Malmo: kitsch capital of Europe

It seemed like your routine EI-flight sign-off: “Go raibh maith agaibh as taisteal le hAerlingus inniu agus slán”. However, this intercom protocol was about to be unexpectedly broken with an honour usually reserved for the likes of Ireland Six Nation’s squad or Katie Taylor. read more

Hiking the Swiss Cheese Trek

The air-freshener bouquet of alpine meadows and the punchy aroma of aging cheese swirl headily around each other in Gruyères, Switzerland’s fromage frontier. Located about halfway between Lausanne and Basel, this tiny, internationally branded Fribourg village has been churning out its distinctive cheeses since 1686, offering visitors countless opportunities to buy and taste the local fare. read more

Mexico: Mayan Magic

It was the grandest of midnight arrivals. Through the gated environs of Dreams Riviera Cancun Resort, on the verges of the Mayan Riviera, I entered a magnificent open-air atrium of gilded flame torches and jetting fountains. This was the veritable ‘Paradise Hotel’, where I could almost expect Amanda Byram to swan down the marble staircase with 12 cocoa-buttered beauties, before introducing me as ‘The Bachelor’. read more

Bulgaria: Black Sea Beauty

It was way back in the 1950s when the first sods of a resort named Slanchev Briag were turned. The Black Sea hotspot started out as a popular getaway for affluent Russians, but with the fall of the Iron Curtain, authorities soon cottoned on to the capital power of British and German mass tourism. After remarketing their town like an export bottle of plonk, Sunny Beach or Sonnenstrand was born. read more

Waterford: Gaelic villages and lordly castles

“You found us all right?” said a beaming Barbara Grubb, extending one hand over the doorway while restraining her Jack Russell, Millie, with the other. In truth, my journey to Dromana House had been as serendipitous as it had been circuitous. On the search for self-catering treasures across Ireland, I discovered that across the border from my native Cork, in the ancient oak forests of West Waterford, lies the most remarkable of Irish country manors, seeped in a richness of family history. read more

I left my Hertz in San Francisco

The clang clang of a trolly, the whirring fan in my period hotel room, and the morning kiss of coastal fog: where could I have been, only waking up in San Francisco? I’d landed out West the previous night, co-ordinates at the ready for my great Californian road-trip. However, rather than routing towards the southern hotspots of Santa Cruz, Monterey or Big Sur, my path of Pacific enlightenment was Google-mapped for the lonesome wilds of the northern state. read more

The suites of Philadelphia

The first time I drove through Philadelphia, I was a fresh-faced J-1er under strict local counsel to lock all car doors and avoid eye contact. It seemed a little alarmist but this was a city infamous for its yellow crime scene tape and neither Springsteen nor Jazzy Jeff had been doing much to boost its PR image. A decade on (from my Vanilla Ice comeback concert), I made a stopover in the Big PA to see if the City of Brotherly Love was indeed worth an encore. read more

Andorra: living the high life

Perhaps I should have focussed on form over velocity. After making my skiing skiing debut in Austria last year, I’d come to the novice-friendly slopes of Arinsal to build up my rookie foundation. But after confidently ploughing down the green run for my ski-grade assessment, I found myself being sympathetically corralled towards the lower group of advanced beginner, who needed work on their ‘technique’. read more

Morocco: surfing the souks

It’s Ireland’s closest taste of the exotic. The Moroccan mélange of French, Arabic and Berber riches has long gifted the alternative package holidaymaker with a winter oasis. While last year’s Arab Spring unrest may have deterred potential newcomers, the Western Kingdom is now in the midst of a tourism bounce, which sees it jostling for the accolade as Africa’s most visited nation. So what’s le vibe? read more

Amish Country: the time travellers

Philadephia, primetime television, and a cue dramatic commercial for “one of this season’s most awaited fall premieres”. It was Breaking Amish; the latest reality TV show tapping into the fascination with America’s “plain people”. In the show, a group of young Anabaptist teenagers up sticks from their simple life in rural Pennsylvania for the bright lights of the outside “English” world. read more

Malaga: Picasso’s home and festive fun – cubed

Flamenco and fairy lights, Picasso and poinsettias. Malaga may be best known as a gateway to the Costa del Sol, but nowadays the Andalusian capital is bumping up its profile as a Christmas getaway, con cultura. Arriving in the city last week, the seasonal fiesta fever was immediate. read more

Austria: Piste of the action

For two tick-tocking years I lived in Switzerland without so much as a sniff of a ski-slope. In truth, it down to a mix of factors: the prohibitive costs of hiring skis combined with the prospect of being von trapped in a cable-car with a bunch of Zurich bankers always had me running for the valleys. read more

Vermont: Cabin fever

‘Here’s the padlock combination for your cabin,” my welcome leaflet read, “and there’s no electricity.” It was the ultimate green getaway. My blind date with Mother Nature, deep in the Appalachian Mountains, was proving quite the ordeal. Read more

I follow rivers: Romanian Riviera to the Delta

It wasn’t quite the Romanian Riviera grand arrival we’d dreamt up: being plonked on the margins of the Constanta A4 motorway, surrounded by traffic chaos and billboards to a Balkan Ikea spin-off. However, after realizing our bus trip up from Bulgaria had been conveniently rescheduled en route, as an express service to the Ukraine, who were we (with no local language) to argue? read more

NYC Restaurant Week: Food and the City

For many Irish visitors, a trip to New York City means the indulgent pleasures of vistas from the Rockefeller Center, cocktails at the Fitzpatrick, and a Macy’s 10%-off card. However, after living in Manhattan last summer, my associations with the city had become somewhat more fine-tuned. read more

Isle of Skye Roadtrip: loch, stock, and smoking trains

They say fàilte, we say fáilte. There may be more than a slip of the fada separating us from our Scottish clans to the north, but with a Celtic language revival currently swelling on both our shores, age-old cultural ties seem to be knitting all the closer. The far-flung Hebrides islands remain the heartland of the Gaidhlig tongue, so I decided to hit the rathad for a weekend adventure to the most accessible of the archipelago and find out if Skye really is the limit. read more

Baku to the Future

‘Press one for English, two for Azerbaijani“. After three painstaking months of trying to acquire a visa to the Caucasus nation, I was beginning to think I would have had more luck by pressing two. Gaining entry to Azerbaijan is notoriously difficult, and expensive: this is a country, after all that sees fewer Irish visitors in a year than Spain does in one afternoon. read more

New Jersey: A shore winner

I was in a New Jersey state of mind. Over four college summers, I’d worked in the Garden State, serving the bold and beautiful of the Jersey Shore their daily fix of iced teas and Americanos. Yet any mention of my J1 glory days to an American from outside the state and I always got the same sure-fire response: “Why would you go to New Jersey?!” read more

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