Up in the Air . . .

AER Lingus has unveiled its new livery and brand as it seeks to further expand its transatlantic awareness.

The new logo retains but restyles the Irish shamrock, adding a tilt to symbolise dynamism and speed, with heart-shaped leaves reflecting the warmth and hospitality of the brand, according to Aer Lingus.

Guests will see four shamrocks on the new livery. The first is within the new logo, the second sits on the tailfin, a third welcomes guests at the door, and a final surprise on the wingtip is in prime position for capturing on social media.



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Picture Credit: Aer Lingus press release

Magical places to retire to

A new report from the editors at Internationalliving.com points to five jaw-droppingly beautiful places to enjoy a magical retirement, for less. In the right places around the world, retirees can combine a fulfilling, affordable lifestyle in stunning surrounds. International Living’s report delves into five beautiful retirement havens—in Portugal, Mexico, Ireland, Peru, and Cambodia—that offer spectacular surroundings, high quality of life, and affordable costs.

A favorite summer retreat of the former royal family, Sintra is full of national treasures. Just a 40-minute train journey from Lisbon, Portugal’s capital, its palaces, mansions, and architectural follies deliver an enchanted setting. 

For those who dream of living a cosmopolitan lifestyle in a gorgeous setting, Cusco—Peru’s most historic city—is a front runner. This 500-year-old colonial gem has ample domed churches and ancient, pedestrian-only cobblestone streets. 

The west coast of Ireland is enormously inviting, with sandy coves tucked away between cliffs and rocky headlands. The difficult thing will be deciding where to settle—from the heathery mountains of Donegal down to the craggy peninsulas of Kerry, the entire western seaboard delivers a bonanza of scenic splendors. Spanned by a cycling or driving route known as the Wild Atlantic Way.

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico was officially founded in 1541, getting rich when silver was discovered in the nearby states of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi. Supplying the mines and catering to the workers and travelers passing through brought wealth to the city. Plus many of the newly rich silver barons chose to live there. Today, its historic center is pretty much the same as it was 250 years ago, and in 2008 San Miguel was declared a UNESCO World Heritage City.

Siem Reap, Cambodia, the exotic sights and sounds of the Kingdom of Wonder shoots Cambodia to the top of many peoples’ wish list. The nation’s rich history, traditions and culture; its ancient temples, royal palaces and saffron-robed monks attract visitors and expats both. Known as Cambodia’s “temple town,” Siem Reap, in north-western Cambodia, is surrounded by the ruins of the ancient temple city.

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Top 10 global experiences

TRIPADVISOR, the travel planning and booking site, today announced the winners of its first-ever Travelers' Choice awards for Experiences. The awards recognize 345 experiences, tours, and activities globally, highlighting the world's best experiences overall. They're also broken down by country, and by category including day cruises, cultural experiences, day trips, multi-day tours, hop-on hop-off tours, and food, beer, and wine experiences.

Top 10 Experiences in the World:

• Cooking Class and Lunch at a Tuscan Farmhouse with Local Market Tour from Florence – Florence, Italy
• Berlin Bike Tour – Berlin, Germany
• New York in One Day Guided Sightseeing Tour – New York City, New York
• Sydney BridgeClimb – Sydney, Australia
• Vatican VIP Experience: Exclusive Breakfast at the Vatican with Early Access to Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel – Rome, Italy
• New Orleans Cooking Class – New Orleans, Louisiana
• Rotorua Maori Hangi Dinner and Performance – Rotorua, New Zealand
• Best of Niagara Falls Tour from Niagara Falls, Ontario – Niagara Falls, Canada
• Vancouver to Victoria and Butchart Gardens Tour by Bus – Vancouver, Canada
• Wild Wicklow Tour including Glendalough from Dublin – Dublin, Ireland

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Ireland by car

ONE of the industry’s first global car rental companies Auto Europe, reveals the top 5 destinations in #Ireland for North American tourists exploring by car.

Killarney - A storied stop along the scenic Ring of Kerry Tour, Killarney offers travelers a chance to experience authentic Ireland. The city and surrounding country are the complete embodiment of mythical Ireland: a Celtic kingdom of misty mountains and snowcapped summits complete with a vibrant nightlife scene and customary Irish flair.

Nestled along the Wild Atlantic Way, Galway is the perfect destination to start a tour of Ireland’s west coast and see world-famous natural attractions as well as the country’s most significant historic sites. While in town, be sure to walk the Salmon Weir Bridge to watch the fishermen haul in their daily catch.

Referred to as the ‘real capital of Ireland’ by the locals, Cork is home to some of the best seafood restaurants, pubs, and breweries. Of course, no trip to Cork would be complete without a quick trip to the famous Blarney Stone, just one of the 7 best historic places in Ireland within driving distance.

Shannon’s close proximity to many of Ireland’s most significant attractions makes the city a hot spot for travelers. Visitors can easily visit the stunning Cliff’s of Moher which are only an hour’s drive from the city and King John’s Castle, just a quick jaunt from Shannon, all in one day.

The Historic City of Dublin is a UNESCO world heritage site – meaning that in addition to the fantastic pubs, restaurants, and museums available in the city, the city itself is a landmark of historic interest. It’s also home to the Guinness Storehouse making it the perfect place to start a beer tour of Ireland.


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Industry News . . .

GLOBAL luxury travel network Virtuoso has revealed the hotels and hoteliers nominated for its coveted Best of the Best awards this year, winners will be announced in August. All nominees are part of the industry-defining Virtuoso Hotels & Resorts program, which boasts over 1,300 hand-selected properties worldwide and more five-star hotels than any other program. Nominees for Hotel of the Year:

• Adare Manor, Limerick, Ireland
• Berkeley, London, U.K.
• Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, A Four Seasons Hotel, St. Jean Cap Ferrat, France
• One&Only Le Saint Geran, Post de Flacq, Mauritius
• Royal Mansour Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco

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Cork underground in Paris

ADS highlighting Cork are running in the metro stations of Paris right now – part of a new Tourism Ireland campaign in conjunction with Aer Lingus and Cork Airport, to promote flights from Paris to Cork and to grow French tourist numbers to the South of Ireland this year.

The ads are running on around 137 screens in the metro stations across the French capital and will be seen by more than 10 million people. The campaign also includes online advertising on popular websites – highlighting Cork Airport as an important gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way and Ireland’s Ancient East.

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Celebrate Ireland's Viking past this Easter

FROM the ancient Viking traces of Waterford city in Ireland’s Ancient East, to the foundations of medieval Dublin, #Ireland invites the world to celebrate its Viking past this Easter, with two wonderful events: the Viking Festival 2018, Waterford (31 March-April 2nd) and Dublin city’s Dublinia VikingFest 2018 (30 March-April 2nd).

Not sure how the #Vikings came to be part of this island’s legacy? Well, far from being just rampaging warriors, the Vikings also brought civilisation, founding many of Ireland’s towns and cities as time went on. It all started for Ireland in the late 8th Century, when the Vikings realised there were lands not far away that were richer in land, stock and provisions than their own. And so their journey overseas – and to Ireland – began.

These mighty Nordic warriors battled chieftains, forged alliances and settled into the history of Ireland’s rich heritage. And despite their terrifying arrival in Ireland, the Norsemen were settlers by inclination. The result, Limerick, Cork, Waterford, Wexford, Youghal, Arklow, Wicklow and Dublin all have Viking origins. Even place names give notice to their Nordic roots (Waterford ends with a variant of fjord).

The key event will be in both cities. Follow the Vikings, a live outdoor spectacle involving film, dance, live animation and battle reenactment takes place at both events. Save the dates for live action on Saturday 31 March at the historic Wood Quay amphitheatre in Dublin, and in Waterford’s Apple Market on Easter Monday 2 April.



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An Irish connection with Delta and Norwegian Airlines

DELTA Air Lines is now offering daily nonstop service to Boston’s Logan Airport from Dublin. The daily flight to Boston, which will operate throughout the summer, joins Delta’s existing services from the Irish capital — a year-round operation to New York-JFK, plus a summer offering to Atlanta. 

NORWEGIAN Airlines has begun new nonstop service to Providence, Rhode Island, from Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Edinburgh and Shannon beginning in June. They are also now offering flights from Hartford Bradley International Airport in Connecticut to Edinburgh, Scotland.

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On the runway . . .

THE launch of a new service to Shannon this summer will take the number of flights between Bristol Airport and #Ireland to an all-time high. Ryanair’s twice-weekly service to Ireland’s third busiest airport takes the total number of flights per week to more than 100, including routes to Dublin, Cork and Knock.

#Dublin remains the most popular destination served from Bristol Airport, with more than 418,000 passengers using the route in the last 12 months. Up to seven departures a day are operated by Ryanair and Aer Lingus, providing flexible flight options for business and leisure passengers. Aer Lingus also serves Cork daily, while Ryanair operates three flights a week to Knock, in the west of Ireland.

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Retreat to Ireland and run wild

RUN Wild Retreats + Wellness, a travel company providing premier women’s trail running and wellness retreats in five countries, has added #Ireland to its roster of 2018 #retreats. Taking place September 16-22, 2018 founder Elinor Fish will be teaching #trailrunning skills and wellness workshops throughout the itinerary.

Modeled after its popular international retreats in Iceland, Spain, Italy and the U.S., the Ireland Trail Running + Wellness Retreat offers women a week-long immersion in healthy running techniques while exploring the Emerald Isle’s forests, national parks, famous cliffs and moors.

Starting in Dublin, the retreat begins in the trail-running hub of County Wicklow, where they will experience the famous “Wicklow Way” and scenic trails surrounding the town of Glendalough. From there, they head to west to run along the iconic Cliffs of Moher before heading south to County Clare to run trails through the many wonders of Killarney National Park, such as Torc Waterfall and Esknamucky Glen.


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Ashford Castle wins “Ireland’s Best Hotel Spa”

FOR the second year in row, the iconic Ashford Castle has again been named winner in the “Ireland’s Best Hotel Spa 2017″ category in the 3rd Annual 2017 World Spa Award. 

The awards were developed in response to overwhelming demand from the spa industry for a program that was fair and transparent, a program with a mission to serve as the definitive benchmark of excellence, and to help foster a new era of growth in spa tourism.

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Picture Credit: pintrest

Tourism Ireland’s promotional drive for 2018 in Germany

TOURISM Ireland has kicked off its promotional drive for 2018 in the all-important German market – with a TV campaign which will be seen by millions of potential holidaymakers for Ireland. 

Germany is the third-largest market for tourism to the island of Ireland and 2017 was another record year from Germany when around 660,000 German visitors were welcomed.

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Ireland on track in Spain

MILLIONS of Spaniards are seeing eye-catching ads for Dublin and Belfast in metro stations in Madrid and Barcelona right now. Tourism Ireland’s latest promotion, in partnership with Atrapalo, a major online travel agent in Spain, is under way.

The campaign aims to boost late season travel from Spain to the island of Ireland and to kick-start business for 2018. Spain is an important market for tourism to the island of Ireland; travel by Spaniards to Ireland has grown significantly over the past 15 years – going from just 90,000 Spanish visitors in 2000 to a record 391,000 visitors in 2016.

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Up in the air . . . Dublin bound

RYANAIR has new flights from Munich and Stuttgart to Dublin this winter, as well as the extension of its winter service from Naples into summer 2018.

CATHAY PACIFIC has announced new flights from Hong Kong to Dublin, commencing in June 2018. These new flights will help to boost leisure and business travel from Hong Kong, as well offering excellent connections on Cathay Pacific services from tourism markets like Australia, New Zealand and China and countries in South East Asia – making it easier for prospective holidaymakers to get to Ireland.

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Aer Lingus extra daily flight from Cork to London Heathrow

THIS summer there will be five daily services from Cork to London from Monday to Saturday. The extra daily flights will run from Monday 19 June until Saturday 26 August. 

The extra flight will leave London Heathrow for Cork at 12 noon and arrive at 13.20. The return afternoon flight will depart from Cork at 14.30 and touch down in London Heathrow at 16:00.

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Stay at Ireland's Best B&B

SPRINGVIEW Farmhouse has been named ‘B&B of the Year’ by B&B Ireland, the representative body for the Irish bed and breakfast sector. The Kilkenny farmhouse features in Irish Ferries’ B&B programme, and can be packaged with ferry crossings for a great-value short break or as part of a touring holiday.

“It may only have three guest bedrooms, but Eileen Joyce has given hundreds of our travellers a warm welcome over the years and we congratulate her on the award,” says Ann Pye, holidays manager at Irish Ferries.

Springview Farmhouse is at the heart of the family’s mixed farm in beautiful, rural County Kilkenny. Bedrooms are furnished in traditional style, as befits the house’s early 19th century origins. Eileen welcomes guests with fresh-baked scones on arrival and serves a ‘full Irish’ breakfast each morning.

The B&B is no more than half an hour’s drive from fabulous Kilkenny city to the east – with its castle and cobbled streets as well as a host of good cafes and restaurants – and the same distance from medieval Fethard and the impressive Rock of Cashel.

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Easy Reserve celebrates 10 years in business

EASY Reserve is an online holiday rental company based in Ireland, with support offices in Italy and the United States, that, since its foundation in 2007, has continued to expand and grow.

Today, it offers tens of thousands of vacation rental accommodations all over the globe through its several vacation rental websites, including, www.easyreserve.com, www.italy-villas.com, www.tuscany-villas.it and www.holidayhomesprovence.com, which are translated into multiple languages including English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Dutch and Danish.

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All things Irish

IN honour of St Patricks Day here is a list of the top ten natural attractions to visit in #Ireland. Perfect for lovers of the outdoors Ireland has much to offer from clifftop walks, UNESCO world heritage sites and incredible marvels of nature.

1. Cliffs of Moher

2. Ring of Kerry

3. Giants Causeway

4. Skellig Islands

5. Aran Islands

6.Glenveagh National Park

7. The Burren

8. Connemara National Park

9. Glendalough

10. Cooley Peninsula

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Norwegian unveils £69 flights to the USA from 5 UK and Irish cities

LOW-cost airline Norwegian today announced a series of groundbreaking new transatlantic flights from 5 cities in the UK and Ireland, offering passengers low-cost travel to the USA from just £69/€69.

In total, Norwegian will launch 10 new routes with 38 new weekly transatlantic flights this summer from Edinburgh, Belfast, Cork, Shannon and Dublin. The flights will serve three destinations on the US east coast, with a focus on smaller US airports – these airports offer good access into the New York, Boston and New England areas but carry significantly lower landing charges, allowing Norwegian to offer some truly affordable fares that will allow as many people as possible to fly.

Now on sale from www.norwegian.com/uk

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Up in the air . . .

Skytrax World Airline Awards has rated Aer Lingus 4-stars, making it the first and only Irish airline to receive such a prestigious rating. The award was given in recognition of consistent quality and excellent guest experience.

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