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Welcome to another exciting episode of "Dishing with Stephanies Dish." In this episode, I am joined by my fellow travel enthusiast, Michael Kenney from Defined Destinations, as we dive into the world of adventurous group travel. Fresh from their trips to Croatia and Asia, they're setting their sights on a new journey to Sicily, Italy. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or a wanderlust-driven explorer, you'll discover the unique experiences that Sicily promises, from breathtaking historic cities to mesmerizing volcanoes and, of course, delectable Italian cuisine. Join Stephanie and the Michaels for a delightful conversation about the joys of traveling with a group, the thrill of meeting new people, and the authentic charm that awaits in Sicily. Whether you're considering joining their next adventure or simply living vicariously through their tales, this episode offers a captivating glimpse into the magic of defined destinations. Let the journey begin!Stephanie Hansen:Hello, everybody. Welcome to the podcast, Dishing with Stephanie's Dish. I hope you're doing great today. I am here with my friend, Michael Kenney, and Michael and I have been traveling together a couple years now. Right, Michael?Michael Kenney:Yeah. We've had, two trips under our belt. So it's, a trip to Croatia and, just recently that Cambodia Vietnam trip. So we've been we've been putting some miles down, Stephanie.Stephanie Hansen:I actually actually was somewhere last night and ran into someone from our trip, and we were comparing our bracelets from when we met the Buddhist monk because both of us still have ours on. Yes.Michael Kenney:Mine, like, just kinda fell apart.Stephanie Hansen:It was such a Oh,Michael Kenney:I woke up in the sun.Stephanie Hansen:Trip. Yes. I'm I'm gonna keep it on as long as I can. It was such a life changing trip. Asia was somewhere that I'd always wanted to go and really didn't have the confidence to do it by myself. So you gave me confidence. Going with other people gave me confidence, and we ended up having such a great time. Pretty good.Stephanie Hansen:I have had another great trip with you. We went to Croatia, and that was an awesome trip. We were on kind of like an exclusive private yacht with, Stan, our tour guide, who was probably one of the best tour guides ever.Michael Kenney:For sure.Stephanie Hansen:And you're going back there to Croatia this summer, aren't you?Michael Kenney:Yeah. Personally, I'm not. I'm gonna have somebody else. I'm a little envious because, yeah, that that trip was straight out of a dream. And, you and your, listeners, followers, they were so much fun.Stephanie Hansen:So Yeah. We did have a good time.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It was great.Stephanie Hansen:So I wanted to podcast with you because people ask me all the time about these trips and, like, how it works and what we do and, you know, like, are you, like, checking people's passports? I'm like, no. Silly. I'm not. But we have a trip coming up to Sicily, a taste of Sicily, which you have so sweetly on your your background there. That's smart. October 14 through the twenty second. And our final payments, I think, are due in June. So we're kind of in the hunt for getting everybody signed up and confirmed.And I wanted to talk with you. I've been to Italy a lot, actually, but I've never been to Sicily. So I'm excited about what that area is gonna be like and you've been. So I thought, alright. Let's just talk a little bit about this and get to know a little bit about how these trips work. So, I like to do trips with people because I like to travel with others. And people always ask me, well, are they food trips? Yes. They are food.Like, we eat food. We enjoy food. We talk about food, but it isn't, like, exclusively a food trip. We know that when you're going to some of these historic destinations that you also wanna see some of the beautiful sites. So we try to mix in some food things like special tastings, special wine events, or special dinners, but we also wanna give you some time to explore the region on your own so that you can go to the restaurants that really appeal to you. And, you know, when you're going with the group, sometimes it's not easy to go to some of these really exclusive special places because you have a larger group. Our group on a trip like this would be, what, would you say, like, less than, like, 26 probably?Michael Kenney:Yeah. It this group size will be anywhere from 20 to 30 maximum on this trip. So it's a real nice, you know, size group for sure.Stephanie Hansen:And you've been to Sicily before. When was the last time you went?Michael Kenney:I was with a group two years ago in Sicily. So I've been there three other times. So just most recently, just two years ago.Stephanie Hansen:And you and I like, I kinda gave you my short list of places. And you asked me about Sicily, and I was like, oh, well, I don't know. I've never really thought about that. And you were like, oh my gosh. It's one of your favorite places in Italy. So tell me what it is that you love about Sicily in particular.Michael Kenney:Yeah. No. That that that's a great question. You already mentioned you've been to Italy several times, and we get a lot of people that have been to Italy. And they're like, alright. I've already done that. Or maybe you haven't, you know, seen the the Colosseum and Venice and things like that. Sicily is is Italian, but it's an island in the middle of the Mediterranean.Michael Kenney:So it's just it's it's it's similar, but it's different. I think everything is elevated. Their food, their sites. I mean, the history has a whole Greek, northern the Arabs. It's a Spanish influence in Normans. They've all kinda come to this island in the middle of the the Mediterranean and put, like, their best foods, their their best everything. And it's kinda mixes and makes a Sicilian dish, which is really cool. So it's it's similar, yes, with their pastas and things like that in Mainland Europe, but it's it's a different notch.Michael Kenney:I think it's above, regular standard Italian food. It's just the flavors, the the spices, everything like that is just it's so good. And that's just the food side of it. And then, of course, I already mentioned with with the Greeks in the Spanish and the Normans, they have their own architectures that they brought, a mix of different languages. So you really feel like you're in a whole another country. It says in Italy, but the Sicilians say we're Sicilian first, then we're Italian.Stephanie Hansen:That's funny.Michael Kenney:So it's it's really so different, of an experience on that end. And I even have, a couple of friends going on this trip, and they've never been to Europe before. And they're saying, hey. We're we're gonna join you on this trip because it sounds lovely, but we've never been to Europe. We've never seen the Colosseum, things like that. Like, is this a good trip for us to take? I go, for sure it is. I mean, you don't have these, you know, the Leaning Tower Of Pisa, but once you get get to these places, you'll say, oh my gosh. I mean, a church that's, a thousand years old, or the little villages that are, you know, 500 years old and just oozing with this with charm.So you're really, having this real great Italian Sicilian experience, but maybe not knowing the sites, but it'll kinda resonate even better when you come back and tell your stories. It's just a beautiful, beautiful trip.Stephanie Hansen:And I think, you know, I've been to Rome. I've been to a lot of the little Italian islands on sailing trips with my husband. And we've been to Naples. We've been to Venice. We've been all over, really. And each of Italy has its own uniqueness, but the islands themselves are just something different because you really did get a lot of influences of people coming through and the trading that happened. And they also weren't as involved in the wars because they were sort of moving to the mainland. So you get a lot of different preservation possibilities, and the culture just held up because they weren't impacted by the wars in the same way.Michael Kenney:Exactly. And I think even early on, Sicilians were were very poor as well. So a lot of things just really, held. So they didn't, you know, knock down buildings and build new skyscrapers, things like that. It's like you're being, on the set of The Godfather, which was filmed there too, part of it at least. And, it was, like, set in time, and you're going there and just really experiencing the the feel, the taste, the smell, even you could call, like, the grit of, like, Palermo. I mean, it has this edge to it in a sense, like, this is a real living city. It sound like all spruced up to be perfect, like, on a set, but that's what makes it so so fantastic.It it's it's real. And I don't think you always get that experience that you're in in Central Rome, and they they, you know, it's all beautiful up. Again Palermo and all these cities that will visit are extremely beautiful but it has it's just a different edge to it and every group that I've ever been there with Stephanie if they've come back and said wow this is a dream. Not just the food, the sites, the experiences, the people. The people are real. They're they're fabulous. So it's it's a real real, just an amazing immersion, if you will, to Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:One of the things that people ask me about too, and I'll be honest with you. I'm not really, like, someone that you would think of as a group traveler. I like a certain amount of, alone time. I don't love to have every single thing coordinated for me. My husband, as you know, is a big adventurer and explorer. He's always the first one to do anything crazy on these trips. But it having a group is it's so nice when it's a smaller group like this because you do get to meet new people. You do get to create a community amongst your travelers.And I'll tell you, my friend Laurie Bargini that went on our Asia trip with us, she was very she's a big traveler too, and she was like, I don't know about this group thing. I was like, just give it a try. Like, Asia's a good one to test it out because it's probably a destination you wouldn't go alone. And she signed up right away for Sicily. She was like, I loved the group elements because when I wanted to, I had a group of friends and it was fun and we could hang out together and do fun things, but also when I wanted to be alone, I could do that too. It she thought it added a whole another layer to the travel experience than you just get either with you and your spouse or you and your friends because you have this whole other dynamic of people that for the most part is pretty great.Michael Kenney:Yeah. I know. And I and that's great. And Laurie was great. I'm glad she signed up because on the flight back from Asia, she sat next to me on the flight, and that's a seventeen hour flight. And if she wants to go back, then that that that's great.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. It's good. Well, you know she talked to you the whole time probably.Michael Kenney:No. I tried to again, maybe it's like the group element. You know, have time on, time off. So I'm glad that was brought up. And I've been doing group tours for twenty eight years now, which I I I can't believe. And I I first started getting into tourism because I wanted to see sites. I'm like, I know I can't pay for it, so I need to be a tour guide and and going from that. I didn't realize the whole experience and having shared experiences with others was gonna be my highlight.And to this day, that's my favorite part is going to meet people that I've never met before and going having these shared experiences with. And and sometimes, you know, you build friends for a lifetime off of that.Michael Kinney:I think especially our last group too, we we really, built that with several of the the travelers, which is great. So and I so if you're hesitant, like, well, I'd like to this trip sounds great or any of our trips, but I am kind of worried about that. We really try to balance all our tours out. It's it's it's imperative that we have that balance of, some of the group time to have these, shared experiences to leisure time so that you can go and have your own adventures. And that is so crucial to all of our trips. That's why our hotels, and we can talk about that later, are centrally located. So once we go out and do, say, our city tour, our our our food tour in Palermo and walking around, you'll have, like, the remainder of the day to go explore on your own or some of those new friends that you met. Maybe you can go out and have a glass of wine with them.But again, it's all about that balance. And we each and every itinerary that we put together, we really work on making sure we have that balance in in the trips itself. Because I think that is the success of it. So we don't pack the days all day long on, like, seeing this, this, and this. We give you the nice highlights, and we'll have some other fun inclusions. But again, each place that we go to centrally located hotels, we have that free time too. So you can do your own thing or jump on with a group that you've met and have cocktails, Aperol spritzes in the main, Piazza later on. So it it's so fun, but it it really comes back.You register for a trip, but you don't know you're gonna meet some great people. And at at the end of the trip, it's typically these, these people and these, shared experiences come back, and that's where the meaning of the the trip comes in. It's so it's it's so much fun to see them build together.Stephanie Hansen:On each of the trips that I've done with you, we've had solo travelersMichael Kenney:Mhmm.Stephanie Hansen:Which I think people are like, oh, you know, I don't know. I don't have a partner to go with or my friend can't go. And that to me has also been super fun, like the solo travelers and the friends that they've made. And, like, one of the gals I saw from our Asia trip, I saw our friend Annie last night, and she was a solo traveler. Ended up pairing up with Laurie in a room and sharing, actually, actually, which a lot of solo travelers don't wanna share. I get that. But in this case, they both did, and they are like fast friends.Michael Kenney:That I mean, that's that's so much fun to see that. First off, if, you know, we all have it like your maybe your husband or wife or friend they don't want to go but you're like interested in this trip. We get that on all of our trips and we specifically specifically have, several single rooms set aside for those, adventure traveler seekers to have that. So you can pick your own room and go as a single or maybe you want us to to pair you up. We can do that too and get you in contact with another solo traveler like lorian annie did and that typically works out really well too but it's it's I think the like minded people looking for adventures you'll never feel like you're by yourself on any of our trips So, like, oh, I'm a third wheel. Never ever ever. And sometimes that's the best way to travel because you don't have to make sure your traveling partner is having a great time. You only can worry about yourself.Hey. I'm gonna have a great time. And, you know, all of our trip travelers that I've I've ever heard from, they've had a great time going solo, and they meet these like minded people. And, again, all of a sudden, they have friends for a lifetime, like, you know, Lori and Annie did. So if you're you're even thinking about it, like, I'm solo and I'm a little skeptical about going by myself, give us a call. Send us an email. We we can get you your own, room, single, room. They are filling up quick, though.We have a few left, or we can pair you up with somebody too to share that single supplement. But, again, you'll never feel like a third wheel with any of our tours. And this, in addition, just works really, really well for single travelers, and you'll meet some probably good friends on it.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. And, also, like, ladies, some of you I know, like, getting coming out of relationships or divorce, you wanna do something unique. I have someone in my family who are shall remain nameless, who's gonna be joining us, who wanted to get back to Europe, but she's just not in a relationship status that would work for that as the way she thought it was gonna be. So I was like, come with us. Like, we're gonna have a ball. There's men. There's women. You know, my husband has come on some trips, but others, he hasn't.And Mhmm. It's just there's a great mix of people.Michael Kenney:Yeah. No. It it it it's great. Now this isn't a singles trip, but maybe you can find Giuseppe at the local cafe. You never know. So you never know. So anyway, yeah, it it works great for whatever status you are in life, single, you know, whatever. It these really, really work really nice.And sometimes, like, my brother came, and we shared a room on our the last trip, and he just wanted to kind of have a experience and get away from, you know, what's going on in life over here and just do a reset. And he came back and said, I'm really recharged. And he's kinda like going into he's retired, and he wants to do something else in his, you know, second part of his life. And he he's going after something right now because he he was able to kinda just disconnect Yeah. And then just take it all in and then kinda come back and, like, let's go. So regardless from relationships to job hunting or whatever, sometimes these trips are great. Even if you go solo, that could even be better.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. Just to get a reset.Can you give us, like, without, like, going into all the detail, like, a high level, not day by day, but just, like, what are the towns we're gonna visit? What are because we're gonna be in, I think, three different areas.Michael Kenney:Yeah. Correct. So if you if you go on our, at definedestinations.com and look at, taste of Sicily Twenty Twenty Five, you can find the day by day, itinerary on that, and you'll get to be able to see through it. But again, it reads like a brochure, and you go through each item. And everything that we mentioned on that, it's, it is included. But the neat thing is we go from the North to the South and then all the way over to the, the East side of the island. So you're really having a great feel for the entire island itself. And, we have three nights in Palermo, and then we have one night in Agrigento, which is at the very southern on the beach, our hotel's right on the beach.You can walk right down there. And even October mid October is a great time to go too because the temperatures are, like, mid seventies, so it's super comfortable. And the water temperature is still pretty nice if you want to jump in. And then we have three nights in Siracoosa. So we we have these, like, kind of, hub and spoke places that we we do our adventures from the but we always come back to our centrally located place. So, anyway, we'll we'll find the Palermo. We have a connection. If you do our included flights, there's no, direct flights from from Minneapolis into Sicily.So we have a connection, on that.Stephanie Hansen:And let me just touch on that because some people want to work with the travel agent to have all of the flight things arranged for them, and that is an option with you. But you also do have options where people can meet you at the destination. So, like, for me, we have a lot of miles that we're always trying to burn up. Yeah. So for us, we book our own airfare so that we can use our miles, and then we sometimes add a few days on at the end, or we might even go to a different destination. With your group travel plans, both of those options are available to people.Michael Kenney:A %. I'm glad you asked that too because, yes, there's people that have miles or if they only wanna stay exclusively with Delta or United or whatever, that's fine. Our trips truly begin and end at at the hotels. With that, we do offer an included group package you can jump on, but the whole group will not be on that flight for sure. It's just an option to do that. And my my team can also, get you, flights separate from that too if you wanted to come early like you said, Stephanie, or stay light. Hey. I wanna go see the Colosseum on this trip.Great. My team can put a pre tour, post tour package together if you want to do that. Or even if you don't want any of our help, that's fine. You can just book our land only. You'll be able to see our group flight numbers on there too so you can kinda coordinate that. But the great thing is that both, airports, in Palermo we fly into, and then we fly out of Catania. They're close to both, towns, so you can easily take an Uber. So it's really pretty easy to get to and from, and that's where the, the the the tour start from.So if you're hesitant, hey. I need to book the group air. Don't worry about that. You don't have to do that by any means. We're happy to help you, on all the other aspects too to to get the airfare, with that. So, yep, we fly into Palermo. We'll settle into our our our three, our centrally located hotel, which is fabulous. Again, remind me that we need to touch on the the hotels too a little bit.Stephanie Hansen:Yep.Michael Kenney:But it's right in the center. We'll do a food tour of one of the local markets. Again, like you mentioned, maybe we have some guests on the trip that could care less about food or wine tastings. It's just a a piece of of our trip. So even if you're, a modest food lover or you only like cornflakes, there's gonna be some fun things to do on this as well. And we find that, you learn a lot about the culture through the food. Yeah. That's the reason we we do part of that too.So it'll be fun regardless. You're going through the markets. You're learning about the foods. Things like that. We go to, the the Cathedral Of Monreali, which, hey. We're seeing another church. We typically don't always do that, but this is really specific. This church is beautiful.It's got, it's it's a massive church built in the twelfth century, and they're famous for all its mosaics. The whole interior, the churches, all these fine mosaics they did almost a thousand years ago. It's unreal. So it's beautiful that we'll be doing that. We'll go to Cefalu, a little, seaside village, which is outside of Palermo a little ways. Maybe you've seen White Lotus. Part of that was filmed there or all parts of the, that, season two was filmed in Sicily. So we'll have a lot of White Lotus moments, as well on that, which which will be a lot of fun.And then from there, we'll be driving after our three nights in, in Palermo. We'll be heading south, crossing the entire, island itself. Absolutely beautiful. Even our coach rides, which aren't a lot, that they're just stunning. And and enjoying the countryside is absolutely beautiful. And we'll be going to that's where Agrigento is, and it feels like you're being stuck in Greece. Like, wow. There's all these Greek ruins, you know, two, three thousand years old.It's like, this is unbelievable. They have some of the better Greek ruins even outside of Athens, which is amazing. So walking through Agrigento, experiencing that, seeing that during the sunset, it's it's it's magical. I use that word a lot, but I think the whole trip really is. And then we we we settle into our hotel right on the beach, which is lovely. And then from there, we'll be going over to Siracusa, which is one of my favorite places ever. My first time I went to Sicily, we didn't go there. And I went back and I said, how do we skip that the first time? Siracoosa is, it's unbelievable.And you've agreed too. We we're staying right in they called it Ortega. That's like the old city of Siracusa. And we're staying right inside the city wall. So our bus will drop our private bus for our group will drop us off, and then we have to walk about ten minutes to our hotel, which is on a small little alleyway. And we'll talk about that later on. But it's a great location that we'll be doing, having different experiences, seeing all the the ruins, walking around at night. It's just beautiful.And from there, we'll be out we'll also be going to see Mount Etna, which is still an active volcano. We'll be on the sides of it. It's unbelievable. All of a sudden, you feel like you're being transported onto the moon. You see the vents and things like that. It's beautiful. And they grow some amazing wines there too on the slopes of it, and we'll be tasting some of those.Stephanie Hansen:That's so cool.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It's it's it's it really is pretty cool, because of that that rich soil just offers great Sicilian wines and the dry and the the elevation. So it it culminates to be really, really good. So, work on your Sicilian, reds. They're they're quite good.Stephanie Hansen:It will be exciting. Yeah.Michael Kenney:No. It it it's great. So I mean, it's it's seven, nights, a nine day trip, in Sicily. You'll have a real good flavor of the city, of all the areas that we visit. So it's it's quite nice. And if you go on the, the website, you'll see all the the inclusions as well. So we include mostly everything that we've talked about. There's really, we don't include all the meals because we want some experiences, for yourself too to go out and go, hey.Michael Kenney:We're gonna go to this little restaurant or whatever. Mhmm. And we have a local guide with us the entire time that will really help, talk about the history, and, you know, what's going on with the people itself, but then just pointing out great restaurants and other little experiences you can doStephanie Hansen:during the free And that's I love that because when we go to some of these places, like, I think I told you my husband is, he's kind of an you know, he's in venture. He always wants to do his own thing. So if we land in a place, he's like, okay. We're gonna take off. We're gonna go do this. We're gonna do that. And, you know, we try to balance, like, doing the group things with also him having his best life and doing some unique, food experiences just on our own. So every everybody gets a little bit of everything.It's a real delightful mix. You've been to Sicily. Now I think this will be, you said, your third time, fourth time?Michael Kenney:Fourth time.Stephanie Hansen:I'm so impressed that you're coming.Michael Kenney:Yeah. I'd well, I can't miss with your groups too. I can't go on all our trips, but this is definitely one I I, notched away because I think, part of me still is in Sicily. There's there's just something about it, and you can't you know, I've been to other parts of Italy plenty of times, and I feel like I'm an Italian, but, there's just something with Sicily. Maybe I meant I meant the grit. I've talked about that. It feels like a real city, real sites, real food, just from the the different markets, the fish markets is just everything seems really authentic.Stephanie Hansen:I love it.Michael Kenney:That's what I really, really love, and I think the guests do too. I'm I'm just envisioning myself walking and through Palermo with my last group, and there was, like, there was music being played in the streets, and people are sitting down and having glasses of wine. There was no festival going on. It was just this this zest for life thatStephanie Hansen:Yeah. The Italians just in general, they stay up late. They eat late. So they have, like, a happy hour kind of at, like, six to seven, and then they go home and get ready to go out for the dinner time in a lot of cases. So they spend a lot of time outdoors, and they like to do it when it's not in the blazing hot sun. So things really there's a great nightlife. People are, out and about into all hours of the evening, which is fun. So I'm just super excited.So if people wanna join us, you said I mean, I know we've got some rooms booked already. Yeah. So are there some rooms left if people wanna book, and what is the timeline that they should be doing that, and how do they do it?Michael Kenney:Yeah. That's a great question. So I said we have about we can handle maximum of 30 people. So we have about seven rooms up, so about 14 people. So if someone calls and say, well, will this be booked up by next week? It probably won't be, but I always tell people, go ahead, put your deposit down, hold the seat on the trip itself. And you just have to go to definedestinations.com. You can book everything right then then and there. It's super simple process.You just put your your information in. You don't need a valid passport right now to to enter that in. But you just go ahead and you fill that out, put your deposit down, at least then you'll you'll have a, a seat held for you. Then you can work on if you wanna get your own air fryer or if you wanna stay earlier, you know, stay after later on the trip itself. You you can do that all right there as well. So it's pretty simple.Stephanie Hansen:And then once you're booked and we know who's coming, we usually try to have a call to kinda give everybody the particulars of that trip. Sometimes depending on our time frame, we try to get together in person. I wasn't able for the last one because I had so many things coming, and I'm not sure what'll happen with this one because I've got the cookbook coming out, in September. But one way or another, we will see each other's faces, and we will get on that plane, and we will arrive together and have a blast. So I'm looking forward to it, and we've got other trips planned. I know we're trying to book another Croatia trip possibly for the following year for the fall and something in the spring. So if you guys have any destinations you wanna check out with me, let me know. I'm always looking for new places to go. You just went to the Galapagos. It sounded like it was amazing.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It that that was, fabulous. I was just doing a site inspection because we're looking about having groups go to the Galapagos and the Amazon, and it it was it was unreal. I loved it. Completely different experience from going to, to going to Sicily. Well, that's great. There's so many experiences to have on our on the world, and we only have so much time to be able to do those. So you gotta kinda hit that hierarchy of, you know, what's what's important.For anybody that's just thinking about it or if this is the first time you've ever even heard of Sicily, please take a look at this because it is really a magical trip, and we have so many fun inclusions. Our hotel locations are in the city center. I wanted to mention that, not, just because we're on tiny little streets. So you mentioned, like, the the nightlife. It's we're not on a bustling street where all the cars are going by. It's like you feel like you're a local. You'll go out the door, and there's mama Rosita across the street, you know, cutting herStephanie Hansen:Yeah. Sitting outside. Yes.Michael Kenney:That's the experience we want, not just on this trip, all of our trips. We want you to feel like you're kind of a, a local for even three nights when we're there, so you'll know where the the nearest bakery is and, the restaurants. And I think you'll have that on this trip. I it's it's reallyStephanie Hansen:I love it.Michael Kenney:Something else with all our hotels. You'll absolutely love that. We know exactly where to stay, and sometimes that's overwhelming when you're looking at doing a trip in your own, like, where should I go? What should I where should I stay? Like, it's overwhelming. We want this to be just book the trip. We're gonna be taking care of all the highlights for you.Stephanie Hansen:Pack your bags and come along. Yes.Michael Kenney:Exactly. So that's that's what's really important to us. And IStephanie Hansen:think I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be awesome. I'm gonna release this podcast, not this Friday, but next Friday. So k. Between now and then, you guys, I hope you get your seats booked, and I hope to see you on this amazing trip. Thanks, Michael.Michael Kenney:Wonderful. Thanks, Michael.Stephanie Hansen:It was awesome. It's defined destinations. You can find them at defineddestinations.com. Taste of Italy is right on the front page. Click that, and you can see all the itinerary of the whole trip. And we're gonna have a great time.Michael Kenney:Taste of Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:Yes. The tasteMichael Kenney:of Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:Oh, what did I call it? What did I say? Taste ofMichael Kenney:Italy. We have one of those too. Oh, okay. The Sicily one.Stephanie Hansen:Taste of Sicily specifically. Yes. And then if you like Italy, you can go back because there are a lot of places to go back to. Amalfi Coast is great, but it's different. And, like, I there I've been to a lot of different places in Italy, and they're all a little bit different. And I like them all for different reasons. So I'm really excited to explore Sicily.Michael Kenney:Yep. It's gonna be great. Well, thanks so much for the time.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. We'll talk soon.Michael Kenney:Yep.Stephanie Hansen:Bye. Bye bye.Stephanie's Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to another exciting episode of "Dishing with Stephanies Dish." In this episode, I am joined by my fellow travel enthusiast, Michael Kenney from Defined Destinations, as we dive into the world of adventurous group travel. Fresh from their trips to Croatia and Asia, they're setting their sights on a new journey to Sicily, Italy. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or a wanderlust-driven explorer, you'll discover the unique experiences that Sicily promises, from breathtaking historic cities to mesmerizing volcanoes and, of course, delectable Italian cuisine. Join Stephanie and the Michaels for a delightful conversation about the joys of traveling with a group, the thrill of meeting new people, and the authentic charm that awaits in Sicily. Whether you're considering joining their next adventure or simply living vicariously through their tales, this episode offers a captivating glimpse into the magic of defined destinations. Let the journey begin!Stephanie Hansen:Hello, everybody. Welcome to the podcast, Dishing with Stephanie's Dish. I hope you're doing great today. I am here with my friend, Michael Kenney, and Michael and I have been traveling together a couple years now. Right, Michael?Michael Kenney:Yeah. We've had, two trips under our belt. So it's, a trip to Croatia and, just recently that Cambodia Vietnam trip. So we've been we've been putting some miles down, Stephanie.Stephanie Hansen:I actually actually was somewhere last night and ran into someone from our trip, and we were comparing our bracelets from when we met the Buddhist monk because both of us still have ours on. Yes.Michael Kenney:Mine, like, just kinda fell apart.Stephanie Hansen:It was such a Oh,Michael Kenney:I woke up in the sun.Stephanie Hansen:Trip. Yes. I'm I'm gonna keep it on as long as I can. It was such a life changing trip. Asia was somewhere that I'd always wanted to go and really didn't have the confidence to do it by myself. So you gave me confidence. Going with other people gave me confidence, and we ended up having such a great time. Pretty good.Stephanie Hansen:I have had another great trip with you. We went to Croatia, and that was an awesome trip. We were on kind of like an exclusive private yacht with, Stan, our tour guide, who was probably one of the best tour guides ever.Michael Kenney:For sure.Stephanie Hansen:And you're going back there to Croatia this summer, aren't you?Michael Kenney:Yeah. Personally, I'm not. I'm gonna have somebody else. I'm a little envious because, yeah, that that trip was straight out of a dream. And, you and your, listeners, followers, they were so much fun.Stephanie Hansen:So Yeah. We did have a good time.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It was great.Stephanie Hansen:So I wanted to podcast with you because people ask me all the time about these trips and, like, how it works and what we do and, you know, like, are you, like, checking people's passports? I'm like, no. Silly. I'm not. But we have a trip coming up to Sicily, a taste of Sicily, which you have so sweetly on your your background there. That's smart. October 14 through the twenty second. And our final payments, I think, are due in June. So we're kind of in the hunt for getting everybody signed up and confirmed.And I wanted to talk with you. I've been to Italy a lot, actually, but I've never been to Sicily. So I'm excited about what that area is gonna be like and you've been. So I thought, alright. Let's just talk a little bit about this and get to know a little bit about how these trips work. So, I like to do trips with people because I like to travel with others. And people always ask me, well, are they food trips? Yes. They are food.Like, we eat food. We enjoy food. We talk about food, but it isn't, like, exclusively a food trip. We know that when you're going to some of these historic destinations that you also wanna see some of the beautiful sites. So we try to mix in some food things like special tastings, special wine events, or special dinners, but we also wanna give you some time to explore the region on your own so that you can go to the restaurants that really appeal to you. And, you know, when you're going with the group, sometimes it's not easy to go to some of these really exclusive special places because you have a larger group. Our group on a trip like this would be, what, would you say, like, less than, like, 26 probably?Michael Kenney:Yeah. It this group size will be anywhere from 20 to 30 maximum on this trip. So it's a real nice, you know, size group for sure.Stephanie Hansen:And you've been to Sicily before. When was the last time you went?Michael Kenney:I was with a group two years ago in Sicily. So I've been there three other times. So just most recently, just two years ago.Stephanie Hansen:And you and I like, I kinda gave you my short list of places. And you asked me about Sicily, and I was like, oh, well, I don't know. I've never really thought about that. And you were like, oh my gosh. It's one of your favorite places in Italy. So tell me what it is that you love about Sicily in particular.Michael Kenney:Yeah. No. That that that's a great question. You already mentioned you've been to Italy several times, and we get a lot of people that have been to Italy. And they're like, alright. I've already done that. Or maybe you haven't, you know, seen the the Colosseum and Venice and things like that. Sicily is is Italian, but it's an island in the middle of the Mediterranean.Michael Kenney:So it's just it's it's it's similar, but it's different. I think everything is elevated. Their food, their sites. I mean, the history has a whole Greek, northern the Arabs. It's a Spanish influence in Normans. They've all kinda come to this island in the middle of the the Mediterranean and put, like, their best foods, their their best everything. And it's kinda mixes and makes a Sicilian dish, which is really cool. So it's it's similar, yes, with their pastas and things like that in Mainland Europe, but it's it's a different notch.Michael Kenney:I think it's above, regular standard Italian food. It's just the flavors, the the spices, everything like that is just it's so good. And that's just the food side of it. And then, of course, I already mentioned with with the Greeks in the Spanish and the Normans, they have their own architectures that they brought, a mix of different languages. So you really feel like you're in a whole another country. It says in Italy, but the Sicilians say we're Sicilian first, then we're Italian.Stephanie Hansen:That's funny.Michael Kenney:So it's it's really so different, of an experience on that end. And I even have, a couple of friends going on this trip, and they've never been to Europe before. And they're saying, hey. We're we're gonna join you on this trip because it sounds lovely, but we've never been to Europe. We've never seen the Colosseum, things like that. Like, is this a good trip for us to take? I go, for sure it is. I mean, you don't have these, you know, the Leaning Tower Of Pisa, but once you get get to these places, you'll say, oh my gosh. I mean, a church that's, a thousand years old, or the little villages that are, you know, 500 years old and just oozing with this with charm.So you're really, having this real great Italian Sicilian experience, but maybe not knowing the sites, but it'll kinda resonate even better when you come back and tell your stories. It's just a beautiful, beautiful trip.Stephanie Hansen:And I think, you know, I've been to Rome. I've been to a lot of the little Italian islands on sailing trips with my husband. And we've been to Naples. We've been to Venice. We've been all over, really. And each of Italy has its own uniqueness, but the islands themselves are just something different because you really did get a lot of influences of people coming through and the trading that happened. And they also weren't as involved in the wars because they were sort of moving to the mainland. So you get a lot of different preservation possibilities, and the culture just held up because they weren't impacted by the wars in the same way.Michael Kenney:Exactly. And I think even early on, Sicilians were were very poor as well. So a lot of things just really, held. So they didn't, you know, knock down buildings and build new skyscrapers, things like that. It's like you're being, on the set of The Godfather, which was filmed there too, part of it at least. And, it was, like, set in time, and you're going there and just really experiencing the the feel, the taste, the smell, even you could call, like, the grit of, like, Palermo. I mean, it has this edge to it in a sense, like, this is a real living city. It sound like all spruced up to be perfect, like, on a set, but that's what makes it so so fantastic.It it's it's real. And I don't think you always get that experience that you're in in Central Rome, and they they, you know, it's all beautiful up. Again Palermo and all these cities that will visit are extremely beautiful but it has it's just a different edge to it and every group that I've ever been there with Stephanie if they've come back and said wow this is a dream. Not just the food, the sites, the experiences, the people. The people are real. They're they're fabulous. So it's it's a real real, just an amazing immersion, if you will, to Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:One of the things that people ask me about too, and I'll be honest with you. I'm not really, like, someone that you would think of as a group traveler. I like a certain amount of, alone time. I don't love to have every single thing coordinated for me. My husband, as you know, is a big adventurer and explorer. He's always the first one to do anything crazy on these trips. But it having a group is it's so nice when it's a smaller group like this because you do get to meet new people. You do get to create a community amongst your travelers.And I'll tell you, my friend Laurie Bargini that went on our Asia trip with us, she was very she's a big traveler too, and she was like, I don't know about this group thing. I was like, just give it a try. Like, Asia's a good one to test it out because it's probably a destination you wouldn't go alone. And she signed up right away for Sicily. She was like, I loved the group elements because when I wanted to, I had a group of friends and it was fun and we could hang out together and do fun things, but also when I wanted to be alone, I could do that too. It she thought it added a whole another layer to the travel experience than you just get either with you and your spouse or you and your friends because you have this whole other dynamic of people that for the most part is pretty great.Michael Kenney:Yeah. I know. And I and that's great. And Laurie was great. I'm glad she signed up because on the flight back from Asia, she sat next to me on the flight, and that's a seventeen hour flight. And if she wants to go back, then that that that's great.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. It's good. Well, you know she talked to you the whole time probably.Michael Kenney:No. I tried to again, maybe it's like the group element. You know, have time on, time off. So I'm glad that was brought up. And I've been doing group tours for twenty eight years now, which I I I can't believe. And I I first started getting into tourism because I wanted to see sites. I'm like, I know I can't pay for it, so I need to be a tour guide and and going from that. I didn't realize the whole experience and having shared experiences with others was gonna be my highlight.And to this day, that's my favorite part is going to meet people that I've never met before and going having these shared experiences with. And and sometimes, you know, you build friends for a lifetime off of that.Michael Kinney:I think especially our last group too, we we really, built that with several of the the travelers, which is great. So and I so if you're hesitant, like, well, I'd like to this trip sounds great or any of our trips, but I am kind of worried about that. We really try to balance all our tours out. It's it's it's imperative that we have that balance of, some of the group time to have these, shared experiences to leisure time so that you can go and have your own adventures. And that is so crucial to all of our trips. That's why our hotels, and we can talk about that later, are centrally located. So once we go out and do, say, our city tour, our our our food tour in Palermo and walking around, you'll have, like, the remainder of the day to go explore on your own or some of those new friends that you met. Maybe you can go out and have a glass of wine with them.But again, it's all about that balance. And we each and every itinerary that we put together, we really work on making sure we have that balance in in the trips itself. Because I think that is the success of it. So we don't pack the days all day long on, like, seeing this, this, and this. We give you the nice highlights, and we'll have some other fun inclusions. But again, each place that we go to centrally located hotels, we have that free time too. So you can do your own thing or jump on with a group that you've met and have cocktails, Aperol spritzes in the main, Piazza later on. So it it's so fun, but it it really comes back.You register for a trip, but you don't know you're gonna meet some great people. And at at the end of the trip, it's typically these, these people and these, shared experiences come back, and that's where the meaning of the the trip comes in. It's so it's it's so much fun to see them build together.Stephanie Hansen:On each of the trips that I've done with you, we've had solo travelersMichael Kenney:Mhmm.Stephanie Hansen:Which I think people are like, oh, you know, I don't know. I don't have a partner to go with or my friend can't go. And that to me has also been super fun, like the solo travelers and the friends that they've made. And, like, one of the gals I saw from our Asia trip, I saw our friend Annie last night, and she was a solo traveler. Ended up pairing up with Laurie in a room and sharing, actually, actually, which a lot of solo travelers don't wanna share. I get that. But in this case, they both did, and they are like fast friends.Michael Kenney:That I mean, that's that's so much fun to see that. First off, if, you know, we all have it like your maybe your husband or wife or friend they don't want to go but you're like interested in this trip. We get that on all of our trips and we specifically specifically have, several single rooms set aside for those, adventure traveler seekers to have that. So you can pick your own room and go as a single or maybe you want us to to pair you up. We can do that too and get you in contact with another solo traveler like lorian annie did and that typically works out really well too but it's it's I think the like minded people looking for adventures you'll never feel like you're by yourself on any of our trips So, like, oh, I'm a third wheel. Never ever ever. And sometimes that's the best way to travel because you don't have to make sure your traveling partner is having a great time. You only can worry about yourself.Hey. I'm gonna have a great time. And, you know, all of our trip travelers that I've I've ever heard from, they've had a great time going solo, and they meet these like minded people. And, again, all of a sudden, they have friends for a lifetime, like, you know, Lori and Annie did. So if you're you're even thinking about it, like, I'm solo and I'm a little skeptical about going by myself, give us a call. Send us an email. We we can get you your own, room, single, room. They are filling up quick, though.We have a few left, or we can pair you up with somebody too to share that single supplement. But, again, you'll never feel like a third wheel with any of our tours. And this, in addition, just works really, really well for single travelers, and you'll meet some probably good friends on it.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. And, also, like, ladies, some of you I know, like, getting coming out of relationships or divorce, you wanna do something unique. I have someone in my family who are shall remain nameless, who's gonna be joining us, who wanted to get back to Europe, but she's just not in a relationship status that would work for that as the way she thought it was gonna be. So I was like, come with us. Like, we're gonna have a ball. There's men. There's women. You know, my husband has come on some trips, but others, he hasn't.And Mhmm. It's just there's a great mix of people.Michael Kenney:Yeah. No. It it it it's great. Now this isn't a singles trip, but maybe you can find Giuseppe at the local cafe. You never know. So you never know. So anyway, yeah, it it works great for whatever status you are in life, single, you know, whatever. It these really, really work really nice.And sometimes, like, my brother came, and we shared a room on our the last trip, and he just wanted to kind of have a experience and get away from, you know, what's going on in life over here and just do a reset. And he came back and said, I'm really recharged. And he's kinda like going into he's retired, and he wants to do something else in his, you know, second part of his life. And he he's going after something right now because he he was able to kinda just disconnect Yeah. And then just take it all in and then kinda come back and, like, let's go. So regardless from relationships to job hunting or whatever, sometimes these trips are great. Even if you go solo, that could even be better.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. Just to get a reset.Can you give us, like, without, like, going into all the detail, like, a high level, not day by day, but just, like, what are the towns we're gonna visit? What are because we're gonna be in, I think, three different areas.Michael Kenney:Yeah. Correct. So if you if you go on our, at definedestinations.com and look at, taste of Sicily Twenty Twenty Five, you can find the day by day, itinerary on that, and you'll get to be able to see through it. But again, it reads like a brochure, and you go through each item. And everything that we mentioned on that, it's, it is included. But the neat thing is we go from the North to the South and then all the way over to the, the East side of the island. So you're really having a great feel for the entire island itself. And, we have three nights in Palermo, and then we have one night in Agrigento, which is at the very southern on the beach, our hotel's right on the beach.You can walk right down there. And even October mid October is a great time to go too because the temperatures are, like, mid seventies, so it's super comfortable. And the water temperature is still pretty nice if you want to jump in. And then we have three nights in Siracoosa. So we we have these, like, kind of, hub and spoke places that we we do our adventures from the but we always come back to our centrally located place. So, anyway, we'll we'll find the Palermo. We have a connection. If you do our included flights, there's no, direct flights from from Minneapolis into Sicily.So we have a connection, on that.Stephanie Hansen:And let me just touch on that because some people want to work with the travel agent to have all of the flight things arranged for them, and that is an option with you. But you also do have options where people can meet you at the destination. So, like, for me, we have a lot of miles that we're always trying to burn up. Yeah. So for us, we book our own airfare so that we can use our miles, and then we sometimes add a few days on at the end, or we might even go to a different destination. With your group travel plans, both of those options are available to people.Michael Kenney:A %. I'm glad you asked that too because, yes, there's people that have miles or if they only wanna stay exclusively with Delta or United or whatever, that's fine. Our trips truly begin and end at at the hotels. With that, we do offer an included group package you can jump on, but the whole group will not be on that flight for sure. It's just an option to do that. And my my team can also, get you, flights separate from that too if you wanted to come early like you said, Stephanie, or stay light. Hey. I wanna go see the Colosseum on this trip.Great. My team can put a pre tour, post tour package together if you want to do that. Or even if you don't want any of our help, that's fine. You can just book our land only. You'll be able to see our group flight numbers on there too so you can kinda coordinate that. But the great thing is that both, airports, in Palermo we fly into, and then we fly out of Catania. They're close to both, towns, so you can easily take an Uber. So it's really pretty easy to get to and from, and that's where the, the the the tour start from.So if you're hesitant, hey. I need to book the group air. Don't worry about that. You don't have to do that by any means. We're happy to help you, on all the other aspects too to to get the airfare, with that. So, yep, we fly into Palermo. We'll settle into our our our three, our centrally located hotel, which is fabulous. Again, remind me that we need to touch on the the hotels too a little bit.Stephanie Hansen:Yep.Michael Kenney:But it's right in the center. We'll do a food tour of one of the local markets. Again, like you mentioned, maybe we have some guests on the trip that could care less about food or wine tastings. It's just a a piece of of our trip. So even if you're, a modest food lover or you only like cornflakes, there's gonna be some fun things to do on this as well. And we find that, you learn a lot about the culture through the food. Yeah. That's the reason we we do part of that too.So it'll be fun regardless. You're going through the markets. You're learning about the foods. Things like that. We go to, the the Cathedral Of Monreali, which, hey. We're seeing another church. We typically don't always do that, but this is really specific. This church is beautiful.It's got, it's it's a massive church built in the twelfth century, and they're famous for all its mosaics. The whole interior, the churches, all these fine mosaics they did almost a thousand years ago. It's unreal. So it's beautiful that we'll be doing that. We'll go to Cefalu, a little, seaside village, which is outside of Palermo a little ways. Maybe you've seen White Lotus. Part of that was filmed there or all parts of the, that, season two was filmed in Sicily. So we'll have a lot of White Lotus moments, as well on that, which which will be a lot of fun.And then from there, we'll be driving after our three nights in, in Palermo. We'll be heading south, crossing the entire, island itself. Absolutely beautiful. Even our coach rides, which aren't a lot, that they're just stunning. And and enjoying the countryside is absolutely beautiful. And we'll be going to that's where Agrigento is, and it feels like you're being stuck in Greece. Like, wow. There's all these Greek ruins, you know, two, three thousand years old.It's like, this is unbelievable. They have some of the better Greek ruins even outside of Athens, which is amazing. So walking through Agrigento, experiencing that, seeing that during the sunset, it's it's it's magical. I use that word a lot, but I think the whole trip really is. And then we we we settle into our hotel right on the beach, which is lovely. And then from there, we'll be going over to Siracusa, which is one of my favorite places ever. My first time I went to Sicily, we didn't go there. And I went back and I said, how do we skip that the first time? Siracoosa is, it's unbelievable.And you've agreed too. We we're staying right in they called it Ortega. That's like the old city of Siracusa. And we're staying right inside the city wall. So our bus will drop our private bus for our group will drop us off, and then we have to walk about ten minutes to our hotel, which is on a small little alleyway. And we'll talk about that later on. But it's a great location that we'll be doing, having different experiences, seeing all the the ruins, walking around at night. It's just beautiful.And from there, we'll be out we'll also be going to see Mount Etna, which is still an active volcano. We'll be on the sides of it. It's unbelievable. All of a sudden, you feel like you're being transported onto the moon. You see the vents and things like that. It's beautiful. And they grow some amazing wines there too on the slopes of it, and we'll be tasting some of those.Stephanie Hansen:That's so cool.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It's it's it's it really is pretty cool, because of that that rich soil just offers great Sicilian wines and the dry and the the elevation. So it it culminates to be really, really good. So, work on your Sicilian, reds. They're they're quite good.Stephanie Hansen:It will be exciting. Yeah.Michael Kenney:No. It it it's great. So I mean, it's it's seven, nights, a nine day trip, in Sicily. You'll have a real good flavor of the city, of all the areas that we visit. So it's it's quite nice. And if you go on the, the website, you'll see all the the inclusions as well. So we include mostly everything that we've talked about. There's really, we don't include all the meals because we want some experiences, for yourself too to go out and go, hey.Michael Kenney:We're gonna go to this little restaurant or whatever. Mhmm. And we have a local guide with us the entire time that will really help, talk about the history, and, you know, what's going on with the people itself, but then just pointing out great restaurants and other little experiences you can doStephanie Hansen:during the free And that's I love that because when we go to some of these places, like, I think I told you my husband is, he's kind of an you know, he's in venture. He always wants to do his own thing. So if we land in a place, he's like, okay. We're gonna take off. We're gonna go do this. We're gonna do that. And, you know, we try to balance, like, doing the group things with also him having his best life and doing some unique, food experiences just on our own. So every everybody gets a little bit of everything.It's a real delightful mix. You've been to Sicily. Now I think this will be, you said, your third time, fourth time?Michael Kenney:Fourth time.Stephanie Hansen:I'm so impressed that you're coming.Michael Kenney:Yeah. I'd well, I can't miss with your groups too. I can't go on all our trips, but this is definitely one I I, notched away because I think, part of me still is in Sicily. There's there's just something about it, and you can't you know, I've been to other parts of Italy plenty of times, and I feel like I'm an Italian, but, there's just something with Sicily. Maybe I meant I meant the grit. I've talked about that. It feels like a real city, real sites, real food, just from the the different markets, the fish markets is just everything seems really authentic.Stephanie Hansen:I love it.Michael Kenney:That's what I really, really love, and I think the guests do too. I'm I'm just envisioning myself walking and through Palermo with my last group, and there was, like, there was music being played in the streets, and people are sitting down and having glasses of wine. There was no festival going on. It was just this this zest for life thatStephanie Hansen:Yeah. The Italians just in general, they stay up late. They eat late. So they have, like, a happy hour kind of at, like, six to seven, and then they go home and get ready to go out for the dinner time in a lot of cases. So they spend a lot of time outdoors, and they like to do it when it's not in the blazing hot sun. So things really there's a great nightlife. People are, out and about into all hours of the evening, which is fun. So I'm just super excited.So if people wanna join us, you said I mean, I know we've got some rooms booked already. Yeah. So are there some rooms left if people wanna book, and what is the timeline that they should be doing that, and how do they do it?Michael Kenney:Yeah. That's a great question. So I said we have about we can handle maximum of 30 people. So we have about seven rooms up, so about 14 people. So if someone calls and say, well, will this be booked up by next week? It probably won't be, but I always tell people, go ahead, put your deposit down, hold the seat on the trip itself. And you just have to go to definedestinations.com. You can book everything right then then and there. It's super simple process.You just put your your information in. You don't need a valid passport right now to to enter that in. But you just go ahead and you fill that out, put your deposit down, at least then you'll you'll have a, a seat held for you. Then you can work on if you wanna get your own air fryer or if you wanna stay earlier, you know, stay after later on the trip itself. You you can do that all right there as well. So it's pretty simple.Stephanie Hansen:And then once you're booked and we know who's coming, we usually try to have a call to kinda give everybody the particulars of that trip. Sometimes depending on our time frame, we try to get together in person. I wasn't able for the last one because I had so many things coming, and I'm not sure what'll happen with this one because I've got the cookbook coming out, in September. But one way or another, we will see each other's faces, and we will get on that plane, and we will arrive together and have a blast. So I'm looking forward to it, and we've got other trips planned. I know we're trying to book another Croatia trip possibly for the following year for the fall and something in the spring. So if you guys have any destinations you wanna check out with me, let me know. I'm always looking for new places to go. You just went to the Galapagos. It sounded like it was amazing.Michael Kenney:Yeah. It that that was, fabulous. I was just doing a site inspection because we're looking about having groups go to the Galapagos and the Amazon, and it it was it was unreal. I loved it. Completely different experience from going to, to going to Sicily. Well, that's great. There's so many experiences to have on our on the world, and we only have so much time to be able to do those. So you gotta kinda hit that hierarchy of, you know, what's what's important.For anybody that's just thinking about it or if this is the first time you've ever even heard of Sicily, please take a look at this because it is really a magical trip, and we have so many fun inclusions. Our hotel locations are in the city center. I wanted to mention that, not, just because we're on tiny little streets. So you mentioned, like, the the nightlife. It's we're not on a bustling street where all the cars are going by. It's like you feel like you're a local. You'll go out the door, and there's mama Rosita across the street, you know, cutting herStephanie Hansen:Yeah. Sitting outside. Yes.Michael Kenney:That's the experience we want, not just on this trip, all of our trips. We want you to feel like you're kind of a, a local for even three nights when we're there, so you'll know where the the nearest bakery is and, the restaurants. And I think you'll have that on this trip. I it's it's reallyStephanie Hansen:I love it.Michael Kenney:Something else with all our hotels. You'll absolutely love that. We know exactly where to stay, and sometimes that's overwhelming when you're looking at doing a trip in your own, like, where should I go? What should I where should I stay? Like, it's overwhelming. We want this to be just book the trip. We're gonna be taking care of all the highlights for you.Stephanie Hansen:Pack your bags and come along. Yes.Michael Kenney:Exactly. So that's that's what's really important to us. And IStephanie Hansen:think I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be awesome. I'm gonna release this podcast, not this Friday, but next Friday. So k. Between now and then, you guys, I hope you get your seats booked, and I hope to see you on this amazing trip. Thanks, Michael.Michael Kenney:Wonderful. Thanks, Michael.Stephanie Hansen:It was awesome. It's defined destinations. You can find them at defineddestinations.com. Taste of Italy is right on the front page. Click that, and you can see all the itinerary of the whole trip. And we're gonna have a great time.Michael Kenney:Taste of Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:Yes. The tasteMichael Kenney:of Sicily.Stephanie Hansen:Oh, what did I call it? What did I say? Taste ofMichael Kenney:Italy. We have one of those too. Oh, okay. The Sicily one.Stephanie Hansen:Taste of Sicily specifically. Yes. And then if you like Italy, you can go back because there are a lot of places to go back to. Amalfi Coast is great, but it's different. And, like, I there I've been to a lot of different places in Italy, and they're all a little bit different. And I like them all for different reasons. So I'm really excited to explore Sicily.Michael Kenney:Yep. It's gonna be great. Well, thanks so much for the time.Stephanie Hansen:Yeah. We'll talk soon.Michael Kenney:Yep.Stephanie Hansen:Bye. Bye bye.Stephanie's Dish Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit stephaniehansen.substack.com/subscribe

With the health and wellness and moderation trends booming, the non-alcoholic wine market has been growing quickly off a small base. Launched in 2019, the Giesen 0% range has solidified its position as one of the leaders in the NA wine market. Duncan Shouler, Director of Innovation, explains how the 0% range was developed, the critical elements of non-alcoholic wine, the current market conditions, and what it will take for the non-alcoholic wine market to succeed.Detailed Show Notes: Duncan's background - was in marine biology and shifted to wine ~20 years agoGiesen - family owned, 40 years old, large winery (crushes ~20k tons/year), a broad range of wines from large scale to single vineyardStarted non-alcoholic (“NA”) range 5 years ago (2019)~17% of production today, growingHas a more significant reach and impact on the market vs. regular winesThe creation of the NA range came from a fitness challenge in 2019, when he could not drink alcohol for 1 month and discovered there were no good choices in the NA space. Spinning cone technology (good for quality as it uses lower temps than other processes) also became available in NZ at that timeNA winemaking process - create regular wine, then remove alcohol; for red wine, you need to balance the tannins (need ripe, soft tannins)More expensive to make - costs 15-20% moreNeed to replace ~25% of volumeNeed to go through spinning cone technologyLower cost from no alcohol excise taxesNA taste - loses some of alcohol's texture, body, heatNA wines age similarly to regular wine (except in cans)NA wine markets - still in growth mode, needs higher quality wines to succeedThe US is ahead of most markets, and the UK is slower with more traditional drinkersMainland Europe is booming, and NZ is behindMost off-premise, some growing pains (e.g., Boisson closed its stores), mostly bought where people buy alcoholOn-premise still embracing category (Giesen launching super premium range to target on-premise)Most large players (e.g., Constellation, Treasury) are looking at NA wineNA wine drinkers - originally abstainers driving growth, now people substituting wine driving growth from moderation trend; broad market from boomers to legal age Gen Z; 35-60 females largest cohortPrice points aligned with regular wine ($9 low end, up to $18/bottle, some products ~$55/bottle)Removed alcohol of high quality can be used for other things (e.g., gin, biofuel)NA wines can have up to 0.5% abv, Giesen wines 0.4-0.5% abvYou need to consume 5 bottles of NA wine to get 1 glass of 13.5% ABV wine.45% abv similar to ripe bananas, some fruit juices, breadNA wine should still be kept away from children as it is still a wine experienceMarketing NA winesLow calorie is significant; Giesen is low in sugar (drives calories), which plays into the health and wellness trendMost effective - social media and influencers - play well with Millennial and older Gen Z's, essential NA wine growth categoryOlder consumers know Giesen from regular wineNutritional and ingredient labeling - mandatory for regular wine in the EU; NA is a food product and requires itGiesen back labels specific for each wine, the main driver of differences are in sugar contentNutritional data has some positive elements (e.g., potassium)Large serving size (12 ounces, ~½ bottle) driven by US FDA, looking to change back to a 5-ounce glass Get access to library episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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3 on 3 Overtime: On the latest episode of Overtime, we have Sheffield Steelers defenceman Kevin Tansey, who talks about his career in North America and Mainland Europe before coming over to the UK as well as his plans are post hockey.

In the wake of the flight of the Earls, the lands and titles left behind were confiscated by the English crown, which accelerated the process of English colonisation over the next ...

Episode 201 brought to you by TROPICAL BOX a premium tropical fruit supplier servicing London and surrounding areas, delivering a little sunshine to your door. Go to the website www.tropicalbox.co.uk and get 10% off your order using FULLYGEEKED at the checkout #TheFullyGeekedPod return with podcast episode 201 #FullyGeekedWeeklyRoundUp (00:23) This weeks topics include our thoughts on Mainland Europe heatwave and our lack of it thanks to #Brexit. Women's World Cup started, Saudi offering Mbappe 700Ms (£605M). RIPs to #YNGCheese, #ChrisBartWilliams, #TrevorFrancis, #GeorgeAlagiah, #TonyBennett before TV/Films (27:31) Love Island (#ITV2) (41:20) Hijack Ep 5 (#ApplePLusTv) (52:52) Secret Invasion Ep5 (#DisneyPlus) (01:05:20) They Clones Tyrone (#Netflix) (01:12:12) Swagger (#AppleTV+) (01:17:11) Oppenheimer (#CinemaRelease) (01:25:56) Special Ops: Lioness (#Paramount+) (01:29:17) The Crowded Room (#AppleTv+) Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan (#Netflix) #Podcast #TheFullyGeekedPod #Films #TV #Review #GuysThatPodcast #LoveIsland #MCU #SecretInvasion #Hijack #IdrisElba #Oppenheimer #SpecialOpsLioness #Swagger #TheyClonedTyrone #PSG #TropicalBox

#TheFullyGeekedPod return with podcast episode 199 (00:07) #FullyGeekedWeeklyRoundUp This weeks topics include our thoughts on Mainland Europe and their heatwave. SAG-AFTRA Actors have joined the WGA Writers Strike and what does this mean for us?? Commonwealth 2026 games looks like its in Doubt as Victoria, Australia pulls out! Some New Albums are out and we are telling you which ones you should get before TV/Films (28:20) Love Island (#ITV2) (40:15) Hijack Ep 4 (#ApplePLusTv) (52:17) Secret Invasion Ep4 (#DisneyPlus) (59:53) From (#SkySciFi) #Podcast #TheFullyGeekedPod #Films #TV #Review #GuysThatPodcast #LoveIsland #MCU #SecretInvasion #Hijack #IdrisElba #From #SAGAFTRAstrike #SAGAFTRAstrong #ActorsStrike

A Clare retailer claims European distributors have overtaken those in Britain in terms of competitiveness and accessibility. It comes as data from the Central Statistics Office reveals imports from Britain have fallen by 34% to €1.3 billion in the last year. Due to increased supply costs and additional red tape owing to Brexit, many Irish retailers have been forced to seek alternatives to familiar British suppliers. Patrick Bourke of Patrick Bourke Menswear in Ennis and Kilrush believes the trade relationship between Ireland and Britain will never be what it was due to a changed post-Brexit market.

Drone delivery is super-hot, but there aren't that many major players yet. Google's Wing is doing well, but Amazon is still just getting started, and few other significant players have major traction. Tiny Irish drone delivery company Manna Aero, however, has completed over 100,000 drone deliveries, is expanding to Dublin shortly, and will be expanding to mainland Europe and the United States this year. In this TechFirst with John Koetsier, we chat with Bobby Healy, CEO of Manna Aero.

Charlene Colas is a South African who has been living in France for 20 years and studied in New Zealand to become a Quantity Surveyor. She is a tri-lingual and an advocate for advanced technology and wellness in our industry. She is a RICS charted surveyor (QS). Bespok – She is the co-founder of a niche consultancy called Bespok (the art of construction) located in Versailles (France). Her company works on turnkey projects with property investors that have portfolio's across mainland Europe and very recently in the middle east. They work to create solutions to problems in the built environment and construction industry by integrating blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. Charlene loves to discuss the myriad opportunities that exist for the use of technology, including project management, crisis management, quantity surveying, contract management, future solutions, and more. Charlene has worked for main contractors and professional multi-disciplinary practices, with projects in New Zealand and Mainland Europe. Her strength is clients with portfolios of Capital Assets in the built environment.  In this episode you'll discover:  - Why we should be excited for the introduction of blockchain in construction - How blockchain optimizes project delivery including risks and benefits - The courage and mindset needed to disrupt archaic processes - How to stay relevant in a fast-paced market - Why failure is no match for an evolutionary entrepreneur And more Show notes If you enjoyed this episode, and you've learnt something or it inspired you in some way, I'd love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device, and post it to your Instagram Stories, and tag me, @elinormoshe_ or Elinor Moshe on LinkedIn.   Join the home of young guns here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareyoungguns   Get a copy of my book: https://amzn.to/31ILAdv

Presenters: Aaron Burchael & Chris Byrne Record Date: 07/12/2022 Welcome to The Camping Crew podcast with Aaron Burchael & Chris Byrne This is meant to be a fun podcast, we are just enthusiasts and what we discuss on the podcast are just our own personal views. If you would like to support the podcast and you can afford it you can buy us a coffee at https://ko-fi.com/thecampingcrew News: Wishing Johnny from Pamela and Johnny's Motorhome Journeys on YouTube a speedy recovery Online Chatter: Van life/Bugging out — Interesting conversation over on Boards.ie Listener messages, follow ups & shout-outs: Peter wrote in by email with a question about what jobs to do in the Motorhome over winter. He got an old camper at the end of the summer and wants to ensure it is maintained. What's on Charlie and Me this week? This Friday is all about what to do to get your pet ready for Mainland Europe. During December we will have the Meet The Campers in full as a 2 part & then the outtakes from 2022 Products, Gadgets, Tips & Camping hacks: Interesting question here - Pauper's Car Van Stealth Camper — again on boards.ie We share a tip for securing items in a fridge Troubleshooting: Mike F sent us a word of warning by email. Watch out for scammers. Camp life: Anyone out camping in the cold this weekend? When your camper is stored away long term for the winter do you keep your blinds and curtains closed? ---oOo--- We love getting your messages, ideas, campsite suggestions/reviews, products, news items to discuss on the podcast. If you would like a sticker for your Motorhome, Campervan, Caravan or Car just send us your address and we will pop it in the post to you. To get in touch with us: Web: thecampingcrew.ie Email: CampingCrewPodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @TheCampingCrew Instagram: @TheCampingCrewPodcast Facebook: All the good motorhome and camping groups Audio Message/review: https://anchor.fm/the-camping-crew We wrap up this podcast with a quick shout out for Aaron's Vlog on YouTube called: Charlie and me our Camping Vlog and his website http://www.campsitereview.com We hope that you like our podcast. If you did please subscribe and tell your camping friends about us.

Tonight we prove beyond any discussion or debate that Jesus Christ Himself spoke about the Rapture of the Church. And through current news reports (even on CNN) we discuss Major events. Not only concerning the Rapture of the Church. But concerning The Russian Oil Pipeline between Russia and Mainland Europe that could cause many to be without heat this winter as a result of sabotage. Who is responsible? Russia perhaps? Some even suggest it was the United States. We also discuss the 5 Red Heifers that arrived in Israel from the State of Texas. Is this the Final Step before the long awaited construction of a 3rd Temple in Jerusalem? And where will that Temple be constructed? Remember, those of the Islamic Faith consider the "Golden Dome" currently on the Temple mount in Jerusalem as the 3rd most Sacred Islamic Holy Site. US Press Association member JD Williams (ID # 802085263) tonight with permission as a member of the Press includes reports from the Watchman Newscast, and appearances by Amir Tsarfati and Pastor Jack Hibbs. Both speaking on a CNN News Report concerning the Rapture. And a report from our Friend and Bible Teacher Daniel Farley is also included. Please remember, the syndicated Last Christian Radio Show is Broadcast every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday Evening on Evangelism Radio. The #1 Christian Talk Digital Radio Station in the World. On Revelation Radio (www.revelationradio.net). On the "Last Christian" Website at (www.lastchristian.net), on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and all Major Podcast Platforms. Each Episode available in all 50 US States and more than 160 Countries Around the Globe. All Released Simultaneously on all platforms at exactly 7:30pm Central Time, Until the Trumpet Sounds!! Please be sure to to help us Spread the Word of God and Promise of Eternal Salvation by Subscribing, Liking, Commenting and Sharing our Shows with all your friends and family. As doing so helps us fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ and spreading the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ far and wide. Be sure to tune into Revelation Radio KRRB 24 hours a day and 7 Days a week for the latest Real News and Biblical Perspective at either (www.revelationradio.net) or Listen LIVE at ( https://embed.radio.co/player/7ecf23a.html?popout) Or listen on Alexa anytime 24/7 just say, "Alexa, open KRRB Revelation Radio” or click the Link https://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B0BG2NRRZ9 And finally. If you have a Question or Wish To Appear as a Guest on the Show? Write JD Williams at office@youstreamit.net or TL Farley at anymoment@att.net. We'd love to hear from you, or have you on a future show. God Bless

Tonight we prove beyond any discussion or debate that Jesus Christ Himself spoke about the Rapture of the Church. And through current news reports (even on CNN) we discuss Major events. Not only concerning the Rapture of the Church. But concerning The Russian Oil Pipeline between Russia and Mainland Europe that could cause many to be without heat this winter as a result of sabotage. Who is responsible? Russia perhaps? Some even suggest it was the United States. We also discuss the 5 Red Heifers that arrived in Israel from the State of Texas. Is this the Final Step before the long awaited construction of a 3rd Temple in Jerusalem? And where will that Temple be constructed? Remember, those of the Islamic Faith consider the "Golden Dome" currently on the Temple mount in Jerusalem as the 3rd most Sacred Islamic Holy Site. US Press Association member JD Williams (ID # 802085263) tonight with permission as a member of the Press includes reports from the Watchman Newscast, and appearances by Amir Tsarfati and Pastor Jack Hibbs. Both speaking on a CNN News Report concerning the Rapture. And a report from our Friend and Bible Teacher Daniel Farley is also included. Please remember, the syndicated Last Christian Radio Show is Broadcast every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday Evening on Evangelism Radio. The #1 Christian Talk Digital Radio Station in the World. On Revelation Radio (www.revelationradio.net). On the "Last Christian" Website at (www.lastchristian.net), on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and all Major Podcast Platforms. Each Episode available in all 50 US States and more than 160 Countries Around the Globe. All Released Simultaneously on all platforms at exactly 7:30pm Central Time, Until the Trumpet Sounds!! Please be sure to to help us Spread the Word of God and Promise of Eternal Salvation by Subscribing, Liking, Commenting and Sharing our Shows with all your friends and family. As doing so helps us fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ and spreading the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ far and wide. Be sure to tune into Revelation Radio KRRB 24 hours a day and 7 Days a week for the latest Real News and Biblical Perspective at either (www.revelationradio.net) or Listen LIVE at ( https://embed.radio.co/player/7ecf23a.html?popout) Or listen on Alexa anytime 24/7 just say, "Alexa, open KRRB Revelation Radio” or click the Link https://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B0BG2NRRZ9 And finally. If you have a Question or Wish To Appear as a Guest on the Show? Write JD Williams at office@youstreamit.net or TL Farley at anymoment@att.net. We'd love to hear from you, or have you on a future show. God Bless

Jon Stone and I are joining the dots in this week's #RailNatter... Where on our side of Europe would really benefit from a new high speed link? We trip our way across from Sweden to Spain, from Swindon to Serbia in search of the answers. This is most certainly an incomplete list. But the real challenges aren't perhaps the physical infrastructure, but the political unimaginativeness of our leaders. Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch is at https://masquette.co.uk/collections/r.... Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

This weekend temperatures of are set to ride to 30 degrees here in Ireland. Mainland Europe is also experiencing some of the hottest temperatures on record. Sean was joined by Paul Downs, Meteorologist at Met Eireann, and Professor Anthony Staines, Professor of Health Systems at the Nursing and Human Sciences in DCU, to discuss the hot weather and what damage heat can do to the body.

This weekend temperatures of are set to ride to 30 degrees here in Ireland. Mainland Europe is also experiencing some of the hottest temperatures on record. Sean was joined by Paul Downs, Meteorologist at Met Eireann, and Professor Anthony Staines, Professor of Health Systems at the Nursing and Human Sciences in DCU, to discuss the hot weather and what damage heat can do to the body.

Join Carlos, Matt and Armando for this weeks' show. In this week's programme we learn one passenger hacked an airline's website to find their missing suitcase, we have a roundup of the aviation April Fool offerings and we read the shocking story of a pilot who lied about their flying experience. In the military, the Air Force's latest budget proposal indicates some changes afoot, a US Navy Hawkeye goes down off the coast of Virginia; and some military assets are repositioned to Mainland Europe after a Norwegian military exercise. Here are the links to the stories we featured this week : COMMERCIAL LATAM Airbus A320 Lands with Nose Gear Rotated by 90 Degrees https://samchui.com/2022/03/30/latam-... BA flights disrupted and cancelled at Heathrow after IT failurehttps://www.ft.com/content/214a8a55-9... Southern Airways Express Acquires Air Choice One https://airlinegeeks.com/2022/03/28/b... De Havilland to develop updated water bomber called DHC-515 Firefighter https://www.flightglobal.com/airframe... British Airways pilot jailed for lying about his flying experience on CV to get job https://news.sky.com/story/british-ai... Man jumps fence at Midway Airport, climbs onto aircraft https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/b... https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/b... Woman crashed through airport gate, drove on runway https://www.mysuncoast.com/2022/03/31... Woman crashed through airport gate, drove on runway https://www.mysuncoast.com/2022/03/31... 10-inch knife found in baby car seat at Logan Airport https://www.boston.com/news/local-new... Half a century of aviation advancements – the UK Civil Aviation Authority celebrates 50 years https://thepointsguy.co.uk/news/caa-u... These Airlines' Boarding Passes Offer Travel Perks Even After You Land https://www.cntraveler.com/story/thes... AeroGuard Flight Training Center Provides Clear Path to SkyWest Airlines and 4 Major Airlines Southwest Airlines Now an Option for Eligible SkyWest Captains https://www.globenewswire.com/news-re... IndiGo: Man says he hacked airline website to find lost luggage https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-i... MILITARY Air Force plans to cut its F-22 fleet, but that won't derail move to Langley AFB https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_... Air Force proposes to cut military jobs, aircraft in 2023 https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/yo... Navy Plane Crashes Along Virginia's Eastern Shore, Killing One Crew Member https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/us... The U.S. Repositions Ten USMC F/A-18 ‘Legacy' Hornets To Eastern Europe Amid Ukrainian Crisis, also, 200 Marines moved from Norway to Lithuania https://theaviationist.com/2022/03/30... Presidential aircraft performs shocking stunt on approach at Buenos Aires airport https://en.mercopress.com/2022/03/30/...

This week, I talk to Amplify co-founder Piers Curran about the latest expansion of the crypto market in which the broader rise in digital tokens has taken their overall market value past $3 trillion for the very first time. We also talk about the shift towards further adoption of Decentralised Finance (DeFi) and where it sits in the context of traditional assets and how to gain exposure to this emerging area.The main macro theme of the week has been the surge in global inflation after US CPI rose at its fastest pace in 31 years last month. We look at the reasons and debate whether or not the Fed will blink with their transitory view. Finally, we review the current dynamics of COVID cases in England vs Mainland Europe and explain why Brexit negotiations will not conclude anytime soon!Sign up for the Daily Market Maker newsletter www.amplifyme.com/market-maker. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week in our 10th episode, we take a break from the scandalous private life of Henry VIII and instead look at the other ways he was a totally incompetent leader! From having too many guns to having too many weddings to printing fake money, we explore the King's immaculate ability to cause chaos for decades after he will die!! From there, we head down south back to Mainland Europe as France and Germany are about to fight again, but first Charles V has to totally shoot himself in the foot and goes a tad bit...overboard one could say!!  Come with Paul and Nolan as they learn how not to commit forgery, revel in awe of how terrible an emperor could be, and finally as we all learn about the economies of onions and slaves!! We will be back each and every tuesday with brand new info, a bundle of fun things to talk about, and an ever increasing quality of recording and intro music! Tune back in next week for the following episode of BACKROW LESSONS!!! Check us out on all the social media sites https://twitter.com/BackrowLessons https://www.facebook.com/BackrowLessons https://backrowlessons.podbean.com/ https://www.instagram.com/Backrowlessons/

The #FullyGeekedPod​ return with episode 83 #FullyGeekedWeeklyRoundUp​ (05:00​) including Mainland Europe banning the #OxfordJab #AstraZeneca. Its a done deal #JoshuaFury AJ will be fighting Tyson Fury in 2021. #NorthLondonIsRED #ArsenalFC get local bragging rights. New #Verzuz announced @Raekwon vs @GhostfaceKillah #WuTangForever. We discuss the #SarahEverard case, look at @ZezeMillz interview with her mum on the #ZeZeMillzShow. No more sharing of Netflix passwords. #Avatar taking back top spot from #EndGame TV/Films (58:00​) #SupermanAndLois (01:09:36) #TheFlash (01:12:15​) #Grace​ on #ITV (01:20:43) Kel does up #JinnyAndGeorgia (01:23:54) Nate does up #SASRedNotice on #SkyCinema (01:28:30) Merv does up #Servant and #Cherry on #AppleTV before watching #LifeInaAYear on #PrimeVideo #Podcast​ #TV​ #Film​ #Review​ #FullyGeeked​ Remember to comment, subscribe and share on all major platforms!

Doctors in Israel have found when pregnant women get COVID shots, their babies are born with ready-made COVID-fighting antibodies. The researchers believe that the find vindicates health officials' call to pregnant women to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Dr. Sherry Ross is an OB/GYN and Women's Health Expert at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica.Mainland Europe is getting hit hard again by the coronavirus. Cases are going up and Italy is entering a third lockdown. Bloomberg reporter Marco Bertacche joins from Milan, Italy.Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure will open back up on April 30th. It was just about a year ago they closed because of the pandemic. There will be changes, social distancing and masks required. How safe will the Happiest Place on Earth be? Dr. Doctor Peter Chin-Hong is an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco.The airline industry took a beating in 2020. Countries closed their borders and many people didn't want to take the chance of flying and getting sick with COVID. But, undeterred by the pandemic, two new airlines are launching. Joe Brancatelli, the founder and editor of the business traveler advisory site JoeSentMe.com, explains. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Doctors in Israel have found when pregnant women get COVID shots, their babies are born with ready-made COVID-fighting antibodies. The researchers believe that the find vindicates health officials' call to pregnant women to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Dr. Sherry Ross is an OB/GYN and Women's Health Expert at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica. Mainland Europe is getting hit hard again by the coronavirus. Cases are going up and Italy is entering a third lockdown. Bloomberg reporter Marco Bertacche joins from Milan, Italy. Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure will open back up on April 30th. It was just about a year ago they closed because of the pandemic. There will be changes, social distancing and masks required. How safe will the Happiest Place on Earth be? Dr. Doctor Peter Chin-Hong is an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco. The airline industry took a beating in 2020. Countries closed their borders and many people didn't want to take the chance of flying and getting sick with COVID. But, undeterred by the pandemic, two new airlines are launching. Joe Brancatelli, the founder and editor of the business traveler advisory site JoeSentMe.com, explains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eugene Drennan, President of the Irish Road Haulage Association joined Pat on the show as  Irish truck drivers  are trapped in Britain as ports and routes to mainland Europe shut down in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid-19. Listen and subscribe to The Pat Kenny Show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.      Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.    You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.

Russia and Mainland Europe's #1 Radio Sports show, Capital Sports on Capital FM. The burning questions:- With leader Artem Dzyuba removed, how will Russia fare? How is the UEFA Nations League shaping up. Women's sports in focus. And NFL rundown. Head injuries in sports. GOAL 50 Winners with Peter Staunton. And the Big Fat Filthy Quiz.

Russia and Mainland Europe's #1 Radio Sports show, Capital Sports on Capital FM. The burning questions:- With leader Artem Dzyuba removed, how will Russia fare? How is the UEFA Nations League shaping up. Women's sports in focus. And NFL rundown. Head injuries in sports. GOAL 50 Winners with Peter Staunton. And the Big Fat Filthy Quiz.

Realizing the potential of the digitalized supply chain (Episode 3)A discussion with Supply chain industry experts Many new technologies around connectivity, data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and automation have arrived in the supply chain. In addition, digital transformation has triggered new customer expectations driving a change in buying behaviors, sales channels, and business models. So what do we actually mean when we talk about digitalization in Logistics? What are the key challenges and what trends to we see? What´s beyond process automation and robotics and what role plays innovation? In our Podcast Series “The Future of Technology Logistics – Connecting you with the Experts” we speak with Jens Gaudaen, Technology Sector Lead in DHL Supply Chain for Mainland Europe, Middle East and Africa, Thijs Hulstman, Global IT Director at DHL Supply Chain and Tim Tetzlaff, the Global Head of Program & Product Accelerated Digitalization at DHL Supply Chain about how to realize the potential of the digitalized supply chain.

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Mainland Europe passes by in a blur of motion, as Captain Nemo avoids land-based civilisation at all costs.

ShaunCast Episode 007 - the podcast in a Scottish accent. Today’s podcast is an interview with John Loughton, my mate and truly inspirational Scottish entrepreneur, speaker, social change maker and all-round good guy. He also won a show called Big Brother. Follow John on Instagram and twitter on username @johnloughton http://www.instagram.com/johnloughton Listen on Spotify: Listen on Apple Podcasts: Listen on Anchor: http://www.anchor.fm/shauncast John is from Edinburgh and grew up in a similar neighbourhood to me, and is truly inspirational. Please consider supporting my YouTube video and podcasting productions by joining my Patreon Page from as little as $1 per month. Check out http://www.patreon.com/shaunvlog or you can also donate at http://www.paypal.me/shaunvlog Check out my Scottish Legend merch here: USA: https://www.amazon.com/ideas/amzn1.account.AHQLHNFZMEI5SQHUDGR2UFC4V7DQ/3NR7MPJ7TIY3M United Kingdom: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=w_bl_sl_s_ap_web_83450031?ie=UTF8&node=83450031&field-brandtextbin=Scottish+Legend+by+ShaunVlog&_encoding=UTF8&tag=gone0f-21&linkCode=ur2&linkId=5ac362efa3b3a1eea73853542823cfc0&camp=1634&creative=6738 Mainland Europe: https://www.amazon.de/s/ref=w_bl_sl_s_ap_web_77028031?ie=UTF8&node=77028031&field-brandtextbin=Scottish+Legend+by+ShaunVlog All over the world: https://adventureeverything.club/collections/scottish-legend #BigBrother #bbuk #ShaunCast #podcast

It's Thursday, and Hayden has completed his nomadic motorcycle journey through every country in mainland Europe. Resources: Follow Hayden on Instagram: @backpackdigital --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/backpackdigital/message

Stu Morton is an ex-Marine and endurance athlete who is planning to row solo from Mainland Europe to Mainland South America, solo across the Atlantic Ocean.  Find out how far 1.5 million oar strokes gets you, why gaining 30kgs is sometimes ok and why he's going to be mostly naked. Check out everything I recommend from books to products and help support the podcast at no extra cost to you by shopping through this link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Join the discussion with me and other like minded listeners in the episode comments on the MW YouTube Channel or message me... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ModernWisdomPodcast Email: modernwisdompodcast@gmail.com

This is a broadcast of a Panel Session called Meeting the needs of male victims of domestic and family violence, presented at the Australian Institute of Criminology's Meeting the needs of victims of crime conference held in Sydney on 19 May 2011. Part 2 of the Panel Session features Toni McLean, counsellor with the Think Twice! Program, presenting a paper called Are men really victims of intimate partner violence? Unlike most other victims of crime, male victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) are yet to be truly recognised by the judicial system or the larger community. There are a number of beliefs about male victims of IPV, such as that men are rarely genuine victims; if they are, they must have done something to deserve it; or they aren’t affected as much as women are by partner violence; and it is easier for them to leave their relationships. These are all myths. This paper will: present evidence which shows that victimisation of husbands by wives has been documented for hundreds of years; present current statistics on the prevalence and nature of partner violence against men; explain how studies have presented contradictory and confusing pictures of partner violence perpetration; explore how male victimisation has not been adequately researched, with implications for the judicial system, the media, and government and community campaigns; offer some reasons as to why this has been the case.  The acknowledgement of male victims has ramifications for government policy, the judicial system, and the provision of health and community services, as well as benefits for the community. We need a lot more information from and about male victims of partner violence in order to be able to meet their needs. Academics, clinicians and service providers need to be open to the possibility that a man who claims he is a victim of partner violence actually is.  Listen now (MP3) |  Download PowerPoint |  Watch presentation Elizabeth Celi: Now Toni has worked in her past and recently as a counsellor with high-conflict relationships and currently doing a PhD in the Department of Psychology at the University of Western Sydney having a look at counsellor perceptions of intimate partner violence. So without further ado Toni will give you a bit more detail on that, so I'll hand you over to her. Please welcome her. Toni McLean: Thank you Elizabeth. That was a lovely introduction. I feel as though there is almost nothing more for the rest of us to say. And good afternoon everyone. Thank you for coming along to our presentation. Are men really victims of partner violence? I've certainly heard that question asked before. I'm pleased to be able to address that question today. I hope I'll be able to persuade any skeptics here, that there are indeed men who are victims of partner violence, that there are enough of them to justify providing services for them and for their children. There are a number of reasons why we should do that and those reasons aren’t just limited to the male victims themselves. For those of you who don’t need to be convinced then I hope that my colleagues and I will add to your knowledge and understanding of male victims today. My presentation will be focused on heterosexual victims of partner violence in particular and my colleagues will talk to you in turn on the broader issue of male victims of family violence in general and on the particular situation for gay men. Before I go any further I want to let you know that some of the slides I'm presenting here are a little different from the ones that I submitted to the AIC to go up on their website. If for any reason I'm not able to get it up there please contact me directly for a copy of the presentation if you’d like to have it. Throughout this presentation I'll be trying to be consistent with my terminology. Over the years domestic violence has become synonymous with male-perpetrated partner violence, yet, that is not the case as we know, so I prefer to use the term ‘intimate partner violence’ or shortening it to ‘partner violence’ because the word ‘domestic’ refers to all sorts of domestic relationships, not just to the intimate partner relationship and it shouldn’t be gender specific, so I will use partner violence and that will be referring to violence perpetrated by either men or women in an intimate relationship in the family. Absolutely essential to what I have to say is my own professional journey through this field and how I came to be speaking here. Much like Elizabeth, I had no idea. I had the traditional education in partner violence or what was called ‘domestic violence’ and that obviously was the one that said men were perpetrators, women were victims, that if men were victims there was something that they had done to deserve it, and that if women were perpetrators then there was a good reason for it – that they had been victimised themselves, that it was to prevent a preemptive strike that they were expecting in the future. And probably many of you here had that same kind of education. And as you can see, looking at my background here, the emphasis has been on my working with male perpetrators and female victims. That is how I started out. That is what I saw as being a helpful thing to do. So what happened? How come I ‘changed sides’ in a sense? Well what happened was the more that I worked in that area, the more that I worked with victims, with offenders, with couples, the more I realised that that ‘male perpetrator, female victim’ paradigm was only one snapshot in the collage that is intimate partner violence and that it has many different faces and that very often what I observed simply did not gel with this explanation. So I had no basis with which to help people. While it seemed to be true enough some of the time in many more cases the real picture was much more complex and contradictory. Sometimes it was a case of co-perpetration and co-victimisation. Sometimes even men were victims of controlling and coercive partners, female partners who were willing to use violence to maintain their position. So eventually I had to acknowledge that there was no way around it. Some men are indeed genuine victims of domestic violence or partner violence and many of these men have children too. I found this something of a challenge to deal with, either isolated in private practice and being fearful of making a mistake or being in an NGO where my colleagues were entrenched in the traditional paradigm. I had my own fear of getting it wrong, of falsely identifying a perpetrator as the victim. I was warned against approaching the ‘Angry Dads’ movement because they would brainwash me. I really needed to stay on track and on song with what I was doing. One of those representatives I was warned against is here today and I think you’ll find that there is probably nothing terribly scary about him when you hear him speaking. The children though were the innocent, really innocent victims of this paradigm. Every single one of those children who is dismissed because their father is dismissed could go on to have much more serious consequences in the future. My objectives today are to hopefully put it beyond doubt for all of you that there are male victims of partner violence and in fact, there always have been male victims of partner violence. It is nothing new. They and their children are present in sufficient numbers to justify services for them. Children suffer just as much as when their mothers are the victims and in fact, recent research shows that the consequences could even be worse for the children of male victims of domestic violence. I also want to establish that men are not only assaulted in self defence or in retaliation for their own behaviour. Their female partners are violent for a whole range of reasons just as men are and that men do suffer a range of physical and psychological injuries that can be serious. This presentation will show evidence of the victimisation of husbands by wives for hundreds of years. This is no backlash. The existence of male victims has been demonstrated in legal and literary works for centuries. This presentation will point out the massive variability in partner violence statistics, explain why this is the case, why and how contradictory and confusing pictures of partner victimisation have arisen, will consider why male victims have been somewhat invisible for the past 40 years because they certainly weren’t invisible in the past in centuries gone by. I’ll leave it to my male colleagues on the panel to discuss the needs of the male victims themselves. When someone raises the subject of male victims one of the first things you might hear is that it’s just a backlash against the feminist movement or against women or that men are feeling sorry for themselves or that it’s just a bunch of irate ex-husbands whinging because they’re angry with their ex-wives, but this extract you see here is from a poem that is one of many that’s littered throughout English and European literary history regarding the violence of a woman towards her husband, and as you see it dates back to the 16th century. It’s not only in popular literature that women’s violence has been recorded. The documentation of the victimisation of husbands is found back to at least the 13th century in a variety of legal, parish and community records as well as in diaries, letters and in artworks. It is a myth that the emergence of male victims in the late 20th century is just a backlash. In fact, as Elizabeth said it seems that men are in the position now that women victims were in 40 years ago. If you can see that image clearly or clearly enough it’s a 13th century stone carving from an English church. It shows a man down on the ground being held down by his hair while his wife swings a cheese-skimming ladle in his direction. The modern day equivalent is not rare as some of the references I've included at the end based on hospital records will attest. Here is a frieze from Montacute House in Somerset. The particular treatment for men who allowed themselves to be abused or beaten by their wives was specifically designed to cause them a high degree of shame by making them objects of ridicule and derision. The wife was sometimes, though not always ridiculed along with her husband. Although today we would not agree with the reason for the ridicule, which was that the man was not man enough to remain in charge in his own household, nonetheless, it does demonstrate that in fact, male domination in the family home has not always been a given and some women do dominate and control their husbands and they may use violence to do that. When a man was exposed as having had a beating or his wife found to be having an affair the village people would gather outside the house of the couple making raucous music using pots and pans and the like. Then they would drag the man out and force him to ride through the village sitting backwards on a donkey or being carried on a long pole and forced to go through the village while they followed him making this awful din. Sometimes his wife would be forced to ride back-to-back with him. This practice was called ‘riding skimmington’ or ‘riding the stain’ or ‘charivari’, the term varying with the location. It was designed to shame those couples who breached the social or moral mores of the day, in particular, those related to spousal relationships such as abuse and adultery. The term ‘skimmington’ is derived from the name for the cheese skimming ladle that we saw in the previous slide. The first half of this frieze depicts a man holding a baby with his wife hitting him on the head with her shoe. The second half shows him being paraded through the town on a long pole and this was what was called ‘riding the skimmington.’ Throughout the history of Britain, Mainland Europe, the early days of white colonisation of the United States and in Scandinavia there is extensive evidence of this practice occurring right up until the late 19thcentury. Although it occurred in the context of the husbands being ridiculed because they were not able to maintain their rightful position as the head of the household, a belief which I suspect few of us would have the courage to condone today, nonetheless, what these references show is that this behaviour was common enough in past centuries. Here are just a few examples of the many records that have been found that make reference to women’s use of violence against their partners. There are court records from the early 1600s describing a skimmington. There are records from prior to the English Civil War showing anxiety over the rising violence in women, and I was struck by the similarity with the headlines we’re seeing these days of rising violence in our young women in this country. There was legislation in the new colony of Massachusetts protecting both wives and husbands from domestic abuse. In fact, there is one quote here, “So turbulent and wild both in words and actions as he could not live with her, but in danger of his life and limb.” Evidence of restraining orders against wives being issued at the late 19th century in England. There are numerous literary examples as well recounting abuse by wives and riding the skimmington for husbands. Jonathan Swift, Oliver Twist, Sir Walter Scott, Ben Johnson, Samuel Pepys, Thomas Hardy all referring to these things. And a comment that Charles Dickens gave to Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist when told it was his duty to control his wife he said, “The law is an ass. The law is a bachelor,” obviously implying that the law didn’t understand what relationships were like or at least what Mr. Bumble’s relationship was like. Here we have a painting from the late 16th century I think – Dawes’ “The Henpecked Husband” also riding the skimmington and wives beating him. The reason that this happened, he walked into his bedroom and found his wife in bed with her lover. Now there is a Dr. Malcolm George in the UK who gives an excellent analysis on the social processes of denial, derision and trivialisation, which are the community’s ways of avoiding the challenge of accepting the existence of men as victims of women’s violence. This is something which is not consistent with our entrenched stereotypes of strong men and gentle women and I've included some of his work in the bibliography at the end of this presentation. So from derision to denial I think we can see that there is ample evidence over seven centuries or more which speaks against the gradual emergence of the male partner violence victim as simply the backlash against the focus on women. So statistics, how many male victims are there? How many female victims are there? This can provide ammunition to start a world war. It has generated aggression and vitriol and all sorts of threats in the academic community for 40 years or more, so I decided today I'm not going to venture into that territory. It can become a significant distraction which takes us away from the pressing needs of the victims themselves. We can all use statistics to prove the points that we want to prove. However, I do have a recollection of a study in Norway that I think was nearly 40 years ago which claimed to show a correlation between the stork population and the human birth rate. We’ll say I think the study was – the so-called ‘study’ was done to prove a point about statistics. That study showed that as the stork population increased in the previous year, so did the birthrate. Now I suspect there is a false attribution of cause and effect there or at least I hope so. What I have done though is just to show three examples of statistics that you may find on domestic violence. The first in Santa Barbara in California taken from police records in 1983, so these are all cases where people have been found guilty of assaults in domestic violence related charges. In that study it showed 94% of the perpetrators were men and 6% were women. I've got a study done more recently from New Zealand in 2002, which is a community study, a population study of young adults, which shows 39% of the perpetrators were male and 61% were female. And then just to come down the middle, a recently released study by Professor Halford from Brisbane on Australian newlywed couples, which shows approximately equal rates of partner violence. So quoting statistics at ten paces isn’t really the way for us to proceed from here. I hope what this discrepancy will do is raise your curiosity about why there is such a discrepancy and what we can do about it. There are very good reasons why we do have such a range of discrepancies. Michael Johnson, respected researcher in the United States is one of the first to shed some light on the past discrepancy in these statistics. He identified that different studies used different sample populations. They asked very different questions of their participants and they used different language, so different studies came up with vastly different results. Up until this time researchers and others had effectively been comparing apples and oranges or rather, they had been lumping apples and oranges together in the same bowl as though they were the same fruit. The following slides will look at the impact of using different populations on the results. Beginning at the big end of town, if we look at United Nations surveys, obviously they’re drawn from a wide range of nations. They often include developing nations and they often include war-torn nations. When we do this it’s hard to separate out what is actually partner violence from civil violence and what are the causes. There is no way of determining the impact of the external environment on these figures. These figures also have little to do with countries like Australia, so they don’t have much validity here. We also have national crime agency surveys. These tend to draw their figures from police records, court records, corrective services or else records from women’s shelters. These naturally focus on the more serious end of the spectrum and they tend to distort figures for partner violence as well. Also as women were rarely arrested for partner violence until the last 10 years or so and even now it’s still quite a minority their violence simply didn’t appear in these records. We can look at national victimisation surveys, which tend to be phone surveys that are done every few years. They generally tend to be set in the context of exploring women’s violence [victimisation] and they interview a number of men as well, but the framework is already set that it is about women’s violence [victimisation]. Men aren’t primed to think of their own experience of victimisation. Studies have shown if the violence is referred to as a ‘crime’ then women are less likely to report their own use of violence. Men are also genuinely unlikely to see it as violence unless they’ve actually been seriously injured by it and that brings us to the fourth kind of study, which does give us much more reliable figures for the picture that is in the community today, so we can look at family conflict surveys and community or population studies. These tend to be couched within a relationship conflict framework, though they investigate the same behaviours that the other surveys investigate. So they investigate criminal behaviours, but they position it in a different environment. Women are more likely to disclose their use of violence in this situation when it’s not referred to as a criminal survey and men are also more likely to disclose their own experience of violence when it is seen as a relationship issue and not a crime. So what kinds of injuries do men receive? Men receive injuries resulting from being hit by all sorts of blunt instruments, by having objects thrown at them – glasses, saucepans, knives, whatever, by being struck with a vehicle, by being bitten, by the use of an actual weapon – a knife is a very common one, by scalding by boiling water or hot food. So all of the injuries that these can cause are the ones that men tend to suffer. That’s not to say that women don’t suffer these too, but we are here talking about male victims. And why do women assault their partners? Well actually for much the same reasons as men do. For a need for control in some cases. It may be trying to match their partner in control or it may be to be the one in charge. Expression of negative emotions, frustrated, angry, hurt, they’re jealous. It may be in self defence, just as it may be for men. And it may be to seem tough because they don’t want to seem weak with their partner. Which women are likely to be most violent? Interestingly the women who are likely to be most violent are those who did not report self defence, so they are the primary aggressors in the relationship. They are the partner violence perpetrators, or for the women who are genuine victims and are lashing out with violent resistance. How is it that there is so little research on male victims? Well as Elizabeth has alluded to, when this phenomenon surfaced in that era of civil rights in the late 60s the initial focus was on women victims and it’s difficult to maintain a focus on women victims and men victims at the same time. And as female partner violence ‘victim’ predominately implies ‘violent husband’ then it’s hard to hold the concept of a man as being a violent husband and a victimised male at the same time. Women victims were also not asked about their own use of violence. If they had been then in some cases at least it would have been seen that they were actually aggressors in their relationships. Erin Pizzey from the UK found this out. She was a champion of the cause of women victims of domestic violence, but over time she realised that it wasn’t as simple as that. If men were not asked about their experience of victimisation, nobody is going to know about it and they weren’t asked. And because male victimisation was hidden it didn’t stimulate further research. It just remained more invisible. There have been effective public campaigns raised about the awareness of female victimisation and this has unwittingly served to keep male victimisation hidden as well. And astoundingly, in the US and perhaps in Canada as well and who knows in other countries, research into male victimisation has sometimes been actively discouraged by funding bodies. You can refer to Murray Strauss’ references. He documents that very well as I think Dr. Donald Dutton does too. There has been an understandable fear of having to share funding with women’s services or between women’s and men’s services. However, this doesn’t help the child victims. It’s an example of faulty thinking and doesn’t provide a good solution. And the difficulty is if we acknowledge male victims we also have to acknowledge and work out how to deal with female offenders. And if we need more reasons why they’re invisible, the media focus on sensational crimes by men against women stacks the odds somewhat. It sells papers and it attracts internet readers. We have to deal with our stereotypes. The belief that because men are bigger and do use violence perhaps more readily in some situations, that they will automatically want to assault women as well. And we make the assumption that women don’t assault men because the men are bigger. Well I can guarantee you from my own work that is not the case. There is a tendency to ridicule male victims of women’s assaults. We have trouble coming to grips with that – facing that challenge. It’s been politically incorrect to acknowledge male victims of female perpetrated violence and that may lead to many of us being a bit worried about discussing it in public. And certainly something I've had to deal with is the fear of getting it wrong in my work: what if I make a mistake? What if he is a really convincing perpetrator? But I realised a solution to that was not ignoring the problem, it was skilling myself up, becoming more knowledgeable and more proficient and more able to work through this. The implications of ignoring male victims of female perpetrated violence: physical and psychological impact on the men who are victimised, and my colleagues will talk more about that. There is a cost to the community. There is an impact on the children. Service providers, if they want to respond don’t know how to. The male victims themselves understandably build resentment and they can become perpetrators if they weren’t before. It makes it more difficult for women using abusive behaviour to seek help if we won’t acknowledge it. Women who use violence for whatever reason are more likely to suffer significant injury in retaliation from their male partners. If for no other reason, that’s a reason to address the problem. Services don’t know how to respond to female offenders and women are at risk of further violence in future relationships. So: beyond the paradigm. Meeting the needs of victims of crime first requires we recognise their existence and understand their experience. For male victims we have to move beyond the paradigm that has prevailed for 40 years and which has served to minimise or deny their existence, thus compromising our ability to respond to them. The fact that there are some people who are unwilling to accept that the assault of men by women does occur, stems from our deeply held stereotypes about men and women. Don’t take my word for all of this. There are male victims. There are enough of them. Men aren’t only assaulted in self defence and they do suffer from it. There is an extensive bibliography following this presentation if you’d like to see it. Elizabeth Celi: Thank you very much Toni. You certainly highlighted some of the research paradigms we need to consider and the up skilling that us as professionals in our respective fields may need to consider. General References Hamel, J. (2010). Do we want to be politically correct, or do we want to reduce partner violence in our communities? Partner Abuse, 1(1), 82-91. Cook, P. W. (2009). Abused men: The hidden side of domestic violence. Westport, CT: Praeger. Straus, M.A. (2008). Bucking the tide in family violence research. Trauma, Violence and Abuse, 9(4), 191-213. McNeely, R. et al. (2001). Is domestic violence a gender issue, or a human issue? Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 4, 227–251. Mihalic, S.W. et al (1997). If violence is domestic, does it really count? Journal of Family Violence,12, 293-311. McNeely, R. et al. (1987). The truth about domestic violence: a falsely framed issue. Social Work, (Nov-Dec), 485-485-490. Fiebert, M.S. (2008). References examining assaults by women on their spouses or male partners: an annotated bibliography. Historical references for male victimisation George, M.J. (1994). Riding the donkey backwards: Men as the unacceptable victims of marital violence. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 3(2) 137-159. George, M.J. (2002). Skimmington Revisited. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 10(1), 111-136. George, M.J. (2003). Invisible touch. Aggression and Violent Behaviour, 8, 23-60. [George also provides a good analysis of the phenomenon of deriding and minimising men as victims.] Kelly, H.A. (1994). Rule of thumb and the folklore of the husband’s stick. Jnl of Legal Education, 44(3), 341-365. [A well researched debunking of the perpetuated myth that a man had the legal right to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb.] Recent references on prevalence of male victimisation ABS Personal Safety Survey 2005. Steinmetz, S. (1977-78). The battered husband syndrome. Victimology. An international journal, 2(3-4), 499-509. Straus, M. (1988). Violence in American families: How much is there and why does it occur? In Nunnally et al, Troubled Relationships. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Straus, M.A. (2007). Dominance and symmetry in partner violence by male and female university students in 32 nations. Children & Youth Services Review, 30, 252-275. Halford, W.K. et al. (2010). Relationship aggression, violence and self-regulation in Australian newlywed couples. Australian Jnl of Psychology, 62 (2), 82-92. Bala, N. An historical perspective on family and child abuse: Comment on Moloney et al, Allegations of Family Violence, 12 June 2007. Jnl Family Studies, 14(2), 271-78. References on how and why male victimisation is difficult to see Detschelt, A. (2002-03). Recognizing domestic violence directed towards men. Jnl Legal & Public Policy, 249-272. Graham-Kevan, N. (2007). The re-emergence of male victims. International Journal of Men’s Health, 6(1), 3-6. Straus, M.A. (2007). Dominance and symmetry in partner violence by male and female university students in 32 nations. Children and Youth Services Review, 30, 252-275. Straus, M.A. (2007). Processes explaining the concealment and distortion of evidence on gender symmetry in partner violence. European Journal of Criminal Policy Research, 13, 227-232. Straus, M.A. (2009). Why the overwhelming evidence on partner physical violence by women has not been perceived and is often denied. Jnl Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 18(6), 552-571. [Read the 3 Straus papers in this order as he systematically explains: 1) the evidence of concealment of male statistics 2) the methods / processes used; 3) the reasons why.] References on male injuries Hines, D.A. (2007) Posttraumatic stress symptoms among men who sustain partner violence: An international multisite study of university students. Psychol of Men & Masculinity, 8(4), 225-239. Kimberg, L. (2008). Addressing intimate partner violence with male patients: A review and introduction of pilot guidelines. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 23(2), 2071-78. Dalsheimer, J. (1998). Battered men. A silent epidemic. Topics in Emergency Medicine, 20(4), 52-59. Duminy, F.J. et al. (1993). Assault inflicted by hot water. Burns, 19(5), 426-438. Krob, M.J. et al. (1986). Burned and battered adults. 18th Annual Meeting American Burns Assoc. References on female violence Allen-Collinson, J. (2009) A Marked Man: Female-Perpetrated Intimate Partner Abuse. Internat. Jnl Men’s Health, 8(1), 22-40. Caldwell, J.E. et al (2009). Why I hit him: Women's reasons for intimate partner violence. Journal of Aggression, Mal-treatment  & Trauma, 18, 672-697. Hines, D.A. et al (2009). Women’s use of intimate partner violence against men: Prevalence, implications, and consequences. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 18(6), 572-586. Hamel, J. et al, (2007). Perceptions of motives in intimate partner violence: Expressive versus coercive violence. Violence and Victims, 22(5), 563-576. Hines, D. A., & Douglas, E. M. (2010). Intimate terrorism by women towards men: Does it exist? Journal of Aggression, Conflict, and Peace Research.