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My Sporting Weekend – ice hockey

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Every writer remembers their first paid commission – mine’s was for a piece for ice hockey magazine Powerplay.

For €30… which gives you some kind of idea how long ago that was.

I think it was an interview with a hockey player from the Balkans where it’s more popular than here in Ireland.

And the player had fled the war-torn region which I had the pleasure to visit this Autumn.

On a wing and a prayer: With Wild Wing

And saw that as it should be the passions were now being contained to the football pitch and the ice rink….

Ice hockey is the world’s fastest sport, and my reporting career in that sport was equally quick.

In fact you’ll find my part in the Bracknell Bees story merits but a footnote of a footnote.

Still I have kept up my interest in the sport of which renowned American scribe AJ Leibling wrote:

‘I went to a fight last night and an ice hockey match broke out.’

Scored again

But it took until this year for me to pick up a stick in anger in Anaheim under the nose of their mascot Wild Wing…

On my Californian adventure https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/06/22/my-weekend-with-marilyn/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/07/03/stair-wars-3/.

Best check out Visit California www.visitcalifornia.com.

While ice hockey has struggled to get a skatehold in the south of Ireland our friends in the North are all over it.

Belfast’s SSE Arena will be host to the Friendship Four 2019 American College tournament on 29-30 November.

It will be the fifth consecutive iteration of the contest, the only collegiate tourney outside the US.

You don’t scare me

Now American collegiate sport is another ball (or puck) game and its adherents are fanatic.

Aer Lingus www.aerlingus.com have held a biennial American Football match at the Aviva, home of Irish rugby.

Which I took the Scary One and Daddy’s Little Girl to a few years back.

And where I got talking to some fanatical Gridiron fans.

All-action. Photo by Markus Spiske temporausch.com on Pexels.com

It wasn’t for the Scary One who asked me during the third quarter if it was in the rules to throw the ball forward!

Princeton, Colgate, Northeastern and the University of New Hampshire will compete for this year’s Belpot Trophy.

And you can be one of the 20,000 spectators… visit www.friendshipfour.com.

For the kids. Photo by Anton Belitskiy on Pexels.com

You might even see The Son and Heir there who has been at the heart of my Belfast jaunts… Belfast Chilled.

An everyday adventure at the Grand Central Hotel with its seahorse symbol which anchors Belfast.

See https://www.grandcentralhotelbelfast.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvJWM5qiA5gIVR7TtCh2WZQTUEAAYASAAEgJ5CfD_BwE. And also https://visitbelfast.com.

SEE YOU ON THE RINK

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Holiday Snaps – Malta pleaser!

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It’s one of the highlights of the year, the Irish Travel Trade Awards… and not just because I get my kiltie out!

I don’t know if there was a drawing of lots when I first arrived as to who would end up with me at their table.

But it was my pleasure to spend the evening again this year with my Maltese pals.

With Malta chief Tolene van der Merwe

There’s a synergy about Malta for me, it being where I bent down to tie my shoelace only to then discover I’d got engaged.

And also it being my first Press trip after a 12-year hiatus when I swore off them when I got…

Mugged in Marrakech and food poisoning in the Sahara Desert.

Malta crossroads

Malta restored my faith in Press trips five years ago and the rest is history.

As I’ve very nearly been.

On almost every one of them.

Save for the unstinting and patient help of any number of hosts.

Now there are many similarities between our wee islands and we’re both steeped in Catholic tradition.

Get on your segway in Gozo

They have a cracking Christmas Village from December 1 and a 35ft Christmas Tree by the Valletta waterside.

And an Eco Christmas Market on December 21 and 22 at Magazzino Hall, Valletta Waterfront.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be Christmas without a dip in the sea.

But while we freeze our whatsits off at the Forty Foot they have…

The Thomas Smith Christmas Charity Swim off the pier by Independence Gardens, Sliema.

Swim time. Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.com

You’ll be wanting somewhere to stay?

Why not try the 5* Phoenicia Malta, just outside the City Gate of Valletta. From €116 per room per night.

Or the 5* Corinthia Hotel St George’s Bay for €125 per night in a deluxe sea view room including breakfast.

Visit www.maltaireland.com. And here’s one I prepared earlier… Malta easer.

Of course back to the awards at the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road, Dublin.

Beautiful People. Photo. By Bruce Mars on Pexels.com

And for all the legendary ladies of Ireland’s Travel Trade on show, I still had the best legs.

Keep posted and I’ll be namechecking the Travel Trade partners from the night. Also visit https://www.ittn.ie.

History. Photo by Artur Roman on Pexels.com

For whom this is a well deserved chance to have a night off and a rare drinkie.

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Black Flyday Friday coming with Emirates

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Just mentioning, and no pressure here, but tomorrow’s my birthday. Well, a lot of pressure then!

But if you need some guidance then Emirates has seven nights all-inclusive from €2,1499pp 5* You & Me Cocoon Maldives.

Among Emirates Holidays’ Black Friday range of deals.

Heron good things about the Maldives

The package has complimentary room upgrade from Manta Villa to Dolphin Villa.

You’ll save up to €875 on your stay.

Return Emirates Economy Class flights from Dublin.

Sarong remains the same

Valid for travel on 2-4 and 9-11 June. Based on two adults sharing a room. Book by December 4. Visit http://www.emiratesholidays.com

Yup, have sarong, will travel… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/08/12/atoll-tale-the-maldives/

Ryanair changing my world

Flyin’air: Photo by Kristina Paukshtite on Pexels.com

It’s a national pastime, knocking Ryanair.

Save the world

But credit where credit is due and I’ve reason to thank the low-fares airline for getting me out of a jam this week.

When I again fell foul of the small print.

My gripe is that airlines don’t make out clearly on the forms that a flight is taking off on a particular day but returning the following day.

When you’re faced with booking online which we invariably are now just having a +1 next to the date will invariably catch you out.

Inevitably I got my return connection from London to Dublin wrong and panicked worrying that I would be out of pocket.

My benchmark: The boss

That though is when I steeled myself to fess up to The Scary One who internalised (a little) her anger and pointed me in the direction of the Ryanair Helpline.

Half-expecting that they would just palm me off I was delighted to find.

That they were agreeable to me switching my date to the next day.

Dig in: Michael O’Leary

Which just leaves me with fresh as yet unknown ways to screw it all up now.

I’m happy to repay the favour in the best way I can then.

Particularly as it involves being proactive about emissions.

Ryanair are pointing to their lowest CO2 per passenger/km in the EU airline industry.

How can you not help?

Which they’re happy to say is 23% lower than the average of Europe’s other big four airlines.

And they’ve not just been doing it by themselves. Those little envelopes we fill are working.

Ryanair have now offset a volume of 280,000 tonnes of CO2.

Thanks to the distribution of thousands of fuel-efficient cookstoves over a year.

They have also donated €250,000 to Renature Monchique as part of its Carbon Offset Initiative.

Portugal Cento

Which will pay for the planting of thousands of trees in the Monchique area of the Algarve.

And anything that helps Portugal as you know is good news as far as I’m concerned…. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/secret-portugal-classy-centro/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/06/12/sportugal/.

Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com flies to Faro and to Lisbon from €16.99 and Porto from €21.99.

And just to say… there are a bunch of people who have put the oul’ embargo on us.

But when I can I’ll share.

MEET YOU IN THE SKIES

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Swing low, sweet Harriet

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I doubt whether there will be too many England rugby supporters who will know the story behind their anthem.

But maybe they’ll get an idea after they watch the film I’ve been waiting all year for.

Harriet Tubman

I refer, of course, to Harriet which tells the story of one of the greatest Americans, nay a woman for the ages, hits cinemas today.

Harriet Tubman is as large a figure in American history as her more lauded peers Abraham Lincoln or Frederick Douglass.

And yet the ‘great’ Americans of our day have in their wisdom decided to hold off from giving her a worthy place on a banknote.

Myrlie Evers

An honour which had been reserved for American Presidents and a certain ‘bastard son of a whore and a Scotsman’.

I don’t know if the Scotsman bit was a bigger challenge and yet this son of the Caribbean rose to be George Washington’s trusty aide and moneyman.

And Broadway sensation. In fact if you look hard enough you can see Alexander Hamilton all over New York…

But much like the course of American history, the one I did, I’m off on a tangent.

Rosa Parks

So back to Harriet.

In the absence of her own bank note the best place to see Harriet is in the Deep South or on the big screen.

The backstory to ‘Swing Low’ was that Harriet was a slave who fled captivity.

The Underground Railroad

And yet was a key figure in the Underground Railroad to transport fellow slaves up north to Freedom.

At great personal cost and danger to herself with the equivalent of $1million bounty on her head.

The slaves kept their morale up by masking their trust in Harriet behind what their masters thought was a gospel spiritual.

Fannie Lou Hamer

You can learn more about Harriet and the history of slavery here on this site.

And meet another couple of iconic women, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer and the actual Myrlie Evers.

I’ll point you in the right direction and the hottest Smithsonian ticket in Washington DC, the African-American Museum.

And much, much more… Easy DC.

With the unfinished sculpture of MLK

My American Trilogy

And explore Tennessee and Mississippi in my American Trilogy series..

Which was part of the Martin Luther King 50th commemoration…

The Promised Land, The story of the Blues. And The King of Kings.

The story of slavery and the Road to Freedom is of course the whole of Ameria’s story.

Outside Ben’s Chili Bowl, central to the story, in DC

But here are some of the places and the websites I’ve been where you can feel truly part of it…

With special mention to the African-American Museum in DC, the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee and the Museum of Mississippi.

http://www.washington.org, https://nmaahc.si.edu, http://www.civilrightsmuseum, http://www.mmh.mdah.ms.gov.

Swing by your local cinema and see this film… I will. And I might even start singing.

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Hungry and Thursday – Pasta con Fulvio

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The Scary One’s been laid low so I had to make my own meal!

Thank goodness then I’ve got Catherine Fulvio to call on.

At her cookery school up the road in Ballyknocken in Co. Wicklow https://ballyknocken.ie/catherine-fulvios-cookery-school-ballyknocken-house-cookery-school-accommodation-wicklow-ireland/.

With Italian specialists Top Flight www.topflight.ie.

Woah there! David lends there

Food is integral to Italian life with Catherine sharing with us tales of her Sicilian mother-in-law rustling up beautiful dishes when she visited.

From what was lying around the kitchen.

There was a pasta-making machine lying around our table top… the only thing though was we’d have to make the pasta.

Or rather Laura, an Italian on our table, would.

Shredding it

She did, of course, put me to work on the sticky stuff which is kneeding the dough and the egg.

The expert gets it into a nice ball, the amateur (ie. me) wears it on their fingers like a glove.

And that’s even before you learn how to use the pasta-making machine.

Now this one’s really got my brain scrambled (or should that be mangled). And the cup after cup of Prosecco wasn’t helping.

Maggie comes to the rescue

You’ve got to thread the strips through the machine which is kind of difficult when you’re turning the handle in the wrong direction.

And then change the settings on the side to make it thinner.

I could just hear Bruce Forsyth or Larry Grayson guffawing at my efforts (ask your parents).

Maybe I’d be better at the oven-baked Pancella & red pepper Risotto… the only trouble was that I was chopping my celery stalks too thick.

The wooden spoon

And Laura had to take over the garlic cloves because I was going too slowly.

The open Ravioli with Chicken Mushroom Sauce would have been a mush without Kevin’s help.

But I did manage to mix the Amaretto Truffle Torte in its bowl and lick the spatula and the Amaretto.

Time then to make my excuses and leave…

But not before giving you a sample of what Top Flight has to offer in its Italy brochure.

Old Sicily. Photo by Chiara Caldarola on Pexels.com

And in a nod to Catherine and the Sicilians… why not from the Top Flight brochure Taormina.

They are billing Delicious Sicily & Cooking Class as an excursion.

You can stay at the Hotel Ariston. Seven nights B&B two pps, flying from Dublin. From €999 to €1299. Visit http://www.topflight.ie.

You’ll be near the centre of the old town, ten minutes’ walk to the cable car for the beach (an uphill walk from the resort centre) next to the bus terminal.

And here’s a Dad joke to lighten your day…

Patient, Doctor, I feel like an Italian island.

Doctor: ‘Don’t be Sicily.’

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Poochie-poochie-coo… it’s Florida Keys

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You had me at aoooow!

‘Smooch a pooch’ in the Florida Keys follows in the pawsteps.

Of Bono, the Brazilian Labrador dog surfer and the pupparazzi at Huntington Beach, Florida.

I first discovered just how bow-wow bonkers the American were about their pets on my first visit there.

As a 17-year-old.

And I saw a pet parlor on the block near my Auntie’s in Long Island, New York, with the offer of peticures.

Now I might have made that bit up but they definitely painted your doggie’s toenails.

I saw the evidence out on the street on a poodle… in candy-floss pink.

I didn’t get to see me the surfing dogs the Huntington Beach delegation had told me about when they visited Dublin this year

It was too early in the season.

But I did see me a special dog… Snoop Dogg on my trip to Hollywood, West Hollywood and Anaheim…

For the American Travel Fair, IPW… www.ipw.com.

Now the Florida Keys has long been on my radar after I got a big taste for the Sunshine State.

On two unforgettable trips to Orlando… Aaawlando… Orlando, the rollercoaster capital and Why I love The Donald.

But while Orlando has a mouse, a duck and a dog as well as much, much more The Keys have a very special cat.

Hemingway’s six-toed cats…. https://www.hemingwayhome.com/cats/

But back to the dogs… and December 12 (10am-2pm) sees the sixth annual Parade of Paws and Holiday Bazaar… http://www.fkspca.org/events-and-news/upcomingevents.

At Higgs Beach Dog Park at Atlantic Boulevard and White Street.

In support of the Florida Keys SPCA animal care fund.

Sausage dogs

Which will include photos with Santa, a market of goods, and that chance to smooch a pooch.

And there’s more…

How about the Annual Key West Dachshund Walk, many of them costumed?

In a wiener wonderland on Fleming Street between Whitehead and Duval Streets. From 12noon on December 31.

Visit http://facebook.com/Key-West-Dachshund-Walk-161327957238019.

Aer Lingus www.aerlingus.com flies to Miami with pre-clearance through your Irish airport.

And information to get to the Keys on www.fla-keys.co.uk.

GOODBOW FOR NOW

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Holidos and don’ts – parking

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It’s one of the prices you have to pay for marrying a Murty – there are many!

Being dragged out to look for the car which we’ve forgotten where we parked it.

Which happened to my Dear Old Dad on honeymoon in Paris.

Which is probably why he didn’t kick up too much of a fuss when I asked him to drive me around the east end of Glasgow.

Photo by David McBee on Pexels.com

Late at night to look for the car I had parked after a Celtic match.

To cut a long story short, the Scary One had to come back the next day by train from Edinburgh, to find the car which was on a wasteland.

But thankfully still in one piece. Miracle!

It wasn’t a one-off. I had a works car towed outside Dundee United’s ground, Tannadice.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

And every time at the shopping mall I would forget where I’d parked the car.

Usually when I had The Son and Heir and Daddy’s Little Girl with me.

Thank goodness then that I now take a photograph of the parking space though I often get let down because my phone runs out of charge.

One of the reasons then why I have never driven outside Britain or Ireland.

Unless, of course, you mention my attempts at driving a Fiat 500 on the French Riviera.

Stalled again!

It was the stand-out on a terrific itinerary when I stayed at Mimosas Resort http://www.mmv.fr/provence-cote-dazur on the Cote D’Azur.

Alas, the gear stick was on the dashboard and after I’d stalled it in the car park for the third time the owner of the firm decided to take the wheel.

Some small talk later and stone-skimming on the shore to get rid of my huff and I was on a boat whizzing around the Millionaires’ shore.

Someone else was driving.

Which means they have to remember where they park the car, although an extra problem is that I have to remember if I go off-piste.

Boats on the Red Sea

I did get a shot at driving the boat on the Red Sea on my G Adventures trip http://www.gadventures.com to Jordan… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/petra-jordan-jesus-and-the-sands-of-time/

The pilot did take the wheel back when I got too close to Israel.

It wouldn’t have done to be towed away there!

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Cruiseday Tuesday – Stena and Wales

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And because one day is never enough I’m tempted to introduce a Thank God it’s Ferryday too.

To shoehorn in news from our friends from Stena www.stenaline.ie.

Who have taken possession of Stena Estrid from the yard in China.

Which is now on its way over to Ireland.

To sail the Dublin to Holyhead route next year.

It was poignant to see the Hong Kong-based Reverend Stephen Miller, of the Mission to Seafarers, bless the ship.

And here’s hoping that someone is listening to his prayers too for the plight of Hong Kong.

Black Friday

Black Friday is all about the sales (sorry, sails).

And Travel Department www.traveldepartment.ie is offering:

€75pp off River Cruises departing next year.

Use promo code VP-BLACKRIVER.

€50pp off any holiday of seven nights or more.

Use promo code VP-BLACK50.

€25pp off any holiday of six nights or less.

Use promo code VP-BLACK25.

The offers are available until December 2.

Liberty on the seas

Photo by TheUknownPhotographer on Pexels.com

It’s how my emigrating Donegal uncles first saw America… on a big ship.

You can upgrade, and deserve it, on the Cunard Queen Mary.

Click and Go www.clickandgo.com have a 14-night New York Fly/Cruise. Stay from €1599pp.

Two of my favourite places in the world… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/08/21/old-new-york-hamilton/ and Let’s rumba in Barbados and My kiss with Rihanna.

And after pushing my blood pressure up booking return Ryanair flights Dublin-London I’m getting ready for Tobago next month.

MEET YOU ON THE SEAS

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Moanday Morning – supermarkets

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Or Supermarches as they like to call them in France, though, in truth, it’s not really the French grocery stores that I’m targeting today.

In general they’re pretty well marked and their booze is of course far more competitively priced.

Which is why there are so many booze cruises from England to Normandy to fill up cars with drink.

No, it’s the supermarkets here where I live in Ireland that have my head doing a Klunk (from Stop the Pigeon).

Photo by Ash Valiente on Pexels.com

They’re probably not much different in Scotland, England, Wales or Northern Ireland… all of which I’ve worked in.

It’s just that now I’ve taken time out from being a wage slave I’ve started to notice how confusing supermarkets can be.

And so I bring you my native Tesco.

Where I reckon I waste about half a day every week trying to find such awkward items as milk, bread, eggs and baked beans.

Photo by edwin josé vega ramos on Pexels.com

There are others too – I’m not on a Student’s Diet! Any more.

My dander was up when I went looking for milk and traversed aisle after aisle before realising it was in the Yogurt & Milk aisle.

Now since when did M come after Y in the alphabet or in importance. No wonder I got blindsided.

Perhaps if they spent less time putting Irish translations on stuff. Which they did on a train I was on recently without the English version.

Photo by Jeremias Oliveira on Pexels.com

I mean how many people even speak it as a first language here, and you’ll not meet anyone here who won’t moan about having to learn it in school.

Maybe try and get the baked beans then, I thought.

Who thinks up these things but by sheer accident I found them in the home baking section…

So, what are they saying. Do they expect me to make my own?

And then there is the traffic. Why can’t people take care of their kids and put them in the front of the shopping trolleys.

Photo by Nirmal Rajendharkumar on Pexels.com

I don’t care if they are teenagers… I’ll shoehorn them in.

And once you actually get to the till then there’s always someone ignoring the five items or less sign.

Supermarkets, of course, want us to do it ourselves.

Which is the modern way of it.

And they point us in the directions of scanners…

Again I refer you to an earlier Moanday Morning… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/11/11/moanday-morning-self-service/.

Photo by Sunbae Legacy on Pexels.com

So where does this leave us in how they do it elsewhere.

Well, nobody serves you better than the Americans and for all you need to know about the Oo Es of A then http://www.visitusa.ie.

I’m in the fortunate position of usually having a host when I’m abroad, or the hostess with the mostest, the one I report to.

But when I have had to make my own way with http://CaminoWays.com and http://Francigenaways.com.

On these journeys… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/camino-a-pilgrims-prayer/ and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/small-roads-lead-to-rome/ I have found it easy peasy.

While I’m a big fan of German shopping (maybe it’s the sausages, maybe it’s the big Berthas on the counter)…. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/hamburgers-and-ships/, https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/dresdens-renaissance-martin-luther/ https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/08/01/hungry-and-thursday-the-munich-beerfest/

MEET YOU IN THE AISLES

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The first Black Friday, and get your skis on

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Black Friday is black, obvs, but also red, yellow, pink, green…

All the colours of shoes The Scary One has been known to buy on one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

But the first Black Friday was nothing to do with hitting the sales… more hitting the road.

For the people of Derby on December 3, 1745, the biggest fear wasn’t that somebody would get that new three-piece suite, or suit.

No, not that Black Friday. Photo by bruce mars on Pexels.com

But that some hairy-arsed, skirt-wearing Scotsman would pillage their house.

Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Scottish Army were on the outskirts of Derby, just 125 miles from London, by Ikea.

And that prompted a retreat by the English Midlanders and a run on the bank in London.

While the Royal Family are said to have packed their bags.

We started it. Photo by Kevin Bidwell on Pexels.com

Ready to hit the coast and exile.

History tells us that, in typical Scottish style, they clutched defeat from the jaws of victory, and scarpered home.

And were routed on the Culloden Battlefield in the Highlands.

Today, we hit the coast too, but now it’s the coast of France, Spain and Italy.

And also the slopes.

Racing ahead. Photo by Paweu0142 Fijau0142kowski on Pexels.com

I’ll be bringing you Black Friday Sales this week and I’ll kick it off with this Directski offer.

Save an extra €100pp from Dublin or Cork, or £100 if you’re travelling from Belfast, when you book online.

Here’s what they’re tempting us:

They’ve got snow

France (from Dublin)

3* Lagrange Residence Cybele, Brides les Bains, January 18, €360 (eight share). Save €100pp. Self-catering.

Italy (from Dublin)

3* Livigno Ski Apartments, January 18, €399 (four share). Save €187pp. Self-catering.

Off and running. On a Black Run in Soll!

Austria (from Dublin)

3* Schindlhaus Apartments, Soll, January 4, €375 (four share). Save €240pp. Self-catering. And Soll’s a blast… http://Soll mates.

Italy (from Dublin)

3* Hotel Alaska, January 18, €739 (two share). Save €150pp. Half-board.

Austria (from Cork)

3* Landhaus Roscher, Mayrhofen Valley. December 21. Save €130pp. B&B.

Austria (from Belfast)

4* Hotel Eva Village, Saalbach, January 4, £1499 (two share). Save £230pp.

The perfect ski jacket

These offers are limited, so book early on http://www.directski.com.

Prices include return flights from Dublin, Cork or Belfast (depending on chosen resort).

Stay for seven nights, resort transfers, rep service in the resort and generous luggage allowance.

Offers are available until November 29, subject to availability.