In true travel style, members and suppliers wore their sparkles for a gala dinner with pre-dinner drinks sponsored by iNUA collection, the meal sponsored by Air Canada and United Airlines plus the wine by both the Spanish Tourist Office and TUI Ireland. Two awards were handed out to unsuspecting winners.
Not a Dry Eye in the House – Strand Travel
There was an outpouring of emotion as Strand Travel earned the accolade of Worldchoice Agent of the Year 2022. A visibly moved Thomas O’Donohoe shared that the award was for his father, Tom O’Donoghue, who very sadly passed away in April 2020. A crowd of watery eyes, squeezed hands and shared nods amongst the audience left a deep lump in the throat.
A Modest, Surprised & Worthy Winner – David Smith, TUI Ireland
The only audience member that seemed surprised that David Smith from TUI won a Worldchoice “Making a Difference” Award was David Smith. A visibly shocked David sincerely thanked members and humbly accepted the award from Carol Anne.
A huge congratulations to the team at Strand Travel and to David who mentioned that he couldn’t believe he had won, he was only trying to do his job.
Following pre-drinks, the audience listened to an update from Aoife Gregg Anderson and Blaithin O’Donnell on discovering the USA and Canada from joint sponsors of the dinner, United Airlines and Air Canada.
A Prizegiving Extravaganza
There was an almost endless supply of prizes for audience members with 4 tickets to Lapland with Sunway won by Linda Byrne (Killiney Travel) – enjoy the most magical place on earth!
Other prizes included 2 return economy class tickets from Dublin to anywhere on the Turkish Airlines Network (Annette Hynes); 5 days / 4 nights tour of Jordan with Nebo Tours (Katrina Williamson); Bedsonline voucher (Pauline Grenham); an Alexa from Amadeus (Sharon Moore); and ….
Family Holiday to France with Irish Ferries and Kelair Campotel (Karen Fegan); A Suitcase from Celebrity Cruises (Clodagh Redmond); An Expedia TAAP hamper (Michelle Lyons); a Joe Malone gift from Silversea (Audrey Grennan); A goodie bag from Norwegian Cruise Line (Shauna Lyons); and…
2 return flights from Dublin or Cork to Palma with TUI (Sally Lynch); a hamper from A&G (Connie Galligan); a €200 voucher from Classic Resorts (Lisa Warren); and…
2 return flights to Helsinki and Tallinn with accommodation in Helsinki & Tallin with Finnair, Visit Finland &Visit Estonia (Des Abbott); wine & chocolates from Blue Insurance (Tanya Kearney); rucksack goody bag from Royal Caribbean International (Katie Nolan); hamper from MSC (Helen McCormack); Eco Dot Speaker from Hertz (Maura Fahy); €100 euro voucher from Arrowtours (Frances Grogan); €250 Bookabed voucher (Amanda Wolohan); €250 ASM Ireland voucher (Amy Meagher); and…
More prizes: 6-night cruise on Enchanted Princess (Marie Grenham); 4 nights at 4* Seaside Los Jameos in Lanzarote (Niamh Tierney); 2-night stay with 2 breakfast & 1 dinner at 5* Muckross Park Hotel in Killarney (Deirdre Sweeny). A&G gave travel insurance to everyone in the audience! It was better than a Late Late Toy Show giveaway!
Dancing Till Dawn & a Denton Special
As the name suggests, the Band “Fabulous” was fabulous (sponsored by Princess Cruises) with a late DJ sponsored by Sunway. You couldn’t round up a travel “do” without a Mary Denton rendition of “Don’t Stop Believing” and true to form, folks partied till the wee hours of the morning.
