Not a Star Wars fan?  Can you think of other hugely popular movies with ties to the Emerald Isle?  It's natural beauty, diverse landscapes from stunning cliffs to rugged coastlines, cozy villages to vibrant, bustling city centers, all of which make a lasting impression and desire to visit Ireland.  There are many other movies, all featuring iconic scenes shot in Ireland that will make you want to pack your bags and hop on the next available flight.  Can you guess a few? 

BraveHeart (Trim Castle in County Meath),
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Cliffs of Moher in County Clare)
P.S. I Love You (Wicklow Mountains in Counties of Wicklow, Dublin, Wexford and Carlow)
The Quiet Man (John Wayne, Ashford Castle, County Mayo &  Galway )
Saving Private Ryan (Normandy Beach was shot on Curracloe Beach in County Wexford)
Game of Thrones (Northern Ireland in Winterfell in County Down, and Counties Fermanagh and Antrim)
Titanic (not filmed here, but the real Titanic took on passengers at Cobh (Queenstown then)

VIP Travel Experience can create that PRICELESS Ireland vacation  along the Wild Atlantic Way and beyond.  We realize that searching for the Ireland Vacation of your dreams can sometimes seem like searching for a needle in a haystack.  Give us a few hints, do you love iconic movie spots, Saint Patrick, heritage or genealogy, golf, cycling, castles and kingdoms, history, Vikings, Myths & Legends, Waterford Crystal, Guinness, Jameson and we will create that dream Irish vacation that you will remember FOREVER.

Don't take the stressful route, sit back and enjoy every moment of your trip with experienced local drivers. 

Local drivers do more than drive you from point a to point b. They enhance your trip with their stories and ties to their beloved country. Absolutely take their word over mine with their recommendations of good, authentic eateries and shopping spots. Be careful what you mention to them, they will move Heaven and Earth to exceed your expectations. Just ask Mr. Tom, his driver, John, saw that he was about to buy a Shillelagh (a walking stick or cane) in one of the tourist areas and he said "Don't buy here". It took several days for John to locate the genuine cane maker, but he would not give up or let Mr. Tom buy anything less than authentic. As the trip was nearing the end,  John drove Mr. Tom and his family several hours out of the way to a Village of Shillelagh in County Wicklow to a family business which hand makes genuine Irish Blackthorn walking sticks.  Not only did he purchase something more authentic, but he learned alot about the history of it as well. 

8. The Louvre is one of those museums that irritates the fire out of many! It is absolutely HUGE, hot and crowded...but everyone feels like they need to go. You don’t, unless you are a serious artist or art-history buff. If you really are into art, be sure to purchase a Museum Pass that will act as your ticket to most of the major museums in Paris....AND the card lets you bypass most of the lines! CLOSED TUESDAYS

Since it is the mission of  VIP Travel Experience to take you BEYOND the highlights for bespoke or unique EXPERIENCES, here are some of my favorite things to plan for my clients:

• • Eating a fabulous Michelin starred 5 course dinner in the Eiffel tower with wine pairings.
  • A private, personalized excursion with a local tour guide to take you to the most interesting sites  of  D-Day and Normandy Beaches to discover the battlefields you've always to see, or some you may not have heard of.
  • An unforgettable, simply magical night at Mont Saint Michel.
  • France has another city, Lyon. I dare you to go without a list of recommended eateries.  There are literally  hundreds of precious little cafes and restaurants in France's culinary /gastronomical capital, and it's also home to an amazing lights festival.  
  • Private driver through gorgeous Burgundy countryside to get to charming Beaune.  You will absolutely LOVE it and feel like you stepped back in time.

So depending on how much time you have and how far you want to stray from Paris, don't miss out on the many little hidden gems of France.

4. Dinner is not usually served earlier than 8:00pm!
Showing up at a restaurant before 7:30 will probably get you a view of the staff having their own pre-service meal and a totally empty dining room! Your meal will be more enjoyable in a restaurant full of happy localsand with the wait staff ready to do their thing! Most places charge a “Coperto”, or cover charge, for each table. This is NOT a ploy to take advantage of you…it is routine! It is explained as the cost of washing the linens, dishes, and providing the “free stuff” like bread (pane in Italian) or tap water. Get used to it! 

5. Simplify your schedule!
Leave time in your day to just wander around and poke your head into the real Italy. If you just get a couple of blocks away from some of the most famous tourist sites, real Italian life is in front of you. Stop to listen to a street performer (and tip!), stop into a neighborhood café for a glass of wine or a coffee or slurp a cone of gelato with the locals. Plus. If you are always trying to keep up with a tight schedule, you and your travel companions will just plain get grumpy!

6. You need to call for a taxi, or go to an actual taxi stand.
You cannot just hail a taxi off the street in Italy, and many Italian taxi drivers get their entertainment from watching tourists try to do so! As an alternative, familiarize yourself with the public transportation systems in your town. Busses, Subways, Trains and Boats are remarkably efficient and manage to get millions of Italians where they need to go every day…Why not you?

I've just started a great new book as recommended by my bestie, "From Scratch" by Tembi Locke. It has brought back many memories of our trip to Sicily earlier this year. The beginning of the book is set in Florence, and it's  pretty awesome to read about all of these places I have visited.  But of course, it lists a few new places which I plan to check out next May when we are in Florence again.   One of the main characters in the book is a chef born and raised in Sicily so that has definitely spurred memories of the wonderful food we sampled while in Sicily. But let's talk about Sicily.

Three things that really stuck with me:

• Sicilian Heritage: The connections were evident as we drove through the countryside and saw names of cities and towns that were surnames of people we knew. While we were touring with a private guide in Agrigento, he mentioned that he had visited the United States, he felt most at home in New Orleans because the culture and temperatures were familiar AND THE FOOD!
• Rural Landscape: Sicily is wide open country, and every quaint town we visited was pretty far from the next. As we traveled along we passed wide open green spaces of  livestock, farms, fishing villages, and  beautiful coasts (photo below). As we traveled, our incredible local guides talked about the history of Sicily, their culture and traditions, as well as prepared us for the next stop. The value of these local guides cannot be understated.

• Proud Sicilians: I don't know that I would have appreciated as much of Sicily without the local introductions and hands-on experiences with the dairy farmer, winemakers, chocolatier, etc. They are such so proud of their heritage and traditions and welcomed us into their homes for the best home cooked meals I have experienced. They explained about zero-kilometer foods grown and prepared in their gardens and communities using only in-season vegetables. I know that I enjoyed foods I don't normally enjoy at home and I think it was because everything was so fresh. This also reminded me of our ancestors living off of the foods they grew on their farms.