During my travels, have met many people, while some were very nice,  some very helpful, there were others who were not so friendly and accommodating 😉 . Here, I am going to share with you few incidents, which really touched my heart and always brings a smile on my face.

Irish Hospitality

It was during one of my trips to Dublin. I had pre-booked a Day Tour to The Wicklow Mountains & Glendalough and made it a point to arrive 30 minutes before time at the scheduled pickup point to board the bus. However, as time passed and neared to the actual arrival time of the bus, I realized that something was wrong, as no bus turned up and usually, these Tours are quite punctual, so I called up the booking office and enquired and they said that the bus was waiting right there. It so happened that I was a little away from the correct spot, and was looking for the wrong bus. I called them up again, and they informed me that the bus had left and was on its way to go out of the city. I panicked and was close to tears, I didn’t want to miss this tour, I was really looking forward to the visit to the Wicklow Mountains and more over I had already paid for this tour!!!! I stopped a tour bus and the guy informed me that my bus had already left..but he called up the coach driver and the driver came back all the way, just to pick me up!!!! I couldn’t thank the coach driver and the other bus driver who called him up enough!!! I felt a sense of gratitude all through my trip and got to experience the famed Irish hospitality and kindness first hand…Thank you for this experience, because of this the people of Ireland are very close to my heart…and I vowed to visit this Country again and spread the news of the Irish people back home..and return I did..after 3 years 😉

Irish People

On my same trip to Ireland – Dublin, I wanted to call up one of the Irish Gentleman whom I knew when I was working in India, he was on the Board of Directors at that time and I had always looked up to him and I guess he too had a soft corner for me..so when I had earlier informed him about my plans to come to Dublin, he insisted that I meet up with him, which I would have anyways done  So as luck would have it..though my mobile phone worked properly on the first day I arrived in Dublin and I thought that I would call him after 2 days, as I already had pre-booked day tours to other parts of Ireland, unfortunately, my phone stopped working the next day onwards. So I thought, no problem, I’d just go to St. Stephen’s Green Mall and use the WIFI over there to send him a Whatsapp message. However, luck was not on my side that day, and I just couldn’t connect to the WIFI.so I thought..ok..its no big deal..I went to a pay phone and decided to call him from there..but again to my bad luck..I didn’t have any Euro coins available with me, had just a couple of Pounds and Pence with me..As I was struggling and searching my bag and trying my best to see what coins I had with me, an Irish lady stopped by to help me. She offered to pay for my call and dialed the number for me..She was really very very sweet and kind..she waited till I could make my call and when I offered her to repay her in Pounds, she politely brushed it aside and gave me a lovely smile and carried on.

Here in Ireland, kindness is not an act. It is a lifestyle.

So much for Irish kindness…the smiles, the kindness of the Irish never cease to awe me…

Irish  Hospitality & Kindness

My love for the people of Ireland continues to enthrall me…during my 2nd visit to this lovely Country, I couldn’t stop boasting about the beauty, music, culture and hospitality of Ireland to my friends. During one of our stays at a B&B in Killarney, my friends got to understand as to why I am completely in love with Ireland, the people of Ireland, and all that it has to offer !!!!! We had pre-booked ourselves for a Day Tour to The Ring of Kerry and had to go down town which was only 10-15 minutes walk from our B&B. We left 30-45 minutes early and kept walking..taking in all the lovely sights, the morning sunshine and beauty of Killarney, clicking pictures on the way..stopping for photo stops against some picturesque B&Bs, waving to the passing Jaunting cars….giggling at the sound of the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves…we really enjoyed our walk..and then we realized that we had been walking for 20 minutes and there was no sign of the town…which made us realize that we were walking in the opposite direction!!!!!!! We didn’t know what to do..we tried to stop a car who would give us lift..but the kind person said that he was going in the opposite direction..so we put on our thinking caps and decided to walk back quickly to our B&B and see if we could get a lift down town. We half ran-half walked all the way back to our B&B, this time not noticing the lovely sunshine, nor hearing the clip-clop of the horses hooves!!!! When we reached our B&B, we struggled to open the front door with our key, but for some reason it just wouldn’t work..so we rang the bell and the owner of the B&B herself answered the door and when we informed her about our predicament, she offered to drive us to the town in her car and said that it would take us just 3-4 minutes!!!!! We never asked her for help…we never imposed ourselves on her, but she herself saw our predicament and very calmly and coolly offered to help us out..she went out of her way to drop us to the town, as she had just returned from a business trip last night and was busy with her work…but she took time out and helped us first… Her smile, her deftness with which she took stock of our situation, re-instilled in me my love and admiration for the people of Ireland.