If you’ve read any of my previous “gems” you’ve probably seen me refer to SKAL as family. In fact, I do it so often you may be tired of it! But here are a couple of examples.

A couple of months ago I traveled to Ireland and Scotland with my wife, daughter and granddaughter. It was primarily a trip to visit relatives in Ireland and revisit my daughter’s haunts when she attended the University of Edinburgh thirty years ago.

As I usually do, I contacted a few SKAL members in hopes that we could have a drink or share a meal together. I was appointed the designated driver for the trip since I was very familiar with driving on the left. It was truly a whirlwind adventure in Ireland since we not had five days and my cousins were scattered from Dublin to Athlone (midlands) and the

Southwest. Knowing this I contacted Michelle Rosney, the President of Skal Kerry, to see if we could meet up somewhere. She said she’d try to make some time for us. 

Unfortunately, the cell service at the end of the Dingle Peninsula was sketchy at best and I wasn’t able to contact her on our day in Kerry. We made our way to Killarney and phoned her from O’Donoghue’s Pub (owned by SKAL member Michael O’Donoghue). Since she didn’t live locally she couldn’t meet with us that evening but did meet us for breakfast the next day. I know her parents very well but hadn’t met Michelle before. She’s part of a very encouraging youth movement in SKAL Ireland.

Before the trip I also contacted Ken McNab, a longtime Skalleague and former president of SKAL Scotland. I met Ken in 2019 when SKAL New Jersey met with their club in Glasgow. On arrival in Edinburgh Ken suggested coming to his office where he had some vouchers for us. He literally went the extra mile. He took a half day off from work and took us sightseeing. First to Rosslyn Chapel of DaVinci Code fame and then a great tour of Edinburgh. After treating us to a great lunch he drove us back to our hotel and gave us some tips for the remainder of our trip.

My friend and current SKAL USA VP PR and Communications, John Stine, also saw this familiar spirit while he was in Ireland last month. Both SKAL Kerry and SKAL Dublin rolled out the red ( or maybe it was green) carpet for him.

These are just a couple of examples and reasons to reach out to fellow Skalleagues whenever you travel.