Holidays Of A Lifetime “If you’re dreaming about it, just go”
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What are the trips of a lifetime discussed in this episode?
We are going to indulge in a little bit of escapism for the next little while because we're going to talk about trips of a lifetime, those dream bucket list type of holidays that you have to plan towards and save towards, but are really, really special. And I'm joined here in studio by RT Sports' Jackie Hurley and by travel enthusiast and travel blogger, Mary Noonan. And hopefully shortly we'll be joined in the line with a Galway man, Jonah Kellig, who is now a travel consultant, but used to be, what a job, the luxury travel editor of the Daily Tarot. You're all very, very welcome. Jackie, your trip of a lifetime was a family holiday, spending a month going around Vietnam and Australia. Mary, yours was Japan in a van, a camper van, no less.
And I don't even know where we're going to get to if we get to John because he has gone from Galway to Antarctica amongst other places. But look, obviously, Jackie, you have serious wanderlust and you have been to some amazing destinations. Where did that all come from? Did you have those kind of holidays when you were a kid?
Well, to be honest, my mom and dad moved to Australia when I was three. The first time my mother ever got on an airplane was to emigrate to Australia. So you can imagine the fear that they must have had with three children under the age of four. But I think that probably instilled in us a lifelong wanderlust, as you've described it there. exactly how it felt where that means to me getting on an airplane never meant anything. My sister is an airline pilot now with British Airways. She travels all over the world for her job and oftentimes we would have kind of just jumped on a plane with her and said, right, where are you going this week? I've gone to Zambia with her for trips. I've gone to Barbados where you just sort of said, look, I would think nothing of jumping on a plane for nine, ten hours and wherever it will take me.
I think it's just always been there. You get bitten by the bug early and then you want to just keep going.
Yeah, we got to Battystown which was great. Betty's time was great crack all those years ago. Mary, your Auntie Bridie came on your holidays. Where did you go?
Oh, I'm 64, so a different generation to Jackie. So, I mean, at that time, quite honestly, nobody took holidays. We went to Ballybunion, you know, the seaside days. Absolutely fantastic.
I still go there every year, by the way.
Yes. And then every two weeks, well, the first two weeks in July then, we packed up the car and we went somewhere. And this was very unusual at the time.
How did Jackie Hurley's childhood influence her travel experiences?
There were six of us. Now, my brother came afterwards, my youngest brother, but at the time there was six of us. Once Brendan came, that was the end of the two weeks in July. So the six of us packed into the car with sleeping bags, pillows. God knows what. I was lucky because I used to get car sick. So I was in the front with a basin. Yeah. And the rest of them were in the back. Hillman Hunter, you know, with those big seats in the front. And, you know, there was so much stuff, rugs, everything. So, no, we didn't go far. I mean, I was 20, I'd say, before I was on a plane and left the country. But, well, yeah, there was six of us. Mum and Dad and Auntie Bridie came one year.
Well, I doubt the former luxury travel editor of the Daily Telegraph was sitting in the front of a car with a basin. But, John... You are from Galway and thanks for joining us. Was your travel luxurious in your early years?
No, of course. I'm still from Galway after all, so it's kind of far from all that. It was rare, you know. So childhood holidays for me were walking down to Salt Hill for a 99 or going to see grandparents in Connemara or Ballinasloe. Very, very typical.
But you did get a scholarship early on in life, which gave you, I suppose, a chance to embrace that wanderlust and actually to kickstart your career.
Oh, yeah. So when I was 16, I had this really bizarre opportunity to go to school in Japan for a summer. I won a scholarship to be a youth ambassador for Ireland. So I flew over to myself to a tiny town with, what, 40,000, 50,000 people in it.
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