Traveling with a group

Posted on September 5, 2018 by darcelona3

Everyone has their tour favorites – you tour with your family, you tour alone or you tour with a group of strangers that become friends.

While I was working, I made a trip up to Oregon every year to visit my Mom. This was and is a great trip but when I retired, I decided it was time to venture outside my comfort zone. As my past writings have explained, I have been to Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. These trips are listed under Celtic Quilt Tours LLC who work with Journey’s Connect. Both are awesome companies.

All stops and hotels are agreed upon before we leave our homes. Now some other tours have the option of driving yourself around the countryside and others provide either a bus or you go by cruise ship. I prefer the bus method and here is why. The driver and tour guide know the area and are happy to give you their knowledge of the area.

In Ireland, our tour guide and driver was the same person. Tony is licensed, has gone to school to be a tour guide as well as a driver. His running commentary was brilliant as well as educational.

In Scotland, our driver was Tony but our tour guide was Richard. How wonderful it was to be educated by a man wearing a kilt. It just added a tad more to the history, the scenery and the tour. Photo taken outside Holyrood Castle in Edinburgh by me.

In Wales, we had Judy as our tour guide with Tony driving (he is the master of GPS). Judy was so friendly and knowledgeable about Wales and we had a blast with her. But on the other hand, we were one tour that was always on time and ready to go. She took us to museums, castles, stately homes and beautiful gardens. We introduced her to the world of quilting. So it really became a win-win situation. This was taken at Cardiff Castle.

Here are some things I found out – always carry some coin as the toilets in the UK are pay toilets. Not all but most and if you crowd through with one person paying, you may get stop by a person who sits in a frosted glass area that will come out and ask for more money (yes it happened to us in Kensington Gardens). Also found out that just because someone tells you not to walk back to the hotel, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t safe.

After a terrific dinner and entertainment show at the Cardiff Castle, I decided that I needed to walk back to the hotel. Two other ladies joined me. We had a lovely walk back to our hotel and I got to do the Time Warp Dance outside a bar kitty corner from the hotel where we were staying. I know she was being cautious but it was fun walking amongst the college/party crown on a Friday night. And apparently Brain’s is a large beer distributor in the area – thought it was zombie beer.

Cardiff was fun and great but I really appreciated the area of Aberystwyth. I grew up in a beach town and this was like going back home. Whereas our sand is a finer grit, the beach at Aberystwyth was more like pebbles and into sizes of large, flat stones. The other visitors were so friendly and the staff was fabulous at our hotel, the Gwesty’r Marine. We were right on the Promenade so if you wanted an early walk or an after dinner stroll, the area was right there. DSCN2434 The weather was warm, the sun stayed out late and the water was calm.

Plus we had Constitution Hill near us so we could climb up the hill or ride the funicular. The view was fabulous and there is a rest stop/restaurant at the top. Where I assumed that Wales would be cold and rainy, it was quite the opposite. It seems the UK was also going through a bit of the climate change. Plus if you want to see more of Aberystwyth, , check out Hinterland on Netflix. The first season, episode one show a lot of Devil’s Bridge. There are two tours – one is one pound and the other is two pounds. Depends on how much time you have and how fit you are.

All I can say is this was a terrific trip. We traveled over 2200 miles, we didn’t lose anyone, we saw great castles, factories, sceneries, quilt shows, museums and just had a great time. Save that money up and travel – either in the USA or overseas. It is so worth it. And it’s back to Ireland in 2019……

Latest trip to Wales/Birmingham

Posted on August 27, 2018 by darcelona3

I am still recovering from three weeks touring around the United Kingdom/Wales area. The tour I joined, for the third year in a row, was with Celtic Quilt Tours LLC. This was started by two ambitious women who know how to travel.

Our tour hosts, Debbi and Kim, recommend that we all meet in Manchester a day or two prior to the tour. I also recommend this as you have a chance to get acclimated to the time change. For me living in Southern California, it is an eight-hour time adjustment. I left my area and landed in Newark with a small layover. My last leg of the flight took me to Manchester, Terminal 2. Now there is a lot of construction going on and three of my tour-mates were landing in Terminal 3. It was a hike to meet up with them and to top it off, their flight was an hour late. But, all is good. We grabbed a cab and headed into our hotel. We were told that our cab driver was “Driver of the Year” and it was a ride!

After a quick-lunch and small unpacking, I headed out to just get some fresh air and take a peek at the surrounding area. Piccadilly Square was alive with kids playing in the fountains, people just enjoying the sunshine and the usual hustle and bustle of a major city.

Manchester is building numerous high rises throughout the city. However, there are some stunning older buildings throughout. Manchester currently have displays of over 130 large plexiglass bees that have been decorated along with over
130 smaller ones inside various stores. These are the two that we found near the Piccadilly train station.

After a 12 hour sleep, another tour-mate and I took off for Liverpool. I was so excited as we walked down to the station, got on board (very clean train) and zipped on down to the beginning of the Beatles. This has been a dream of mine for decades.

We decided to do the hop on-hop off bus which was 8 pounds each. When we came to the Beatle Museum, we hopped off. Now Liverpool is quite active, friendly with terrific helpful people. I believe we spent over 2 hours wandering through the Beatle Museum. I was in Beatle heaven – reliving so many memories of my youth.

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A quick-lunch at Good Eats which was near the Mersey. Wonderful staff as my tour-mate has food allergies. What she had ordered was pre-baked in butter which she could not have. The manager came over so she could change her order. In my book, that is great service.

Then we hiked up to the Cavern – Cavern club 2 -again a major bucket list item crossed off. I now know what Elvis fans feel like when they go to Graceland. It was totally free to enter and there is only a fee later in the evening. They had two performers on and it was Fab, Gear, Groovy and every other slang from the 60’s. This looks like it would be a fun place to live.

We caught the late afternoon train back to Manchester and met up with the rest of the tour. We know to meet in the bar around 5 p.m. just to see who has arrived, meet new friends and also catch up with past friends from past tours.

You know a tour is good when 80% of the people on the tour are returnees. At that time, we are given a “Bags Out by ” time and when to meet our fabulous tour driver. Tony and our tour guide, Judy, were in charge of wrangling over 40 pieces of large luggage. We are responsible for our carry-ons and personal bags. So after two days in Manchester, we were off down the road to Cardiff.

Leaving the bustling city was bittersweet – some of us didn’t get a chance to visit parts of the city due to other plans or arriving late on the day prior to leaving Manchester. But the bus ride over to Cardiff was filled with wonderful information from our tour guide.

I highly recommend a tour like this. It is all planned out with rest stops, coffee refills, snacks and leg stretches. There are a lot of other photos but will add them later.

More of Scotland

Posted on November 1, 2017 by darcelona3

First day of the tour started with a terrific breakfast and I do love the Scottish porridge. Our first stop was Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. It seems like the majority of castles or palaces we visited did not allow photos inside. Not sure if it was a flash could do damage to the items inside but we could take photos outside or from the windows aiming outside.

This castle has 3 floors and areas were built during different centuries. The three floors have different styled columns – Ionic, Doric and Romanesque. The royal family still comes out to this palace and when they do, the tours obviously are halted. However the gift store is always open. Our tour guide, Richard, told us that Prince Charles loves to visit and goes on early morning walks. The Queen also attends the local church when in town.

The statue in front has had some added features. The Abbey in the back still stands minus the roof.

The palace is worth the visit especially when you have a wonderful tour guide. Richard had so much information like how the swans were named by the Queen, Sally and Sid. It is believed that she named the swan Sid after Sid Viscous after the lead singer in the Sex Pistols. The gates surrounding the castle are quite ornate. DSCN1285

Across this palace is a more modern government building. The gift store had some beautiful items but when you are starting off the tour, you need to remember not to buy huge, expensive items that could get broken or damaged in your suitcase. My purchases were confined to tea towels, thimbles, pens and postcards.

After a delightful group lunch, we were driven through the town for a panaromic tour. We went past the Greyfriar Bobby statue. This was a dog that sat at his master’s grave for over 14 years. Such devotion. People pat or rub his nose so it is quite shiney.

Our evening group dinner was the first one where we met each of the tour group – how long had we been quilting, where we lived, other craft hobbies, etc.

As always, we are given instructions on when to have out bags outside the door and when to meet at the bus. The nice thing about the tours is you meet terrific people, learn about other areas and you see the country from a comfortable bus. Celtic Quilt Tours, LLC, obtains the best drivers and tour guides. You don’t have to worry about driving on the other side of the road, traffic signs or skinny little roads.

Day 2, we were on the road to Perth and the Black Watch Museum. We started off with a Sashiko class taught by Susan Briscoe. You usually see sashiko on indigo or navy blue material. We were given tartan material and the pattern was a thistle. This was my start and I did finish it once I got home. It is very relaxing and just the opposite of redwork – meaning you stitch right to left as opposed to left to right.

The Black Watch Museum also provide luch for us. We were given a bowl of soup and 4-5 different types of sandwiches. The tour gave a background on their uniforms, where they were stationed throughout the centuries.

We were also told that the blue/green tartan plaid was great to blend in with the water and the forest so your enemy could not find you easily. The red tartan was also good for hiding any wounds.

The Black Watch Museum is worth the visit.

The towns also have beatiful baskets of flowers handing on buildings or in planters. Just gorgeous.

So if someone asks you to go to Scotland, just go. The people are wonderful, the scenery is terrific and the food is great.

Scotland 2017 – What a great place

Posted on September 30, 2017 by darcelona3

So since retiring, I have done some work on the house. Then in 2016 I went to Ireland with a quilt tour group (Celtic Quilt Tours LLC) on my own (meaning no husband and I didn’t know anyone on this tour). Ireland was so well planned, that I signed up for their Scotland trip. The terrific people I met inspired me to travel again on my own.

However, this time I decided to return to Dublin for two days after the Scotland trip. So off I went. 1505131612184 First leg of the trip was LAX to Paris with 90 minutes to get connecting flight to Edinburgh. I took my little Alpaca bear along so he does show up in some pictures.

The flight was on Air France and I have to admit that I was nervous at first. But that being said, Air France was terrific on both legs of the flight. Be forewarned that if the flight attendant is handing out a form, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they want you to sign up for a credit card. This was an entry card so the Customs person knows who is coming in.

I had asked my travel agent (Pam at Open Gate Travel who is awesome) to set up a driver to pick me up. Two of the other travelers coming in from Canada were to meet me and we would share the ride in. Well British Air bumped them and then lost their luggage…. more later on that.

The driver was terrific and gave me a running account of the buildings that we passed. He dropped me off at the hotel where after checking in, I went to the bar where our group usually congregates. We were all pretty excited to be back together. The hotel was near the train station and the Royal Mile. The next morning I met with the front desk person, Siohban, who was from Galway. She was so helpful telling me about the buildings across the rail tracks and how to get there. She is the kind of person you want to greet you at a registration desk.

DSCN1099 With my trusty map from the front desk, she gave me perfect directions on how to get over to the monuments. No rain but a little chilly. I visited the City Services building which, when built, was a jail. Also hiked up Calton Hill. There is a lovely monument to Admiral Nelson. The fee is 5 pounds to climb to the top. Worth every penny. Here are a few photos. Climbing up Nelson’s monument is over 180 steps but I made it. Magnificent view of the entire city.

Nelson’s Monument

There are other areas up there. Some have not been finished. But it was a picture perfect day. Sun was shining and the breeze was great. Just the right temperature to get rid of the cobwebs from the previous day’s flight. A gentleman from Germany asked me if I would take his picture and he reciprocated by taking mine.

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The sign stated Calton Key which is kept in the building that was a jail and not City Services.

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There is also the Solider’s Monument which is over 275 steps which I thought I would do when our tour ended up back in Edinburgh.

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On the Royal Mile sits St Gile’s church. This is one beautiful piece of architecture and they ask for a 2 pound donation to take photos. As the sun came around and hit one of the stain glass windows, you could almost hear the angels go ‘Ta Da” so I paid the fee and got my sticker. The church is amazing and while I was in the gift shop, the mid afternoon service started. So I went back in and listened. Very inspirational, very moving and very touching.

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After hitting numerous stores, it was time for a little break. So the bear and I stopped for coffee. The odd thing was, you didn’t hear much of bagpipe music but more Motown.

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There are numerous hanging baskets with beautiful flowers on almost every building. So nice to see. Just ignore the grumpy looking guy.

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That is all for now which sums up about 1/2 my first day in Edinburgh. It is nice to explore on your own and it’s great to explore with friends. I hope that my blog can inspire you to take the leap and go on a trip by yourself.

Thank you for reading.

Quilt Tours and Why you should go Part 2

Posted on September 2, 2016 by darcelona3

Well, I’ve been back from my first trip to Ireland and have gone through all the photos with relish (and a cup of tea). So many terrific memories and meeting great people. So here are a couple of my favorite areas. Now some people told me that you shouldn’t go to Belfast -too many fights, bombings, etc. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, they have had their differences. But the people have worked out some differences and the 30′ high gates are open.. Here is how one side decorated the fence. The gates/fence were all about 30′ tall. This was to keep the Molotov cocktails from being tossed. You could view this as graffiti or as artwork.

They have the Black Cab tours which are conducted by the locals and give you a tour of the City. The City is continuing to work out differences and rebuild. We did tour the Titanic Museum which was sad but very informative.

This photo was taken at Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. (I’ve tried to get it posted the portrait way and not landscape but have failed) Giants causeway 2.jpg The landscape is truly amazing and that day we had terrific weather. The stones are not carved. The shape juts up and is amazing. You can get an audio tour which tells you the history and folklore of the area. I could have spent all day there hiking on the rocks and just breathing the ocean air.

From there, we headed back towards Ireland. Each hotel was top rated, great staff, wonderful food and very accommodating. Now this tour was listed as a Quilt tour but we went to so many historic places, museums, famine ships and castles. One party was a Grandmother, Mother and 2 daughter group. Since one of the daughters didn’t quilt, she was able to do a horseback ride while we were at a famine/workhouse tour. So you can do other things as long as they fit into the time schedule. Just be upfront with your tour people and things can be arranged.

My favorite city was Galway. It is so vibrant and filled with art and music. Again, friendly people, great food and the locals are wonderful. We went to the Aran Islands (Inishmore) and was able to climb to the top and look over the cliff. It was the perfect boat ride over and back. Again, great food, wonderful people and some great shops. Aran island castle.jpg I just followed the others and got on my hands and knees to creep up to the edge. However, I did creep to almost the edge for a photo. It’s a far drop below , and it is a stunning view. The photo below is the hike up to the former castle.

We also visited Malahide Castle, Kylemore and the Rock of Cashel. Each one so full of great photos and history.

If you have the chance, save up your money, get your passport ready and go visit. I would love to go back right now but have decided to do Scotland next year with the same tour organization (www.celticquilttours.com). Our group consisted of Canadians and Americans. We ranged from hand quilters, long-armers, designers, wool workers, appliquers, etc. Just remember to get pounds and Euro’s before you go and get a Horizon VAT card. You get money back when you swipe your card at the airport before going home. Also this trip was made special because we had an awesome driver. Tony, from Kerry Coaches, knows the roads, the histroy, the jokes and how to keep the tour on time. He was the best,

So to keep my Irish feel going, I watch Quiet Man, Secret of Roan Inish, The Commitments, and listen to the Merry Ploughboy band (they have a great Pub in Dublin that is worth the visit). I also have a cuppa Irish Afternoon tea as well. I leave you with this photo of foxglove from the Kylemore Abbey.

Thank you for reading.

Quilt Tours and why you should go

Posted on June 27, 2016 by darcelona3

Ireland – you say it and tons of visions come to mind – green meadows, sheep grazing, nicely poured pint of Guinness, dancers, etc. I have wanted to visit this island for many decades and once retired, it was number 1 on my bucket list.

I started researching tours as I didn’t want to drive myself. What better way than to be driven by someone, someone who knows the country, and someone who enjoys driving. In my quilt magazines there are always tours listed – from being driven to cruises. I Googled Quilt Tours Ireland and came up with a few names. There were two that caught my eye.

I downloaded the itineraries for comparisons. Both were around the same price and length of visit. One guaranteed a small group – no more than 25 people. The other said no more than 50. So what do you do? You ask your guild if anyone had taken either tour. One guild member highly, and I mean, highly recommend Celtic Quilt Tours LLC.

This tour started off with Dublin, up to Northern Ireland around the west coast and back to Dublin. The places listed were all around the coast of Ireland. I sent off an email explaining that this would be my first tour as well as my first trip overseas. The American contact was so helpful. For four months before the tour started, we received newsletters about the trip. Everything from where we were to meet at Dublin Airport, how much money to bring over in Euros and pounds, the Horizon VAT cards, shopping trips, packing items, size of luggage etc.

Our first item was a tour of Dublin and then off to visit Malahide Castle. The tour provided breakfast as most of us came in on red-eye flights from the States and Canada. We could opt out for shopping or a tour of the castle. The gardens were beautiful and the castle tour guide was extremely informative.

We went back to the hotel and checked in. Now by this time my eyes were rolling around in my head from being up so many hours. First thought was – I need a nap. But then my brain kicked in with “You are in Dublin – get out and explore”. Splash some water on my face, grab a glass of water, brush my teeth and off I went. Down Grafton Street, past Trinity College and in to a few stores. DSCN0369

We had on our schedule to visit the Book of Kells the first day but due to other circumstances, it was held off. One thing about a tour is to be flexible. Dinner at O’Callahan’s was great. But by 9:30 pm, I was done. Plus we had to have our bags out in the hallway early the next morning for the porters as we were leaving Dublin by 8:30 am.

Off to Belfast in Northern Ireland. The past problems have been resolved and restoration and revival has been started. This is a very passionate city.

More later on my trip as this was a 13 day tour and I took a lot of photos and notes. But in a nutshell, great trip, great people on the tour, amazing tour driver, beautiful scenery, terrific people in every city and delicious food. More later…….

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