A special visit to Ireland

Tim Hattrick of the award winning radio show "Tim and Willy" on KMLE country 108 in Arizona during his brief visit to Ireland yesterday.

This for me was the "great day" that nearly did not happen. I had been contacted on Thursday by Tim and Connie's daughter, Catherine, with a request to collect them on Saturday morning and to take them for a brief trip to the Cliffs of Moher before returning to Shannon later in the afternoon in order for them to catch a flight back to London.It seemed such a rushed affair, and i had plans to relax a little for the weekend, but Catherine seemed so nice and genuine that i said that i would do it for her. I duly arrived at Shannon yesterday morning and from the moment we met i knew that i had made the right decision. From the word go it was as though i was collecting old friends and within a very short period of time the conversation was flowing. I was immiediately totally interested in Tim's work as a radio presenter and DJ and the fact that he was so into music we were two of a kind. Music has always played a big part in my own life and "Country and Western" ,which is Tim's speciality, is close to my own heart. I found that we had so much more in common also , in our family lives, both them and us being married for a good many years, and also having children who have now flown the coop. All of this helped us to enjoy common ground. It was only when we were at the Cliffs that i found out the real motive for Tim's visit. His Mom, who passed away in September at the age of 89, had requested that her ashes be returned to Ireland and scattered in the land of her ancestors. I immiediately felt so priviledged to be a part of this wonderful ceremony. Having chosen a quiet spot on the hillside at the Cliffs, Tim produced his Mom's rememberance card on which was printed that lovely prayer, "An Irish Blessing", which Tim asked me to read as he scattered his Mom's ashes. The chosen spot was in a magnificent location overlooking the Cliffs and the Atlantic ocean which his Mom's family had crossed many years ago on their journey to the new world.The day could not have been nicer, not a puff of wind, and a clear blue sky all around. I could only feel that Patricia Ann was smiling down on us and well pleased with Tim and Connie.
With our time being limited we drove straight on to the little town of Doolin, which is quiet close to the Cliffs, and stopped off at Gus O'Connor's pub where we had a delicious meal of fresh Irish cod in batter with chips and salad. There had to be Guinness also and i think that Arthur Guinness himself would have been proud of Tim the way he downed his creamy pint.
We had stopped off at St Bridgid's Well, which is close to the Cliffs, before we performed our duty at the Cliff's, and Tim had liked that place so much that he kept some of the ashes to leave there on our return journey. This we did and from what Tim told me about his Mom i feel that he could not have picked a better place for this.
What a wonderful adventure this was for me today and another one to add to the many special days i have enjoyed with the host of new friends i have been fortunate enough to make in my years in this business. Now i have new friends in Phoenix and a link to a radio station with a program of country music, which i love, to keep me entertained. The next time i meet up with someone from Arizona i will be able to say "You know the Tim and Willy" show? Well Tim and Connie are pals of mine.
I think that Tim and Connie would have liked to spend more time here but it was not to be, but i really do hope that they will come back again and allow me the privilege to show them more of this beautiful country that is Ireland. Tim has to come back anyway......he left his beanie (hat) in my car.

The picture at the top shows Tim and his lovely wife, Connie, at the Cliffs of Moher. Behind them you can make out the Aran Islands to their right hand side and Galway Bay with the mountains of Connemara to their left. Tim's mission today was to honour the wishes of his late mother, Patricia Ann Chelgren, to bring her ashes back to Ireland and to scatter them on her native soil. She sadly passed away this September at the age of 89, and loved Ireland, and her traditional faith, to the very end. You can leave Ireland, but Ireland will never leave you. God rest her soul. The Hillside at the Cliffs where Tim scattered his Mom's ashes. In what i can only describe as a moment of inspiration,Tim said that he would now remember this spot always as "The Cliffs of Mo(t)her." How very appropriate. Patricia Ann Chelgren's rememberance card at the chosen spot, on the hillside at the Cliffs. Inside the grotto at St Bridgids Well, near the Cliffs, where Tim also left some of his Mom's ashes. St Brigid is the patroness of Ireland and many people leave tokens of gratitude here for blessings both requested and received. There is even a rememberance card for a firefighter who lost his life in New York in 9/11 and whose remains,sadly, were never recovered. Sharing a toast in Gus O Connor's pub in Doolin after the memorial service. Here we enjoyed a wonderful meal of freshly battered cod with chips and salad. Of course there was the pint of Guiness which, of course again, came with another. What a wonderful day this was.

Chauffeurdrive holidays in Ireland

Tra na bPaisti ........the Childrens Beach. Memorial to famine children buried here.
Drive with care....you never know what is around the next corner.


I have been missing for a few days now, but i am still alive and well, thank God. Ireland has been making the headlines all around the world lately but we are going to survive this present crisis, like we have always survived. This year was supposed to have been a bad one for our tourist season but i had my best year to date, thanks to all the help i got through referrals from exixting customers. I have always known that my best source of new clients was through my existing customers and many of these have also acted as referrees for me with new enquiries. I cannot expect people to take me at face value when they make an enquiry and it is great to be able to direct them to someone in the USA who has travelled with me and is prepared to answer any questions they may have to ask with regard to my service, and myself. I do not know what i would do without these wonderful friends and once again i want to extend my thanks to them.
Thanksgiving has come and gone and i hope that you all had a wonderful feast day. I have always felt that keeping ourselves reminded of all the things we have that we should be grateful for is the best antidote to becoming negative. I myself am a very positive person and just being aware of all the good things, and the wonderful people especially, that i have in my life, keeps me from ever getting down. I like to remind myself of the simple things such as, there has never been a day in my life when i did not have a dinner to eat, a decent bed to sleep in, i have been blessed with good health and i have a wonderful family and many friends. What more could i need.
The weather has turned very cold here right now and we are expecting worse according to our forecast. I have a married couple coming in to Shannon tomorrow and i have to bring them to the Cliffs of Moher. It will be cold but the sun is also shining so they will enjoy it i am sure.
I am pleased with the rate of enquiries i am receiving at this early stage for next year but people in the USA do make their plans nice and early and that is good. It is never nice to have to tell someone that you are booked for the period they request. Remember, the early bird catches the worm.
Talk to you again soon.

Dave

Greetings from the West of Ireland

Irish vacations with chauffeur/car and driver

The sad ruin of an old famly home at Slea head in Dingle
My pony Taffy dining with his pals the chickens


The top picture is one i took of an old ruin at Slea Head in Dingle overlooking the Blasket Islands. When i look at this scene during my travels, I cannot help but think of the wife/mother sitting inside that window waiting to catch sight of her husband or sons, or indeed both, returning from the sea on a stormy evening, and praying for their safety. Many of them never returned as the waters in this region are reacherous beyond belief. The Blasket islands, (you can just catch a glimpse of one of them to the right of the picture) were finally abandoned in the mid nineteen hundreds, many of the inhabitants emigrating to Hungry Hill, Springfield Mass.

The bottom picture shows my old pal Taffy with his chicken pals. He is my friend and special pet. Maybe you will see him sometime, as many of my customers already have. The chickens, believe it or not, are not mine, they belong to my neighbour, but spend all their time over in my field. I suppose i can take that as a compliment. If you enlarge the picture you can see a couple of cats sitting on the fence near Taffy's house. These also belong to my neighbour, along with a few more, and are also great pals of Taffy's. Sometimes they even sleep in his hut with him.
I continue to be busy dealing with enquiries for next year but you can let me know if you need me for anything.

Irish vacations with chauffeur/car and driver

The ruins of an ancient castle in Kinvara harbour
This is the more recent castle in Kinvara harbour and one that is open to the public. They also host medieval banquets here during the tourist season.

I took these photos over the weekend during a nice calm break in our recent turbulent weather. Kinvara is a beautiful little town with its own harbour and castle and it lies in the shelter of Galway Bay on the southern shore. It is also a great center to use as a base for touring the Burren of County Clare and the Cliffs of Moher and it is on the doorstep of Connemara and Galway city. It is known for its good old-fashioned Irish pubs and great sea-food restaurants and also for its traditional Irish music. It is a quiet and peaceful town and a nice place to spend a quiet few days.I very often locate my touring parties here and the banquet in the castle can be a great way to spend an evening enjoying the best of Irish food and music. They also give you a tumbler of mead which is a pretty strong drink made from honey.
My time recently has been taken up mainly with dealing with enquiries for next season so if you are planning on coming to Ireland and looking for a chauffeur/car and driver then now is the time to start planning. I will be only too happy to assist in any way that i can.

Car and Driver for Irish Vacation

A Peat Bog in Connemara

One of the advatnages of having your own private driver(like me) when holidaying in Ireland is that you can find yourself in some wonderful "off the beaten track" places that you would never find on your own. Even if you did find them you would be reluctant to venture into them because of the roads. The above photo was taken in one such place and it shows the cut bank of peat with the freshly cut "sods of turf" laid on on top of the bank to dry out.
Our weather has taken a turn for the worse and, as i write, we are in the middle of quiet a storm with the winds creating quiet a lot of problems due to fallen trees and electric wires. The good news is that it is supposed to slacken off later this evening so hopefully it will be a little less of a problem tomorrow.
My time has been taken up over the last few days with domestic situations such as bringing our kittens to the vets to have them neutered. The good news was that they were both boys so the operations were simple (no further details necessary). Their Mom was also sorted out and she has been left in care for a few days to give her a chance to heal properly. I am not sure what it costs in the USA to have this done but i can assure you that it is not cheap here and, when there are three of them....yipes!!!! The kittens are really lovely though and have grown quiet a lot since i put their photos on my Blog. I will post new photos of them again soon. They are both Tabbies but one has spots and the other has stripes.....one a Tiger, and the other a Leopard.
Irealnd is really getting a lot of unfair attention from the world markets at the moment and some of it is quiet sinister. Our economy has taken a big hit and we have a big mess to sort out but we have been through far worse times in our history and come through with flying colours....and we will do that again. We will do it and we will do it far more quickly than people expect. There is great potential in this country between our agriculture, our tourism, our wonderful education system which provides us with a well educated work force and which attracts many international companies, and we have a built in survival mechanism that has stood us through centuries of hardship and oppression, famine and misfortune. We also are a nation of people respected the world over and we will get the support that we need from those people the world over. I kewep telling people both at home and abroad....buy Irish and give us a little lift out of this depression we are in. You can also help by coming to Ireland and enjoying the great benefits of the great offers available here now. Prices in Ireland have fallen and the tourist will benefit is many ways when coming here now.
Now i better get moving...i have cats to feed.

Private Driver for Irish Vacation

Some of my pals on a hillside in Dingle
A Holly Tree in Bloom I took this picture about a month ago as i was amazed at the amount of berries on this holly bush.All of the berry bearing trees seem to be carrying a lush amount of berries this year and the old people would always tell you that this is a sign of a very hard Winter on the way as nature prepares plenty of berries for the birds to keep them going through the long Winter ahead. I do believe and respect the handed down knowledge of these oldtimers and find that many times they are way ahead of our professional weather forecasters, especially when it comes to long term forecasting. I would have to admit that i was grateful that my touring season had come to an end recently but it has not led to the break i thought i would get. I have been so busy, first of all catching up with so many things that had been left undone, and now to an unexpected flood of enquiries for next year. I am both surprised as well as flattered by this and i do have to thank so many people for referring their friends and relations to me, and i thank you all sincerely for that. It does take a lot of work when preparing a plan for a party, and i do not take this task lightly. When somebody contacts me i like to call them and discuss their ideas with them and get to know exactly what they have in mind. It is not something that can be done through one phone call or a few e-mails, and sometimes the process goes on for literally months. The main thing that has to be agreed is that we have a committment on the time frame and the dates and a pretty accurate price estimate that will not change much unless the client makes radical changes to the plan such as adding extra days or upgrading their accommodation request to much more expensive hotels. Once the client is happy enough to settle on a date and has accepted that we are now in basic agreement a deposit is requested, and i never ask for a large deposit. When i commit a period of my touring season, and receive a deposit from someone, nobody else can have that period and my clients can rest assured that their holiday is now safely booked. Usually at this stage we have a very good idea of their program, but reasonable changes can be made. I always advise people to take out holiday insurance which will cover them against unforseen circumstances,such as a last minute cancellation, as this will cost them their money. Late cancellations leave me with blank dates which a have no chance of filling as people coming on holiday never leave things that late. When it is not my fault i cannot be blamed, nor can i afford to suffer these kind of losses. In this regard i am no different from any other touring company, and indeed am much better than many who want your money maybe months in advance. Outstanding monies must be paid not later than 2 weeks before clients are due to arrive in Ireland. In all of my years touring i have never had any clients cancel out at the last minute....except for recently when i took a booking at very short notice...without a deposit...that resulted in an e-mail cancellation less than 48 hours before the tour was due to start...an e-mail which i did not receive until 36 hours before the time, due to the fact that i was on the road. The only good thing about it was that the booking was not for a long period, 4 days, so that was what i lost, and it could have been worse. I can assure you that i was annoyed,and let them know that, but the less said the better. To help to relieve any doubts that prospective clients may have about me and my service i always offer people contact numbers of people in the USA who have toured with me previously who will talk to them and help them to decide if i am the one they need. I have many wonderful friends in the USA and they have stood by me now for many years and helped me in so many ways to grow my business. As each year goes by that list grows and i have had so many offers of help from clients that i have never even gotten near to availing of a fraction of them. Again i want to take this opportunity to thank you all. Getting back to preparing for a new group....once we have agreed a program and the deposit is paid we are now through the most important stages. From there on until the time they come to me here in Ireland, we remain in touch as often as needs be, maybe making slight adjustments here and there when possible that help to make the program better for my clients. It may be some information about some place they may wish to travel to where an ancestor came from, or a visit to someplace they have just read about....but they are usually just minor adjustments as we have done our work well early on. It is amazing just how well a program can be crafted to suit clients when i have a good idea of where they think they want to go and just what they think they may want to see. Many of their ideas can be great but sometimes my knowledge can help them to make adjustments which will make their program so much better....and they can see that and are delighted to have it pointed out to them. My programs are tailored to the needs of my clients and my knowledge of my country is a huge advantage to these people when they only have a limited amount of time and want to see and do so much. Together we work out what is best and that helps to ensure, as far as is possible, a holiday of a lifetime for them. Making up your mind early on and getting it off the ground and up and running is so much better. By getting in early, you are also coming to me when i do have many dates available which i will not have later on in the year. I will do all i can to help and i will let you know early on if i feel that my type of service is right for you. Remember...it is more expensive than bus tours or hiring your own car but what you get for the extra is more than worth it. I rarely lose a tour through pricing and i think it that most people are fully aware that it is going to be a bit more expensive...but it is not that much more expensive. The only extra money people spend outside of my price is what they spend on the food that they eat as we travel or at night and whatever they spend on shopping or visiting places that have entrance charges. Here once again my experience is invaluable as i know all the best places to eat, and which also offer the best prices, and the best places to shop. People are never forced to visit any places that charge entrance fees, and really there are not that many when it comes to my tours. The bottom line really is that it does not cost you anything to make an enquiry and find out. So what is this post all about today? We Irish have more than 40 million relatives of Irish descent in the USA and i have never met one of them yet who did not have in mind a visit to Ireland sometime before they die.It is in the blood, and they are proud of it, but when you do have a dream you want to hang on to it. It is a dream that cannot become a reality without a definite plan and the means to carry out that plan. I believe that many people are afraid that to make that dream come true they will need a lot more money than they can afford and they are afraid that in pursuing the necessary information that they will shatter that dream. I am not too sure just how many millionaires have toured with me but i can assure you that i have had a lot more middle of the road incomers with me who managed very well indeed. Maybe i can help to make your dream come true. Give me a try and let us find out.