Reporter Liam Geraghty dragged his best shorts and sunglasses out of storage over the weekend to delve into the realm of tour guiding for The Business.
Among the guides Liam spoke with, was the multi-lingual Cork-based guide Thomas L’Hotellier, who intersperses his tours with a couple of Gallic-tinged “Corcaigh Abú”s. He had been working as a Project Manager in Translation when he decided he needed a change.
“I looked out the window and said, ‘Look, I’m sure there’s something else’.”
It’s safe to say things have improved since his first attempt at giving a tour of Dublin city.
“Sitting on a coach with 50 people. Not having a clue where we’re going next. Not knowing anything of Dublin city…the driver, he may have seen the different colours I was changing. Just like the traffic lights…I was so embarrassed.”
Kyoko Delaney from Japan has been living in Dublin for 27 years. Like Thomas, she left an office job to become a tour guide. Originally, she was planning on living in Northern England to re-enact scenes from Wuthering Heights. Meeting her now-husband at a bus stop in Clontarf altered those plans. She told Liam that literature and art is often the inspiration behind Japanese tourists’ travel decisions. One of Kyoko’s recent tours was to Kilmainham jail. For a Japanese fan of The Wind that Shakes the Barley.
“She loved Cillian Murphy. That’s why she wanted to find out about Ireland more.”
Listen back to the full segment on The Business here.