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Yacht join the fast set like Beyoncé

22nd September 202322nd September 2023 funtime65

We’re working ourselves up to the David Geffen or Diddy class and we imagine you’re the same… really, yacht join the fast set like Beyoncé.

One of the many advantages of travelling the world is getting wined and dined in exotic locations.

Where the super rich have been before.

And royalty, with Princess Margaret (Queen Elizabeth’s party-loving wee sis) christening the sea around Tobago on her honeymoon Nylon Pool.

As it’s so clear it resembled nylon stockings.

While we stood on that Caribbean sea bank Mags had probably done and can Geffen or Jeff Bezos or Barry Diller or Diddy.

Well, probably but we reckon if you’ve got the facilities of the world’s most expensive yacht, Geff’s $590m superyacht, you’ll stay on board.

Yacht to party with us

Of course, you don’t have to have the keys to a super yacht to enjoy yourself.

Or be the king and queen of hip hop like Diddy and Beyoncé to enjoy a good oul’ sing song.

Because give me a captain’s hat and a boom box on the Bosphorus and they say my name, say my name.

While whether you’re Bandanaman, Joe or Joanna Public or a diva the sunset is still the same around the Maldives.

And would you get a superstar going off piste and trying to cross disputed territory between Jordan and Israel on the Red Sea?

Geff’s gaff

But because we know you want to look through the keyhole to see how the super rich play we’re jumping on board with Ritzy Charters.

RC scoped Geff’s gaff to show us 82 (count them) rooms.

The yacht can accommodate around 18 guests and 55 crew members.

With a basketball court, wine cellar and an impressive luxurious cinema.

Yacht to see the others

Bezos’s tub on the sea is second most expensive at $500m and is the largest sailing yacht on the planet.

The Y721, also named Koru (Māori for strength, new life and peace) boasts a great-sized pool on its deck.

And accommodation for up to 18 guests and 40 crew members with Māori art to the fore.

Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller have a $200 million Eos super yacht rippling the waves.

Now if you’re lucky enough to be one of their 14 guests you’ll be bowled over by their glass staircase, a 14-foot world map, a jacuzzi and a figurehead of Diane.

Now for only $120m the VENUS yacht of Steve Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell ticks all the boxes.

The superyacht can accommodate up to 12 guests in six cabins and 22 crew members in 14 cabins.

And eek, the vessel’s annual running cost is around $10-$15m!

The Diddy of them all

The fifth most expensive celebrity-owned yacht is The Maraya, owned by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ and Beyoncé’s Maraya is only fifth dearest.

And guess what, he rents out the $65 million superyacht for $300,000 per week.

But you can always split that among your 12 guests at a time in six cabins.

And as you’d expect there’s all mod cons such as a sundeck jacuzzi, gym and wellness area, not to mention its very own chef.

Really, yacht join the fast set like Beyoncé.

But if you can’t make the most of what you’ve got.

Caribbean, Countries, Ireland

How we say goodbye

25th August 202323rd August 2023 funtime65

It says much about a culture how we say goodbye to our loved ones.

And as we bid farewell to our Dear Old Mum today, some thoughts on what we’ve picked up from our travels.

Now some cultures like to go big and bold and brash but we prefer simple and serene.

Teasy will announce herself on the family stone with her name and dates… and she’ll stand out.

Hers is a plot in Glenfin, Co. Donegal and you’ll know it’s Ireland by the Gaelic Football pitch backing onto the graveyard.

May you be in heaven

Water of life: With Mum at Doon Well, Donegal

The Irish, of course, have a healthy approach to death and their own funeral service website RIP.ie, from which Britons can learn.

With their wakes, party funeral receptions and a care for graveyards which we have forgotten on this side of the Irish Sea.

And their uplifting scripts and you may recognise this one.

‘May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead.’

Sunrise and Sunset

Perhaps it’s an island thing although Britain seems to have missed that memo.

Because our Caribbean chums also have a healthy attitude to the passage from this world to the next.

Now I don’t know who Tobagonian Emily McDougall is but you’d have to think she has Scottish descent.

But her gravestone will draw visitors to stop and reflect because of the inscription.

A heart-shaped sign as you can see with a tribute which recognises nature and a sunny people.

By dating her to Sunrise and Sunset.

And because you all know that I’m an unrepentant cribber I have let it be known that I want that too when my time comes.

Wit and wisdom

Slab and tickle: Some gravestone laughs in Co. Wicklow

Of course there are those who use wit to soften the blow for those of us who are left… it’s how we say goodbye.

With Spike Milligan, of Goons fame, instructing family to insert this message to be put in his stone…

Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite which translates as ‘I told you I was ill’.

Which Billy Connolly has finessed by joking on one of his many travelogues as ‘You’re standing on my head.’

Now we all have our ways and drift off on our travels and one of my Dear Old Dad‘s was graveyards.

And it’s something we share and I seek out wherever I go.

You know find out about a place by going to where the locals play and pray.

And of course whenever I want to be with my Mum from now on I know where she’ll be, back in her heavenly home of Brockagh, Co. Donegal.

America, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, Food & Wine

Chocs away on Easter Sunday

17th April 202217th April 2022 funtime65

And for many it’s what today is all about… Chocs away on Easter Sunday.

And thoughts away of dem sweet places where I’ve savoured the treat of the Gods.

We have the Central and South Americans to thank for extracting the cacao which makes our chocolate.

And when we want to know more on anything our go-to people are the Smithsonians in Washington DC.

And Hayes Lavis, cultural arts curator for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian has the skinny on chocs.

He tells us that ancient Olmec pots and vessels from around 1500 B.C. were discovered with traces of theobromine.

And for those who know their chocs they’ll recognise that as a stimulant compound found in chocolate and tea.

So now we’ve done the science let’s sample the choccie tastes of the world.

ChocolaTobago

And the way to a man’s heart is the love of a daughterie.

So when you come across a chocolate called Laura in the West Indies then you get that special rush.

This Tobago taste of heaven is a French-Caribbean collaboration and named for the manufacturer’s matriarch Laura.

Sold in high-end shops like Harrod’s it’s still best sampled where it’s made, Tobago Cocoa Estate.

Swiss sweet

We all know about Swiss sweets… Toblerone and it’s mountain triangular shapes.

And Lindt which is everywhere of which I was reminded from the minute you arrive in Geneva.

You’d have to tell me if SWISS airline still gives out comp choc to it’s passengers…

I like mine, my Lindt, though like the Asians who love to take selfies at the top of Europe.

To show off to family back home, at the top of the Jungfraujoch.

In Bruges

Was I the only one who wondered why a restless Colin Farrell didn’t cure his boredom through chocolate and beer?

Mind you, it would have been a very different movie.

Yes, go up to the cathedral and also check out St Anthony’s tongue.

But the best taste of all in Bruges is their oh-so-tasty chocolate.

Cadbury’s and Brum

Now you might not immediately link Bruges in Belgium and Birmingham in England.

But they’re both canal cities, major historical trade hubs.

And they are both hooked on chocolate.

It is no exaggeration to say that Brummie Joseph Cadbury was a chocolate evangelist.

As a Quaker and teetotaller he saw chocolate as a healthy alternative.

Joseph was a general good egg all round (or Cadbury’s Creme Egg) if you will

He set up a village in Bourneville for his workers and provided for all their social, health, education and sporting needs.

And a great pacifist, he even took on Queen Victoria over the Boer War.

All of which you can discover in the excellent Cadbury’s museum.

And finally, a Big Chocolate Apple

I’ve always been a great advocate of only having friends in cool places or jobs, or preferably both.

And in return they get the pleasure of hosting me.

Kate is one such, a New Yoiker and food and drinks editor who took La Famiglia Murty around Manhattan.

Chinatown, her own office kitchen on Production Day, and Jacques Torres Chocolate factory.

Now Willie Wonka’s got nothing in Kate or Jacques.

I mean bacon-flavoured chocolate… you read it here first.

Enjoy! Chocs away on Easter.

Africa, Countries

Ghana this day

6th March 20226th March 2022 funtime65

And the lesson is self-determination… Ghana this day.

Father Bobi, a proud Ghanain, is big about family as he preaches his message at the pulpit in North Berwick, east of Edinburgh.

And he begins March 6 with a shout-out to his West African country and his sister who shares her birthday with the national day.

This day in 1957 the British colony Gold Coast became Ghana (strong warrior king), the first sub-Saharan state to break free.

We’re naturally drawn here to countries asserting their own self-determination.

And celebrating with carnivals and parades.

In Ghana that’ll be from the capital of Accra on the scenic coastline of the Gulf of Guinea to the northern heritage-rich city of Tamale.

Local foods, such as the Ghanaian joll of rice (a spicy rice dish with meat and vegetables), serve as centrepieces in many homes.

The Ghanaian diaspora

Ghanaians have increasingly enriched our lives across the world.

From pulpits in Scottish seaside to metropolises London and Paris to the Caribbean.

Where the descendants of slaves have progressed their culture.

African tourism has, of course, expanded in the last thirty years.

With intrepid travellers seeking out still authentic parts of the world.

And for us students of history we will always explore the history and culture of a country.

Which in Ghana means seeking out the slave castles dotted along the coast.

Slavery history

Pioneers: With Issy and ‘George Washington’ in DC

Slavery history is not mawkish and we are in fact encouraged to keep their history alive.

It is our history too whether in Scotland where the tobacco lords became rich and the triangular traffic from Bristol and Liverpool.

Or in Tobago and Barbados, the only foreign outpost George Washington visited.

And in the city he gave his name to and the Great Liberator Frederick Douglass and his house looking down on the city.

And the inspiring African-American Smithsonian Museum in DC.

Then there is the Slave Haven Underground Railroad in Memphis Tennessee in the Deep South.

West Africa

A trip to West Africa has long been on the radar to square the circle.

And reflect on the Original Sin shame of slavery.

One Ghanaian in particular will be flying his flag high today in my new town of North Berwick here in Scotland.

While millions there and around the world will join him too.

Should you be an intrepid traveller too you’ll naturally levitate towards the holiday firm of that name.

Intrepid will provide tailor-made trips.

From the horse’s mouth

Often our interest in a country or region is piqued by word of mouth, from friends and family.

I can’t say I know Rick from Intrepid’s site.

But I am persuaded by his review of Benin, Togo and Ghana from 2020.

‘Usually I travel independently, but for destinations in which infrastructure challenges make solo travel prohibitively inefficient.

‘Intrepid is worth every penny for combining easy of travel with the very best of cultural educational opportunity.

‘Superb pre-trip information, guides, and selection of destinations.’

Thanks Rick, and I’ll also be having a word in Father Bobi’s ear.

My cup of tea

Over tea and biscuits which he has restored to the church hall.

Two years after he had to pull that post-Mass experience because of Covid.

Happy Ghana Day Father Bobi and all the Ghanaians.

Ghana this day.

Asia, Countries, Deals

Carbon neutral in Mauritius

11th August 202111th August 2021 funtime65

Climate change will continue to hover over Travel but we are addressing it and will always promote best practice such as the resorts that have gone Carbon neutral in Mauritius.

Small islands stand particularly exposed to the warming seas.

And Mauritius in the Indian Ocean is particularly vulnerable.

They are though meeting the challenge.

And Heritage Resorts and Veranda Resorts have stood up.

With the first carbon neutral hotels in Mauritius.

The Resorts will offset all CO2 emissions that would be generated by a hotel stay.

How does it work?

Well, we’re told this will be achieved through the purchase of carbon credits.

With the Aura Group, an environmental commodity trader and through local carbon offset projects including the construction of a solar farm.

Guests at Veranda hotels can make a voluntary contribution to the projects.

It’s all happening under a Mauritian model (no, not that kind of model but there are plenty of them there) called Now For Tomorrow

Over to you, Thierry

Thierry Montocchio, CEO of the VLH group, puts flesh on the bones.

He said: ‘Our conservation programme that created ten artificial reefs in the Bel Ombre lagoon has enabled significant regeneration of the corals.

‘And we have seen 20 new species of fish.

‘Our Heritage Training Academy has empowered local communities.

‘And offered them a career in the hotel industry.

‘Our new water bottling unit enabled us to avoid using the equivalent of 27 tons of plastic bottles in 2019.

‘And in addition, 65% of our waste has been recycled.

‘Now for Tomorrow is also a first in the sector.

Because it promises carbon neutrality through clearly defined objectives and an action plan.

‘Acting for the climate and the environment means identifying and neutralising our greenhouse gas emissions.

‘And coming up with concrete initiatives to achieve carbon neutrality.’

Local produce

The group has also committed to include from the beginning of next year 100% of the fruits and vegetables, seafoods, poultry and meat consumed in their hotels will come from Mauritian farmers and producers.

Or from regional partners in the Indian Ocean.

They are looking to recycle 75% of its waste by 2022.

‘And aims to reduce food waste by committing to a pilot project carried out in collaboration with The Pledge on Food Waste.’

It’s a deal

So now you’ve signed up to doing your little bit to save the planet what are you getting for your bucks?

Well, Heritage Resorts has Heritage Awali.

It is billed as the best 5* all-inclusive resort in Mauritius offers you €193 per night per adult.

And the Heritage Le Telfair, your refined small luxury hotel from €124 per night, per adult.

It’s an even better deal

And some monkeying about: But friendly residents

Should your budget not stretch that far.

Then Veranda Resorts has Veranda Palmar Beach €25 per night, Veranda Paul & Virgine €44 per night and Veranda Pointe aux Biches €54.

And a nod to others

Now, we all love to let ourselves go when we’re away but excess doesn’t equate to success.

It would be wrong too to accept that all holidaymakers particularly those from my bailiwicks, Britain and Ireland, just go on holiday for the sun, sea and sangria.

And care little about the country they visit or its people.

We take, of course, our inspiration from those for whom conservation isn’t the latest fad.

And have been banging the drum for years.

Such as G Adventures and their initiative Planeterra.

I saw first it hand in Jordan and they employ it across the world.

While we’re also glad to see that our friends in Mauritius are leading the way on the future coral.

Which my old buddies from the Maldives and Tobago will fully subscribe.

And finally

The whole planet’s future depends on us doing the right thing… and our small nations are standing up and being counted.

So, let’s hear it for Carbon neutral in Mauritius.

Caribbean, Countries, Culture

Yeah Mon Jamaican Independence Day

6th August 20216th August 2021 funtime65

Yeah Mon Jamaican Independence Day is in full swing and naturally will last a week.

It’s 59 years since the Jamaicans led the way by becoming the first Caribbean country to break from the UK.

Following the experiment of the West Indies Federation between 1958 and 1962.

Where Jamaica led (and leads) its Caribbean neighbours followed.

More independence

And Trinidad & Tobago also took the plunge that magical year of 1962.

Barbados followed in 1966 before there was a rush of freedom in the Seventies.

With the Bahamas in 1973, Granada in 1974, Dominica 1978 and St Lucia and St Vincent in 1979.

And Antigua & Barbuda in 1981 and St Kitts & Nevis joining the gang in 1983.

All of which means that there will be a landmark every year to keep us all going for the next few years.

Jamaican jewels

Now where once Britain left its footprint on the Caribbean,West Indians have transformed British life.

In the years since we put out the call to come here to help rebuild the post-war UK.

So we probably all think we know the Windies well by now, and Jamaica, and Jamaicans, in particular.

And its British, and more specifically Scottish and Irish links.

Jammin’

But did you know?

That Jamaica is more than reggae, though there’s plenty of Marley which is good for me.

Try out the ska, mento, dancehall, ragga, dub and rocksteady. And soca, although there’s more of that in the southern Caribbean.

And it’s not just Usain Bolt though who has ripped up the sporting world, though he’s plenty good for us too.

Usain follows in the spikesteps of the marvellous Marlene Ottey and the Don, Don Quarry.

Other kings and queens of sport

While Elaine Thompson-Herah led a Jamaican 1-2-3 in this month’s Olympics ahead of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson.

Mikey Holding, Courtney Walsh and Chris Gayle are just three of the calypso cricketers; Mike McCallum and Trevor Berbick are Caribbean kings of the ring.

While who can forget the Winter Olympics bobsleigh team who gave us Cool Runnings and the Jamaica football team who reached the World Cup.

Thank God for Jamaica

That the island has more than 100 Christian denominations may come as a surprise.

And more churches, 2.75 per square mile, than any other country in the world.

And, of course, a morning in church (and it will be a morning) and a gospel choir should be on your must-do list when you visit.

And rum

As should the rum bars where for hardened rummies this is what you should order…

Jancraw Batty, which translates as ‘vulture’s ass’ and is under the rum bar counter.

There will be plenty Jancraw Batty raised today.

Yeah Mon Jamaican Independence Day.

Caribbean, Countries, Europe

Italia und Deutschland

30th July 202130th July 2021 funtime65

They’ve been wanting to welcome us back, and now they can… bella bella et Wunderbar Italia und Deutschland.

Italy and Germany are heading up a tranche of countries green-listed for us to visit again.

That also includes two of my other go-to countries Austria and Switzerland.

Ciao now Bergamo

That Italy should be leading the way is reward for the efforts they have made in the last year and a half.

The good people of Bergamo have a claim to the title of huggiest people you’ll meet.

Having got into the Guinness Book of Records just five years ago.

When 11,460 Bergamaschi embraced each other, and that’s 5730 couples.

Huggy bears

All of which is revealed in the council offices, an antidote to the heavy subject of Covid, which I was there to discuss with the Tourism Minister.

And isn’t it refreshing to count in cuddles than casualties?

It is, of course, what we miss in these days of restricted engagement when we travel.

And so when I wanted to hug my host Matteo for his friendship after we said Ciao we knew we could only elbow.

Give us a cuddle

Which used to be what you did when you wanted to get rid of somebody.

Now the peoples of some countries seem to be able to get by without the need for physical contact.

My hugginess then is probably more my Irish than my Scottish half.

Sometimes a smile a clink of glasses and a Prost with your eyes fixed on each other.. a la Germany, the Austrians and the Swiss.

Caribbean dreams

My Tobagonian pals: Auntie Ali, Uncle Kenneth

But quite how my Bajan and Tobagonian pals will get by without enfolding each other in their arms…

I haven’t had the chance to see for myself.

For now I have my sights set again on Italia und Deutschland.

I’ll be back then as soon as I can to throw my arms around Bergamo.

Caribbean, Countries, Culture, Ireland

Tobago Chocolate Tea

9th July 20219th July 2021 funtime65

Let me introduce Carion Baird-Job. She’s going to show us how to make Tobago Chocolate Tea.

Or as Carion puts it Chaclit (or chocolate to us) tea.

Now Carion will make your tea with a song in her heart ‘There we go to To-ba-go .’ (hint to the Scary One).

Drink it in

Now I’ve had the pleasure of sampling Cocoa Tea myself where it’s best… the Caribbean.

And the Tobago Cocoa Estate which definitely knew which buttons to press with me with its LAURA chocolate.

Choccies away

Although I didn’t see much of the complimentary chocolate they gave me

As my own Laura, Daddy’s Little Girl. bagsed that once I got home.

Auntie Ali and Uncle Kenneth at the Blue Crab

Now don’t take my recommendation or theirs (although do, really do).

A month before I chilled with the Tobagonians in the last months before Covid left its sour taste in our months.

Estate of the nation

And the Tobago Cocoa Estate was rightly celebrating its Silver at the World Chocolate Awards in Guatemala.

And there’s a working assignment we’d all put down what we’re doing to attend!

So why is Carion sharing the secrets of her chac-lit tea?

Well, it was to mark World Chocolate Day which if you missed it was earlier this week.

Who are we kidding? Nobody needs to tell us when it’s Chocolate Day.

Best bar none

Every day is Chocolate Day!

Food and wine travel is a way of life for many of us and we have all explored kitchens, breweries and distilleries.

Irie Tobago Chocolate Tea

And include among them chocolate factories.

Whether it’s the factory at the centre of a village built for the Cadbury’s workers in Bourneville, Birmingham.

Hershey’s in Pennsylvania or out in the woods of the Tobago Cocoa Estate ‘tis sweet.

And Tobagp Chocolate Tea looks as sweet as it comes.

America, Caribbean, Countries, Europe, Ireland, Music, UK

Rainy Days and Songdays – Watching the Detectives

22nd March 202123rd March 2021 funtime65

Just like watching the detectives don’t get cute, just like watching the detectives, I get so angry when the teardrops start, But he can’t be wounded ’cause he got no heart. – Elvis Costello, Watching the Detectives

And with apologies to the Poet Laureate of New Wave.

But it’s not the bespectacled one but the new run of Line of Duty, shot in Belfast, which has got me thinking.

About my favourite detectives in the cities they are associated with.

So here are seven deadly detective shows, their music and their cities.

Van’s the man

Can I be trusted on a bike? In Amsterdam

Van der Valk, Amsterdam: So good they kept a sample of the Simon Park Orchestra’s original score ‘Eye Level’ for the reworking of the original series.

And even then purists lambasted the modern version and Marc Warren’s ‘Piet’ as opposed to Barry Foster’s.

And don’t you just love the cluttered narrow bars they all drink in.

Hutch more New York

Starsky & Hutch, New York: Starsky & Hutch was the breakthrough police show for young people more used to oldie cops.

Good, yes, like the lollipop-sucking Theo Kojak. And, yes, we loved you, baby, too!

But Starsk and Hutch and Huggy Bear brought a street vibe, slapstick and more New York life.

As did the Stiller and Wilson remake with Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear captured the excitement and warmth and music of the original.

Glasgow is No Mean City

Taggart, Glasgow: And who would have thought they could have made grey post-industrial Glasgow cool in the Eighties?

But they did and you knew you were in for something different when the credits rolled.

And Maggie Bell gave us a smoky, bluesy No Mean City, a homage to a gangster novel about Twenties Gorbals Glasgow.

London, you’re nicked

The Sweeney: Regan and Carter were the Line of Duty of their day, the water-cooler show before water coolers.

Again another they made a remake of, with only Ray Winstone able to reprise John Thaw, while Plan B took on Dennis Waterman.

The Winstone opening scene had a car chase around Trafalgar Square while Thaw’s played out more on wasteland.

But London sizzled from the moment the Thames TV with its iconic St Paul’s graphic came up… and who can forget the theme tune?

Monsieur Bean?

Maigret, Paris: And it was always going to require us to make a shift to see Mr Bean as Monsieur Maigret.

Mais oui, Rowan Atkinson pulled it off, with that brooding sense of contemptuous arrogance we so love about Parisians.

And who doesn’t love an accordion?

Naturellement, you would want to show off the City of Lights if you set your show here.

Which is why it was shot in Budapest with Szentendre doubling for the Montmartre.

Across the Channel

Bergerac, Jersey: And a little bit of sun came into our lives in the Eighties.

In the only part of the UK where they get sun… in Jersey, on the doorstep of France.

As none of us can identify a Jersey site from a Jersey cow then their first image was a map of the island.

Before we get action clips of dunes and John Nettles running after high-end crooks.

Old at the time, Johnnie then retired to Midsomer.

Deadly Caribbean

Nylon Pool, Tobago

Death in Paradise, Guadeloupe: No mon, it’s not Saint Marie, but Guadeloupe.

It lies halfway down the eastern Caribbean chain between Dominica and Antigua.

And it has some of the features you’d expect in a West Indian island, a volcano, sandy beaches obvs and a rainforest.

And you’ll get some of this and more of the other in Tobago and Barbados

All good and varied locales for misdemeanour and murder.

And all set against an uplifting score and, if you know your stuff, homages to the film The Harder They Come.

So to cheer your day up here’s some Jimmy Cliff ‘You Can Get It If You Really Want‘.

Africa, America, Canada, Caribbean, Countries, Cruising, Europe, Ireland

Water waterfalls

24th February 202125th February 2021 funtime65

Don’t go chasing waterfalls. Please stick to the rivers and lakes that you’re used to – TLC

Only I do go chasing waterfalls… or rather they go chasing me.

And probably you too… after all they are a staple of your holiday day tours.

But like rivers and lakes usually once you’ve seen one then you’ve seen them all.

The must-sees are obviously Niagara Falls, Victoria Falls and Angel Falls.

The Big Three

The first of them I have ticked off in Canada on a trip to see family in Toronto.

The second on the list is with my friends from Ethiopian Airlines en route to Namibia.

Victoria tall. www.victoriafallstourism.com

While the third in Venezuela I’m inching closer to having acquainted myself with the Venezuelan Spanish ladies of Tobago.

Not all waterfalls have to have come down from the highest heavens.

Nor do they have to be at a neck-craning height to be blessed by the gods.

Water world

As I discovered in Kythera in Greek Attica.

Whether you’re gazing on nature’s wonders among the world’s great mountain ranges such as the Pyrenees

In the valley of the Rockies. cruising through the fjords.

Or with the sun on your back in the Caribbean waterfalls are one of the Gods’ gifts.

Unless, of course, it’s Powerscourt’s waterfalls in my old back yard of Co. Wicklow in Ireland which you have to pay for.

Powerscourt, its gardens and splendid hotel and grounds and best-value restaurant is one of the country’s jewels.

Spray that again

All of which waterfall waffling brings me to the subject in hand, an invitation from one of the best Travel providers in the business.

American Holidays are flagging up their Canadian market and as well as Niagara Falls, the less well-known Montmorency Waterfalls.

The Montmorency Falls in Quebec are actually 30m higher than its much-vaunted Ontario neighbour.

You can decide for yourself which you prefer on your nine-day tour of Canada’s great Eastern Cities.

Where you’ll spend three nights each in Toronto, Montréal and Quebec.

You’ll fly from Dublin to Toronto and return from Montréal from €1539pp.

MEET YOU BY THE WATERFALLS