The Informed Traveler
The Informed Traveler
Travel Trends for 2026 & Dublin Walking Tours
A recent survey from Skyscanner highlights everything from emerging travel behaviors to the top 10 trending and best value destinations. So, on this week's podcast travel expert Onanta Forbes will join to me to share what those behaviors and destinations are for 2026. Then we'll head to Dublin, Ireland and chat with Garvan Rushe, the founder of Dublin Tour Guide, to learn all about discovering Dublin through the walking tours they offer.
Well, hello and welcome to the Informed Traveler Podcast, a weekly travel podcast where our goal is to help you become a more informed traveler. And I'm your host, Randy Sharman. According to a recent survey from Skyscanner, Canadian travel behavior in 2026 shows a growing appetite for destinations that balance cultural discovery, coastal charm, and vibrant city life. It also highlights everything from emerging travel behaviors to the top 10 trending and best value destinations. So in a few seconds, travel expert Onanta Forbes will join me to share what those behaviors and destinations are for 2026. And then we'll head to Dublin, Ireland and chat with Garvin Rush. He's the founder of Dublin Tour Guide, a private, story-led walking tours company. So we'll learn all about discovering Dublin through a walking tour. But first, let's kick things off chatting with travel expert Onanta Forbes, who joins us each week to discuss some of the travel news and travel trends. You can follow her adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and X at Onanta Forbes. OnantaForbes.com is her website. Hello, Onanta.
SPEAKER_00:Hello, how are you?
SPEAKER_01:I'm well, thank you. Tis the season for travel trends. It seems that everybody's coming out with their travel trends and predictions for uh 2026. This one is uh from the folks at Sky Scanner serve surveyed more than 20,000 travelers. So a large uh group input of travelers and uh travel uh industry people. So um let's let's start with the destinations because I think maybe the destinations maybe might explain some of the trends that they're talking about.
SPEAKER_00:Right. So the hot spots for 2026, Canadians are eyeing warm, authentic destinations. The Azores, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Guadalajara, and even closer to home gems like Colmox and Victoria. And I was lucky enough to visit ColMox for the first time in in um early spring this year, and I agree, it's a beautiful destination. And if you could go, go. Um for best value destinations, they include Leon, Dublin, and Seoul. And um, what it's uh showing is that they're show uh that their travelers are kind of balancing their wonder less with their wallet, and they've also um shown huge interest in places that mix culture, coastlines, and um city life. And so some of the top rising spots um include what we've just discussing and in as well as Portugal. Portugal, um, you know, for me as a travel advisor, that's one of the top destinations for 2025 that people are going to, and experiencing it myself, it's a beautiful destination. Good walking places to go to, great jump off uh to uh go on a river cruise to explore the duro as well.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm. Well, yeah, uh you going back to your top 10 list, uh St. Kitts, I agree. That's a that's my favorite Caribbean island. Uh St. Lucia, I love as well. And you're right about uh uh Comox and uh even Victoria. One oddity that stood out was Gander. Like I've never been, so I don't want to say anything, but it just it kind of, you know, when you look at places like Victoria and Lyon, France and Portugal and Caribbean and those places, like Gander.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's interesting because you know, I again I had the wonderful opportunity to explore uh Newfoundland this year and Gander is um on like on everybody's I guess tip of the tongue when you're there because that's where that uh show is or the play is for come come away or come something.
SPEAKER_01:Come from Come From Away.
SPEAKER_00:Right, yes. And that's when you know at 9-11 they welcome for such a small community, so many planes and and people who were um displaced because of the unfortunate events of that day. So I think um it it has a it it protracts a very warm place for people because it's a safe place and it's a welcoming place and just um Newfoundland in itself is a beautiful destination um with uh people that are beautiful in themselves. Very, very amazing. And I would encourage people to go there.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, I wasn't making fun of Gander, it just kind of oddity with those places.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you know what? Before that situation happened and the play came out, I can't say that I could uh recommend Gander with, oh yeah, let's go to Gander.
SPEAKER_01:And that kind of does a little bit go uh hand in hand with some of the trends. And you know, the the the list of they have seven trends. Uh one is book bound, and I'm just gonna add that film as well, uh movies and and plays like uh come from away, or people they they read about destinations, they see about destinations on television shows, movies, and that what and and makes them want to go there.
SPEAKER_00:Right, and I definitely can attest to this. I have clients that are huge Harry Potter fans, or they have watched the Outlander series and are you know wanting to go to Scotland. So, yes, and um other um travel trends include glow man, seek skincare and self-care experiences abroad, and I can agree with this because uh I love going to a spa and walking off to enjoy your holiday being pampered. Another one is called Altitude Shift, it's where mountains are the new beaches, and this is where travelers want peace and nature and serenity year-round. And uh, we're so lucky um, you know, living in Calgary because we have Banff right, you know, not that far from us, so we can attest to that. And then family miles, so that's um multi-generational trips, and where families are going uh together to seek togetherness, yes, as well as savings. And um it it's all these uh these terms are so interesting to me. Catching flights and feelings, and it says here 50% travel to meet um new people and make meaningful connections. And I'm surprised it's only 50%. Yeah. Um, you know, really at the end of the day, um, it's all about connections. And then destination check-in, hotels are the new destinations, and people choose places because of unique stays, and you can really find that. Like, you know, um, where when you see a term or a accommodation that says boutique, that's where I find that it could be small and um you know have lots of history and there's some relevance to it in the place that you're going to. And the other one is uh shelf discovery. So culinary curiosity. 58% of travelers explore supermarkets abroad to discover local flavors. And again, I I find myself that I kind of like to roam in in different places. We're in grocery stores just to see what they offer, maybe a a little um spice package to cut bring home. It's it's quite amazing um these new terms, but they are relevant with regards to what people are seeking. And it's interesting because um it also tells us in this survey that 62% of Canadians say flight cost determines where they go, and 70% are budging the same or more for travel next year. So, you know, Canadians in 2026 um aren't just booking trips. Um, I you hear this word a lot, they're curating experiences to express who they are. So it's not just about ticking off countries, it's about storytelling, self-expression, and connection. Um and what's interesting, um, they're saying, you know, it it's not about passport stamps, it's about personal stories. Well, with this new EES in um system in Europe where it's all biometrics now, unfortunately it's not more passport stamps.
SPEAKER_01:I know.
SPEAKER_00:I think am I sad about that? Yes. I love I go through my passports, those are my biggest souvenirs. I love seeing where I went.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you're right though. There are a lot of interesting trends that they're talking about. Uh the one I is the destination check-in, talking about where the hotel is more of the destination. And and uh I like hotels with a lot of history behind them and there's stories behind them, and and they become part of the destination themselves. And uh and the family miles, we've talked about that with uh generational travel. Uh and I do like going to the markets too, like the not necessarily the the supermarket chains, but just to like the local markets just to see what their foods are and what they eat, and uh well we all have to eat anyways, right? So that's that's part of the the travel experience as well.
SPEAKER_00:Right, and I think you make a really good point because like you know, even at home, farmers markets are kind of a destination, you know, on our weekends and so on. But when you go to the de the farmers markets or the local markets um when you're visiting a certain place, it's kind of fun. And and if you have an accommodation where you can, you know, self-cater, it's kind of fun to pick up local produce and and um different kinds of foods to cook up on your own. Again, you can save some money that way as well.
SPEAKER_01:Very true. I never thought of it that way as well. But yes, there are more accommodations that have, you know, mini kitchens and that type of thing where you can uh sort of serve up your own food, and even if you don't have to cook it, like things like cheeses and and those things that you can just store in a mini fridge and then have them for a snack to get uh the local flair.
SPEAKER_00:And it's fun too. It's uh I know when um you know a lot of people snowbird in in Mexico and they go to different markets and yeah, and it and it's nice to just pick up sometimes ready-made meals so you could just enjoy it as well.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm. And also interesting too, the the the cost of the flights. Uh yeah, I I would agree with that. Like if I'm thinking of a destination, the first thing I look for is how much does it cost to get there.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:And that's why it's sometimes good to sign up for um, you know, there's some uh uh websites where you can sign up to watch your flight kind of thing, right? I'm thinking of uh Hopper, where you can they'll watch the flight for you, send you a notice and say that, hey, uh there's a good price on this flight right now, you might want to book it now and instead of you know, you know, in a couple months from now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, lots of different and you know, if we talked about this in a in the past uh um for research, AI always pops up different ideas or chat GBT, but at the end of the day, you know, always make sure you talk to your travel professional because they they can really give you real-time inventory and prices, and you know, even suggest maybe go on a different date or a different day to to or a different time of day to reflect some savings as well. Uh, there's so much information out there, sometimes it's confusing. So always good to have your travel advisor handy.
SPEAKER_01:Very good advice. Onanta Forbes is a travel expert. You can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and X at Onanta Forbes. You can check out her website, onantaforbes.com. Always great to chat, Onanta. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:This is the Informed Traveler Podcast. I'm Randy Sharbin. Just want to remind you of our website, the informedtraveler.org. That's where you can find our contact page if you have any questions or comments about the podcast. You can also email me too with any questions you might have. My email address is randy at the informed traveler.org. And you can check out our social media pages at faceboom slash informeler, Instagram at informed traveler, or on X at Informed Traveler. Plus, you can now sign up for our monthly newsletter. It's released at the beginning of every month. Our October issue is now available. Just go to our website, theinformtraveler.org, click on the newsletter button, it'll take you right there. Or better yet, subscribe to it and have it arrive in your inbox each month. Livala said exploring a city through a guided walking tour is the best way to learn about the history and culture of the area. And if you love walking tours like I do, you'll enjoy our next conversation with Garvin Rush. He is the founder of Dublin Tour Guide, a private story-led walking tours company based in Dublin, Ireland. And Garvin joins us now all the way from Dublin, Ireland. His website is Dublintourguide.ie. Hi, Garvin. Hello, Randy. Thanks very much. Uh happy to be here. I'll have to say I've never been to Dublin. I haven't been to Ireland to put it that way. So uh you can talk to me like a five-year-old when it comes to uh talking about uh tour guides in Dublin. Uh just let's uh back it up a bit and just tell me how this all came about and how it all got started.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, well, uh okay, I'll give you the quick version of it. So uh I started tour guiding in 2009, uh August 2009, it's September 2025, so that is uh 16 years ago. And uh I pretty much started it even before I graduated in university, let's say a month before. Um, and I was working for a few different companies, and uh, you know, I think tour guides and travelers, after you do a few tours, you kind of realize what sort of dynamic you prefer, right? Whether you're happy enough with a big bus tour package, don't have to worry about what you want to do, or you like to plan it, uh, or you know, you like you like a private guide so that you can tweak it and you can ask the questions, and it's just your group. Uh, so I feel like the more people travel, the more they find the value in having a private guide. Um, you know, a lot of benefits. You for one thing, you don't have to be worried about asking stupid questions because it's just you and your friends there or your family, and uh you've said far more embarrassing things in front of them. So that's kind of where I tweaked and I realized I I just want to do the private tours because I want to connect with people, and you know, when I started with a with a degree in medieval history, for me at the time, you know, accuracy, being specific, knowing what is objectively and historically true, and what is opinion, you know, that's that's the type of thing that you learn from a history degree. And for me, being accurate, no, that that was kind of paramount. But after I did that for a few years, I realized oh, what is important with tour guiding is connecting with people, so it's less about the kind of car cold, hard facts and more about the the warm, soft, fuzzy human aspect of it. Um and I can get that fulfillment not just for me but for the the people that are on the tour. You can get it when there's two to four to six people, right? A small group, uh, but you can't get it if there's 30 people or even 20 people, right? Or even 15 people, uh, because it's made up of those direct conversations, personal conversations, right? So, you know, a three-hour tour of Dublin is a bit of a whirlwind tour, right? Three hours will take a break halfway through, and you kind of you're kind of the guide is kind of rushing to see all the sites. Um and for me personally at this stage that's too short of a tour. I only do that kind of personally as a backup uh if there's nobody else available, but I need four hours, five hours with people because I I want to connect with them. I I'm not here just to tell you information, I'm here to change your feeling about Ireland. I'm here to inspire you know an admiration, love, a fascination in Ireland, in Dublin, of Irish history, of Irish culture. Um, as well as you know, talk to the people. It's not just hey, tour guide, question about Trinity College. It's hey Garvin, do you have any you have any kids? You know, or do you live in Dublin? And I'm asking those same questions back, and you know what I get, um what one of the interesting things is you know, I'll spend, let's say, five hours with people, and I'm like, these people are very cool people. I wish that they lived in Dublin so we could hang out a little bit more and we could have dinners and uh you know hang out together. Um but then they leave, they leave, they go back to North America, and I have to make a note of where they live, and then if it works out, if I happen to be across the water, which you know it's there's a lot of water there, so you don't accidentally get uh over to uh North America, then I'll you know hopefully be able to link up with them. And that has happened a few times, thankfully. Nice, um, but I need to do it a bit more. I need to be, you know, I need to do it a bit more. There's people people to visit here, there, and everywhere, all over North America.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I have to say, I love walking tours, and I think you're absolutely right. It it is the connection that you make, and it's it's the tour guide that makes the tour, and it's and like you said, it's not all about just facts and numbers, it's the stories that they tell and the personal insights that they tell, along with the facts and numbers. And uh, and and you're right, the the smaller the group, the better it is, I think, as well, because it seems to me sometimes if you get uh, like you say, 15, 20 people, there's always a couple of people that look to wander off and it slows the whole crowd down and and it just I don't know, it just disrupts the whole tour.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, yeah, and uh you know the the tour I had today, for example, you know, uh one of the participants he was he had a he had a cane, so we needed to make sure that there was several opportunities for him to sit down. So we're taking like more frequent breaks than normal, cutting down on the amount of uh you know the distance that we travel as well. So because uh it's not so much important that we see these 30 things listed that an article online told me that I have to go and see. Uh, because a lot of that stuff, as we all know, is heavily skewed by the advertisers that own those attractions. Good example is uh the GPO, the general post office in Dublin. Um it is one of the most important buildings historically in Dublin because that's where a big rebellion started in 1916, and that's uh that's a big deal for Irish people. Uh, but we go in there um and there's only locals in there going to the post office, right? There's very few tourists in there that are going, this is where we're all started. Whoa. No, no, they're all going to Trinity College, walking around, see a beautiful campus and everything. But the reason they're there is because Trinity College, you know, they have the Book of Cales that's paid in. And a lot of the other attractions are paid in. So uh unfortunately, the free attractions, you know, they don't they're not charging you to go into the post office, it's still a working post office, and it's probably the prettiest post office office you've ever seen because a lot of the interior dates from the 1920s, um, which is very cool. But places like the post office, the National Museum, the National Gallery, the National Library, uh, these are free institutions that obviously don't have the same advertising budget as the the other attractions in Dublin. Uh so you know people need to know about this, and there's there's things that only the tour guide knows, right? Like that. Like, what should we see in Dublin? Yeah. Um, and there's you know, people have you know, they they don't know what Dublin is like. Uh, for example, you know, they might look, oh, we were in London last year, we're in Dublin this year, and they're like, Okay, well, where is the city centre? And how much of the city centre is that? You know, so is it spread out? Is it compact? They presume it's it's spread out like London, right? London, kind of to see the whole city properly, you need to use the underground, you need to use the tube, you need to get used public transport to get around from from this neighborhood to that neighborhood. But for Dublin, the city centre is very compact. Every pretty much everything is nearby. Um the Guinness Storehouse, Jameson, you know, those two big attractions, they're slightly outside the city centre, but everything else is walkable, and by that I mean from one end of the city centre to the other would take you less than 20 minutes to walk.
SPEAKER_01:It's funny you mentioned that because I had my one of my questions I was gonna ask, is Dublin easy to walk? And so you're you're obviously answering that before.
SPEAKER_03:I felt it was coming. Um so it's flat, right? There's a little incline at Dublin Castle, and I do mean it little. You wouldn't you wouldn't notice it unless you're pushing something up, right? So it's flat. Um the streets are not crazy busy, right? I mean, I I was just in Palermo, Sicily at the weekend having a trip with a few old friends, and I thought we booked accommodation, you know, pretty central, but it was a 20-minute walk to the city center proper. So the city center was far more spread out, and it was it was crowded. Uh, it was very, very busy. So if you had something like a stroller or a wheelchair, or you just wanted to walk in a straight line, tricky there, very easy in Dublin. Dublin doesn't get the the crazy crowds that you know, London and Paris and Rome and a lot of these, you know, quote unquote more important places get. Um, Dublin is, you know, I'm you know, I'm pretty uh let's say assured in my belief that it's not a primary location. If you're going to Europe from another continent, you're gonna do those aforementioned cities, and Dublin might be your kind of second or third time in Europe. Um, but when you come to Ireland, like it's we we get the people that have done most of the traveling, you know, and they're ready for Ireland, and you know, it's it's safe for them. So we don't get a lot of the mass tourism and the the problems that you have with mass tourism that that well, let's say a lot of those aforementioned cities would get. Um so we we're we're in a good space, and it's still good to be a tourist in Ireland. You can actually go somewhere in Ireland where there's locals, right? We're just surrounded by locals rather than just surrounded by uh tourists. Yeah right. Uh like you know uh Venice sort of has that vibe, Barcelona has sort of has that vibe.
SPEAKER_01:And that's what you want. I think you want to be surrounded by locals so you can get the uh uh feel of the customs and the culture and the food and the all the other things that people do in their daily lives.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, you you want to get outside your tourism bubble. And uh the the for the most part, the internet and those articles won't help you uh if you happen upon a podcast like this. It can be quite insightful. Uh and that's the great thing about uh you know podcasts, right? Podcasts like this where you're talking to people who have been there, people who know it. Uh and they can give you testimony. So I feel that um for me personally, it's the best way I learn about something. You want to learn from an expert, ideally.
SPEAKER_01:Well, another way to learn is to go on your website, dublintourguide.ie. I'm looking at it right now. Uh different types of tours. Uh, you have your nearly all of Dublin guided tour, which I think it would be it's five hours, and like you mentioned, uh three hours doesn't quite cut it, but you do have the three-hour fantastic walking tour of Dublin, and then you have the ultimate Dublin one-day tour. Uh, and you have theme tours and all this other stuff. But I think I I'll say this personally, I think sitting in a pub would be absolutely fantastic, and I'm not sure I'd ever want to leave.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, uh all these tours they're very customizable. Um, you know, the five-hour one is our most popular one. Uh, I said it to my father. I said, See, I have a five-hour tour, and my father said, Oh, five hours! Five hours of walking, Garvet. I was like, that it's not five hours of non-stop walking.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's not like you're going on a hike.
SPEAKER_03:There's a lot of standing as well. No, there's breaks, right? Five-hour tour, it would take two breaks. Uh, you know, um I believe that if you're doing any tour anywhere, uh, there should be a break every 90 minutes. And that could just involve sitting down, or it could be a cafe or a pub or or wherever, but there has to be that sort of punctuation in the tour for for everybody, for everybody to have a little break, uh, to sort of rest and digest what you've heard, um, and to enable you to be refreshed thereafter, you know. Um, and in terms of our tours, yeah, we we mainly focus in Dublin. Right. I mean, we kind of I suppose we uh cemented ourselves into a corner there when I named it Dublin Tour Guide. Um but I also wanted to be quite explicit. What does Dublin Tour Guide.ie do? Do we do tours to Belfast? Uh no, because we're Dublin, so we're specialists in Dublin, uh, and for sure we have plenty of colleagues and peers uh around Ireland that we connect people to if they want to do if they want to do a tour of Belfast or wherever. Um we do have that, and we do have some tours that to be honest do leave from Dublin, but our principal focus is on Dublin. Um we have um a pub tour, right? So we go to four pubs and they tend to be different pubs to give people the good vibe. Non-touristy pubs, uh it is difficult to go to Dublin and not go to a touristy pub. Um, in general, if you want to see locals stay out of the Temple Bar area, uh that's a quarter that's uh presented and pushed as uh the the cultural quarter of Dublin, and it is to some extent, but not so much in terms of uh the pubs, though I will say something that is a bit fairer and nicer to them. Uh it's a good place to go for Irish music, for traditional Irish music that will be playing there pretty much all day. So from let's say noon or 2 p.m. on a Wednesday. Whereas your local pub will not have traditional Irish music until 9 30. And then it'll if it's if it's out in the countryside, it'll probably only be one day a week. Right? It'll be a Tuesday or a pub day.
SPEAKER_01:Curious to know though, uh, when you do walk into a pub and people obviously know you and know you know your guides, are your are your guests, especially if it's a small group, maybe four or six people, treated almost like celebrities? Oh, here's here's the people from Canada, here's the people from the US, and and you're in a you're with the locals. Uh, do you get a sort of a celebrity status? Me or the visitors? No, the visitors.
SPEAKER_03:The visitors. Well, that's that's the um that's the oligarch uh special. You can ask for that particular package. V I P, V I P, the V V V I P V V.
SPEAKER_01:But you know what I mean? Like when people uh they're they're they're at their local pub, they're the they're locals just sitting there after work, and and somebody walks in from Canada or the United States or from wherever, and it's like, oh wow. And and when they see you or your tour guides, it's like, oh, here we we got another group coming in. And it seems to me that's that's that's what makes it kind of special.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, and you'll get that for sure in the very in the very local places. So you know, going to somewhere you know quite far away from the city center. There is there are some areas that are a little walk from the city center, and then you're in a big local area. And uh the thing about Irish people is we're quite extroverted, we like to talk to people. Um and so anybody in the in the pub is quite a novelty, right? So um we'd like talking to Americans because there's this Donald Trump fellow who seems to be in the news a lot, and then we love talking to Canadians because they're not Americans, right?
SPEAKER_01:So well, you're not supposed to talk politics, though that's one of the rules, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03:Well, this is what I have with myself as a guide on our guides, right? We just say like none of that. Yeah. Um, but you know, the locals who you know they they don't have to talk to uh North Americans every day, they they will skip right to it, right?
SPEAKER_01:So is there a tour that uh that you have that uh that's kind of um doesn't really get recognized enough uh or or specific places that you would go on? And I know these are all private tours, so I'm assuming that uh you kind of just tailor it to whatever people want to see. Is that how it goes? Yes, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Thanks for asking about that, actually. Um so they're I mentioned this already, the National Gallery, the National Library, and the National Museum, right? I I feel they're undervisited by uh visitors coming to Dublin, they're all free. Um, and and one reason why it's difficult to visit them is because they're quite big, uh, the gallery and the museum, especially. So if you go there, you're like, right, uh I guess I'll start looking at everything in here and reading every plaque. And then after about 30 minutes, you're like, hmm, I wonder how how much longer I can keep this up. And I also don't know what's what's important here. Is this important piece for for Irish people? I don't I don't know. There's no there's no big sticker on it that says this is important, important things. Here's the top ten. Um at least our museums don't do that. Uh we'd be quite useful if they did. So what we do is you know that we have this museums tour, three-hour tour, take a coffee break halfway through, and um I I use it as a way to introduce these three institutions, but also to focus on what is important. So in the National Museum, it has many exhibition spaces. We only go to two. Uh, we really try to keep it succinct, um, mainly for the guide, because then the guide will we I can't stop talking about all these different things. Getting a guide that can shut up is is difficult. Uh guides are trained to talk and and they need to be trained again to know how to shut up. Uh so that's difficult. With the museum, there are two very recognizable and important objects in there for Irish people, and they're the Arda Chalice, so that's A R D A G H and the Tara brooch. Uh, and uh these are recognizable to pretty much every 12-year-old uh in Ireland will know these. Um, and so you know I'll I'll bring them and then they're not pointed out. So people go into the museum, and I'm sure probably more than 70% of people miss them, don't see them, right? Especially the tar approach, because it is quite small, but it is uh breathtaking. Um and I highlight them, I tell them what why they're important and the history of them. So it's important to keep it to maybe a a dozen a dozen objects uh or so because if I show you 30 things, you might remember 10 of them. Whereas if I show you 10 things, you might remember eight of them. You're gonna remember more of them, right? You're gonna remember that they're important. So we we we like to say we do quality over quantity. Uh so rather than rushing around trying to see all of Dublin, we try to do a few things and and do them well. Um and it's a simple thing in the gallery.
SPEAKER_01:People can always go back too, right? That's the other thing about walking tours. You if you do it, like if you're staying for a week, I guess, in Dublin and you do a walking tour one of your first days you're there, and you you know get a taste of of some uh place, you can say, well, let's go back there and and see more of it.
SPEAKER_03:And and the great thing about getting a guide on your first day is you have a local expert. Why don't you just ask them loads of questions? All the work that maybe you wish you had done before you did the trip, do it there when you meet the guide. Say, hey, this is kind of what we have planned for the next couple days. Yeah, what should we do? Um how should we plan? So, for example, some people are like, Oh, we'll have to go to the Guinness storehouse, and I'm like, Okay, fine, but do that in the afternoon. Don't do that in the morning because you won't be able to do much useful things after that. After you've had the alcohol, things will be good for an hour, a bit more than that, and then you get a bit sleepy. Yeah, so you're down, then you want to sit down. So the only way to kind of is go and have another beer, go to Jameson distillery. So it's stuff like that. And you know, for example, you know, if you're going to Guinness later in the day and you're doing something in the city, like the Epic Museum or or the Book of Cows, don't walk to Guinness because it's a 20, roughly a 20-minute plus walk to Guinness. And uh you're like, oh 20 minutes, I can do that. Yeah, but can you do 20 minutes plus another 40 minutes of standing and reading stuff? Yeah, because I want you to be attentive and awake and not tired for that. So that's what I say. Take a taxi to Guinness and do that, you know. So it's it's things like that. You can well, at least this is what we do. We like to give people a lot of free advice on how to best plan their their time in Dublin and Ireland. Anything I missed you might want to add? Uh oh, well, obviously, I'm gonna say great things about Dublin, but I think a lot should be said about getting out of Dublin, uh, going to the west. So let's say you're in Ireland for five days, don't spend five nights in Dublin and do day trips hither and thither. Instead, spend let's say whatever, two nights in Dublin and then go to uh Galway, right? People want to go to Galway and see the cliffs of Moher, spend a night over there, right? Have some time to soak it up so that you're not spending unnecessary time travelling back and forth between Dublin and Galway. Uh, likewise for uh the southwest, Killarney, Kerry, right? The Ring of Kerry is a famous scenic uh route, uh, and Cork and County Cork and Cork City, all down in the southwest, uh, and kind of the other places, Belfast up in the northeast in Northern Ireland. Uh, you got the Giants Causeway, obviously some castles, the Titanic Museum in in Belfast, and the great history there, uh, the troubled history of the truck, the history about the troubles in uh the neighborhoods in in Belfast. So that's what I would say. Go and stay in those places. You're not only saving time, you're saving some money because those hotels are typically going to be cheaper than in Dublin, um, and you're allowing yourself time to soak up the vibe of that area.
SPEAKER_01:Nice. Garvin Rush, he's the founder of Dublin Tour Guide. You can check out his website, DublinTourGuide.ie. All things, Dublin, all things, Ireland. Uh, it was uh real pleasure chatting with you, uh, Garvin. I can tell that uh you're passionate about what you do. Thanks very much, Brandy.
SPEAKER_03:Uh it's my pleasure, and that's why I I keep doing it. I love it. I have my dream job, and I can't work any other job because this job is just too good.