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Now we all know that it was an Irishman who discovered America which explains the love affair with the States and why there’s an annual invasion to live out the Aermerican Black Friday dream.

What, you thought that America wasn’t on our radar until Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.

Well, St Brendan the Navigator might have something to say about that.

The Irish saint having crossed the big ocean around 800 AD.

Negotiating as he went sea monsters, volcanoes, icebergs, and other adventures.

All of which is chronicled in a ninth-century tome, Navigatio.

Saints above

Irish saints these days go transatlantic in style… on the side of Aer Lingus planes.

Every plane is splashed with holy water and given a saint’s name.

And which other airline can claim that.

All of which perigrinations the likes of which St Brendan could associate with brings us to our Aermerican Black Friday dream.

The price is right

The offers the national airline carrier are tempting us with for our trips to the States.

Customers can bag €100 off return economy class flights to North America or €200 off return business class travel.

Book before midnight on Tuesday, 29 November, for travel between 1 January – 28 March 2023.

And remember there are 15 direct routes from Ireland to choose from.

Including Boston, New York, Newark, Chicago, Orlando, Miami, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Hartford, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Toronto.

And would you believe there are three/four I haven’t even been to yet?

And Europe too

For those who prefer to travel a little closer to home, Aer Lingus is also offering up to 25% off return flights to many popular European destinations.

Sun-seekers can lap up Lanzarote, Fuerteventura or Malaga, while ski enthusiasts can take to slopes from Lyon, Verona, Geneva, and Munich.

Fare savings are valid for travel between 1^st December 2022 – 28^th March 2023.

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.