Irish Travel Host Lauds Cleveland in First Episode of 'Ed Finn's America'

Gotta stop by the script sign Credit: Virgin Media

Imagine Rick Steves as an Irish travel guide coming to the United States to guide Europeans through the best cities to visit and you’ll get something like Ed Finn, whose new travel show premiered in November and kicks off with an episode on Cleveland.

Locals won’t be shocked at Finn’s itinerary — the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Rock Hall, the West Side Market, etc. — and certainly will pump their chests at Finn’s takeaways: “Cleveland is full of surprises.” Your dollar goes far here. It’s the best city he’s ever visited in his entire life. (That last one is reading between the lines, but he did love his first visit years ago so much he made the return for the show.)

Finn was hosted by Destination Cleveland, as the local tourism bureau continues to sell the city internationally, and made the cross-Atlantic jump on the direct flight from Dublin on Aer Lingus.

The minimum-revenue incentive package crafted and led by JobsOhio, which includes funds from Destination Cleveland, the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, that helped land the flight was recently extended to the end of 2027, according to County Executive Chris Ronayne. Officials declined to say whether any of it has been paid out over the last 19 months, citing the competitive nature of airline deals.

Anyway, Finn loved the food, the culture, the parks, and the people. As he should. The full episode is below.