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Dooley Car Rental is the only independent car rental company in Ireland and it is Stephanie's favorite rental company to do business with. The family run operation also covers vacation travel. Current packages are available through Dooley Vacations that provide air, car and accommodations for as little as $299 USD per person based on double occupancy.
The featured vacation package consists of six nights and seven days. The rate is based on a flight from the east coast of the US to Shannon Airport. The plane ride is only 5 hours and is an overnight flight. Airfare is more expensive from the Midwest and west coast of the United States. Rates are available August until March with six gateways that visitors can fly out of. The package includes an economy car with the option to choose an automatic vehicle for $50 USD more.
Tourism throughout Ireland focuses on fishing, horseback riding and walking tours. Visitors who fly in to Shannon in the west of Ireland have many options in the surrounding area but can also choose to base themselves in the west and expand their package to travel to other destinations in the country.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=528
For more information visit http://www.dooleycarrentals.comhttp://www.dooleyvacations.com
Mark Leslie, Managing Director of Martello Media joins Stephanie to discuss Cong, Ireland, which he refers to as one of the most beautiful spots in Ireland and the gateway to beautiful Connemara. Leslie has an intimate knowledge of the “Quiet Man” filmed in Cong. He was a child in the 1950's and his mother was a famous actress who knew director John Ford. Mark Leslie's father shot a color home movie of Ford directing a scene from “the Quiet Man” in the west of Ireland. The Leslies later learned from the Irish Nationalist Film Archives that this home movie reel was the only existing footage in either America or the United Kingdom of John Ford at work directing a movie.
Martello Media is currently working on a new project. The Glasnevin Cemetery (officially known as Prospect Cemetery) in Dublin has decided to open a visitor center. The cemetery is the burial site of some of Ireland's most famous political leaders. The center will reflect the artistic and the political development of the Irish nation and will open spring of 2010.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=529
For more information visit http://www.martellomedia.com
The small town of Cong is located in County Mayo at the border of County Galway. The 1952 classic “The Quiet Man” filmed on the grounds of Ashford Castle in Cong, Ireland as well as on sets in Hollywood and in the town of Cong. A working replica of Pat Cohan's Pub was recently constructed in Cong to look just as it does in the film. There are several other spots in town that are both featured in the movie and built to look just as they did in it.
When Stephanie visited the area she toured the town with guide Gerry Collins who runs the Quiet Man Tour and Quiet Man Cottage Museum. The tour starts on a bridge which is divided between County Mayo and County Galway. Collins leads visitors through town and explains where parts of the film were shot and the history of the filming. At the tour's end he takes the guests back to the museum and has them dress up like characters in the movie.
John Wayne played Sean Thornton in “the Quiet Man” and Maureen O'Hara's played Mary Kate Danaher. All the exterior shots were filmed in Ireland with the remaining interior scenes filmed on a Hollywood set. When John Wayne's character hits “Red Danaher” and knocks him out of the bar in one scene he punches him on set in America but the actor Victor McLaglen (as Danaher) lands out on the streets of Cong.
Gerry Collins recommends that visitors check out another working replica in town, Michaeleen's Manor Bed and Breakfast, for accommodations.
Check out Stephanie's blog for a list of hotel accommodations that fit into the historic category.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=530
For more information visit http://www.quietman-cong.com
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Fun Facts:
Mark Leslie's mother Agnes Bernelle was decorated personally by the founder of the CIA for her work in helping to capture a German U-Boat during World War II. Bernelle worked for the Office of Strategic Services as a “Black Propaganda” radio announcer. She was a refuge from Germany and spoke perfect German. Over the airways she told a top scoring submarine to surrender when it just about to torpedo the Queen Mary.
As an international cabaret singer Agnes Bernelle recorded with performers including Elvis Costello and Tom Waits.
Mark Leslie's grandfather Shane Leslie was a personal friend of William Butler Yeats. Yeats was a visitor to Castle Leslie.
Mark Leslie was the first person to hanglide off of Ben Bulben located in county Sligo.
Maam Cross, County Galway, Ireland was one of the shooting locations for John Ford's “the Quiet Man”. The cottage featured in it has since gone into disrepair. Many fans of the movies have stolen stones from it as mementos. Stephanie took a picture inside the replica of the famous thatched cottage in Cong, County Galway, Ireland.
During the scene in “The Quiet Man” where John Wayne first kisses Maureen O'Hara she slaps his face. When he blocked the blow, O'Hara broke a bone in her hand. The movie was being filmed in sequential order and the actress couldn't wear a cast during the time of filming.
Prominent national figures buried at the Glasnevin Cemetery include Michael Collins, Charles Stewart Parnell, Daniel O'Connell and Constance Markiewicz.
Countess Constance Markiewicz was the first woman to be elected to the House of Commons and an important figure in 1916's Irish Easter Rebellion.
Guests Include:
Pat Dooley, CEO, Dooley Car Rental and Dooley Vacations.
www.dooleycarrental.com
www.dooleyvacations.com
Mark Leslie, Managing Director, Martello Media.
www.martellomedia.com
Jerry Collins, Director, Quiet Man Museum, Cong, Ireland.
www.quietman-cong.com
Topics Include:
Stephanie lives year-round in Berkshire County and arranges for the bulk of her travel to be during the winter months. Summer in the Berkshires is not only beautiful but also hosts a series of concert events at Tanglewood in Lenox including performances by the Boston Pops and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Keith Lockhart, Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, joins “Travel with Stephanie Abrams!” to discuss the upcoming winter season back in Boston, Massachusetts.
Massachusetts in the winter embodies the holiday season. Lockhart describes it as something straight out of Currier and Ives. The Pops perform forty concerts in this period. They open at Symphony Hall on December 9th and perform every day until the end of the month except on Christmas day. The Pops also travel during this time. They will be at the University of Connecticut on December 5th, in Long Island on Sunday December 6th, Manchester, New Hampshire on the 13th and in Lowell, Massachusetts on the 12th. Boston Pops holiday concerts are often an annual tradition for families.
Lockhart has been conductor of the pops for 15 years since he took over from famed American composer, conductor and pianist, John Williams. He was previously the associate conductor of the Cincinnati Pops and the Cincinnati Orchestra. The Boston Pops are one of America's truly great orchestras but they also specialize in connecting with the public. The orchestra presents the widest variety of music possible from rock to jazz and Broadway to classical musical originally written for orchestration. It is not unusual for audience members to dance in the isles at a Pops concerts. Lockhart says he embraces the philosophy that orchestral concerts are meant to be fun and not stuffy.
The Boston Pops has had an increasing amount of multi-media presentations during their performances. During the last holiday season they performed a concert series with the score of the recent film version of the classic children's story “the Polar Express” using pictures from the book in which it was based on. Santa Claus joins many of the holiday performances as well.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531
For more information visit http://www.bostonpops.org
Stephanie was recently inspired to visit the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in nearby Williamstown, Massachusetts to see a unique Georgia O'Keefe exhibit. The Clark had a guest curator who is an expert on the artist Arthur Dove. The curator proposed a juxtaposition of O'Keefe's work with Dove's. The two artists shared a mutual respect of each other's work and were friends. Georgia O'Keeffe often stated that her introduction to modernism was through Arthur Dove's paintings done circa 1913.
The exhibit is designed to introduce to the broader public the work of Arthur Dove and his influence on Georgia O'Keefe and her early abstract work. Stephanie notes that we often see parallels in the art world even when they are seemingly unintentional. She cites Antonio Gaudi's architectural work in Barcelona which is similar to spiral structures she has seen in Cambodia.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=523
For more information visit http://www.clarkart.edu
August is the peak of hurricane season and it is crucial to protect your travel with insurance. CEO of InsureMyTrip.com, Jim Grace stresses that customers should buy coverage before another hurricane is on the map to guarantee that their trip will be protected. There are four different types of coverage that apply to hurricanes. The first policy covers you if your airline isn't flying to your destination. Another covers you if your destination becomes uninhabitable. The third type of coverage is for destinations that are in the cone of a hurricane and the last is the “cancel for any reason” policy.
Customers should go online and enter their basic trip information. They will then be presented with several policies. Customers can also call InsureMyTrip.com's customer care representatives who will assist them with deciding upon a policy for the particular situation and destination. Agents will also assist people who have any questions about the policies or don't understand the terminology used in them.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=338
For more information visit http://www.insuremytrip.com or call 800.487.4722
Albany New York is celebrating its Quadcentennial year. 2009 is the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's historic journey up the Hudson River. It is also the 400th anniversary of the first steam ship launch and the Champlain exploration. There is a huge series of events and activities taking place throughout the city.
University Art Museum at the University of Albany – SUNY has begun a themed semester called the “Hudson 400” which includes lectures, talks and a focus on a wide range of subject matters including archeology, history, art history and film. Lectures are open to the public and most of the events are free. Events take place at the uptown campus at 1400 Washington Avenue as well as the Albany Institute of History and Art and the New York State Museum located in downtown Albany.
Stephanie recently interviewed sculptor Peter Rockwell and asked him about places in the world where he has seen amazing sculpture work. Rockwell states that there is a place in Mamallapuram, India where granite carvings were sculpted directly into the rock of the hillside. He next praised the stone carving work found in many 19th century American buildings including the Million Dollar Staircase in Albany's Capitol Building. There, the name of every species of flower in New York is carved in a red Scottish sandstone.
SUNY's main Hudson 400 exhibition is title “Uncharted”. It opens September 15, 2009 and examines the adventurous side of early explorations such as with Henry Hudson who was initially looking for a passage to India. It consists of work by ten artists who use all sorts of media including traditional painting, sculpture, installation, video and video game technology.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=532
For more information visit http://www.albany.edu/museum and http://www.hudson400.com
CheapOAir.com is offering some great airfares before Labor Day weekend. New York to Miami is approximately $150 USD. New York to LA is only $102 USD roundtrip plus taxes which in this case are under $50 USD. These flights are often direct or one-stop flights and rarely have multiple layovers. There are airfares under $700 USD from the US to Johannesburg and roundtrip fares to Saint Martin for under $300 USD. The US to Dubai is only $479 USD. A flight from Honolulu to Hong Kong is currently available for $524 USD. All fares are roundtrip but do not include taxes. Taxes often range between $125 to $200 USD.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=459
For more information visit http://www.cheapoair.com or call 866.592.9685.
Fun Facts:
Though the Hudson River is named after Henry Hudson, the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano was actually the first European explorer to discover it.
Guests Include:
Keith Lockhart, Conductor, Boston Pops Orchestra.
www.bostonpops.org
www.bso.org
Sally Morse Majewski, Public Relations & Marketing Manager, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
www.clarkart.edu
Jim Grace, CEO, InsureMyTrip.com.
www.InsureMyTrip.com
www.InsureMyGroup.com
Janet Riker, Director, University Art Museum at the University of Albany – SUNY, Albany, NY.
www.albany.edu/museum
www.albany.edu/outreach
www.Hudson400.com
Sanjay Hathiramani, Vice President, Supplier Relations, CheapOAir.com.
www.cheapoair.com
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Stephanie is currently writing a travel guide about one of her all-time favorite destinations: Ireland. Within the section of historic hotels she is including the 17th century Cahernane House Hotel located just outside Killarney. After traveling up a lovely long meandering driveway that is heavily treed you approach the stunning Cahernane House. It is within a short reach of Killarney and yet is far enough removed to provide a sense of true tranquility. Though it is a period manor house hotel it has all of the modern comforts and amenities expected at a luxury property.
All of the woodwork is part of the original house but there have been some amazing recent additions done to the property including the construction of a wonderful conservatory. The current proprietors bought the hotel in 2000 and immediately had an architect modernize it. The architect was someone who never works on hotels but rather works exclusively on period houses and cottages. He made an exception for the Cahernane House because he had a personal relationship with the family who had bought it. The result is the perfect blend of old married with new.
There are phenomenal views from the rooms of the hotel but it also has a very relaxed and livable atmosphere. There are a total of 38 guestrooms on site. The house was formerly the residence of the Herbert Family, notably the Earls of Pembroke. Stephanie asked the proprietors of the hotel to take an interesting portrait off the wall to see what was inscribed on its back. As would be expected the portrait was of a Herbert. She thought it looked very similar to David Butler a University Professor she interviewed from Cork.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=533
For more information visit http://www.cahernane.com
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Stephanie was in South Beach Florida in February and spent some time walking along the busy and beautiful Ocean Drive. She saw a hotel under construction which she later learned was a newly modeled property, The Betsy. Stephanie was already familiar with the hotel's General Manager, Robert Todak and was pleased to discover that he had transitioned to this newly established version of the property.
The Betsy is located between 14th and 15th street directly across from Lummus Park on the quieter part of Ocean Drive near Collins and close to the heart of the Art Deco district. Robert Todak states that you can escape the madness of the busy district or seek it out when the time is right. The hotel offers world class dining at its BLT Steak, headed by famed French chef Laurent Tourondel. In addition to steaks the restaurant has a menu with a lot of fresh fish. Tourondel's famous hamburger was recently featured on the cover of June, 2009's Food and Wine magazine.
The hotel will soon open its roof deck, the headquarters of its small spa operation. The roof deck will also feature “afternoon tea”. There will be a selection of iced teas available including alcoholic options. The Betsy is also only a 10 minute drive from the popular attraction Jungle Island and is a three block walk from the Versace Estate.
The hotel has 63 guestrooms including 14 suites. There are two grand suites and two royal suites both with spectacular ocean views. There are no other buildings obstructing these views because of the park situated across the street.
The hotel has a warm residential feel. It originally opened in 1942 as the Betsy Ross Hotel. Its designer had worked on many other notable art deco properties in the area but the Betsy Ross was the only property in the Art Deco District designed in a colonial style. The modern version of the hotel has a romantic European flare with a large body of cliental visiting from Europe. Robert Todak states that it embodies the spirit of accommodations you would normally find abroad. It offers five star services that are exquisite but it is also approachable.
General Manager Robert Todak states that the culture of an independent hotel is important to the individual branding process as it is not affiliated with a chain. The essence of the property has to be true in spirit and form. The Betsy offers subtle sophistication in a non-intimidating environment. They lobby bar offers a wonderful array of tropical and specialty drinks. On the other side of the property on the lobby level is BLT restaurant where guests can have dinner or drinks overlooking the pool.
The artwork of the hotel is all original photography that is part of a rock archives collection including photographs of Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones. The hotel changes the artwork on each floor of the hotel on a quarterly basis.
The Betsy is “like being at a friend's beach house” says Robert Todak. It is light and airy with the finest linens and amenities. Every room has a library stocked with recent releases provided by the local shop Books and Books. It is also part of an area often used for commercial photo shoots. Expect to see the Betsy featured in many advertisements.
Travelers411 Community Forums - This interview's thread
http://www.travelers411.com/forums/showthread.php?t=534
For more information visit http://www.thebetsyhotel.com
Fun Facts:
Killarney (Cill Airne) means the “Church of Airne”. Airne means “sloe” a deciduous shrub with blackish bark native to Europe.
Killarney National Park is located beside the town of Killarney. It was Ireland's first national park and was created when Muckross Estate was donated to the Irish state in 1932.
Killarney was the inspiration for William Butler Yeats poem “Sailing to Byzantium”.
Guests Include:
Marian O'Connor, Sales & Marketing Director, Cahernane House, Muckross Road, Killarney, Ireland.
www.cahernane.com
Robert Todak, General Manager, The Betsy Hotel, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida.
www.thebetsyhotel.com
