Happy New Year!

I ended 2021 and started 2022 in a bit of dialogue with some fans and contributors at Quora.com over a question about Ireland and the Irish. Even the nature of the questions in this dialogue were disturbing, not to mention how disturbing some of the responses to those questions were!

So I took the plunge and did my best to reply in hopes of providing some fact-based and sane explanations in the process knowing fulwell that I met be met with a barage from the farside of the internet. Happily, the first response was quite uplifting and came from a Brit named Tommy Hutton. His full response and my explanatory response are posted here at sAbrams.net in the sections called “A Little Bit of Ireland” and in my Blog herein.

Tommy’s reply to me is very much a TESTIMONIAL to my knowledge, experience and skill set related to conveying information, particularly information about travel and, in this case, about all-things-Irish. For that reason, we are posting excerpts from Tommy’s response to my entry at Quora.com here as it truly is a testimonial and the text belongs displayed here among other testimonials which are presented in audio form:

“Wow! That was a most thoughtful and enlightening piece Stephanie, and I sincerely thank you for it. It is like a worthy hymn to Ireland and the Irish, so you must be commended for it. . .

Anyway, a big thank you again, and I sincerely hope a great deal of people get to read your tribute to Ireland. . . Tommy Hutton”

And now. . .

Have a quick listen to these testimonials, each just a couple of minutes long. . .or shorter. . . that deliver a message with a punch you’ll long remember! All of these testimonials have broadcast nationally on radio as well as in episodes of Travel TV WITH Stephanie Abrams! You’ll hear travel expert Stephanie Abra Enjoy a quick listen to these unique testimonials!

Jimmy Deenihan:

Narcy Calamatta

author, film producer, actor, screenplay and playwright, actor, historian, spokesperson for Malta Tourism Authority and winner of the 2022 Best Supporting Actor in a Film Produced in Malta at the  Malta Film Awards. 

In Narcy’s commentary about his experience acting on behalf of the Malta Tourism Authority as Stephanie’s guide to specific places in Malta and Gozo, recorded in a live broadcast in April 2017, he mentions that travel expert Stephanie Abrams encouraged and inspired him to write and produce a play, a film and a book. Please note that by October 2021, Narcy had achieved all of those goals he set in that regard having written the screenplay for a film, acted in the film which earned him the Best Supporting Actor Award, wrote and produced a play ,wrote a book that published in October 2021 in both English and Maltese and all took place before he celebrated his 81st birthday. Prepare to giggle along with Stephanie Abrams as Narcy shares his experience during and after meeting her in 2017! You’re going to love this!

Phyllis Stoller

President, The Women’s Travel Group

Phyllis Stoller, President, The Women’s Travel Group

Phyllis Stoller is the visionary and founder who spearheaded the development of a niche market tour operator, The Women’s Travel Group, to provide travel experiences for women with wanderlust who have interest in exploring exotic, diverse and exciting places and would like to travel with a group of like-minded women for that purpose. Founded in 1992, the longevity of The Women’s Travel Group stands as its own testimony to the quality and value of the company since competition and ever-arising challenges in the travel industry weed out those companies on the fringe of quality and value delivered to travelers.

Eoghan Corry

Eoghan Corry is a well-known travel journalist in Ireland whom travel expert Stephanie Abrams met almost 2 decades ago when they were both invited to be part of a group of about 20 travel journalists and broadcasters aboard the yacht owned by the head of El Presidente Hotels for a sunset cruise of Acapulco Bay. The yacht was well over 100 feet long and was staffed with crew and lots of good things to eat and drink. While the invitation was for a 2 hour period with boarding at 5pm, the group was so congenial and were having so much fun that the captain of the yacht kept the group at sea until almost midnight! It turned out that the CEO of El Presidente, owner of the yacht, was one of the people on board but kept his identity a secret. Stephanie notes that, “He was sitting just to my left the whole time and, while we chatted throughout, I had no idea who he was!” You can hear more about how Eoghan and Stephanie connected aboard the yacht here at sAbrams.net archived audio and/or podcast of Travel WITH Stephanie Abrams that broadcast on April 10, 2021. But here is the clip of the testimonial to Stephanie’s contribution the growth and development of tourism to Ireland.

Sanjiv Hulugalle,

General Manager, Mauna Lana Auberge Resorts Collection, a beautiful upscale, pampering, luxury resort  located on the gorgeous Kona Coast of the Big island of Hawaii, shares with travel expert Stephanie Abrams his insights into the  value of her radio and TV shows about travel and tourism. Enjoy!

Donna Drake

Donna Drake, host and founder of the TV’s, “The Donna Drake Show: Live It Up!” was honored in 2010 with the Goddess Artemis Award during a weeklong event in Greece. The award was to recognize the positivity, kindness and personal philanthropic deeds she has featured and promoted through her professional and personal work. About 25 women from worldwide destinations were brought together on July 7, 2010 in Athens to receive this award, each for their own unique approach to making the  world a better place.  Included were women from China, the Middle East, Mexico, South America,  European countries, Greece and the US.  It was at this event that travel expert Stephanie Abrams, who was also in Athens to receive her Goddess Artemis Award for her “significant contribution to the growth and development of tourism to Greece and her philanthropic works as the Stephanie Abrams Travel Fairy Godmother sending both adults and children to places to enrich, enhance, uplift and inspire their lives,” met Donna Drake.  The uniqueness of the event, the places visited, the people met along the way all added to the special feelings of friendship and bonding created by the occasion.

Donna has been a guest on Stephanie Abrams travel shows since they met and, most recently, after Stephanie watched the film, The Maltese Holiday. Stephanie is fanatic about reading credits at the end of films as they give great insights into production and are reminders of whose talents contributed to the final cut.  Since Stephanie had produced Episode 1 of Travel TV WITH Stephanie Abrams about Malta which is posted, commercial-free at sAbrams.net (“Magnificent Malta: Gem of the Mediterranean”) she was particularly interested in credits to individuals, organizations, companies and places in Malta that may have contributed to the production of  the film. 

Incredibly, when the credits were coming to the end, a second called, “Special Thanks To” listed “Donna Drake” as the first person named! Stephanie was confident that the reference was to what she referred to as, “My Donna Drake!”  She contacted Donna at once, had a long catch-up telephone chat, invited her to be a guest, again, on Travel WITH Stephanie Abrams, and Donna had some very nice things to say that you might want to listen to!

You can hear the whole interview at this link: