I ventured to Dax yesterday, one of Dublin's newest kids on the restaurant block. There, publicist Aileen Eglington had organised a luncheon, which was hosted by Tony Collins and his award winning travel firm, Topflight.
We were there to celebrate the coming 05/06 season of skiing and snowboarding destinations, which Topflight do so well. With destinations such as Italy, Andorra, Bulgaria, USA, France and Austria, it's easy to see why they have been voted Best Ski Company for the 11th year running. Whether you're a newcomer to the slopes (as I was a few years ago) or familiar with fast black runs (I'm not there just yet), you couldn't do better than check out Topflight.
Among those swapping stories of the piste were Hilary O'Shaughnessy, photographer Kim Haughton and comedian and You're A Star Celebrity contestant Alan Shortt, who recently took part in a ski trip with the National Council for the Blind as part of his fundraising efforts. I also bumped into the newly married Gerry Mullins of Backpacker Magazine and Andrew Ward, who represents Ski Andorra and flew in from London for the event.
As I left, with a bottle of champagne courtesy of Elisabetta Gutterer of Trentino, I think the guests were settling in for an afternoon on the piste.
Question of the week: Apropos of Paris Hilton, which Irish society blonde has earned herself the nickname Paris Jurys? Definitely one of the more interesting aspects of the recent Jurys Hotel multi-million euro takeover battle.
