I spent an evening in Chicago with Liam Hughes and Corey Taratuta of www.Irishfireside.com. While waiting for our Italian food to come, (it took more than an hour and then I got sick from it… but I digress…), I learned all about the interesting stuff that they’re doing on their website.
At first, they seem to be all over the map, but when you start talking to them about their business plan, it all makes sense.
Liam makes beautiful jewelery out of shards of antique plates he buys in Ireland and Corey runs the website, which includes a blog on Ireland and an informative podcast.
Corey Taratuta and Liam Hughes in Chicago
In the summer, they travel around the midwest, selling jewelry to Irish fanatics at art shows.
Traveling back and forth to Ireland all the time means that they know just about everything about that country. So they also guide people (undoubtedly people they’ve met at art shows) around the Irish country side. They’ve compiled all the stuff that they know, along with some Irish news and helpful travel tips onto their blog and it’s become quite popular.
One of my favourite parts of their site is the Ireland packing list. I’m a list fanatic so this is a good one to keep on hand, even if you’re not going to Ireland.
Corey and Liam have taken their Irish obsession even further than the Emerald Isle. They have also traveled extensively throughout America. You can watch videos from their U.S. roadtrip, visiting readers of their blog and getting introduced to all kinds of Irish traditions in America.
If you head to their blog right now, they’re giving away tons of free Guinness stuff for participating in their discussions on Ireland.
Tags: Ireland, Ireland travel, Irishfireside.com, Irishfireside, Corey Taratuta, Liam Hughes, Guinness
August 5, 2009 at 1:23 pm |
We had loads of fun hanging out with you… too bad about getting sick though.
August 5, 2009 at 2:30 pm |
[...] We met up with “starlagurl,” aka Louis from TravelPod, at the Travel Bloggers Exchange Conference, and she has since blogged about our meeting. You can have a peek at what she had to say at http://blog.travelpod.com/2009/08/05/ireland-travel-experts-liam-and-corey/. [...]
August 5, 2009 at 9:50 pm |
Hurrah! Well written to the point great write up AND gives kudos to the exquisite shard jewelry of Liam and mentions the contest to boot!
Bravo for a review with a sense of humor and just enough insight to get folks interested
Cheers!
Gina
August 6, 2009 at 10:26 am |
Thanks Gina and Corey!
If you guys ever do a “cross-Canada” Irish roadtrip, you have a place at my house!
August 6, 2009 at 7:15 pm |
what fun!! i love irishfireside.com, and think liam and corey are awesome. thanks for the recap! liam’s jewelry is incredible.