Food Provenance excellence!

It's all about the food...

When I was at the Culloden Hotel on Tuesday night there was one thing in particular that really impressed me... the dedication to supporting local food producers - they use local produce in all of the six Hastings Hotels across Northern Ireland.

Food is a great love of mine, I believe it's one of life's greatest pleasures, something to be savoured and enjoyed, and I really love knowing that the food I'm enjoying is sourced locally and supports local producers.

Moyallon dry cured back bacon and breakfast sausages, Gracehill award winning black and white puddings and eggs sourced locally from Crossgar are a staple of all Hastings Hotels Ulster Frys, while musesli and granola, handmade by Crawford's Foods in County Down, and porridge, made with White's porridge oats (and a touch of Bushmills Whiskey) graces the breakfast tables of those who prefer a healthier start to the day.

The Armagh Cider Company provides all hotels in the Hastings group with their Apple Juice, while the milk, butter and cream is all fresh from Farmview Dairies in the Castlereagh Hills, and the yoghurt is naturally made just a few miles down the road at the Clandeboye Estate.

The famous Irwin family provides the finest Irish breads for toast, sandwiches and burgers, while The Yellow Door Deli and Patisserie bakes some delicious speciality breads for the hotels.
I was extremely proud to hear that all the vegetables and salads are provided by Killinchy-based Willowbrook Farm as I am a former employee and can personally vouch for the freshness and delicious farm-to-fork flavour of their produce.

Potatoes are provided by Wilson's Country Potatoes in County Armagh - who have also just patented a very special hexagonal Causeway chip for the hotel group... these are delicious and we were lucky enough to get to sample these crispy, chunky delights on Tuesday night!
A firm Northern Ireland favourite, Tayto NI Ltd supplies the crisp garnishes for the sandwiches and panninis... a real lunch time treat.

The list goes on with pork sourced from locally reared Irish pigs, grain-fed chicken and duck (again reared locally in counties Down and Armagh), grass-fed lamb, prime local breed Irish beef including the native Dexter and Irish Moiled. Glenarm Organic Shorthorn from the Glenarm Estate is on the menu alongside certified Northern Irish Hereford beef from Hannan Meats in County Armagh. Glenarm Organic salmon and langoustines landed in Kilkeel (which is used in their signature Guinness battered scampi) ensure the survival of the fishing trade by being sourced responsibly and sustainably.

No great dinner would be complete without a cheese board, and Hastings Hotel's is a truly Irish affair - Kearney Blue from County Down, Coolkeeran from the Causeway Cheese Company, Fivemiletown Ballybrie and the famous Irish Gubbeen all served with delicious handmade Ditty's oatcakes.

Afternoon tea? The Yellow Door Deli and Patisserie (a firm Belfast favourite and a regular at St George's Market) is one of the artisan producers who prepare the hotel's baked goods and patisseries while Glastry Farm near Kircubbin in County Down provides delicious handmade ice-cream.

The unique Hastings House Blend tea is made by the Thompson family in Belfast while the iconic Irish brand Bewley's provide the coffee.

In a previous post I called the fillet of beef I had on Tuesday night "the best piece of meat I've ever tasted" (or something to that effect)... and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the culinary genius behind such a sublimely tender piece of meat was so young (there he is in the wee picture below with Managing Director of Hastings Hotels, Howard Hastings... chef's the one in the white hat)! Many chefs twice his age would be in envy at his skill!

Howard Hastings with the uber gifted Culloden chef!

The bottom line is I enjoy good local food and I love it when hotels and restaurants share that passion - it makes my dining experience one hundred per cent better to know that my gorgeous beef fillet came from the farm only a couple of miles from my home and hasn't been frozen and bounced about in a container on it's way from France or Spain or Germany.

So get out there and experience this for yourselves - get yourself some locally sourced proper Irish grub at one of Hastings Hotel's fine establishments!

Here's a wee video from Howard Hastings...

Hastings Hotels - Food Provenance from AV Browne on Vimeo.

Chic, secluded and luxurious!

With the promise of 30 acres of seclusion and dining in a Michelin star restaurant I spent a relaxing weekend in Drumfries and Galloway with my better half...

The stunning Knockinaam Lodge

Knockinaam Lodge “is the only luxury boutique hotel in Dumfries and Galloway”... they had me at luxury, I'm a sucker for anything luxurious.

Only 15 minutes drive from Stranraer, Knockinaam lodge is set, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere... the road leading to it is even unnamed! Good thing it was well sign- posted - we didn't fully trust the sat nav.

We took the car across with Stena Line - it's the best way to get to Knockinaam and you can bring the dog along too. Knockinaam has three rooms in which pets are allowed and plenty of cliff and beach walks to keep the pooch happy.

We took the early morning Caledonia crossing (7.30am to be precise) and woke up our tums with a lovely bacon and egg soda (me) and a sausage and egg bap (the other half) on board. The crossing took three hours - the crossing has been cut to 2 hours 15 minutes now that the new terminal at Loch Ryan is open and the brand spanking new Stena Superfast Ferries are on the route.

We followed the signs for Knockinaam Lodge, but after driving down the narrow country roads for about 15 minutes we were sure we'd taken a wrong turn... surely there was no way we were on the right road... we decided to turn at the first opportunity, however before we could find a place we saw another sign for Knockinaam Lodge, turns out we were on the right road after all! We were well rewarded after our bumpy country drive when Knockinaam came into view. A truly majestic stone lodge with grass lawns running down to a secluded beach... it was absolutely stunning.

There is ample parking space in the lodge's private carpark. We were warmly welcomed at reception where we dropped off our bags (we were a bit early for check-in) and signed the guest log before heading to nearby Portpatrick for a walk and a spot of lunch.

Portpatrick is a quiet picturesque little port, home to a few lovely curiosity shops, around four bar/restaurants, a local shop and a cafe (above one of the curiosity shops). We popped into one of the local sea-front bars, the Crown, for some pub grub lunch - chicken tikka cheese melt with salad and crisps.... it hit the spot brilliantly! I had a lovely oatie vanilla cream biscuit to finish (which I'd purchased from the bakery counter of the local shop), those biscuits were amazing. We made sure to get a whole box on Sunday morning to take home with us!





The quiet streets of Portpatrick

Back in the hotel we were shown to our room, and what a room it was! With a large luxurious super king-kize bed, lounge area and huge bathroom with free-standing roll-top bath, comfy robes and views right across the secluded bay... the Hannay was simply stunning. The hotel boasts only 10 luxury suites so every guest gets highly individualised attention to their unique needs - a real home away from home... especially that bath - amazing! This is definitely affordable luxury at its best.

The gorgeous claw-foot freestanding bath

The huge king-size bed of the Hannay suite... so comfy!

After a quick refresh and change we wandered downstairs to the drawing room for a cup of tea and a game of scrabble. Knockinaam is well stocked with board games and DVD's so you'll never get board - it's the kind of place you can spend an entire weekend in without having to venture out of doors at all except for a leisurely stroll around the 30 acres of stunning landscaped grounds. Perfect for those romantic get-aways.

We settled ourselves on the comfy feather stuffed sofa (seriously, it was stuffed with feathers) ready for our scrabble battle. The other half was peckish so he opted for some cheese and ham sandwiches with his tea. I whipped him at scrabble... twice.

An afternoon playing scrabble in the comfort of the lodge's drawing room with a lovely cup of tea is an afternoon well spent, so a nap before dinner was in order. While the fella had a doze I ran myself a bath and spent an hour soaking in the giant tub before finally deciding I was turning into a prune and it was time to get out and dressed for dinner.

Few small country house hotels in Dumfries and Galloway, indeed anywhere in Scotland, can match the glittering array of awards possessed by Knockinaam - they have three AA red stars, three AA food rosettes and one Michelin star (one of only 11 Michelin starred hotels in Scotland). The dinner that night did not disappoint. We enjoyed a taster menu of some delicious dishes which included an egg entree, broth with chicken sausage and some Scottish salmon. We weren't too keen on the figs, but a cheese board each was very much enjoyed (by me, my partner's not much of a cheese lover... I ate most of his too!)

My other half whipped me at chess... but I'm still the scrabble champion

Full of food it was back to the room with us and into pyjamas for some Friday night TV in the lounge area and a flick through the hotel's local activities’ book to see what we fancied doing the next day.

A full Scottish breakfast is how I'd like to start every day - sausage, bacon, potato bread, black pudding, haggis, fried tomato and egg with a selection of toast, jams, breakfast muffins, pastries and a lovely pot of hot tea... my mouth is still watering thinking about it - fine fair indeed!

With our bellies well and truly full we set off on the rather long journey to Dalton Pottery to paint a pot. Dalton Pottery is near Lockerbie, about an hour and 40 minutes from Knockinaam, but it's a lovely drive through the Scottish countryside. I choose to paint a teapot, while the other half choose a giant mug. While I was busy painting my teapot with flowers and butterflies (very girlie!) the fella painted the instructions for how he likes his tea with 'Kirsty read here' in large letters and two big red arrows pointing to 'tea, milk, 1 sugar'... so I wouldn't have to keep asking - very helpful. We spent about an hour and a half choosing and painting our pots and had a spot of lunch in the cafe while we waited for them to be dried in the kiln.

An artist in the making...

My masterpiece...

Pleased with our pots we started the drive back. We had planned to stop of at a distillery on the return journey but unfortunately time was against us and we weren't going to make it there before closing time. We decided to head back to the Crown in Portpatrick for some dinner and a few drinks. The roaring fire was a welcome relief from the cold outside and we picked a spare booth facing it to get warmed up. The menu was quite extensive and featured a lot of seafood, but I was in the mood for a cajun chicken burger and some chips, while the other half had a half chicken and chips... it was just one of those comfort food nights. I spied a chocolate mousse on the dessert menu and of course I couldn't resist. It was devine... probably the best chocolate dessert I've every had. It was so good I told my partner we'd have to come back to Portpatrick for a break in 2012... just so I could have another chocolate dessert!

It was getting pretty stormy outside so we decided it was best to head back to the hotel before it got too late and driving conditions worsened, plus we were pretty tired from our excursion. Back in the hotel we ordered a bottle of wine from the room service menu and cuddled up on the sofa for and hour or two of TV and wine before bed.

Another morning, another fantastic Scottish breakfast... which I certainly made the most of! Since we hadn't made it to the distillery the previous day, we decided to get packed up, checked out and head off to see it before we caught our ferry home. Bladnoch Distillery is just outside Wigtown, Scotland's national book town so we didn’t have much of a drive to get there - about 20 minutes.

Although there was a chill in the air, the stormy weather from the night before had passed and we now had clear skies and sunshine. We arrived at the distillery only to find that it wasn't open on Sundays... just our luck, so we drove back to Wigtown for a nosey.
There are plenty of vintage and curiosity shops in Wigtown as well as book shops, and we had great fun checking out all the treasures and hidden gems! There is also a fantastic butchers where we picked up a huge haggis bung.

Our sailing was at 2.30pm, and we wanted to have a stroll around Stranraer before we headed home, it had been a long time since I’d been in Stranraer and forgot how many little streets and shops there are to explore.

Having forgot to pick up some proper black pud with my haggis bung in Wigtown, we were lucky to come across a great butchers in Stranraer who had some big black puds... perfect.

I'm always determined to try to the local fish and chips when I go anywhere, and since I hadn't yet done so, we made a beeline for the restaurant onboard the Caledonia once we were all secured to set sail. I've never seen a cod that big... it was delicious but expensive, just under £20 for two fish and chips and fizzy drinks.

I have enjoyed weekend breaks at home in Northern Ireland, across the Border in the Republic and also across the water in England this year.... but I'm definitely putting Scotland at the top of the list of weekend breaks to take in the new year.

Creating my masterpiece

Contacts:

Address:
Knockinaam Lodge,
Portpatrick,
Dumfries and Galloway,
Scotland,
DG9 9AD
Telephone:01776 810471
Email: reservations@knockinaamlodge.com
For current rates and offers check out: knockinaamlodge.com
For ferry times and prices visit: www.stenaline.co.uk/ferry

Sneek Previews for 2012 at Culloden

I had an absolutely brilliant time at the fabulous Culloden Hotel last night! A massive thank you to Hastings Hotels, Discover Northern Ireland and the newly appointed Hastings Hotels PR partners Duffy Rafferty Communications for the top quality food (literally the best fillet of beef I have ever tasted... melted in the mouth) and the exclusive previews of all the upcoming events for 2012 - very exciting stuff... I was especially impressed by the light show preview and will definitely be keeping my Easter weekend free for that! I am also thrilled with the special edition titanic themed rubber ducks... little captain (as I've now named him) has joined his buddies on the bathroom shelf... and what a merry bunch they make!

Little Captain gets ready to join his fellow Hastings ducks

TITANIC

Little Captain and his duck buddies

Chilling out in the mild West

In need of some rest and relaxation, I headed off to Westport in County Mayo for some Clew Bay cod and a spot of reflexology...

ON one of the most western points in Ireland, deep in County Mayo overlooking Clew Bay sits the quiet little town of Westport. Shadowed by the towering Croagh Patrick, Wesport has become an extremely popular destination for long weekends and short breaks in Ireland.

It was dry and sunny when we set off on the drive across Ireland for what was to be our girlie-getaway. Taking the most direct (and quickest) route direct to the west coast from Belfast we headed west to Enniskillen where we stopped for a lovely late lunch at Maud’s Ice-cream parlour and café.

Forgetting that the UK and Ireland are well on the way into the winter season, we sat on at lunch longer than we should have, and by the time we got back on the road again the sun was quickly sinking on the horizon. It was just past 7pm when we drove into the beautiful little town of Westport and immediately we were impressed. Litter and lout free, with plenty to do Westport is the perfect place for a quick, cheap break.

The Castlecourt Hotel and its sister hotel, the Westport Plaza, sit adjacent to each other in a sort of semi-circle formation around an inner courtyard with an ornate fountain marking the middle. The fabulous Spa Sula is serenely tucked away toward the back of the resort, which only adds to the tranquility of its location.



We had booked in to the luxurious Castlecourt Hotel and wasted no time at all in driving to the back of the hotel and parking the car in the underground car-park (completely free of charge) and heading straight for our room. Tired after the drive we checked out the room service menu and ordered the Chicken Curry with rice and chips. Included in our package were two ¼ bottles of wine in our room, which went splendidly with the spicy curry, also two little boxes of chocolates, which we ate as a lazy dessert.

The next morning we got up pretty early and headed down for breakfast (which is also included in the package). After helping ourselves to the continental buffet a waiter came to take our orders for the hot breakfasts. I opted for the Clew Bay breakfast of cod and toasted brown soda (wheaten bread to you and I).

After breakfast we took a quick walk around the town, popping into the Tourist Information centre to have a chat with the lady there about her recommendations on the best places to visit in the area.

She was very helpful (if a little vague about the distances to these places) so we hopped back in the car, map in hand, and headed along the Clew Bay Archeological Trail out towards Roman Island. Our destination for the morning was Croagh Patrick and the Famine Memorial, and we found it about 20 minutes drive outside the town. Croagh Patrick is one of Europe’s best known places for pilgrimage each year many climb barefoot in memory of St Patrick, who according to legend spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting on the summit.

The National Famine Memorial sits opposite the car park and the foot of Croagh Patrick and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, facing out to the west where so many emigrants sailed. The memorial, entitled ‘Coffin Ship’, was designed and created by artist John Behan. The bronze sculpture takes the form of one of the emigrant ships, the rigging of which is made from bronze skeletal figures. It is an extremely moving monument. Situated just down the lane from the Memorial is Murrisk Abbey. On the east of the Abbey there is a window carved with human heads on the outside wall.

Back in the car again, it was off north to Achill Island, the largest island off Ireland. If you like to do a bit of sightseeing then I definitely recommend you either drive to Westport or hire a car once you’re there and it’s a good idea to note that although the locals may say “agh it’s just up the road there”, their idea of “just up the road” may not be the same as yours. After 40-minutes of “just up the road there” driving we realised that Achill Island was probably a two-hour round trip away from Westport, but since we were already more that half way there we kept on driving, stopping only for the sheep, dogs and cows that occasionally wandered across the road.

Achill Island is attached to the mainland by Michael Davitt Bridge between the villages of Achill Sound (on Achill Island) and Polranny (on the mainland). If you drive to the north-west of the island you will reach the beach at Keel, which is excellent for gathering the kind of shells where you can hear the sea if you put them to your ear.

I’m one of those people who just can’t resist a spa, so as soon as I had learned there was a spa at Castlecourt Hotel I picked up the phone and was booked in for a treatment. Described as a ‘luxurious temple of harmony for body, mind and spirit’ as soon as you walk through the door you feel at ease and relaxed.



The spacious tranquil sanctuary is designed to allow you to de-stress. Everything from the specialised dry and wet heat cabins, rock sauna, steam room, salt grotto, tropical rain showers, foot spa, ice fountain, heated relaxation room, rasual chamber, heated outdoor Jacuzzi rock pool and the Zen garden unwinds, detoxifies, cleanses and relaxes body, mind and spirit.



I’m a big massage fan and typically go for a full body massage, so in order to get out of my massage rut, I instead opted for a spot of Reflexology. This ancient pressure point foot treatment concentrates on a map of the body’s organs and structures. This is a technique used to help the body’s natural healing process and after a 60 minute session (half and hour on each foot) my therapist was able to tell me all about my neck and shoulder pain and even the headaches I sometimes get if I don’t wear my glasses when working on the computer!

Having spent the day in a mixture of careful driving through the coastal roads of west Ireland and blissfully chilling out in Spa Sula, it was with much effort that we left the hotel room and headed to the restaurant for dinner.



The Castlecourt Hotel has two restaurants to choose from, the Orchard Restaurant (where we had breakfast) and the Courtyard Bistro while Petie Joes Bar provides live music every night. If they’re fully booked you can pop across into sister hotel, the Westport Plaza and try out the menu in their Restaurant Merlot or the Plaza Bar. The Library Lounge is the perfect place for some afternoon tea or a quick panini.

After discovering that the Orchard was fully booked until after 8.30pm (our own fault for forgetting to reserve a table) we nipped across to Restaurant Merlot in the Plaza. After an absolutely mouth-watering Sirloin and a delicious melt in the middle Chocolate Pudding we were thoroughly full and took a little a walk about town to walk off our sins.

For such a small town, Westport has quite a number of little pubs, restaurants and hide-away bars, most offering traditional live music and ‘good craic’ - we walked the long way around town, down the river and over the bridge then back up past the little church, which has been converted into an Indian and Thai Restaurant.

Few towns in Ireland have as much charisma and charm as Westport. Great for family holidays, romantic getaways, and girlie spa breaks, it’s no surprise that this small coastal town is fast becoming one of Ireland’s top holiday destinations.

Factbox:

For more information on the Castlecourt Hotel and Spa Sula log on to www.castlecourthotel.ie or www.spasula.ie.

Peace and love,

GT

Cheap flights...

We've all had this experience...




Peace and love,

GT

Lesson of travelling Numero Uno - bring comfortable shoes...

Well folks, I ran a marathon – okay… so it was a half marathon…. And I more jogged than ran really…. But still… a marathon eh I gotta get some kudos and good karma for that one.

Surprisingly, while most of the other competitors were complaining of ‘sore thighs’ and ‘tight calves’… I was busy moaning about my sore feet… then BAM I got a huge wave of déjà vu – I’ve done this before… complained about my feet in a major way… hmmmmmm…. Where oh where could I have been yakking on about my feet…. And then it hit me (not literally, thank gawd) - Munich.

It was Christmas 2008, all around me there were loved-up couples holding hands, friends laughing over hot gluhwein and children having impromptu snowball fights while their parents perused the festive stalls at the Christmas Market – it was all very picture-postcard and lovely but did I notice any of it – no….

Christmas Market in the Marienplatz



I had been walking around the cobbled streets of Munich all day in some cheap-ass heeled boots bought hastily in Dublin the day before I flew out and for some reason it seemed like the best idea in the world to wear them on the busiest day of our trip – it wasn’t.

By the end of our guided walking tour of the city I was ready to rip them off and cool my burning feet in snow… I refrained. However half way around the Bavarian BMW factory Production Mile tour I did de-shoe… the guide laughingly informed me that no one had ever walked the Production Mile tour without shoes before – my ‘tell me to put my shoes back on and die’ stare told him I would be the first.

Could have found good use for one of these



We left the BMW factory and as I reluctantly put my boots back on to catch the metro back into the centre of town I vowed I would pay a visit to the first shoe shop I found and buy myself a more suitable pair of shoes – as chance happens the first shop I came across had one pair of ‘mock ugg’ boots left – I like to call them muggs (hehe) – but they were one size too big – out of sheer pain I bought the too big boots along with two pairs of extra thick woolly socks – it did the trick. Heaven. It was like walking on mini pillows or squidey marshmallows.

After that I started to appreciate/enjoy/savour the trip a whole lot more. I’ll save sharing that trip in more detail for my next post.

Beer... 'nuff said



Lesson of travelling Numero Uno – Never, ever, ever, ever is it a good idea to wear heels on a city break – except to the bar (you can always find a noble, manly soul to carry you home)… ;)

Peace and love,

GT

Arguing with a pilot is like wrestling with a pig in the mud, after a while you begin to think the pig likes it...

Ever heard of Kulula? It's a low-cost South-African airline that doesn't take itself too seriously...

Check out their new livery:

Flying 101



'The Big Cheese' and 'Throne Zone'



'Black Box' and 'Loo'



'The Co-Captain (the other captain on the PA system)'



'Secret Agent Code' and 'Landing Gear'



Kulula airline attendants make an effort to make the in-flight "safety lecture" and announcements a bit more entertaining. 

Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported:

On a flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhancethe appearance of your flight attendants."

----o0o---

After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in the Karoo, a flight attendant on a flight announced, "Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted."

---o0o---

"In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child travelling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are travelling with more than one small child, pick your favourite."

---o0o---

"Your seat cushions can be used for flotation; and in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments."

---o0o---

"As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses.."

---o0o---

And from the pilot during his welcome message: "Kulula Airlines is pleased to announce that we have some of the best flight attendants in the industry. Unfortunately, none of them are on this flight!"

---o0o---

Heard on a Kulula flight. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing.. If you can light 'em, you can smoke 'em."

Ship shape in Belfast...

"Ships are the nearest thing to dreams that hands have ever made" - Robert N Rose

So this post isn’t exactly a trip I took… but I do get to experience some other cool and interesting things within the world of travel and I’ve decided I’d maybe like to share a few of these with you…. Who knows, you may find them helpful.

Believe it or not I’ve never actually been on a proper cruise, I mean I’ve been on conveyances from shipyards and been on ship visits before, but I’ve never actually took to the open seas on a liner. More’s the pity, because nowadays cruise liners have shed their stodgy images and are catering to the younger travellers – honeymooners, young families, families with teenagers – everyone’s jumping on the cruise bandwagon.

And who can blame them – cruising is a real adventure, you’re not stuck in one resort exploring the same streets, seeing the same sights, eating the same cuisine – oh boy no – every day a new port, every day a new place to explore, go to sleep in Barcelona, wake up in Monte Carlo.

Holland and America’s MS Westerdam (www.hollandamerica.com) was on the Belfast stop of its 12-day Scottish Serenade – and on board was one very special lady, Carolyn Spencer Brown, Editor in Chief of Cruise Critic, one of the internet’s foremost sources of cruise reviews, industry news, ship information, destination profiles and interactive passenger feedback forums.

Some interesting ship lingo -

The rear of the ship is known as the stern or aft:



The front of a ship is known as the bow:



The right side of the ship is known as starboard and the left is known as port.

A bit about Carolyn -

Carolyn was recently named one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Travel by Forbes Magazine – so naturally I was both excited and nervous to meet her!

I boarded the ship, smiling at all the disembarking passengers, boarding busses and heading off into the great unknown wilds of Belfast. I would see these same passengers (who disembarked with hope in their shiny eyes) return a few hours later looking surly and disappointed. Belfast never looks good in the rain.

Carolyn was named Editor and Chief of Cruise Critic in 2003 – but she contributed regularly to the site for four years before that. She is one of America’s leading cruise journalists and formerly covered the cruise industry as a staff writer for the travel section of The Washington Post where she also covered other facets of travelling as a contributor to ‘Coming and Going’, the Post’s weekly travel news column.

She's one of the world's foremost writers in cruise travel!



So enough with my gushing, I’m sure you’re all well aware of who Carolyn is… and if you’re not? Well shame on you, get to your nearest search engine pronto people!

Here’s my thoughts on the ship -

After a huge cappuccino a lovely chat with Carolyn on the ups and down's of cruising (for the record Carolyn has been on well over 100 cruises, loves having good tablemates and appreciates good onboard service) she kindly took us on an informal ship tour – Holland and America Line ships differ greatly from Royal Caribbean and Celebrity ships in their layout and décor.

The best thing about having some rather dated décor is that you feel like you’ve stepped back about 90 years - the ornate elevator doors are covered with moulded flower reliefs and every would-be empty space is adorned with fantastic replica greek statues and sailing – very art deco. The worst thing is not having a centralised avenue means the corridors (which all look the same on every floor) can feel quite maze like.

The rooms on MS Westerdam are spacious and most include a balcony, plenty of storage and a bath in the bathroom (which is very unusual for a cruise ship, but I suppose matches in with the 1920’s themed decor).

If your not an art deco fan, you may find the general overall décor of the ship quite poor and dated, especially if you compare it to the modern opulence of the new Celebrity ships. I however found it quite comfortable - a good mix of old and new; faded 1920’s art deco glamour overlapped with more modern technologies, such as the high tech gym and Microsoft workshop.

With its large cushy chairs and plenty of natural light the coffee bar/library was, for me, the best room on the ship – I can easily imagine the liberated ladies of the Golden Twenties reading in this room, cigarette in one hand, book in the other.

The gym is very modern and quite large, stocked with the latest high tech exercise equipment – as a fan of running I was particularly impressed with the amount of running machines and their prime positions at the forward windows looking out over the sea.

The Westerdam is a medium sized ship, so although it can carry around 2,000 passengers – cooking for 2,000 people every night cannot be an easy task - the chefs on the Westerdam serve up excellent meals. There is a range of eateries onboard, everything from coffee and snack bars to buffet or sit-down service.

My chocolate mousse tart - yum!



One thing Holland and America Line are famous for are the staff – everyone of them are helpful, courteous and polite no matter what time of the day or night you need them, cannot fault them.

If you're seriously interested in taking a cruise you should check out www.cruiecritic.co.uk or www.cruiecritic.com (if you're in the USA) - they have a tonne of info on every cruise line and ship out there and you can also chat with other cruisers on the discussion boards.

Peace and love,

GT

Bisous Bisous!

Hello folks, so I'm just back from Paris... ah sweet sweet Paris.... what can I say, j'adore Paris!

Here's a few photos to keep you going:

The view of La Seine from the top of the Eiffel Tower - if you're afraid of heights, this will either cure you... or leave you clinging to the doors of the lift (clinging to lift doors is not advisable)...



View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe - the view down the avenues from the top of the Arc de Triomphe is fantastic, you can also see most of Paris' other major monuments from here...



Notre Dame - The area around Notre Dame comes alive at night with street entertainers, singers, dancers and roller skaters. I suggest you head across the Seine to Cafe Panis for some to die for mouleaux au chocolat (seriously, it's so fecking good it was a struggle not to lick the plate) and then enjoy the nights outdoor entertainments beside the Cathedral.
Everyone is also welcome at mass in the Cathedral, although the service is in French they have short readings in English and Spanish...



Visitors to Jim Morrison's grave at the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery have written tributes to the Lizard King on the back of the toilet doors.... its easy enough to find his small grave tucked away amongst some hugely ornate tombs. Oscar Wilde is also buried here - visitors write messages to the famous writer/poet across the walls of his tomb...



Standing at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower looking to the top. There's a fantastic park with benches scattered throughout just to the side of the tower - we had lunch there.... eating a thoroughly French lunch of cheese, bread and croissant beside the Eiffel Tower is a free and relaxing experience and one I highly recommend...



What would Paris be without wine... eh....



Take the train to Disneyland - tickets start from only £48 (adult price) and I can honestly say it was like having all my childhood dreams come true.... for just one day my 24 year-old-self became 10 all over again - we rode Space Mountain twice.... I need a Space Mountain in my garden...





paix et d'amour (peace and love)

GT

X marks the spot.... or not....

This weekend was supposed to be pretty chilled out, I was home, I was happy and I wanted nothing more than to just kick-back and catch-up on all the missed episodes of Dr. Who – gawd bless iplayer… what would I do without you! But all my well-laid plans of chillaxing with the doc went straight down the pan when I heard about something called Geocaching.
After a little light googling I found out that geocaching – pronounced ‘g-e-o-cash-ing’ is a global treasure hunt – well now, I’m a true sucker for treasure hunts, follow the clues, x-marks the spot, and this was a GLOBAL one… well now, how could I resist?
Sunday morning started a little slowly (hey, it was a heavy Saturday night), but a bowl of weetabix and a cuppa cha goes a long way to fixing me up for the day.
Picnic packed and armed with the GPS co-ordinates to six ‘caches’, J and I headed off on our tour d’ adventure. I have no idea what that means, seeing as how my French only goes as far as saying ‘hello’, ‘how are you’, my name is…’, will you come to bed with me’, ‘suck my c**k’, ‘f**k off’ and ‘goodbye’… hopefully never to be uttered in that order. The two ludest ones are the only two I can remember from the multitude supplied to me by C, the very best French housemate ever – damn that girl knows how to party!
In the immortal words of Girls Aloud, “I can’t speak French, but I’ll let the funky music do the talking, talking, yeah.”
The first stop in our search for the geo-cache stash was a trifle easy…. my beloved iphone quickly pointed us in the right direction, leading us to our first (and what would turn out to be our only) geo-cache find! Oh the excitement I can tell you. Like two excited children on Christmas morning we opened the little black, old-school 35mm film container to find a geo-coin, a roll of paper and a tiny pencil inside. We turned the coin over in our hands (hoping it would bring us good luck), before signing our names on the paper and rolling it up side the container along with the tiny pencil.
One down, five more to go.
The next one was slightly trickier… the beloved iphone was slightly confused (as is everything in the Dee) and we ended up rambling up hills and through hedges for a good half hour before J called out:

“I’ve found it, I’ve got it!”

Yes! Success!

“Oh, no hang on, it’s just a golf ball.”

And then:

“You know people have left comments on this sheet you printed out from that website. One guy wrote here that he couldn’t find the bloody thing.”

What? Couldn’t find it! No, I refuse to give up, not after we’d been searching for over half a bloody hour!

But there was more:

“Here this guy only left that comment two days ago. He seems to have done quite a lot of these things. Says he’s done 58. If he couldn’t find the sucker I don’t think we’re guna.”

Bollocks. J was right. I hate it when J’s right.

Accepting that number two had eluded us, we moved on to number three. I suspect now that a dog, sniffing through the undergrowth, probably found cache number two and carried it back to its owner, who then quite likely thinking it was rubbish, chucked it in the nearest bin.
After refuelling on ham and cheese sandwiches from our picnic we were convinced cache number three would be a doddle, a walk in the park… quite literally.
Yes, number three was in a public park, with joggers, children, elderly couples and dog walkers milling about – did we care that we looked like eejits, following a iphone through the ‘rough ground’ around the park, lifting rocks and digging through flower beds – did we sod. Did we find that little bugger of a cache – did we sod.
On to number four. Determined not to be completely beaten by these well hidden caches we tried for our fourth one – only to have the beloved iphone die… it too was losing the will to live by this point.
Devoid of any GPS device to follow, we headed back to the car to recharge the iphone and discuss our next cache hunt. I wouldn’t say we ‘gave up’ on the fourth cache, rather the iphone did. Yes, I’m blaming the iphone and its lack of enthusiasm for the fourth cache.
Cache number five was different, cache number five was exciting, cache number five was ‘delicately’ hidden in the delapitated graveyard of an old abbey – oh yes, at cache number five we got our mojo back.
En-route to number five we took a small detour through the Manor House Park to see if the Manor’s strawberries were ready for picking – a punnet of freshly picked strawberries would have gone down a treat as a celebration for finding number five (so sure were we of its location). Unfortunately the strawberries were not ready yet, not a one victory strawberry could we eat – I saw this as a bad omen on cache number five.
The old graveyard is small and enclosed by a tall stone wall. I can’t particularly say I enjoyed this one – the graves are packed tight together and you literally have to walk across broken headstones to move in it at all. The iphone was suggesting several possible locations where the cache could be hidden (damn thing was possessed). Though we checked every nook and cranny in both the outer wall of the graveyard and the abbey wall itself – number five was still MIA.

“Have you read these stones? They’re so old, like hundreds and hundreds of years old, and they all died real young. Look, that girl there was only 17, and that guy was only 16, and look his brother was only 14. That’s awful, is that why they had so many children back then?” – J had given up looking for number five completely.

Being the superstitious Irish being that I am, and after having my iphone point me in a ziggity zagged maze around the graveyard, I decided that maybe we were having a prank played on us by the ‘youthful spirits’ underfoot.
Time to go, yes it was indeed.
By this time I can’t say we were particularly enthusiastic about searching for the sixth cache. In fact we had all but decided to give up, moaning about ‘crappy GPS co-ordinates’ and ‘thieving muggles’.

“Bet someones stolen them all for a laugh. Am I laughing? Thieving muggles.” – J has never read a Harry Potter book in her life, I doubt she actually knows what a muggle is… bless her socks.

Having already driven a good few miles down the coast on our quest for the caches, we decided that driving a few more couldn’t hurt, so we called down to a lovely little restaurant in a fishing harbour for food. It is in actual fact one of my favourite restaurants in Ireland and is very aptly named The Quays.
The famous haddock and chips were ordered and eaten with relish – best darn haddock and chips in Ireland. Those guys deserve a medal… maybe an OBE for services to food and hungry bellies.
Turns out a tasty dinner was all we needed to renew our interest in the final cache…. With only one cache ‘find’ under our belt and four epic fails since, we decided to try for the sixth cache.
The sixth was located on a rocky outcrop just off the shore that can only be reached at low tide. Lucky for us, it was low tide, and we walked across the sand right out to the rocks.
We were not only relying on GPS co-ordinates this time, oh no, this time we had been left with a clue! The cache was hidden in the grassy area on the highest point of the rocks, the point that wouldn’t be underwater when the tide came in – easy, the grassy area was about the size of two double beds put side by side.
Not so easy, came the realisation that critters (most likely seagulls) had carried off the cache since it was no where to be found. Damn birds.
So one find, five epic fails, one golf ball, four ham and cheese sandwiches, two haddock and chips and a (once again) dead iphone later and I can honestly say that I had a thoroughly good time! It was a massive disaster in terms of treasure, success, attention span, etc….. but damn it was good clean fun! Just the ticket for a sunny Sunday adventure.
Maybe naming it the tour d’ treasure was our first mistake.
Sods law.

Peace and love,

GT