Ireland on St. Patrick\u2019s Day is a bucket list item for many, but, in a sense, every day is festive in Ireland, where sipping a pint in a pub is a cultural experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe enjoy St Patrick\u2019s Day in Ireland but the United States it has become a two-week event for marketers and people party hard on Patrick\u2019s Day and tell stories all about it for weeks after,\u201d says Conor Cuneen, of IrishmanSpeaks.com. The Irish native is a Chicago-based author and corporate communications consultant.<\/p>\n
According to Tourism Ireland stats, 1.5-million people from the United States, in 2015, fulfilled their dream of visiting the Emerald Isle.<\/p>\n
Williamston\u2019s Gary McMullen and his Michigan-based \u201cBlackthorn\u201d Irish band have been leading groups of 50 people on sold-out tours to Eire for six years.\u00a0 \u201cWe visit the great landmarks and historic sites; and search out Irish music at night. It\u2019s great fun,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
![\"Irish](\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2016\/03\/Ireland09chicago-042.jpg\")
Irish brands reach out to visitors, such as a Jameson presentation encountered at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport<\/p><\/div>\n
Cuneen can understand why. \u201cPeople love going there because they\u2019re made to feel so welcome and its\u2019 a great product with good pricing, wonderful atmosphere and scenery. Tourism Ireland\u2019s marketing campaign has been ranked fifth best in the world,\u201d says Cuneen, who also allows that branding of Irish products, such as Kerrygold Irish cheese and butter, has also created global ambassadors. \u201cWhen people see a shamrock, they think of Ireland. When they see it on the tail of an Aer Lingus airplane in Chicago, New York or Boston, they know they\u2019re in for a genuinely friendly experience aboard Ireland\u2019s national airline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack Foley, Aer Lingus Executive Vice President for North America, says \u201cAer Lingus in-flight experience is designed to reflect Irish hospitality alongside the trends of modern Ireland.\u201d Business class flat bed seats, with direct aisle access, convert to work stations, and, in an example of classic Irish hospitality, passengers can shower while their clothes are pressed in a new arrival lounge \u2013 dubbed the \u2018Revival Lounge\u201d – upon arrival at Dublin Airport.<\/p>\n
You can bet that Guinness Irish Stout, with its\u2019 longstanding marketing campaign claiming \u201cGuinness Is Good For You,\u201d is served onboard. \u201cThe slogan is so brilliant that when I was much younger the doctor would prescribe a bottle of Guinness for pregnant women because it is rich in iron.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStepping aboard an Aer Lingus flight is like already being in Ireland, in terms of the country\u2019s famed hospitality\u201d says Ray Scott, a radio broadcaster who is also honorary Secretary of Tramore Golf Club in Ireland\u2019s \u201csunny southeast,\u201d near Waterford, where the crystal factory and museum is another point of Irish pride.<\/p>\n
Jameson Irish Whiskey, distilled in Middleton, has been the fastest growing liquor brand in recent years. \u201cIrish whiskey had a reputation as \u2018rot gut\u2019 due to prohibition and the rubbish that was sold then,\u201d Cuneen admits. \u201cBut now the quality is excellent and through subtle branding and evocative imagery they\u2019ve been able to create a really powerful and successful whiskey brand and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lift a glass to Ireland, and all things Irish, because, as the poet Hal Boyle wrote, \u201cOn St. Patrick\u2019s Day, everyone is Irish who wants to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nMichael Patrick Shiels will host his morning radio show live from Ireland on St. Patrick\u2019s Day from 6-9 am<\/span> on Team 92.1 FM and via streaming audio and podcast at MiBigShow.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland on St. Patrick\u2019s Day is a bucket list item for many, but, in a sense, every day is festive… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19164],"tags":[414,998791,998792,998793,998794],"class_list":["post-2060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-offcourse","tag-ireland","tag-tramore-golf-club","tag-jameson-irish-whiskey","tag-ohare-airport","tag-aer-lingus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2016\/03\/Ireland09chicago-042.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2062,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions\/2062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}