A note penned to Ireland of the Welcomes in 1959 shows that happy holidaymakers have been a long-standing wonderful presence in the Emerald Isle throughout the decades.
Editor's note: In May 2022, our sister publication, Ireland of the Welcomes, celebrated its 70th anniversary. To mark the occasion, we delved into our decades-old archives and found incredible articles like this one, along with others written by famous Irish figures such as Brendan Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, and Paul Henry.
Tens of thousands of people request information and advice from various travel agents and various Irish Tourist Offices to help them plan the perfect holiday in Ireland. Often they write - like Mr. and Mrs. Boyle - to say how much they enjoyed themselves and what especially appealed to them in Ireland. In most cases, the friendliness and good humor of the Irish people is the most appreciated feature of an Irish holiday:
Dir Sir,
At this time last year, we wrote to you requesting information about vacations in Ireland. Our plans were very tentative because we were taking our two small children with us, but we wanted to get organized in case the opportunity arose.
As it turned out, we were able to go for the first three weeks in October.
First of all, we wanted to thank you for all the assistance you provided in planning. The pamphlets, hotels, and points of interest were a terrific help to us, and I'm sure that all our advance planning helped to keep things running smoothly.
Also, after we read everything we could find and set up our schedule, we contacted you with a list of questions we couldn't find answers to in the books. We appreciate the time you took to answer us.
We went first to Limerick and then through Tipperary to Cork, on to Killarney, and back to Limerick and home. With that circle, we crossed back and forth, up and down for three weeks, and I think we saw everything.
We had a wonderful time. Everyone was so nice to us and to the children, and the accommodations were just fine everywhere. The people in Limerick were especially considerate. In fact, the children received so much attention that they were in for a bit of a shock when they came home and returned to everyday life.
The country was as beautiful as we had heard it was, and there is a "quiet" there that you don't hear here, even in the country. Mr. Boyle was impressed by the good roads. The maps we had were marked with first, second, and their class roads, and we were a little dubious about the last two, but after we got to Ireland and saw them, we had no reservations about traveling on any of them at any time.
We saw so many interesting and beautiful things that we couldn't even begin to name them all...
Cashel was probably the most impressive thing we saw.
The double-decker buses we saw in Cork were the children's favorite.
The Fuschia hedges by Glengarriff.
The kindness, helpfulness, and courtesy of everyone we met all added up to a wonderful vacation.
Incidentally, it even cost less than we had figured.
We are already thinking about next time - we want to start in Limerick, go north to Galway, and up to the border. Then follow the border east and down to Dublin. However, that is in the future.
Thank you all for your help. Considering the fact that we were young and green as travelers, we did very well.
Sincerely,
Mr. & Mrs. Robt. Boyle.
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