towns and going off the beaten path. Bantry is a bit below where most Americans travel and we were immersing ourselves even further, giving ourselves a flavor of Ireland that even we have neglected to see.

Heading toward Skibbereen we took a smaller side-road toward Baltimore, hugging the water as we meandered through the countryside. After about 20 minutes we came across Casey’s of Baltimore, a property which I’ve sold before and now I could see the actual location – on the water and a good location but still a short drive to the actual harbor itself. It would be perfect for those looking to get away from the major towns but having to drive to the center of the harbor might be an issue if a few pints are involved.

We quickly found the harbor, parked on the curb like everyone else as the parking lots were full – knowing that they rarely tow but we could come back to a ticket.
Just as we arrived we saw a boat pull up and we inquired – it was the Sherkin Island Ferry, a place we were told we should visit due to its beauty. Although today is a bit overcast, we figured we’ll head out and explore a bit so we hopped on the ferry (€10pp) and began the short 10-minute journey to Sherkin.

Sherkin Island is known for the ruins of a friary and a church, the friary immediately seen as we landed. From there we decided to walk toward the hotels on the island in search of a bathroom but found them either closed or the bathrooms were locked behind the guest area. There was a group of people staying in the one hotel however they were all practicing Tai Chi in the main banquet room and later outside – probably not a good idea to interrupt them. Seeing a sign for a pottery gallery we started our walk and continued for at least a mile before seeing it was closed and the road ended… thankfully the scenery was gorgeous along the way with nothing but views of pastures, animals and water in the distance.

We made it back to the ferry and took it back to the mainland just as the sun began to burn through the clouds. It’s typical Irish weather in the sense that the mornings will always be cloudy and misty, wet and cool but if the sun can burn off the clouds you’ll have gorgeous skies.

Just at the top of the harbor is a small group of restaurants where we were able to sit outside and enjoy the weather, the people and the views of the harbor – boats going in and out, a group of scuba divers heading out and people milling about on this Sunday afternoon. We each ordered a pizza with fresh local cheeses and a side of chips (French fries – a requirement for all meals!) and when they arrived, our faces dropped! These pies were quite large and good value but way too much food for the two of us. Fortunately a couple from Cork City sat next to us and asked us how we were enjoying out pizza so Bob offered them a taste and they took us up on it! Mind you I’ve never seen someone do that but I liked it at the same time because our offer was genuine… why can’t people just take you up on an offer without feeling obligated? We actually cut up the rest of our pizzas and made them a nice plate which they thanked us for many times, eventually ordering a bottle of wine to enjoy the views and sunshine.

We took the southern route along to Schull and stopped for a bit before heading through Durrus where they make a fine hard Irish cheese and on to Ballylickey. We then made it back to Ballylickey dinner was being prepared, roasted duck and wine. We settled right in, telling the day’s story and sipping wine as we tried to help out when we were allowed.

Visiting Raymond Klee in Ballylickey

The weather has been extremely unusual for Ireland – sunny and warm! In fact I think I might be getting a slight tan as we sit outside with our friends Raymond and Florence.

Let’s see, we drove from Doolin to Ballylickey in about 4 hours and this is where distances versus time is quite deceiving. We were in Limerick around 11:00am south on the N20 which is a nice-sized motorway. The total distance to our turn-off was about 105km, maybe 60 miles and it took us about two hours. The motorway narrows through villages with traffic here and there. Once off the main road the traveling was even slower through winding mountain roads until we emerged into Ballylickey.
Raymond and Florence were in the kitchen when we arrived so we walked in, made ourselves at home and began the process of catching up on the past year.

Unfortunately Raymond has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and his memory is not what it used to be, though he did remember the two of us. My fear was having him wonder who we were and why we were staying in his house. He had none of that and within the hour Raymond was whisking us off to his studio to show us the works he’s completed and what he was working on now. In fact he painted a wonderful seascape which he allowed me to get on film!

Oh, wait… I had a woman, Judy, contact me through the Internet to find out more about a painting of Raymond’s that she purchased through a thrift store. We emailed quite a bit within two days, me receiving digital photos and a letter to bring to Ireland for Raymond. I decided to go one step further and get his reaction on video, knowing full well that he would give me a show for Judy and that he did. I began reading the letter and his eyes would open wide and he would give me one of his grins indicating the show was about to begin. Just as I came to the part asking about the name of the painting he paused, full-grin and slowly gave the name… “Oil” … “Painting” and that was the end of the letter and questions. Sorry Judy! That is when Raymond went back to his oil painting and the video taping continued.

Spa Day in Ballyvaughan, Exploring the Burren's Dolmens and Ring Forts

Tir Gan Ean is the perfect location for touring – the Cliffs of Moher are just a few minutes south, Doolin Pier offers ferries to the Aran Islands or cruises to the Cliffs of Moher and Ballyvaughan is just 30 minutes but car.

We had a 10:00am massage at the Burren Coast Hotel’s Halcyon Spa, a non-descript spa from the outside but a leader in the holistic realm of health, offering everything from massages to facials and everything in between. The relaxation room consists of four leather lounges to sit back while waiting for your therapist to whisk you away to a quiet, candle-filled therapy room. After an hour of a Swedish massage you have the option of relaxing in the steam room, sauna or sit in one of the two heated-tile loungers before heading to a true rain shower… 40 seconds of misty rain before the sky opens up to shower you with dozens of rain droplets falling from above. While only four weeks old, this spa is designed to cater not only to the location population but also travelers alike with their 4-star accommodations adjoined in the Burren Coast Hotel. This property will soon be placed on my moderate spa package for those looking for a luxurious vacation getaway without the cost of a 5-star property.

After our massages we decided to seek out the Burren Perfumery which was quite further into the Burren than originally anticipated. Down side roads and small one-car lanes we found our destination, watched a short 10-minute overview of the region and went right to the gift shop where we bought a few items for friends. All products are natural with no oil-derivatives and never tested on animals, ensuring quality and good karma for all that purchase here – though it’s expensive when the dollar is down against the euro. There is a small café offering soup, sandwiches, tea/coffee and sweets for a quick bite to eat.

On our way out we stopped at Poulnabrone, the megalithic burial tomb a few kilometers away. Excavated in 1986, 33 people were recovered dating back to 3,800 B.C., a magnificent tomb to witness.

Further down the road was Caherconnell, a round stone fort where they just excavated a burial tomb a few weeks prior (September 6, 2008) and found remains. Admission is just 5 euro for the fort however the gift shop and cafeteria are free to enter.
Back toward Lisdoonvarna we decided to skip the Matchmaking Festival after hearing about the drunken melee from the previous night. Instead we stopped at the Burren Smokehouse and were a bit disappointed at the presentation but thrilled to find caramel waffle cookies, great Irish cheeses and some crackers for what we planned to be a nice quiet evening at the hotel.

Rather than the quiet evening I suggested we head to O’Connor’s Pub near the pier to have a pint and enjoy some music but just as we arrived a bus was letting out dozens of people, locals from Lisdoonvarna and Limerick! Tourists tend to be more mellow and subdued but locals are more bold and brazen, drinking quite a bit more and being a bit louder than most. We sat at the bar drinking for about two hours, enjoy the locals and the dueling groups of musicians in two different rooms competing for attention. One more traditional and the other more progressive, with a rendition of The Rose capturing the audience after many people “Shhhhh”-ing to get the room quiet. It was fun, but not as much fun as if it were later in the night and a few more pints were finished – it was only 5pm and the buzz wasn’t strong enough to deal with the drunken melee that was going on.

Back to Tir Gan Ean for dinner, which never disappoints and off to bed – at 8:18 it was a good 12 hour day from beginning to end. Jet-lag should be gone by tomorrow when we head off to see Raymond and Florence in Bantry, County Cork.

Trip #14 to Ireland - Staying in Doolin

Flying to Ireland is a mere 5.5 hours from Philadelphia when the tail-winds are good – short flights are great but when it’s overnight, you really feel the effects of jet-lag. No sooner do you get settled into your seat, watch a movie and then drift off to sleep … and you’re being waken with coffee, tea and a transfat-laden donut. My adrenaline kicks in and I’m ready to hit the ground running from that point on. In fact, our luggage was waiting for us as we went through Customs, a mere minutes in line and one or two quick questions, grab the luggage and on we were.

Dan Dooley had a larger car for us than expected, a Ford Mondeo which is the size of a Volkswagon Passat back at home – much larger than my MINI Cooper that I’m accustomed to driving. I adjust to the left too quickly and we were exiting the airport within minutes.

I brought the GPS just to see how it works and make recommendations for clients. It has its good and bad points so it’s still going to be individual decision on whether or not to rent one but on future trips, I’ll leave mine at home and stick with the car rental map. It helped us navigate out of Shannon Airport without a problem but it did not tell us to take our usual exit for Doolin by way of Ennistimon. Instead we went another 4 miles before exiting the highway and backtracking through Ennis from the north – slightly out of the way but staying on the N85 would have made more sense. At that point I turned off the GPS and navigated by towns again. I suppose it’s a good feature for clients who have no clue that they’re a bit out of their way.

Within the hour we were in the centre of Doolin, checking in to Tir Gan Ean, our favorite hotel within walking distance to everything in the village including O’Connor’s pub near the docks and McGann’s in the village. With gorgeous weather (sunny and not a cloud in the sky!) we decided to head toward the dock but only made it just past O’Connor’s Pub and decided to call it quits, grabbing a small bite to eat and sit outside in the sun before heading back to Tir Gan Ean.

We napped from noon until 5pm to try and get rid of the jet-lag but not sure if it hurt or helped. I typically stay up the entire first day to help with the jet-lag so this is new for me. We went to McDermott’s for dinner, pub grub being the most economical meal when dining out. Afterward we sat outside just as the sun was setting, chatting with two married Canadian women who were staying in Lisdoonvarna during the Matchmaking Festival, a location they advised against due to the non-stop partying from 11:00am to the wee hours of the morning.

Back to the hotel we had a cup of tea, Banoffie Pie and went right to bed afterward.

Heading to Ireland September 16, 2008!

My annual trip to Ireland is just one day away and for once I'm not running around ragged trying to handle client requests -- one of the good things about a bad economy I suppose.

I will be lugging all of my computer equipment including laptop, digital camera, digital video camera, iPod (for the car!) and all of the cables, wires and accessories that go with all of this. I'm hoping to get a wireless internet connection here and there so I can blog while I'm away but that may not happen.

This trip will include two nights in Doolin, still one of my favorite towns because it's so small and has just a few pubs, each with traditional music happening each night of the week. Self-proclaimed "music capital of Ireland", this town is relaxed and quaint with lots to see and do in the area. We plan on hitting the Burren Perfumery, Lisdoonvarna Smokehouse, the local dolmen (can't think of the name!) and checking out the new Halcyon Spa in Ballyvaughan.

From there we'll head south to Bantry and visit with our friends for 4 nights, relaxing, touring locally and just hanging out like a local.

Check back often to see if we have updates!

Is Tripology Really A Viable Business Model?

With travel slowing down I decided to look for new efforts to market my business and being internet-only is a bit difficult. I’ve tried online advertising, newspapers, magazines and more … all with very little results. This brought me to Tripology.com, the website touted as matching travelers with agents specialized in their area of travel. A match made in Heaven!

I load up my account with $50, not knowing how much it would cost me to purchase each lead and surprisingly Tripology doubled my credit to $100 – always good to get something for free, right?

The leads started coming in via email and I would look them over quickly, quickly skipping those that didn’t fit my area of expertise… after all, this site is to be specialists who know where you want to travel and include special planning. Dozens of requests went by and finally Ireland popped up here and there.

These requests were studied in detail before accepting and although the cost was only $5 each, I would be competing against other travel agents for one person’s business – this had to count. A total of four requests were accepted for Ireland and I started noticing a pattern… each person wanted the absolute cheapest vacation available and they their budget was pretty unreasonable. As I started looking into each one as they came over I realized that those requesting prices are delusional when it comes to pricing… $600 for airfare to Europe during the summer? Seriously now.

The minimum information is listed including airfare, hotels, trains, cars, approximate dates and length of stay. It’s quite generic so interaction with the actual requester is essential.

I accepted my requests within minutes, paying my $5.00 for each and utilizing the online email application to introduce myself and obtain more information on the vacation due to the lack of detail collected by Tripology. My emails went out within minutes and I waited… and waited… and waited. I emailed again and finally one person responded, indicating they had already purchased a vacation within two days of entering their request. Did the purchase from a Tripology agent? I don’t know but I doubt it from the minimal response that I received back. Goodbye $5.00 – that wasn’t a qualified lead and there was no potential for selling a vacation there.

I still didn’t hear from the others so I decided to call them to ensure they did receive my email. One guy did answer and we went over the specifics of his vacation, at my insistence … again, I paid for the lead and I expect to be able to price it out. The second was an answering machine so I left a message and followed up with email. The follow-up email indicated that they didn’t really have specifics on their vacation just yet but that they would contact me if they need me. Yes, I paid $5.00 for someone to say they never really wanted my services but perhaps they’ll be in touch. I couldn’t let that go so I emailed back to advise that we are charged for each lead and that we simply want to help them and the response back was that Tripology simply puts them in contact with three agents who specialize in their destination of choice.

What have I gotten myself into? Who are these people requesting trips through Tripology and what qualifies them as leads?

Looking at Tripology’s home page you’ll see a very simplistic approach for those looking to travel… enter a bit of information and instantly Tripology will connect you with three qualified travel agents. Simple enough… but what about the agents on the other end?

We receive those requests without identifying information, the basic travel details, and approximate budget and if we want to accept the lead we must pay $5.00 each, regardless if the person is serious about purchasing a trip or just seeing how the system works. I have to admit, I’ve done the later in some situations and honestly believe many of those requests coming through are people playing to see if they can get a vacation for a ridiculously low price. $500 - $1000 for 3-5 nights in Puerto Rico including airfare and 4-star hotel… total, not per person. I’m serious, this was a request just a few minutes ago which makes me think someone is just seeing if they’ll get a response for that.

Another type of request I surmise is the person who already has their plans with an agent but they want to try one last avenue to see if they can get it cheaper. They enter their Tripology request with notes detailing their plans and hope that someone will swoop in and take the wind out of their travel agent’s sail – and it will happen. Unfortunately you have three agents each paying $5.00 for the lead and two, possible three, out of the three will lose their money again.

Needless to say I think the concept is a good idea but without full disclosure to both the traveler and the agent, the business model isn’t fair and I hope other agents band together and refuse to use their services.