Ronnie is a great host and it was a real pleasure to stay at his house.

I arrived in Galway three days before Christmas and booked into Ronnie's for a couple of days, so therefore giving him practically no notice. I was travelling under a veil of secrecy, from Sydney, to visit my elderly parents as a Christmas surprise. Nobody in my large family knew I was coming, so I wasn't sure if there would be room in my parents house for me, hence the backup plan of using an AirBnB as a staging post to get my bearings after the 36 hour door-to-Galway bus station trip.

Ronnie responded immediately and in a few hours he was showing me around his wonderful house and the self contained loft flat where I would stay. Very clean and with some wonderful ornaments and paintings. Fresh towels, bathroom amenities you could eat your dinner off, plenty of hot water in the shower.

The surprise was sprung on my parents and siblings, to much joy and elation. It was insisted I was to stay in the house of my parents and no mucking around with an AirBnB. But I happily demurred and retreated into the night back to Ronnie's for my two nights of relaxation before the high drama of Christmas with the family.

The house is located just a few minutes up the road from the Latin Quarter. Walking towards there, with the Claddagh on the left, over the river Corrib at Wolf Tone bridge, there's the Spanish Arch and Quay Street opens up right into the heart of old Galway.

Before setting out each morning, a light breakfast of smoked salmon on brown bread, croissant, cheese and crackers, orange juice appears on a tray outside my door. And the coffee machine provides the couple of cups of anti jet lag juice to get the day started.

Ronnie's apartment has two large skylights looking to the west from the bedroom and lounge area. I lay on my bed on the second night, the night before Christmas Eve, and watched the constellation Orion, the Hunter, slowly arise framed by the skylight.

It's great to be back in Galway for Christmas, and fantastic to have such a generous and considerate host as Ronnie to open up the proceedings.