I will keep you posted on this website, so please check in from time to time. You will see that I have created a blog (yes, at my age I'm getting tech-savvy!) I will post my thoughts and ideas and would appreciate if you would comment on those subjects as I would like you to travel along with me on my new 'journey.'

You can see the bIog post subjects on the right hand column of this page. The quickest way to see all my posts is to click 'Conn's Blog' at the top of the right hand column and that will take you to the blogspot page and list all the posts in order.

On the left side of this page you will see icons that you can click. The top button down,('Preview Conn's County House Hotel Business Plan'), takes you to a Business Plan I developed for a luxury Country House Hotel project. I dreamed of this 20 years ago. Over the years I have stayed in many hotels, country houses, manors and castles around Ireland and from those experiences and combined with the experience of listening to the critiques and conversations with my Ireland tour clients, I felt ready to start. I starting working with a local Sligo architect to design the project. We started the planning application with the Sligo County Council in 2006 and after two years of studies, surveys, archeological reports and overcoming objections from my two farming neighbors, we were successful in receiving FULL planning permission in August of 2008. I had everything ready to go, bank loan preliminary approval and investors lined up. Then in September of 2008 you know what happened ....the financial WORLD collapsed! I have until August of 2013 to start the project and then I can get an extension for two years to complete it. If you know of anyone who may have an interest in getting involved with what I would call 'the most exclusive destination property in Ireland' please have them read the business plan. If you have any comments that you think may help me, then please post your comments.

The next button down, ("stay at Conn's Vacation Home & Estate'), is an introduction to the Ballinaraw House & Estate. Many of my clients over the years have stayed there and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. There were couples (sometimes two or three couples at a time) who enjoyed the peace and quiet and the romance of the countyside, to families that stayed for a couple of weeks and had the children run over the 20 acres, stepping in cowpies and breathing in the fresh country air, to grand-parents staying there for a month and having their familes come for a week at a time and thereby being able to enjoy their extended family in small groups, keeping the family together as well as staying in touch with their Ireland roots! Click the icon and take a look. Let your friends and traveling companions know about it. It is affordable and a great break from the moving touring itinerary.

The last icon, ("Own a week or more at Conn's Sligo Home & Estate'), is also about Ballinraw House & Estate but a little different. Here you have the opportunity to 'OWN' a week for life and hand it down in the family to the next generation. I designed the fractional ownership plan to allow others to have the same joys that my family have experienced over the past 25 years. As a boy I would visit the 'farm' every summer with my siblings and enjoy times with my father and mother and Uncle Toddy. Those were great times and is what inspired me to restore, remodel and expand the house so that the future generations of the O'Scannlain family could enjoy it as well. Take a look. If it appeals to you fill out the form and let me know. Let your friends know. You can also post your comments on my blog as I have a post for it there as well. I have made it affordable and will only sell half of the year as my family will enjoy the other half. The prime weeks are those that I am offering for sale. My wife and I enjoy the winter months there as it is always cozy with the turf fires burning! Let me hear from you.

One more thing - I have always wanted to write my own Ireland guidebook - Conn's Ireland! It will be a different approach for the reader in that it will combine the usual historic sites, itinerary guidance but with anecdotes compiled from my experiences over the past forty years and also experiences of driver-guides, hoteliers and those I know in the Ireland tour industry. To that I want to add the stories and comments of my clients. So, I am asking you to go to that post and add your comments. Funny stories about your vacation in Ireland or information you think should be included in the book but never found in an other guidebook on Ireland. I have a publisher that has been encouraging me for 15 years to do this so now I am getting up the courage to make the effort. I know it will be a great book and well received as I know what my clients have experienced over the past 40 years.

In summary, this website is a way for me to plan my semi-retirement years with an opportunity to share my experiences and also learn from yours. A way to keep my hand in the Ireland tourism industry but also allow my inner desires to develop and prosper.

I thank all of you for being not only my clients but also my friends over the past 40 years and God willing, in the years to come.

Mise le meas,

Conn

(Mise le meas means 'with respect' in Irish)

O'Scannlain International, LTD
P. O. Box 1131, Tacoma, WA 98401
Telephone 253 752 0448 • Fax: 253 752 0392
Email: Conn@OScannlain.com