Our Story

Here's where it all began...

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To know Beoga Travel you need to know Lally Tours.. Lally Tours is a family owned and operated tour company based in An Spidéal, Co. Galway in the west of Ireland. My parents, Bríd and Martin Lally, had a total of seven kids, six lads and one lady. Just like most families in the west of Ireland at the time, they were proving to be quite entrepreneurial and very resourceful. They operated a small pub in rural Connemara at the time (An Poitín Still) which inevitably cemented the family as part of the local community. The two storey building was compact, the pub downstairs and the family residence upstairs.

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Once a year the family were brought on summer holidays, usually down the country to Cork or Kerry. There was quiet a span of ages from eldest to youngest and, from a logistical point of view, it was too much of a challenge to ensure that the whole family would be lucky enough to travel as one unit. Along came the first Lally Tours mini-bus, a used and battered 16 seater Ford Transit.

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The mini-bus was put into use bringing bands and performers to and from the pub, as well as supplies and stock. It was parked at the front of the building in plain view to everyone and, before long, customers got used to "hitching a lift" particularly in wintery weather. Bands also used to use the mini-bus to go further afield, sometimes on tours to pubs and venues all over the country, along with the many basketball, football and hurling teams that the Lally's had joined throughout the years. It became quiet the community tool, very quickly.

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This community tool was also put to use by international visitors who had become sick to their teeth of driving "on the wrong side" of what they reviewed as our "death-traps" of roads in the west of Ireland. The Lally family was happy to welcome, to oblige and to host our international friends and thus began Lally Tours.

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Day Tours, City Tours and Ferry Shuttles​

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In the late 80's Salthill Village was booming, but Galway City center was yet to experience the cultural revival that was on its way. There were only tremmors of a peak-season tourism market emerging, but this was enough for Martin and Bríd to take a chance at running scheduled day tours from Galway City.

 

Thanks to John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara there was a lot of international interest in the filming locations of The Quiet Man, the story of which was based in Connemara. This became Day Tour number one. As the road infrastructure improved in west Co. Clare, as did the interest in visiting there, particularly to witness the majesty of the Cliffs of Moher in the Burren region. This became Day Tour number two.

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Visitors flocked to Galway City and used it as a base to experience Connemara, the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and the Aran Islands. Visitor numbers swelled, as did the hospitality industry in Galway City to cater to the demand.

 

Mom and Dad (sometimes accompanied by a mechanic named Padraig) would trip across to the UK to visit family and friends and also to view, and sometimes purchase, a vehicle to add to their slow growing fleet of tour buses. To get their bearings it became a habit to take and opentop tour of whatever city that they were exploring. It also help open their minds to what kind of experiences tourists were coming to expect. Before long, the first opentop City Tour Bus was making its way from Holyhead to Dublin and across the river Shannon to Galway City. 

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Within a few short years Lally Tours became part and parcel of the Galway Experience. For the increasing number of international visitors who had not rented a car, we provided the access that people needed in order to get from Galway City to Connemara, Kylemore Abbey, the Burren and Cliffs of Moher. It took a few more years for us to get the opportunity to also cater for guests who were looking to explore Aran Islands. In a story that will only be told over a couple of pints, Mom and Dad siezed an opportunity to operate the shuttle bus service between Galway City and Rossaveal Harbour, the gateway to the Aran Islands.

 

Somehow they had done all of this while keeping the family going AND taking on an operating multiple other pubs, the most famous of which being Taaffes Bar on Shop St., in Galway City. 

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A Family Business​

 

Our upbringing consisted of football (some hurling) and school during the week while weekends were stocking shelves in the bar, "doing the bottles" and washing dishes. For me, this changed at the age of 14, the day after Christmas, on one of only three days of the year when the pub is usually kept closed... Come to think of it, I better reserve this story for over a couple pints... Sorry!

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When we weren't working in the pub or playing football, we were in the ticket offices selling tickets for tours or ferries or in the yard behind our home house helping the tour drivers sweep, mop and wash the buses after a busy day of touring around. Sweeping had the best chance of finding lost change on the floor, so the drivers usually kept that job... 

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Working in the family businesses were always something that we felt like we had to do. Seeing older and younger siblings doing the same made it feel like we were duty bound and didn't really have a choice in the matter. While it was all very good fun, meeting new people from all over the world and doing much more "grown up" things than our peers, this feeling of not having a choice began to take root and a tiny shoot of resentment began to grow.

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Moving to the "Shtates"​

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During my 4 year stint at the University of Limerick, I made it my business to get as much experience and variety into my resumé as possible but only to take on jobs that were "good craic". These jobs included started with familiar territory by working in a bar in a hotel near the University. This was complimented by a job as security at Student Union concerts, comedy gigs and events. I also packed parachutes for our nearby Skydiving center, but this was primarily to help pay for my own jumps and some of the gear (more on that one on the tour bus!). I also spent a summer as a bank teller in AIB, Lynch's Castle, Galway City which helped get me a job on the marketing and events coordination team for the Volvo Ocean Race, Galway Stopover in 2009.

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Following a few months traveling South East Asia, I successfully applied for a job in Annapolis, MD with ARA Construction. This was a sales and marketing role, exactly in line with my degree, and before long I was packing my bags for a weekly trip to Lancaster, PA to help with (what was originally) a side project in developing an eco-friendly clothing, homeware and furniture store. Over a few more pints I'll gladly tell the story of how this store ended up becoming an Irish Pub and music venue with a sound system from U2, staging from Madonna and props from Elton John and Lady Gaga..

 

Lancaster, PA wasn't the same as the Bostons or the New Yorks of the world in that Lancaster, PA had little more than a handful of first generation Irish living there. So our Irish accents stood out quiet a bit, and conversations about Ireland became part of every seemingly meaningless interaction, either in person or over the phone. A name like "Máirtín" also lead email conversations back to speaking about Ireland. A common theme across the board was that the vast majority of our new-found friends and clients had never been to Ireland, had always wanted to visit but never pulled the trigger on it. So, we told them to put their money where there mouthes were, and that we would bring them to our home place the next time we were going. This gave rise to the very first Tellus360 Ireland Trip and there I was, steering myself straight back towards the family business again...

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Not a bus tour

Although my upbringing was dotted by multiple fascets of the hospitality and events industry, this initial trip to Ireland was also paired with my first time visiting home in over a year. Despite acting as co-host to a group of 26 guests on their first time visting Ireland, I didn't want to spend my time at home just hopping from tourist trap to large scale hotel to gift shop. I initially thought that I was being too selfish in taking time visiting remote islands, stopping into my favorite tiny pubs way out in the country side, and into towns and villages along the way so I could have a bite or a pint (or both) with a friend who I hadn't seen in a few years. All in tow with my 26 guests! I quickly learned that this desire was shared across the group and they were loving it just as much as I was, if not more.

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On the final night of the tour we had a group dinner and discussed our most and least favorite parts of the 9 days prior. One of my favorite reviews of the trip descriibed it as "not a bus tour, and I loved every minute of it!" and I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "Wow - me too!". It was there and then that the penny dropped, something clicked and I now understood that the a life working on the family business wouldn't be too bad at all, especially now that I know how I would put my own spin on it and to bring it to the next level. It would be fun, and it would be awesome!

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Our approach

Beoga Travel is here to cater for guests who share our value for the higher quality and more authentic experiences in life. Life is for living,

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, and that's who we want to spend our lives touring with. If you are one of these people please reach out to us and we would love to show you our homeland.