Zee Michaelson Travel
A Travel Podcast. The Zee Michaelson Travel Podcast is devoted to the travel industry. Produced by Collage Travel Media Network, a company that produces Podcasts, Streaming Radio, Travel Expos and Travel Advising. Your guide to travel is Zee Michaelson a Travel Advisor and Jay Lawrence your concierge of podcast travel. Episodes are about 30-minutes about everything and anything you want to know about travel. Travel tips and more. Guest Travel Advisors. We work closely with travel vendors to bring you the latest information. Zee Michaelson Trave Podcast. And check out https://live365.com/station/-a03518
Zee Michaelson Travel
Exploring Celtic Charm: Ireland's Enchanting Tours and Beyond with Diana Sheehan from Celtic Tours
Get ready to uncover the magic and charm of Celtic Tours in Europe, featuring an in-depth conversation with special guest Diana Sheehan from Celtic Tours. We promise you'll discover all the enchanting travel possibilities that await you in Ireland, from escorted tours and chauffeur-driven Mercedes van trips to unique events like the matchmaking festival in Liz Dunvonen. Whether you're on a quest to reconnect with your Irish heritage or seeking a new adventure, Diana's captivating stories and expert insights will guide you through the diverse range of tours available.
But the adventure doesn't stop at Ireland's shores. Join us as we journey through Italy's charming Tuscany, with its stunning villas and delightful cooking and wine-tasting classes, and explore the festive allure of Germany's Christmas markets that span multiple countries. We'll highlight how Celtic Tours can customize your travel experience to suit your personal preferences, ensuring a trip that's as unique as you are. Plus, stay tuned for exciting travel tips, upcoming destinations, and the enriching experiences that only travel can bring. Don't miss out on the chance to dream big and explore new places!
Welcome to the Z Michelson Travel Podcast. This podcast is devoted to the travel industry. Z says let your imagination run wild and start dreaming about where you want to go. And dream big, reach for the stars, and if you only get to the moon, at least you enjoyed the trip. Your guide to travel is Z Michelson, a travel advisor, and sitting at the controls is Jay Lawrence, your concierge of podcast travel. Now here's Z. That's me.
Speaker 2:That's me, I'm Z, and the concierge of podcast travel is sitting right here at the controls.
Speaker 3:Yes, you're the button pusher. Yes, because I can't push all those buttons.
Speaker 2:That's all I am is just a button pusher.
Speaker 3:I can't push buttons and talk at the same time, yeah, but I want to let everybody know that this is being brought to you by Collage Travel Media Network, and we do have a lot in store for you today.
Speaker 2:Yes, are you excited? I am very excited because I want to know where we're going next year.
Speaker 3:Well, we're going to a lot of places next year, but we have a guest in the studio today, so you are going to want to get your suitcases ready. Yes, we are going to talk about a place that is near and dear to my heart. It's home to my grandparents, and my father even lived there while he was growing up.
Speaker 2:What's your name?
Speaker 1:What was?
Speaker 3:my original name McLarnin, mclarnin, mclarnin. Yes, so of course we're talking about Ireland today. Oh, yes, and we have Diana Sheehan of Celtic Tours with us today and she's going to let us know all about the great Ireland adventures you can go on and everything that Celtic Tours can do for you Well.
Speaker 2:I'm eager to hear about this Welcome.
Speaker 3:So welcome to the show Diana.
Speaker 4:Thank you, I'm so excited.
Speaker 3:Now you too. I noticed, your name is not Italian.
Speaker 4:No, no, sheehan, yeah, no, definitely Irish.
Speaker 3:So you work, you are the regional sales manager for Florida and Georgia and then you work with a lot of travel advisors and we talk with a lot of travel advisors and you represent Celtic Tours. So Celtic Tours is more than just Ireland, right?
Speaker 4:Oh, absolutely. We actually started in Ireland, hence Celtic Tours, but we do all over Europe. We have several different destinations, including Germany, Italy, Poland. I mean all types of different locations all over I mean all types of different locations all over.
Speaker 3:That's great. You know, the Irish side is my father's side, but Germany and Poland is my mother's side, so you know I'm going to have to be doing a lot of trips here.
Speaker 4:So I want to know what was one of the most outlandish requests you've had for a tour. The most outlandish? Well, I can tell you it was in Ireland. Okay, I had two sisters who wanted to go meet Willie May, who happens to be or excuse me, willie Daly, who happens to be a matchmaker in Ireland, and they have this huge matchmaking festival. I had no clue. They wanted to go to this matchmaking festival and find the love of their life.
Speaker 2:I was going to say did they want to be matched?
Speaker 4:Yeah, they did. Did they find their matches? You know what? I don't know? That was a couple of years ago and I don't know. They had an amazing time. They met Willie and he has this huge book. He's been a matchmaker, he's part of a matchmaker family for like 120 years and he has this huge book and I know their names are in the book.
Speaker 3:But I know they had an amazing time, amazing time. So their names are in the book. Their names are in the book.
Speaker 4:And what was the name of that matchmaking company? It's actually a festival, it's a matchmaking festival and it's in Liz Dunvonen and it's every September, every September, every September, from September 1st to the 3rd, and see you can book for that right.
Speaker 3:I probably can book for that. I'll just call Diana up and say I need to get some people over to that festival and we can get them there. Yeah, yeah, that would be great. So that was very unique. When you're going on Celtic tours, what exactly is included? What do you get? What can you do?
Speaker 4:Well, I like to kind of call it land cruising, because we are an escorted, we can do all kinds of things, but we kind of focus on our escorted tours. And our escorted tours do include, of course, your accommodations. They include breakfast daily, except for the day of arrival, because everybody's arriving at different times. It includes dinners. You have your tours, our escorted drivers. In Ireland our drivers actually work directly for us.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's good yeah very good, very good, and they're just amazing at what they do. We have some of the best drivers in all of Ireland and I mean you can kind of customize also. We do have things on our website that are already to go, but you can actually customize anything as well.
Speaker 3:So if I wanted to do I want to find my family type of trip I can actually get it customized to that Absolutely.
Speaker 2:You should have had them Z.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well'm, we're gonna go again. That's gonna be a surprise at the end.
Speaker 4:All right, yeah we do um also, you know, chauffeur driven self drives um now chauffeur driven.
Speaker 3:Explain that to me, because I have a lot of people that ask for chauffeur driven that's actually one of the most popular things that we have right now.
Speaker 4:chauffeur driven is up to people. It's no more than 12 people. It is a Mercedes van, a large Mercedes van, and you have your own private driver and we would go ahead and set up the whole itinerary for you where you want to go. So if you wanted to go find your family, you can actually go to that town and find your family with these private chauffeur drives.
Speaker 2:I like that. That sounds like a lot of fun. I've got to figure out where I came from before I go looking for my family.
Speaker 3:So as we're talking we're talking right now Celtic tours Of course we're talking Ireland, because that's kind of the name Celtic. So tell me, a lot of people say where should they go? You've been to Ireland.
Speaker 4:Where did you go that you say you would go back again. Oh goodness, I think one of my favorite places I mean every. There's something for everybody in Ireland. It's not just a you know, you go, you to go to the pubs and you drink. There's something for everybody in Ireland. And of course, Cliffs of Moher in the Western Ireland, on the Atlantic shore, are absolutely beautiful. Kilkenny in the southeast region, it's well preserved and it has medieval architecture. But one of my favorite places, I would have to say, is the Dingle Peninsula.
Speaker 4:Oh okay, it is the scenic views and the drives and the beaches. And then they have this little town, dingle Town, which is a fishing town, and they have the most amazing fish and chips I've ever had.
Speaker 3:Because it's fresh right out of the water, right from there. Yeah, absolutely. Now some people don't realize how well Ireland is when it comes to food. They think oh yeah, it's just meat and potatoes but it really isn't, it isn't, it isn't.
Speaker 4:They have so much to offer Scones. I've never had a better scone than and I've traveled a lot and I've never had a better scone. I'll have to make you some of mine.
Speaker 3:I have original recipes from my grandmother.
Speaker 4:And it's just. The food is really really good and of course, the beverages.
Speaker 3:Okay, now you know I've been born with the gift of gab. And I know that the Blarney Stone is on one of the itineraries so people can go and kiss the Blarney Stone, which is fabulous. And you know you go to Dublin. Do you go to Northern Ireland as well?
Speaker 4:We do Northern Ireland, that is, we used to have a tour that included Northern Ireland, which we still have. We can do it as an addition. But, yes, absolutely, belfast is one of the hottest spots in northern ireland um where they have the titanic museum yes and um, where they can, you know, go and actually see all the artifacts and they tell you all about how the titanic was actually built, because it was built there. So, um, yeah, it's, it's a great place to go visit as well.
Speaker 3:It's a great place to go visit now, what it's a great place to go visit. Now you say escorted tours. Do you have to have a group with you or can just you and your spouse go?
Speaker 4:No, you and your spouse can go. If it's just the two of you, at that point I would recommend, like I said, either self-drive or we can do a rail. We do rails as well.
Speaker 3:Oh, rail is becoming very popular.
Speaker 4:It is yes.
Speaker 3:So where would the rail go?
Speaker 4:Well, it would go anywhere. I mean, we have rails in Ireland, you know, if you want to do Italy, we have rails in Europe, germany, so you can go anywhere, but it would depend on where you want to stop at that point. But we would just book your rail tickets, we'd book your accommodations and any tours that you want, and we can go ahead and put a whole package together that way as well.
Speaker 3:So you can put the whole package together. You know, your travel advisor can contact Celtic Tours and say I have clients that want to do this, this, this, this and this. And then you guys get to work and say, ok, here it is Absolutely.
Speaker 4:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And my question was how many people are in a group or in a tour. Is it from two to 20, or what?
Speaker 4:That's a really good question. Our groups actually start at 16 people. So if you wanted to do a group, it would be 16 plus people. If we wanted to put one together, correct, correct, and then the FITs would be up to 15 people.
Speaker 3:Now a lot of people are listening to this that are not travel advisors. Do you want to explain what an FIT is?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that would be just a regular. That would be a regular reservation, Just, you know, a reservation for two people or six people or whatever. So that would just be anything that's not considered 16 or more.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm. So you know, and a lot of people say, well, what is your most popular tour? What is the most popular tour?
Speaker 4:Our most popular tour is our heart, the Heart of Ireland tour, and that takes you all over from Dublin all the way across to the Cliffs of Moher, all the way down south, and it is a six-night tour and it includes all of the hot spots of Ireland. What's a hot spot Like the Cliffs of Moher?
Speaker 1:Cliffs of Moher. That's a big one.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's a big one. Everybody knows the Cliffs of Moher. Yeah, so it takes you, of course, to the Guinness Storehouse. Oh, yes, you have to go to the.
Speaker 3:Guinness Storehouse when you're in Dublin. I wasn't there. My sister and her husband went to Guinness. I didn't get to go there but I was up in Northern Ireland so I did see the other thing. We kind of divided and conquered when we went to Ireland.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it just gives you the best. It goes through Killarney, of course, the Dingle Peninsula, which is my favorite. You also get two nights in Fitzpatrick's Castle that is one of the things that we always try to include two nights in a castle in all of our tours, and most of our tours also stay two nights in every location, so you're not hopping from place to place to place to place.
Speaker 4:Yeah, Now, if you have a seven night tour, obviously we do two nights and you have to have one night somewhere. But like our six night tours, which is the heart we do, we try to do two nights in every location.
Speaker 3:That makes it really nice, you know because, you can get to see things and you know people don't like to run around. But speaking of running around and packing for things like this, you know they shouldn't have all of that. What is a good travel tip?
Speaker 4:Oh, a good travel tip. Oh, especially for Ireland the weather, the weather. You never, ever know what the weather is going to be like. I was there in May and I was there in September. In May it was cool, a little colder than I brought clothes for, and so and it's an island, so you never know what the weather is going to be. So what I definitely recommend is checking the weather about a week prior before your trip. Just go ahead, go on to weather and weather app and just check the weather and then go ahead and pack for that, but definitely always bring a sweater because layers are good right At night. It does tend to get a little cool this summer this past summer it's actually been a little cooler than the last summer Europe has been really, really weird with the weather and a lot of places don't have AC, so watch your summers also Watch the AC.
Speaker 3:People don't know the AC doesn't always be supplied to you. Absolutely. Yeah, Well, that's really a good tip. And now I also took a small little hand umbrella with me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And I was there in July and it was chilly.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you never know when it's going to rain. It is an island, right?
Speaker 3:So there you go. We got some little tip there Now. Now, what we're going to talk about is not only Ireland, but Celtic tours can take us all over. It can take you to Italy, it can take you to Germany. So just because the name says Celtic doesn't necessarily mean it's Ireland only. Have you been to any of the other locations with Celtic tours?
Speaker 4:I have Italy Okay you've been to Italy. I have to say that's again one of my favorite spots Tuscany. We have a villa that we book in Tuscany and you can actually do tours. It's right in the heart of Tuscany and it's about 16 miles from Florence and you can do tours from the villa to Pisa, san Giammano to Florence. You can do all of these day tours because it's so so close in, in proximity well, that makes it nice.
Speaker 3:Now, something you don't know is Jay's wife is from Italy booking that?
Speaker 2:would that be a seven day, or how long do you book that?
Speaker 4:you can actually book that for any anytime you want. We have again different packages now. What we do have on our website is a five night stay, um, but you can extend that. I actually used to be a travel agent and that's how I got introduced to celtic tours, um, and I booked a seven night stay with this particular package. I added a couple more nights. You can add cooking classes there at the villa, a pizza making class at the villa. They have pizza-making class at the villa. They have wine tasting. They have all kinds of different things that you can do.
Speaker 2:You know my wife will be there wine tasting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but she was also a cook. She was a professional teaching children how to cook. Yes, yeah, so that was one of your other places that you were in Italy and your website is very easy to get to. I've you know, I Tune in all the time. It says CelticTourscom and it is available to everyone. Correct, correct, not just travel advisors. So if you're interested in taking a trip with Celtic Tours, you can go on their website. You can kind of roam around and see what tickles your fancy because they have a lot of things that will tickle your fancy and just call your travel advisor and say you know, I was looking at this one tour to Italy and I'd like to add three or four more days, and then travel advisor can work with Celtic Tours to create that correct, absolutely.
Speaker 4:What's on our website is not in stone. So if you see something that's on the website and you're interested in it, but you want to add additional days or you want to kind of split it up, just keep in mind that you know that everything we have there is not. You know you can do anything that you'd like to do. Now the set tours that we have on there does make it nice, because we have dates, we have pricing, so you'll see when you go to destinations and you pick your destination. We do have set tours that are on there.
Speaker 3:And sometimes that makes it easier for somebody who just wants to see the place very quickly. What I always say is go there for a little bit, see what you like and then go back again later, and then you can really enhance your visits, and people love that. So you know, when I'm looking at your site you have the must-see attractions sitting right there in your Ireland, italy, the United Kingdom, of course. So you said you went to Italy. Where else did you go?
Speaker 4:I have been all over Europe, but with Celtic Tours. I was just in Ireland and in Italy.
Speaker 3:We have to get you going some more.
Speaker 4:I know However Germany. I'm originally from Germany, oh wow.
Speaker 1:And the.
Speaker 4:Christmas markets. If you have not done the Christmas markets, if you go to our website, we do have the Christmas markets also and they are absolutely beautiful. They have the lights, the food, the atmosphere and, of course, it's cold being here in Florida.
Speaker 2:It's a little chillier than Florida at that time of year Going to the Christmas market is a tip to buy an extra suitcase to bring it home. Yes, I mean, how much do you purchase on the Christmas tours? I mean, it seems like I'm going shopping.
Speaker 3:I don't wonder if you can actually have it shipped too, oh.
Speaker 4:A lot of things you probably could have shipped. Yeah, but I always bring an extra suitcase.
Speaker 3:Bring one of those foldable ones, Jay.
Speaker 4:I pack lightly with clothes.
Speaker 3:Now the Christmas markets do those sell out pretty quickly?
Speaker 4:Yeah, they typically do. We still have some availability for this year, for 2024.
Speaker 3:For 2024, correct but they typically do sell out pretty quickly.
Speaker 4:Now, is there like a limit of how many tours you can do in each one of these? Not at all, no, not at all, no, not at all.
Speaker 3:so you know if you have 40 already in a group or a tour, you can have some more people coming along, so you would just create additional tours. Right, correct, correct, yeah absolutely yeah oh wow, oh wow. So you've already told us some of the tour stops, which are fabulous, and your favorite is the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.
Speaker 3:And, of course, when you went to Italy, it was Tuscany, and now we're just touching the base on Germany. You know, with the Christmas markets, that's one of my things I want to go see some of the Christmas markets.
Speaker 4:The Christmas markets just aren't in Germany. It's in Vienna, salzburg, nuremberg, munich, which is Germany. Then we have them in Prague, budapest, then also in Poland, warsaw and Krakow. So they're not just in Germany, they're actually all over Europe.
Speaker 3:Now I'm going to bring us back to Ireland, of course, because it's Celtic tours and you know people think, ok, ireland and pubs, just like you mentioned earlier. So is there pubs that you would recommend in Dublin to go see? You know, maybe do a city thing.
Speaker 4:Well, you can't go to Dublin without going to the Guinness Storehouse.
Speaker 1:Right, that's top.
Speaker 4:That's top. You have to go to the Guinness, even if you're not a drinker, just to see the history of Guinness and walk through it and then, if you are interested, they will actually show you and allow you to pour your own Guinness and show you how it's supposed to be done, how to actually pour a good pint.
Speaker 3:It's very important how to pour a pint.
Speaker 4:And then also they have different mixes, for instance a black and tan. That would be a lighter beer with the Guinness. Now, I was never, ever a big Guinness person. However, when I went there I told them I didn't like the bitterness, so they gave me what was called a black and black, and a black and black is black currant with the Guinness and it gives it that little bit of sweetness. Black currant, black currant.
Speaker 3:It's like a berry.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's a black currant syrup and they put it into the Guinness and it makes it just a little sweet.
Speaker 3:I would say that would be better because, like you, I'm not a big Guinness drinker, because it has a bitter taste to it, so the currant would make it a little sweet. Now, my brother-in-law loves Guinness, is it? 5? O'clock, someplace it's 5 o'clock somewhere, so I think Jay and I are going to be going out for a pint after this.
Speaker 4:But I can tell you that the Temple Bar is also one of the most popular places and right around the corner from the Temple Bar you can go to the church. It's called the White Fair Church and the remains of St Valentine are there.
Speaker 3:Ooh, I love history when it comes to that.
Speaker 4:There is so much history in Ireland I mean all over Europe but I've learned so much about Ireland since working with Celtic.
Speaker 3:Okay, Well, now that she's learned so much about Ireland and, of course, her last name is Irish we're going to talk about a trivia question, and usually I give these to Jay and you can help him, Diana.
Speaker 1:I need help. I need help.
Speaker 3:So here we go. What is Ireland's national symbol?
Speaker 2:Come on, Jay A Guinness.
Speaker 3:Close, close. Diana, do you want to help him out here?
Speaker 4:National symbol Mm-hmm, it's a national symbol.
Speaker 3:It's a national symbol A four-leaf clover. You know you'd be very close saying that, but it's not Okay. Ireland's national symbol is the harp. Oh yes.
Speaker 4:Everybody forgets that. That's on the Guinness.
Speaker 3:Yes, so you were close.
Speaker 4:That's why I said that you are close.
Speaker 3:It's the only country in the world that has a musical instrument as its national emblem, and the harp dates back to the 13th century. Wow, so the national symbol of Ireland is the harp.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for that trivia.
Speaker 3:Yes, and now you can have your that trivia yes, and now you can have your Guinness. Yes.
Speaker 2:Hires to you. There you go.
Speaker 3:So I mean, it's so exciting to know Now Celtic Tours. The company is family-owned and operated. From what I understand.
Speaker 4:It is yes, we've been in business since 1972, and a gentleman came over from Dublin to Albany, new York His name is Mr Noel Murphy and he was a carpenter and all of a sudden, everybody kept coming up to him and saying I want to go to your hometown, you know, to your home country, Right? And here we are, almost 53 years later.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and it's still going strong.
Speaker 2:Yep and Mr.
Speaker 4:Murphy is still. He is in his 80s and he still comes to the office and is part of the day-to-day and it is being handed down to the next generation, to his daughter, who is the president of the company.
Speaker 3:And because it is family-owned and operated, I'm sure they take good care of all of their guests that they're working with and is the booking process fairly easy for both travel advisors and regular people.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, because we're a small company, and when I say small I mean we are really a small company. We have probably about 20 employees total, so the booking process is very easy. Every time you call our office, you are going to get a live person.
Speaker 2:You're not going to get any animation 24-7?
Speaker 4:Plus two.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 4:Yes, during office hours.
Speaker 2:During office hours, answering the phone.
Speaker 4:However, if you do have uh, anything urgent, if you have a client, you know who's on a trip and you need urgent and you know right answers yep, 24 7. We actually do have somebody who's on call 24 7 oh, good, so they will pick up that phone. Yes, always good to know people.
Speaker 3:People need to know that they're not stuck somewhere, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 4:But the nice part about calling us and getting somebody is whether and you ask for Jen, she will always be. You know, speak with Jen. She'll be your contact person. She knows your group, she knows everything about your reservation, so you don't have to explain things a hundred different times.
Speaker 3:Okay, fabulous.
Speaker 4:That person knows all about your booking and what's going on with it.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, diane Sheehan from Celtic Tours. We thank you for explaining some of this stuff to us. We thank you for coming into the studio and chatting with us, and just to let everybody know, I will.
Speaker 2:Is this a bulletin? This?
Speaker 3:is a bulletin. This is a bulletin. I am putting together a group with Celtic Tours for next September of 2025. So if you want to travel along with us, let me know. Shoot me an email that's ZMichelson at gmailcom. Remember Z is spelled Z-E-E and we can all kiss that Blarney stone Except I don't need any extra Blarney.
Speaker 2:I don't either, certainly not, certainly not.
Speaker 4:Thank you again, diana, for coming in today. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:Is she coming back again?
Speaker 3:She or somebody else from the company will be coming and chatting with us.
Speaker 2:We'll be looking forward to that, because we're going to be talking about the 2025 tour.
Speaker 3:We are going to be chatting more. Yes, yeah, great, yay, well, with that being said, so much traveling to do, do, so little time to do it in. So tune in every week for more travel info and insights and just plain fun. Please follow me and like me on facebook. Do you have a favorite location or perhaps an interesting travel tip? Let me know at z michelson. At gmailcom. Z is spelt z e e. I am very excited to let everybody know that my podcast can be heard on all your favorite podcast players. Feel free to give me a review. I'd love to hear what you have to say. Thanks for listening today.
Speaker 3:Traveling truly opens up the world to you. You learn all about the different cultures, the lifestyles and mine and Jay's favorite the food. Then you realize we really are truly the same. So dream, dream big, reach for those stars and if you only get to the moon, at least you made the trip. If you're looking for great places to travel to, feel free to visit my website. It's absolutely free. Zmichelsontravelcom. Z is spelled Z-E-E. This is Z Michelson. Making your travel dreams come true.