Sent by Tom Cantwell
Kilkenny 16/10/2019
Martina has always been so helpful and accommodating with all of my travel plans. She really makes the whole process hassle free and easy. I would recommend her to anyone planning a holiday!
Based In Co. Kilkenny
Martina Hayden
It's Nice To Meet You
With over 30 years’ experience in the travel business and the last 11 years as a Travel Counsellor, I am delighted to turn your holidays dreams into reality, ensuring the whole experience will be enjoyable and stress free from start to finish.
I am passionate about travel and have had the travel bug from an early age giving me first-hand knowledge from inter-railing around Europe and back packing around Australia and South East Asia and most recently South Africa and family holidaying in Florida. I have been lucky enough to visit the Pyramids in Egypt, Seen the big 5 in Kenya, visited Malaysia, Thailand, honeymooned in the Canadian Rockies, met Mickey Mouse in Orlando and Santa in Lapland. Far from my back-packing days, I have cruised in the Caribbean and Europe and drank cocktails in Atlantis The Palm in Dubai.
Working from home means I can offer an exceptional confidential service to ensure your trip meets and far exceeds your expectations and I am available at a time that suits you - be it evenings or weekends. Operating with over 21 Destination management companies in different countries around the world, together we create authentic experiences that build lasting memories for our clients. Be it a Thai cookery class, trekking for Gorillas in Borneo or a simply a romantic meal on the beach watching the sunset it’s the little things that make all the difference!
I specialise in honeymoons, cruising and family holidays and I can tailor-make itineraries to suit your requirements to make that special once in a lifetime trip one to remember.
Travel Counsellors uses award winning technology. With the latest development of our mobile App “My TC”, your customer experience will be enhanced like never before; enabling you to keep in touch with me at anytime, anywhere in the world and stores all or your travel documentation.
Travel Counsellors are licensed and bonded with the Commission for Aviation Regulation in Ireland which gives you that added peace of mind.
For the best personal service, give me a call or send me an email.
I look forward to hearing from you.
My customer stories
Sent by Suzanne Freeman
KIlkenny 16/10/2019
Martina is fantastic at picking the right hotel for my family each year. Her level of knowledge of the various locations is brilliant and we have had a great holidays each time. She is very personable and always going 'above and beyond' to ensure we have the right location and requirements. Thanks Martina for all your help - I look forward to using your services again and I will continue to refer your services where possible!
Sent by Michelle Neary
Kilkenny 07/04/2017
Martina is always very pleasant. Always contactable. Always picks the holiday that suits the customer. I would recommend her to my family and friends.
Sent by Seamus Osborne
Carlow 07/04/2017
Martina provides a total end to end solution - she really thinks of everything. Her attention to detail and her drive to give her clients a truly memorable experience matching and in fact exceeding expectations is second to none. We highly recommend Martina and Travel Counsellors.
Sent by Mary Sheill
Carlow 08/10/2014
Why use the thousands of words I could use in describing my wonderful experience of Martina and her professionalism delivered with graciousness when one word will do - EXCELLENT!
Sent by Mags Heffernan
Kilkenny 07/10/2014
Every second year I take a team away to the United States. We have one week of martial arts competitions and a second destination for a second week. Martina works very hard to get us fantastic prices on our trip and organises any additional requests we have. She goes out of her way to make sure everything is perfect for our trips. I would recommend her to anyone that's looking for the best service available for all your travel needs.
Sent by Sarah Millea
Kilkenny 07/10/2014
Martina is my first port of call for all holidays and trips. She makes everything so easy and importantly for me child friendly. We booked Disneyland Paris in 2013 with her and have booked again for 2015 because our first trip was just perfect.
Martina has also planned a trip to Australia for us which went like clockwork and numerous summer holidays. I wouldn't go to anyone else and would highly recommend her to everyone.
Sent by Siobhan O'Brien
Kilkenny 07/10/2014
Even with all the options to self book holidays I would not go without the experitise of Martina. It takes all the worry out of travelling. We go back time and time again to her and will do again next year.
Sent by Des Woods
Kilkenny 10/06/2014
Many thanks for arranging our holiday to US and Canada. From the first time we made contact you were excellent, always available to answer our questions, change our dates, offer different options and all with excellent prices.
I have already recommended you to a number of friends and will continue to do so. Wishing you every success in the future .
Sent by Michelle Neary
Co. Kilkenny 14/04/2014
I spoke with Martina in connection with a holiday and she suggested some very good places for us with the information I had given her. We booked our holiday for this June in Spain with Martina's help.You could email her about it and any queries at anytime day or night and she was always at the end of the phone. Martina is a lovely friendly pleasant woman to deal with and I have recommended her to some of my work colleagues and friends to speak to when booking their holidays. The service was great and I would deal with Martina in the future.
Sent by Kathy Keating
kilkenny 14/04/2014
I would highly recommend Martina for booking your holiday. She has great knowledge of holiday locations and what will suit your needs and budget. Martina is very efficient and very easy to deal with. She keeps in constant contact with you and will always give you an answer to any question which you ask. This is our third time to book a holiday with Martina and will continue to book with Martina for holidays in the future.
Sent by Suzanne Fitzgerald
Rathdowney 27/05/2013
Recently booked our holiday through Martina with Travel Counsellors, She was extremely helpful and efficient and sourced a good value, nice location, sun holiday for us. I will most definitely be contacting her for future bookings. Highly reccomend her services.
Sent by Kate Coffey
Kilkenny 26/05/2013
Martina is exemplary at her job, she is very organised, efficient and friendly with a huge amount of experience. Any dramas Martina can sort and this is so reassuring.
Sent by Carmel Everard
Co. Kilkenny 24/05/2013
We have (yet again) booked our holiday with Martina, effortlessly and enjoyably as Martina has done all the work! Her enthusiasm for looking for the perfect family holiday is a delight and we cannot recommend her enough. I have yet to go on a holiday that I did not enjoy as Martina excels at looking for something for the whole family. I am booking holidays with Martina since 1999, says it all!
Sent by Ciara Jones
Dublin 25/10/2011
Martina was recommended by a friend and we booked London through her back in April. The peace of mind knowing everything was taken care off was great. All emails answered promptly with all questions answered and additional info always included. Since then I have booked New York for New Year, she did absolutely everything and more wouldn't leave Ireland again unless it's through Martina. Best customer service recieved in years!
Sent by Chris Hayes
Kilkenny 22/10/2011
I just wanted to tell people about the fantastic service I got from the Travel Counsellor. It was the best yet I've got when booking a family holiday. Not only at the time of booking but Martina even checked up on us when we came back from holiday to make sure everything went ok. Would use her again; great service,
Chris.
Sent by Majella Martin
Kilkenny 21/10/2011
Martina did an excellent job booking our holiday. She was a pleasure to deal with making sure everything was perfect before she booked. Will definitely be booking our holiday with her next year. The personal service Martina gives would definitely encourage me to book through her again and recommend her to family and friends.
Sent by Sarah Millea
Kilkenny 25/05/2011
I cannot thank Martina enough for all of the help she gave us in planning our trip to Australia. She had really considered that we were travelling with a one year old and made it as easy as possible by choosing night time flights for us. The accomodation that she booked was perfect and in great locations. I will never book a holiday with any one else and I will recommend her highly to everyone.
Based in
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My Blog
I absolutely live and breathe travel and I love to write about my experiences! Please take a look through my posts - you might find your own holiday inspiration.
Breathtaking Sri Lanka
27 May 2025
Sri Lanka is a tropical paradise offering lush rainforests, pristine beaches, ancient temples, and vibrant culture, all wrapped in breathtaking landscapes waiting to be explored. Being offered a place on a familiarisation trip to Sri Lanka, long on my bucket list it was an incredible opportunity, we packed a lot into just seven nights, but it was the perfect taster of how lucky I was to experien
SEASIDE LOS JAMEOS PLAYA SUMMER HOLIDAYS 2019
07 August 2019
After a busy year, this was one holiday I was really looking forward to! Our family holiday or what my husband calls is ‘A mammy’s holiday!’ did exactly what it says on the tin! We have been on mobile home holidays for the last few years and were really looking forward to returning to the Los Jameos Playa after spending many years holidaying there when our kids were young. They always want to go
New York New York Family Aventure
16 May 2019
I have been to New York a few times but a family trip to New York was on my wish list for quite a while and now with my kids now 16, 15 and 12 it felt like the perfect time to go. I picked February midterm to travel as it was good value for both flights and hotels. January and February can get quite cold in New York, but we went prepared and set off on our 4 nights/5-days adventure to the city tha
Amazing Mexico
10 January 2013
Six colleagues and I travelled to the amazing Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico visiting the hectic resort of Cancun as well as the quieter resorts of Playa del Carmen, Puerto Morelos and Tulum to sample some of what Mexico has to offer. We visited all the hotels in the AM Resorts Group and there is a hotel to suit every customer and budget, whether it is a honeymoon, romantic getaway, family hotel o
Malaysia Pearl of the Orient
05 March 2012
Malaysia is one of my favourite countries in the Far East, from the fascinating capital of Kuala Lumpar, known simply as KL to the beautiful islands of Langkawi and Penang. KUALA LUMPAR. On arrival in KL airport we headed to the city centre by train which took about 45 minutes. I stayed in the 5 star deluxe Shangri La which is in the famous area called the Golden Triangle. Here you find all
Lanzarote
12 April 2010
This is my 5th visit to Lanzarote one of the most popular of the Canary Islands, especially with the Irish holidaymaker. There are departures from Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Knock in the summer months. The accommodation is of a very good standard ranging from your basic apartment to your 5 star hotels (very few of these are high rise). The main resort is Puerto del Carmen with its palm tree
Disney Resort Paris
08 April 2010
I travelled to Disneyland Resort (Eurodisney) in December for a 3 night / 4 day stay with my two children aged 5 and 6 (left the baby at home) and my brother and his 2 children of the same age. We flew from Dublin to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and then took the shuttle to our hotel which took about 40 minutes. There are12 hotels in all so there is one to suit everyone, 6
Beautiful Cascais and Lisbon Coast
08 April 2010
Cascais is only 40 minutes from Lisbon Airport, with daily flights from Dublin. This is my second visit to this part of Portugal and it will not be my last, I love this little resort! With its winding cobbled streets, outdoor cafes, restaurants serving the most amazing food, little beaches and a beautiful harbour filled with yachts and fishing boats. It also has a smart new marina. What bet
Contact Me
Whatever your holiday needs I'm here to help you, so simply give me a call or send me an email with your contact details on and I can get things started for you: