It’s an Irish solution to an Irish problem as they like to say over there but even this one has never been tried before… shared leaders.
The Irish have taken four months to agree that they can’t agree but, and you have to get into the Irish way of thinking, that’s no bad thing.
So Micheál Martin will get the first two and a half years as Taoiseach while his predecessor Leo Varadkar wiil resume power for the last two and a half.
For those of you who think that that long without a new government is careless should look to Belgium https://visitbelgium.com and Northern Ireland www.discovernorthernireland.com.
And this is a flick of how these countries run In Flanders fields, Belfast Chilled and Belfast’s rich tapestry.
And talking about shared leaders just think of the fun and possibilities if Donald Trump split the next Presidency with Joe Biden www.washington.org and Easy DC.
Or Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer… www.visitlondon.com The London life.
While this is how I saw Ireland in…
Swiss Miss
I make no apologies in dedicating this next Snap to the force of nature that is Sara Roloff.
Sara brought us Swiss bingo, Swiss wine and beer and much more besides in my time in Ireland.
And champion skier and Marathon runner that she is she was always the fittest person in any room.
Alas, Sara was struck down with COVID-19 93 days ago and only started her recovery 43 days ago.
But last week she got the all-clear from her cardiologist and guess what she’s planning a marathon.
That’s what the Swiss are like Swhisskey on the rocks and www.myswitzerland.com. You have to go.
And me? I’ll take the gondola.
Home Department
This lockdown has reminded us all that we should appreciate our own country.
And Travel Department, who know all about the world, know too that Ireland is the best of the world.
Which is why they’re launching Homegrown, their domestic trips from September.
My first professional Travel trip was from Wales to Cork and Kerry on the now discontinued Swansea-Cork shipping route.
It was the poor young PR’s first trip and she wasn’t prepared for how rough it would be with half a dozen hacks.
Or how choppy the sea was as we all fell down with sea sickness.
The return journey was almost as bad with us being kept off shore for a couple of hours.
I learned two things… that without our holiday providers and hosts we are rudderless and that Co. Kerry is one of the most beautiful places on God’s Earth.
TD has a guided four-night Kingdom of Kerry walking trip and a seven-night guided seven-night Kingdom and Cork’s Rebel County itinerary.
Check out https://www.tdactiveholidays.com/ireland-adventure-holidays.
And you must know by now how much I love an oul’ walk… www.CaminoWays.com, A pilgrim’s prayer and www.FrancigenaWays.com and Small roads lead to Rome.
The Special Relationship
I’ve often felt that we’d be better off if we put broadminded Travel people in charge of the world.
Rather than the leaders we have.
And I wholeheartedly support the US Travel Association’s response to the European Union further shutting its doors on Americans.
Tori Enerson Barnes: ‘This is unwelcome news and will have major negative implications for an economic recovery. – particularly if this ban results in cycles of retaliation as is so often the case.’
What would our forefathers who fought side by side in two World Wars have made of this disintegration of a once unshakable friendship… In Flanders fields, https://gtitravel.ie and www.visitusa.ie and www.visitusa.com.
