We have just received a huge boost to moral, we have been inviting our lovely customers to take a few minutes to review us on Tripadvisor over the last few weeks and we now have 22 good or excellent reviews which has put us up to number 1 attraction in Limerick, it has been truly touching to read some comments as we are a little down at the moment with one competitor seeming determined to undermine our 12 years hard work in Limerick. One comment that really struck me was ”like traveling with friends” when I cast my mind back to 1998 and our first Burren tour that is exactly what we were hoping Barratt Tours would become and indeed it is how we hope we can remain – all we need is customers!
Mention of our competitor has got me thinking again and I would just like to take this opportunity to thank them very much for waking us up to all the possibilities that exist, I suppose we were a little too comfortable dealing with our own little business relying primarily on customers from Limerick and I suppose it has made us realise that there is such a lot of untapped business in other cities and markets and that we really need to diversify. We have been looking at other markets which we are not really strong in and while it seemed from the outside that some of them were a “closed shop” on investigation it seems people really are hungry for change and competition and guess what? Your favourite tour company is poised to move into these other markets without cutting quality, after all nothing is forever and nobody has a right to business so “vive la difference!” We are going to become not only Irelands smallest but also its most talked about tour operator with an offer that is superb value and great quality so watch this space – exciting times ahead!
I have been seeking solace through all this upheaval in one of my greatest loves – music, as regulars will know I have a love for meaningful yet slightly melancholic music, my favourites being Elbow and Doves but lately another band has impressed, they are called Delphic and supported Doves on tour but I’am ashamed to say that I missed them in Manchester last year (another love of mine – beer delayed our arrival at the venue!) To make amends I bought their album Acolyte the other week and I love it, is very wordy and catchy but with some great dance and club influences – check out “This Momentary” it is my theme tune for life at the moment!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Richards Blog 29.05.10 – We get knocked down ----but we get up again!
You might remember my last blog being a little melancholy due to a large national operator moving in competition to us but as you might guess by the title (thanks to Chumbawamba!) we are back on a mission and our moods are defiant yet buoyant!
One thing that cheered us up was we went on a tour of all our friends in hotels and B&B s last Friday just to spread the word that we are open for business and hungrier than ever, we were welcomed with open arms and I guess we hadn’t realized the support that is out there for our little enterprise – after all we have been in Limerick through thick and thin for over 12 years and we like think that we contribute our little bit to the local economy but it was at times overwhelming to hear peoples words of support – to all of you thank you, we would never still be here without your support and encouragement over the years – heres to another 20 years!
Also we have found a great level of goodwill from our precious customers, I never really gave this much thought but with globalization of business and the spread of big brands and larger companies people really do like supporting the little local company, particularly if they also happen to be offering a great product like ours! Because of this I’am delighted to say we are now number one attraction inLimerick on the Trip Advisor website – again to all of you who reviewed us, thank you!
It has been a fairly busy week which was helped by a booking for a group from a US university who we had the privilege of looking after last year, this meant that on Wednesday I did a Cliffs tour then dropped the group in Galway before returning empty home – a long day but a change of scenery and good fun!
With the volcanic ash problem finally seeming to calm down business is a little better but our business from Dublinhas declined, we are therefore poised to make a vigorous attack on that market so look out for a new product that will offer unbeatable value and really show how a budget short break can and should be done!
Things are progressing well at home and most of the heavy building work is completed but now our newly decorated rooms look so nice we have decided to give some other rooms a spruce up so we are not finished with the smell of paint yet! Talk of our home life gave me a great idea the other day we are going to show you behind the scenes at Barratt Tours and show you how a typical day goes for your favourite tour operator so watch this space!
One thing that cheered us up was we went on a tour of all our friends in hotels and B&B s last Friday just to spread the word that we are open for business and hungrier than ever, we were welcomed with open arms and I guess we hadn’t realized the support that is out there for our little enterprise – after all we have been in Limerick through thick and thin for over 12 years and we like think that we contribute our little bit to the local economy but it was at times overwhelming to hear peoples words of support – to all of you thank you, we would never still be here without your support and encouragement over the years – heres to another 20 years!
Also we have found a great level of goodwill from our precious customers, I never really gave this much thought but with globalization of business and the spread of big brands and larger companies people really do like supporting the little local company, particularly if they also happen to be offering a great product like ours! Because of this I’am delighted to say we are now number one attraction inLimerick on the Trip Advisor website – again to all of you who reviewed us, thank you!
It has been a fairly busy week which was helped by a booking for a group from a US university who we had the privilege of looking after last year, this meant that on Wednesday I did a Cliffs tour then dropped the group in Galway before returning empty home – a long day but a change of scenery and good fun!
With the volcanic ash problem finally seeming to calm down business is a little better but our business from Dublinhas declined, we are therefore poised to make a vigorous attack on that market so look out for a new product that will offer unbeatable value and really show how a budget short break can and should be done!
Things are progressing well at home and most of the heavy building work is completed but now our newly decorated rooms look so nice we have decided to give some other rooms a spruce up so we are not finished with the smell of paint yet! Talk of our home life gave me a great idea the other day we are going to show you behind the scenes at Barratt Tours and show you how a typical day goes for your favourite tour operator so watch this space!
Richards Blog 19.05.10 – Kind of blue!
First of all a chance to use the title of my favourite Miles Davis track but things are still tough here and became really tough on Monday when we found that we have competition on our Cliffs of Moher tour from Limerick now we have survived many competitors over our 13 seasons in Limerick (lucky for some!) but these are a particularly difficult bunch to fight, they are one company that only seems to aspire to world domination! We have lost a sizeable chunk of our Dublin business to them already and they have slightly undercut us on price in Limerick, much as I feel like turning this into another rant I’am going to be strong and resist just to say that behind all the cuddly sheep and leprechauns lies a ruthless competitor and whilst they are only promoted as being small they are turning into by far the biggest day tour operator in Ireland, in fact I think they would like to turn into the only one someday!
I have the answer, there is only one way to compete and that is to change – wait for it! Precisely nothing, we will keep on doing what we do best and what we have loved doing for the last 13 years and that is giving the best quality tours with the kind of personal service that only small companies like us can give and do you know I’am loving the adrenaline rush of fighting for our business, I honestly believe that our quality and the fact that we have perfected our Cliffs tour to give an informative yet leisurely paced tour over the last 13 years will help us compete and while we wont win all the business I hope we will still get the same kind of lovely customers we have enjoyed in the past, after all as you may know, I’am not greedy and if I can scrape a living doing the job I love then I’am quite happy, we are certainly not in the business of muscling in on markets that were adequately served by small operators – there is a living for everyone that is not too greedy!
So its business as usual and whilst I wont pretend Chris and me don’t care, in fact a few tears were shed on Monday night because the timing of this couldn’t be worse business was terrible already without loosing what precious few customers we have! Ideas are still flying round in this muddled old brain and we have come up with one that will take our business by storm, it is new and it is certainly daring but it will show how much faith we have in what we do – watch this space interesting times are ahead for Barratt Tours – bring it on!
I have the answer, there is only one way to compete and that is to change – wait for it! Precisely nothing, we will keep on doing what we do best and what we have loved doing for the last 13 years and that is giving the best quality tours with the kind of personal service that only small companies like us can give and do you know I’am loving the adrenaline rush of fighting for our business, I honestly believe that our quality and the fact that we have perfected our Cliffs tour to give an informative yet leisurely paced tour over the last 13 years will help us compete and while we wont win all the business I hope we will still get the same kind of lovely customers we have enjoyed in the past, after all as you may know, I’am not greedy and if I can scrape a living doing the job I love then I’am quite happy, we are certainly not in the business of muscling in on markets that were adequately served by small operators – there is a living for everyone that is not too greedy!
So its business as usual and whilst I wont pretend Chris and me don’t care, in fact a few tears were shed on Monday night because the timing of this couldn’t be worse business was terrible already without loosing what precious few customers we have! Ideas are still flying round in this muddled old brain and we have come up with one that will take our business by storm, it is new and it is certainly daring but it will show how much faith we have in what we do – watch this space interesting times are ahead for Barratt Tours – bring it on!
Richards Blog 15.05.10 – Happy days (don’t tell our accountant though!)
Well business is still quiet, our unsung hero Celtic Princess aka Curt, our smallest coach has been busy doing sterling work as numbers are low but it is depressing to see our shiny (and expensive!) larger coaches standing idle for most of the time.
We are lucky in that we have some very nice customers who really seem to be appreciating our personal service and smaller groups and other than the fact that we are not making much money we are enjoying the more relaxed pace!
There seems to be little news of volcanic ash at the moment so airports have been open all last week, hopefully confidence will return and visitor numbers will improve, it really is a great time to visit Ireland there are no crowds and the welcome is warmer than ever!
I have been reading some good books lately but my current book is really entertaining, it is called “Eleven Minutes Late” by Matthew Engel it is the story of a trip through England by train and highlights the chaotic and often ridiculous state of UK railways since privatisation, it really is a love hate story, the author, like me seems to love train travel but hates the way the new operating companies are ruining the sheer experience of rail travel - fascinating stuff!
I promised some more insight into our time in Thailand, we base ourselves in Pattaya which is often referred to as “sin city” and it is fair to say that it is an assault on the senses when you arrive, in many ways it is laid out rather like most beach resorts with a beach road with its bars and restaurants spread along a strip of I suppose 3 miles but behind lies a truly bewildering array of bars for all “tastes” obviously it has its very sleazy side but for a couple like us it the ultimate party town! I lierally cannot think of any entertainment that you couldn’t find, we have been ten pin bowling, crown green bowling, to waterparks, go carting golfing and fishing to name a few! All of these are so cheap and well organized also you can be sure of not going hungry or thirsty there is always food and drink available!
Pattaya is not the place if you dream of a beach holiday surrounded by peace and quiet, the beach is not exactly clean but cleaner ones are a short distance away and peace is certainly not easy to come by! One of our favourite haunts is the soi 2 (soi is street in Thai) area where live music is the main theme, tiny bars will host a 4 or 5 piece band and the amplifiers will be turned up to the max to try and drown out next doors’ band! Some of the musicians are amazing, if you like rock try out Toy Bar on the corner of Soi 2 and second road but bring your ear plugs!
Me showing my great skill at fishing (first time!) Dont worry I threw it back!
We are lucky in that we have some very nice customers who really seem to be appreciating our personal service and smaller groups and other than the fact that we are not making much money we are enjoying the more relaxed pace!
There seems to be little news of volcanic ash at the moment so airports have been open all last week, hopefully confidence will return and visitor numbers will improve, it really is a great time to visit Ireland there are no crowds and the welcome is warmer than ever!
I have been reading some good books lately but my current book is really entertaining, it is called “Eleven Minutes Late” by Matthew Engel it is the story of a trip through England by train and highlights the chaotic and often ridiculous state of UK railways since privatisation, it really is a love hate story, the author, like me seems to love train travel but hates the way the new operating companies are ruining the sheer experience of rail travel - fascinating stuff!
I promised some more insight into our time in Thailand, we base ourselves in Pattaya which is often referred to as “sin city” and it is fair to say that it is an assault on the senses when you arrive, in many ways it is laid out rather like most beach resorts with a beach road with its bars and restaurants spread along a strip of I suppose 3 miles but behind lies a truly bewildering array of bars for all “tastes” obviously it has its very sleazy side but for a couple like us it the ultimate party town! I lierally cannot think of any entertainment that you couldn’t find, we have been ten pin bowling, crown green bowling, to waterparks, go carting golfing and fishing to name a few! All of these are so cheap and well organized also you can be sure of not going hungry or thirsty there is always food and drink available!
Pattaya is not the place if you dream of a beach holiday surrounded by peace and quiet, the beach is not exactly clean but cleaner ones are a short distance away and peace is certainly not easy to come by! One of our favourite haunts is the soi 2 (soi is street in Thai) area where live music is the main theme, tiny bars will host a 4 or 5 piece band and the amplifiers will be turned up to the max to try and drown out next doors’ band! Some of the musicians are amazing, if you like rock try out Toy Bar on the corner of Soi 2 and second road but bring your ear plugs!
Me showing my great skill at fishing (first time!) Dont worry I threw it back!
Richards Blog 08.05.10 – Harrods or Poundland?
Business is still very quiet, we are trying to run all of our tours but it really is a struggle apart from the competition we are currently facing we have the continuing misery of volcanic ash that is currently causing chaos to aviation and now even disrupting Trans Atlantic flights so it is not good for visitor numbers.
Mention of competition has really got us thinking this week, we wonder is price everything in peoples buying decisions, if a company were a little bit more expensive but offered an experience that was streets apart from the “cram them in at any price” attitude that seems to prevail with our competitors would there be a market? We think there might be but we would really love to hear your thoughts. We are resigned to never competing on price or the “incentives” paid to booking staff but we really could win on quality, we have an idea burning in the back of our head but would people pay a little more for something that was absolutely fantastic and unique?
We are always thinking of new ideas and I must admit its hard to critique them when there are only 2 of us particularly when the idea really does mean risking a lot. We were involved with a great venture in tourism until 2007 which was the Tourism Learning Networks, this was set up by Failte Ireland and brought together small and medium tourism enterprises for joint training and gave great networking opportunities, it is very sorely missed by me as we were lucky enough to have a great company facilitating our area network who made a wonderful job of it but sadly all funding was cut and it died. Being a small company in the midst of all this doom and recession is an exceptionally frightening and even lonely place to be at the moment and now, more than ever we need some encouragement from government and more importantly support and development because I can sense that many small enterprises might not make it through which given the wealth of commitment and talent in our sector would be an absolute tragedy. If anyone from tourism agencies reads my ramblings please take note, these are exceptional times in tourism and we need exceptional measures, I hate to be political but if we were farmers we would have received an aid package by now!
Now I don’t want you, dear reader to think Barratt Tours is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, we fortunately are very prudent and have not fallen into the over investment trap many companies did in our so called ‘boom years” and you can be sure we are working on our 2011 plans but there is no point in pulling punches about the situation at the moment – it is not very good, so come on, cheer me up and book a tour with Irelands, most honest resilient and hard working tour company, I think we deserve it and I know you wont regret it!
As usual on a Saturday I’am heading to The Cliffs of Moher and it is a gorgeous day, cool but clear and sunny, I have small group but they are great fun and are a good cross section of young and old, traffic has been easy and I’am relaxed with the world in general despite the misery! Today is really reminding me why I love this job, people are enthusiastic about what we see and there is a lovely interaction between everyone, days like this are a real pleasure!
Now some of you might be wondering if we are having any fun at the moment, well we decided we deserved a night out in Limerick on Thursday night so we had a great meal then headed to Smyths bar where we saw a good band called Sonic, they played a great mix of stuff including some more off beat indie stuff, I thought it was a great set and it really was good to get away from it all for a few hours! I forgot that I haven’t mentioned my books that I’am reading at the moment so I promise to put that right next week.
Mention of competition has really got us thinking this week, we wonder is price everything in peoples buying decisions, if a company were a little bit more expensive but offered an experience that was streets apart from the “cram them in at any price” attitude that seems to prevail with our competitors would there be a market? We think there might be but we would really love to hear your thoughts. We are resigned to never competing on price or the “incentives” paid to booking staff but we really could win on quality, we have an idea burning in the back of our head but would people pay a little more for something that was absolutely fantastic and unique?
We are always thinking of new ideas and I must admit its hard to critique them when there are only 2 of us particularly when the idea really does mean risking a lot. We were involved with a great venture in tourism until 2007 which was the Tourism Learning Networks, this was set up by Failte Ireland and brought together small and medium tourism enterprises for joint training and gave great networking opportunities, it is very sorely missed by me as we were lucky enough to have a great company facilitating our area network who made a wonderful job of it but sadly all funding was cut and it died. Being a small company in the midst of all this doom and recession is an exceptionally frightening and even lonely place to be at the moment and now, more than ever we need some encouragement from government and more importantly support and development because I can sense that many small enterprises might not make it through which given the wealth of commitment and talent in our sector would be an absolute tragedy. If anyone from tourism agencies reads my ramblings please take note, these are exceptional times in tourism and we need exceptional measures, I hate to be political but if we were farmers we would have received an aid package by now!
Now I don’t want you, dear reader to think Barratt Tours is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, we fortunately are very prudent and have not fallen into the over investment trap many companies did in our so called ‘boom years” and you can be sure we are working on our 2011 plans but there is no point in pulling punches about the situation at the moment – it is not very good, so come on, cheer me up and book a tour with Irelands, most honest resilient and hard working tour company, I think we deserve it and I know you wont regret it!
As usual on a Saturday I’am heading to The Cliffs of Moher and it is a gorgeous day, cool but clear and sunny, I have small group but they are great fun and are a good cross section of young and old, traffic has been easy and I’am relaxed with the world in general despite the misery! Today is really reminding me why I love this job, people are enthusiastic about what we see and there is a lovely interaction between everyone, days like this are a real pleasure!
Now some of you might be wondering if we are having any fun at the moment, well we decided we deserved a night out in Limerick on Thursday night so we had a great meal then headed to Smyths bar where we saw a good band called Sonic, they played a great mix of stuff including some more off beat indie stuff, I thought it was a great set and it really was good to get away from it all for a few hours! I forgot that I haven’t mentioned my books that I’am reading at the moment so I promise to put that right next week.
Richards Blog 05.05.10 – Ashes to ashes, funk to funky!
Well what promised to be a lousy week has turned into a bit of a nightmare, I write this on Wednesday and again we have a small load thanks in part to the disruption to flights due to Volcanic Ash, as you can no doubt imagine this is having a disastrous effect on our business so I’am not going to dwell on it and head instead back to Thailand in January!
I left you on Saturday night in Chiang Mai, we decided to have an easy Sunday after the rigors of the mountain tour also to be honest we were a little (in fact very!) saddle sore, the bike I hired was not the most comfortable to put it mildly! So on Sunday morning we headed into town for a b it of breakfast and to make plans for the day, after a nice breakfast in a little bar I hopped on the bike, pressed the starter and – nothing! I tried tapping the starter motor and rocking the engine in gear but no joy. The bike had no kick start so the only option was a push, Chris was in hysterics at the suggestion but I convinced her and she gave a good shove up the road, I let the clutch out in third gear and bingo – back to life! We decided we would rather not continue this routine at every stop so I returned the bike to the shop and got my favourite Thai bike a Honda Phantom, I bonded with this much better and the guy at the hire shop recommended we go to the hot springs for a day out, sounded a plan!
It was a great 45 min ride to the springs and my little Phantom burbled away happily when we got to the springs we had a look round and then saw the egg stall, you can buy your own eggs to boil in the sulphurous spring to give them a unique erm eggy flavour (ok, I know but remember we are on holiday!) So fortified with eggs and Chang beer (burp!) I decided that I needed a swim in the beautiful hot though vaguely farty (sorry!) water. Only trouble was I only had the shorts I had on, still what the hell, in I went had a great swim and dried off on the road in about 20 min!
It was still mid afternoon so we decided the distant mountains looked inviting and set off on the most beautiful road I have ever ridden, every turn brought another panorama, we stopped for a drink where I have a routine of sifting out the most obscure (and cheapest) fizzy drink whilst Chris chooses coke (you can glean a lot from that!) As I sipped my lovely red fanta we talked and said, wouldn’t it be great if we could just carry on up that road and not care where it led, we would find a bed somewhere. We toyed with that idea but eventually decided we had better return to Chiang Mai as we had a hotel room and our return train booked the following morning, but it did plant an idea in our heads!
If we are lucky enough to get back next year we are just going to hire a bike in the north for a fortnight and head off with no plans, we might look up a friend in Chiang Rai then take in Laos, I think that would be a great antidote to our stress here – fingers crossed!
Anyhow to continue our tale we left Chiang Mai for a slightly more sober journey on the night train to Bangkok then a journey by coach back to Pattaya – tales of “sin city” to follow (parental guidance recommended!) bye for now!
Hard or soft boiled? (eggs are in basket!)
I left you on Saturday night in Chiang Mai, we decided to have an easy Sunday after the rigors of the mountain tour also to be honest we were a little (in fact very!) saddle sore, the bike I hired was not the most comfortable to put it mildly! So on Sunday morning we headed into town for a b it of breakfast and to make plans for the day, after a nice breakfast in a little bar I hopped on the bike, pressed the starter and – nothing! I tried tapping the starter motor and rocking the engine in gear but no joy. The bike had no kick start so the only option was a push, Chris was in hysterics at the suggestion but I convinced her and she gave a good shove up the road, I let the clutch out in third gear and bingo – back to life! We decided we would rather not continue this routine at every stop so I returned the bike to the shop and got my favourite Thai bike a Honda Phantom, I bonded with this much better and the guy at the hire shop recommended we go to the hot springs for a day out, sounded a plan!
It was a great 45 min ride to the springs and my little Phantom burbled away happily when we got to the springs we had a look round and then saw the egg stall, you can buy your own eggs to boil in the sulphurous spring to give them a unique erm eggy flavour (ok, I know but remember we are on holiday!) So fortified with eggs and Chang beer (burp!) I decided that I needed a swim in the beautiful hot though vaguely farty (sorry!) water. Only trouble was I only had the shorts I had on, still what the hell, in I went had a great swim and dried off on the road in about 20 min!
It was still mid afternoon so we decided the distant mountains looked inviting and set off on the most beautiful road I have ever ridden, every turn brought another panorama, we stopped for a drink where I have a routine of sifting out the most obscure (and cheapest) fizzy drink whilst Chris chooses coke (you can glean a lot from that!) As I sipped my lovely red fanta we talked and said, wouldn’t it be great if we could just carry on up that road and not care where it led, we would find a bed somewhere. We toyed with that idea but eventually decided we had better return to Chiang Mai as we had a hotel room and our return train booked the following morning, but it did plant an idea in our heads!
If we are lucky enough to get back next year we are just going to hire a bike in the north for a fortnight and head off with no plans, we might look up a friend in Chiang Rai then take in Laos, I think that would be a great antidote to our stress here – fingers crossed!
Anyhow to continue our tale we left Chiang Mai for a slightly more sober journey on the night train to Bangkok then a journey by coach back to Pattaya – tales of “sin city” to follow (parental guidance recommended!) bye for now!
Hard or soft boiled? (eggs are in basket!)
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Richards Blog 01.05.10 – Back to work !
First day of the season today and I’am once again heading to the Cliffs with a fairly decent load, the same cannot be said of tomorrow or next week but I seem to remember I always get a healthy dose of paranoia at this time of year, hopefully things will look up soon.
I left you last time anticipating what promised to be an ‘interesting” trip to England because of the total close down of Irish Air space meaning we had to go by ferry, the plan was to take the car to Dublin then catch the evening fast ferry to Holyhead, spend the night there then take the train up to Sunderland. However we were just finishing packing on Sunday morning when we got a text from Stena Line kindly informing us that the ferry was cancelled due to technical failure – what to do now? We called Stena and were on hold for 50 min before being cut off – great! I then tried again and amazingly got talking to a human at last but they informed me the next foot passenger space was on Wednesday so that was not an option, there were however spaces on the night ferry for cars so we decided to take the car and drive to Sunderland then head back on the Friday by our favourite P & O crossing from Liverpool – sorted then!
All went reasonably to plan, it was along drive but helped by good roads and an even better car (still love the Mercedes!) and we did 260 miles in just over 4 hours (try and do that in Ireland!) We shared the driving and the trip passed in no time, the time with the family flew and I had a little business to attend to, we headed to Liverpool on Thursday night to catch the day sailing to Dublin, we had a great night in Liverpool which drew to a close what could only be described as an interesting winter!
We were inDublin this week delivering our brochures to Dublin Tourism and we were struck by the massive competition now on day tours to the Cliffs of Moher, there are now 4 operators offering totally coach based tours and 2 offering rail and coach tours (including ourselves!) As I think I have previously mentioned the coach tours are being heavily promoted and are carrying quite a lot of passengers indeed I often see them in Doolin all fighting for a bit of lunch at a certain establishment, thankfully we glide gracefully by to the haven of Gus O’Connors pub where a much more civilized atmosphere prevails! It amazes me how people are taken in by the idea that spending 12 hours on a coach is going to be fun and “mighty craic” when the journey could be made by rail in comfort with catering, toilets etc and the really interesting bit done by coach but it seems impossible for us to compete on price, commission rates paid to agents and general dirty tactics which we would never employ because, as I hope regular readers will know well - I’am proud to say our success has always been on our terms with clean hands, not all can claim that!
At this point this might be starting to sound like a rant against everyone in competition with ourselves but nothing could be further from the truth I have the greatest respect for some of our competitors and I like to think we have developed an understanding of each others operation and whilst we remain competitive we are always fair, what does surprise me is that our government is supporting and promoting these enterprises which only mean greater carbon emissions from coaches following each other across the country over routes that are more than adequately served by coach or train many of which have spare capacity, just my thoughts – what do you think?
I left you last time anticipating what promised to be an ‘interesting” trip to England because of the total close down of Irish Air space meaning we had to go by ferry, the plan was to take the car to Dublin then catch the evening fast ferry to Holyhead, spend the night there then take the train up to Sunderland. However we were just finishing packing on Sunday morning when we got a text from Stena Line kindly informing us that the ferry was cancelled due to technical failure – what to do now? We called Stena and were on hold for 50 min before being cut off – great! I then tried again and amazingly got talking to a human at last but they informed me the next foot passenger space was on Wednesday so that was not an option, there were however spaces on the night ferry for cars so we decided to take the car and drive to Sunderland then head back on the Friday by our favourite P & O crossing from Liverpool – sorted then!
All went reasonably to plan, it was along drive but helped by good roads and an even better car (still love the Mercedes!) and we did 260 miles in just over 4 hours (try and do that in Ireland!) We shared the driving and the trip passed in no time, the time with the family flew and I had a little business to attend to, we headed to Liverpool on Thursday night to catch the day sailing to Dublin, we had a great night in Liverpool which drew to a close what could only be described as an interesting winter!
We were inDublin this week delivering our brochures to Dublin Tourism and we were struck by the massive competition now on day tours to the Cliffs of Moher, there are now 4 operators offering totally coach based tours and 2 offering rail and coach tours (including ourselves!) As I think I have previously mentioned the coach tours are being heavily promoted and are carrying quite a lot of passengers indeed I often see them in Doolin all fighting for a bit of lunch at a certain establishment, thankfully we glide gracefully by to the haven of Gus O’Connors pub where a much more civilized atmosphere prevails! It amazes me how people are taken in by the idea that spending 12 hours on a coach is going to be fun and “mighty craic” when the journey could be made by rail in comfort with catering, toilets etc and the really interesting bit done by coach but it seems impossible for us to compete on price, commission rates paid to agents and general dirty tactics which we would never employ because, as I hope regular readers will know well - I’am proud to say our success has always been on our terms with clean hands, not all can claim that!
At this point this might be starting to sound like a rant against everyone in competition with ourselves but nothing could be further from the truth I have the greatest respect for some of our competitors and I like to think we have developed an understanding of each others operation and whilst we remain competitive we are always fair, what does surprise me is that our government is supporting and promoting these enterprises which only mean greater carbon emissions from coaches following each other across the country over routes that are more than adequately served by coach or train many of which have spare capacity, just my thoughts – what do you think?
Richards Blog 17.04.10 – Ash Thursday!
We are rapidly approaching the start of our full season and things are somewhat hectic with bus repairs and having workers in the house at odd times! The weather has been absolutely gorgeous and on Tuesday we took the decision to have a couple of days away on bike and had a wonderfull time, we toured West Cork and took in such great places as Mizen Head, Clonakilty, The Beara Peninsular and Killarney, I will tell the full story and route soon but I have something pressing on my mind this week!
Next week we are escaping the renovations and heading over to England on business and to see the families before the season starts however events have rather changed our plans! We were going to fly Dublin to Newcastle by Ryanair on Monday but unfortunately due to the cloud of volcanic ash that is drifting around Europe our flight is cancelled, when we heard the news I got straight onto Stena Line ferries and booked possibly the last 2 seats out of Dublin to Holyhead for tomorrow night, we are then staying a night in Holyhead before taking a train to Newcastle (with 3 changes) so it might be an epic journey – as usual, I will let you know! Hopefully normal service will return for our return journey before next weekend.
Our change of plans has forced us into canceling our tour for tomorrow but fortunately we only had one booking anyway, sorry if any of you were disappointed but unfortunately we were forced into this by unusual circumstances to say the least we have had a few cancellations from people who couldn’t fly in and needless to say we have refunded them in full, we feel their pain!
I will continue with my motorcycle diaries next week, hope you are enjoying these, if you are let me know and if not also let me know and I will shorten them a little, as usual it is lovely to hear from you even if you tell me that I’am boring you to tears, don’t forget to check out our facebook and twitter for the latest news and gossip!
At Mizen head on my lovely Kawasaki W650
Next week we are escaping the renovations and heading over to England on business and to see the families before the season starts however events have rather changed our plans! We were going to fly Dublin to Newcastle by Ryanair on Monday but unfortunately due to the cloud of volcanic ash that is drifting around Europe our flight is cancelled, when we heard the news I got straight onto Stena Line ferries and booked possibly the last 2 seats out of Dublin to Holyhead for tomorrow night, we are then staying a night in Holyhead before taking a train to Newcastle (with 3 changes) so it might be an epic journey – as usual, I will let you know! Hopefully normal service will return for our return journey before next weekend.
Our change of plans has forced us into canceling our tour for tomorrow but fortunately we only had one booking anyway, sorry if any of you were disappointed but unfortunately we were forced into this by unusual circumstances to say the least we have had a few cancellations from people who couldn’t fly in and needless to say we have refunded them in full, we feel their pain!
I will continue with my motorcycle diaries next week, hope you are enjoying these, if you are let me know and if not also let me know and I will shorten them a little, as usual it is lovely to hear from you even if you tell me that I’am boring you to tears, don’t forget to check out our facebook and twitter for the latest news and gossip!
At Mizen head on my lovely Kawasaki W650
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Richards Blog 10.04.10 – Testing times and Northern Thailand!
Back on tour today and once again it has been a mad week! This is the time of year that I try to catch up on all our coach maintenance and also my coach is due for its annual test so I went through it and found a couple of jobs that needed doing, one was a steering component that was not expired but well on its way so that had to be replaced, unfortunately these parts only seem to last us a couple of years and cost a cool Eu600.00! The roads of the Burren are certainly to blame for this and they seem to last ages everywhere else, to give an idea how unusual this part was the only one in the world was in Turin in Italy so had to be shipped to us. I have to admit fitting it was a fairly heavy job on my own and my back was well and truly screaming on Tuesday night, that holiday has made me soft!
As well as coach repairs we have still got people in repairing our house and it looks like it will be a long job, we are getting much of the materials and our ever faithful Celtic Princess has been great, it is carrying passengers today but yesterday it was carrying a load of tiles and laminate flooring!
I can now feel a trip to Thailandcoming on – more memories! We spent most of our time in Pattaya but took a trip up to Chiang Mai in the North. We took the train from Pattaya to Bangkokwhich was quite an experience, it was the local train and there is only one train a day! The local trains have only one class and that is third which means basic but comfortable seats and no air con but huge roof fans and completely opening windows – I thought it was great, I sat back and watched the countryside roll by and the trip was made better by a lovely happy Thai lady doing her best to sell me cans of beer for the whole trip – marvelous! Now the day we traveled on was our wedding anniversary so I surprised Chris with a stay at Bangkoks’ oldest 5 star hotel – The Dusit Thani, it was fabulous and whilst not having the flash of the newer skyscrapers it had a class all of its own, we took dinner in the restaurant called Bengarong which specialises in Royal Thai cuisine and it was quite simply the finest Thai food I have tasted, not overly complicated but beautifully cooked with fresh spices. We then had a night in Bangkok which was relatively tame for us and got back about 2’o clock for a great nights sleep.
The following day we did some shopping and sightseeing before heading Bangkoks’ magnificent Hua Lamphuang station for the overnight sleeper to Chiang Mai (a mere 13 hours away!). I have to admit I love the romance of long distance rail travel and watching the comings and goings and bustle of a big station, we settled into our first class sleeper (not very expensive!) and had a few drinks while we watched the suburbs of Bangkok which is quite literally an assault on the senses with the amazing sight of people trying to scratch out a living as best they can in shanty towns next to the railway, it truly is a humbling experience! With Bangkok behind us we headed to the dining car for a great unbelievably cheap Thai meal although you do need to like chillis, my duck red curry was seriously hot! We then settled down to a few Thai whiskeys, made plenty of friends and had a great night!
Arriving at Chiang Mai station has a real frontier feel to it, its quite a way north so the stifling heat of Bangkok gives way to pleasant mid twenties temperatures and life is a bit less frantic, we headed to our hotel to leave our bags and then headed to the bike hire shop where I collect my motorbike for the next couple of days, the weather was lovely so we decided to do a bit of touring and headed on the most spectacular circular ride north into the mountains – the scenery and roads were spectacular in fact I longed to have my bike from Ireland! The day went all too quick and we headed back to our hotel then into the city for a look round the famous night bazaar, surprisingly this was followed by a few drinks before heading back to the hotel – to be continued next week!
On tour in Thailand - what a view!
As well as coach repairs we have still got people in repairing our house and it looks like it will be a long job, we are getting much of the materials and our ever faithful Celtic Princess has been great, it is carrying passengers today but yesterday it was carrying a load of tiles and laminate flooring!
I can now feel a trip to Thailandcoming on – more memories! We spent most of our time in Pattaya but took a trip up to Chiang Mai in the North. We took the train from Pattaya to Bangkokwhich was quite an experience, it was the local train and there is only one train a day! The local trains have only one class and that is third which means basic but comfortable seats and no air con but huge roof fans and completely opening windows – I thought it was great, I sat back and watched the countryside roll by and the trip was made better by a lovely happy Thai lady doing her best to sell me cans of beer for the whole trip – marvelous! Now the day we traveled on was our wedding anniversary so I surprised Chris with a stay at Bangkoks’ oldest 5 star hotel – The Dusit Thani, it was fabulous and whilst not having the flash of the newer skyscrapers it had a class all of its own, we took dinner in the restaurant called Bengarong which specialises in Royal Thai cuisine and it was quite simply the finest Thai food I have tasted, not overly complicated but beautifully cooked with fresh spices. We then had a night in Bangkok which was relatively tame for us and got back about 2’o clock for a great nights sleep.
The following day we did some shopping and sightseeing before heading Bangkoks’ magnificent Hua Lamphuang station for the overnight sleeper to Chiang Mai (a mere 13 hours away!). I have to admit I love the romance of long distance rail travel and watching the comings and goings and bustle of a big station, we settled into our first class sleeper (not very expensive!) and had a few drinks while we watched the suburbs of Bangkok which is quite literally an assault on the senses with the amazing sight of people trying to scratch out a living as best they can in shanty towns next to the railway, it truly is a humbling experience! With Bangkok behind us we headed to the dining car for a great unbelievably cheap Thai meal although you do need to like chillis, my duck red curry was seriously hot! We then settled down to a few Thai whiskeys, made plenty of friends and had a great night!
Arriving at Chiang Mai station has a real frontier feel to it, its quite a way north so the stifling heat of Bangkok gives way to pleasant mid twenties temperatures and life is a bit less frantic, we headed to our hotel to leave our bags and then headed to the bike hire shop where I collect my motorbike for the next couple of days, the weather was lovely so we decided to do a bit of touring and headed on the most spectacular circular ride north into the mountains – the scenery and roads were spectacular in fact I longed to have my bike from Ireland! The day went all too quick and we headed back to our hotel then into the city for a look round the famous night bazaar, surprisingly this was followed by a few drinks before heading back to the hotel – to be continued next week!
On tour in Thailand - what a view!
Richards Blog 04.04.10 – April fool!
I cannot believe that we are into April already particularly as I was de icing coaches at 7.30 this morning, the weather is just mad at the moment, in contrast last Sunday I went for a blast on my bike and it was a fairly warm spring day! Things are chaotic at home still, we have builders in sorting the flood damage so we are living out of cases and sleeping in the spare room, if there were anything positive to come out of our bad luck it is that we are having a massive clear out and de clutter which was long overdue!
We had an April fool on Thursday and offered a tour for Eu5.00 to The Cliffs fromDublin including lunch and rail travel! I’am not sure anyone was fooled but the way competition has gone in the day tour business probably people thought we were serious! There is a huge battle going on between some companies at the moment and some day tours are now cheaper than they were 15 years ago! Now some of you might think this is great good news for travelers but I’am not too sure, all that these price levels will result in is safety compromises and inevitably a worse tour for everyone the old adage “quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten” certainly applies here! We will not get involved in this kind of stupid price cutting and will continue to do what we have always done and that is to offer the best tours at a reasonable cost, we haven’t even had a price increase for 8 years now, we will watch developments with interest but you are never going to get a Barratt Tour for a stupid price however you will always get one for a reasonable price that is workable for us and affordable for you, we are in this for the long haul after all and one way we will always compete is in quality - you wouldn’t go to a Michelin starred restaurant and expect a cheap meal!
Thank you for all your kind wishes to Chris, I have to say she has really made a full recovery now and is fighting fit, indeed I cannot remember her relishing the fight we have to get customers more than at the moment, so a warning to our competitors from her – she is spoiling for a fight and believe me, you don’t want to cross her at the moment!
No books or music to report on without me boring you all to death with me rattling on about how brilliant Doves are! But next week I will tell you about a great book that I read on holiday that will appeal to you if you have a liking for a great cop story with some far eastern intrigue, as ever, watch this space!
We had an April fool on Thursday and offered a tour for Eu5.00 to The Cliffs fromDublin including lunch and rail travel! I’am not sure anyone was fooled but the way competition has gone in the day tour business probably people thought we were serious! There is a huge battle going on between some companies at the moment and some day tours are now cheaper than they were 15 years ago! Now some of you might think this is great good news for travelers but I’am not too sure, all that these price levels will result in is safety compromises and inevitably a worse tour for everyone the old adage “quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten” certainly applies here! We will not get involved in this kind of stupid price cutting and will continue to do what we have always done and that is to offer the best tours at a reasonable cost, we haven’t even had a price increase for 8 years now, we will watch developments with interest but you are never going to get a Barratt Tour for a stupid price however you will always get one for a reasonable price that is workable for us and affordable for you, we are in this for the long haul after all and one way we will always compete is in quality - you wouldn’t go to a Michelin starred restaurant and expect a cheap meal!
Thank you for all your kind wishes to Chris, I have to say she has really made a full recovery now and is fighting fit, indeed I cannot remember her relishing the fight we have to get customers more than at the moment, so a warning to our competitors from her – she is spoiling for a fight and believe me, you don’t want to cross her at the moment!
No books or music to report on without me boring you all to death with me rattling on about how brilliant Doves are! But next week I will tell you about a great book that I read on holiday that will appeal to you if you have a liking for a great cop story with some far eastern intrigue, as ever, watch this space!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Richards Blog 27.03.10 – Reflections on old Siam and Manchester!
Well I made it through last weekend and our first tours with no problems and we were quite busy, thankfully we are busy again today and I write this at Caherconnoll Fort enjoying a good cup of Irish tea.Thailand seems every inch of 6000miles away now but we have some great memories.
Our customers often ask us why we visit Thailand and there is no simple answer, there are so many reasons, the first has to be the weather, we always visit in January and February which are the coldest and bleakest months inIreland and also of course when our business slows to a near standstill. This year the weather was glorious in Thailand, we had highs of 37 and it never dropped below 25 – beats minus 12 any day! Also we never had much rain – about 2 days in 60 aint bad!!
But personally my biggest reason for visiting is because it is different, I know that might sound an obvious observation but I struggle to think of anything that isn’t totally different to what we are used to here except possibly, though sad to report, fast food! One thing that absolutely fascinates me is how everyone seems to get along with no state aid, there can be no doubt poverty is rampant but no matter how humble these peoples dwellings are (and believe me many are unbelievable!) the Thai people have a capacity to use one facet of their human nature that so many of us Westerners have long since abandoned – the smile! I don’t know if religion is responsible or just a different attitude to life but in 2 months of driving in Pattaya City (which must be second only to Bangkok for traffic!) I saw no road rage and none of the hatred and abuse that we suffer every day in our jobs here! I saw a great example of a coach doing a crazy, illegal and dangerous u turn on a main highway, a Thai Traffic Police officer came up to the driver and guess what happened? Both the driver and the officer had a laugh at the situation and instead of giving the driver a dressing down in the manner that we expect here (probably peppered by threats of prosecution, court and eternal damnation!) he stopped the traffic and let the coach continue his turn!
I would never suggest that works everywhere but it sure leads to less aggravation and in all that chaos the traffic flowed well! I soon got used to the Thai way of driving and initially when someone pulled out in front of me I would honk and tut but as time went on I just waved and smiled – doesn’t that make a happier world!
Now talk of driving brings me to point out that I was actually riding a motorbike all the time, I hired one from the company we always use which is run by a lovely Thai lady, about 95% of hire bikes are scooters and I really hate most of them so I went a step up and got a Honda Phantom, a uniquely Thai bike, they are like a small cruiser not fast but fun! I managed to get the oldest one I think and it was the 2 stroke version which was great fun and always fastest off the lights! Needless to say I fell for it and found myself cleaning “my” bike and even giving it a tune up one day, I even asked the lady to let me know if she is selling it and I might be a buyer – sad I know, I’am just a sucker for old vehicles with character! I shall give you more motorcycle diaries (wasen’t that a film?) next week.
Now regulars might be missing my music ramblings, a couple of things to report back in December we had a last minute trip over to Manchester to see one of my all time favourite bands Doves in a triumphant homecoming to Manchester Central (great venue!) and I have to report it was absolutely fantastic, particularly when they went back to their roots and played Space Face by their former band Sub Sub, took me right back to the days before X factor and everything when music was part of a scene rather than being the instantly forgettable and manufactured dribble that we have to endure today, as the lads said “my god its full of stars!” if you like trippy, baggy Manchester music check it out, it is on itunes! More about Manchester next week!
Me on my bike in full Thai wet weather gear!
Our customers often ask us why we visit Thailand and there is no simple answer, there are so many reasons, the first has to be the weather, we always visit in January and February which are the coldest and bleakest months inIreland and also of course when our business slows to a near standstill. This year the weather was glorious in Thailand, we had highs of 37 and it never dropped below 25 – beats minus 12 any day! Also we never had much rain – about 2 days in 60 aint bad!!
But personally my biggest reason for visiting is because it is different, I know that might sound an obvious observation but I struggle to think of anything that isn’t totally different to what we are used to here except possibly, though sad to report, fast food! One thing that absolutely fascinates me is how everyone seems to get along with no state aid, there can be no doubt poverty is rampant but no matter how humble these peoples dwellings are (and believe me many are unbelievable!) the Thai people have a capacity to use one facet of their human nature that so many of us Westerners have long since abandoned – the smile! I don’t know if religion is responsible or just a different attitude to life but in 2 months of driving in Pattaya City (which must be second only to Bangkok for traffic!) I saw no road rage and none of the hatred and abuse that we suffer every day in our jobs here! I saw a great example of a coach doing a crazy, illegal and dangerous u turn on a main highway, a Thai Traffic Police officer came up to the driver and guess what happened? Both the driver and the officer had a laugh at the situation and instead of giving the driver a dressing down in the manner that we expect here (probably peppered by threats of prosecution, court and eternal damnation!) he stopped the traffic and let the coach continue his turn!
I would never suggest that works everywhere but it sure leads to less aggravation and in all that chaos the traffic flowed well! I soon got used to the Thai way of driving and initially when someone pulled out in front of me I would honk and tut but as time went on I just waved and smiled – doesn’t that make a happier world!
Now talk of driving brings me to point out that I was actually riding a motorbike all the time, I hired one from the company we always use which is run by a lovely Thai lady, about 95% of hire bikes are scooters and I really hate most of them so I went a step up and got a Honda Phantom, a uniquely Thai bike, they are like a small cruiser not fast but fun! I managed to get the oldest one I think and it was the 2 stroke version which was great fun and always fastest off the lights! Needless to say I fell for it and found myself cleaning “my” bike and even giving it a tune up one day, I even asked the lady to let me know if she is selling it and I might be a buyer – sad I know, I’am just a sucker for old vehicles with character! I shall give you more motorcycle diaries (wasen’t that a film?) next week.
Now regulars might be missing my music ramblings, a couple of things to report back in December we had a last minute trip over to Manchester to see one of my all time favourite bands Doves in a triumphant homecoming to Manchester Central (great venue!) and I have to report it was absolutely fantastic, particularly when they went back to their roots and played Space Face by their former band Sub Sub, took me right back to the days before X factor and everything when music was part of a scene rather than being the instantly forgettable and manufactured dribble that we have to endure today, as the lads said “my god its full of stars!” if you like trippy, baggy Manchester music check it out, it is on itunes! More about Manchester next week!
Me on my bike in full Thai wet weather gear!
Richards Blog 20.03.10 – Back to work and what a winter!!!
I honestly don’t know where to start! Well first of all the mundane stuff I’am back at work for our first Cliffs tour and have a good load and the weather is nice.
I think my last blog was written in Blarney and we were anticipating my lovely parents Golden Wedding anniversary, well I’am delighted to report the night went off marvelously and I even made a short speech which even though I say it myself went well! We then headed back to Ireland to prepare for this season and I caught up with a few jobs on our coaches before we headed off on 23rd December with our new car on the night ferry to Liverpool from Dublin, on reaching Liverpool the weather looked a bit grey and continued to deteriorate as we headed up the motorway and we were in a blizzard within an hour, at that point the radio travel news announced that our normal road over the Pennines – the A66 was closed so we had a considerable diversion via Carlisle in tricky conditions. Once we aarived we had a very nice family Christmas and headed away for New Year to Bimingham and more snow but had a great time at our favourite New Year party at the Jam House (a superb live music venue).
We were due to leave for Thailand on 6th January and true to form it was still snowing hard, we checked in at Teesside Airport for a KLM flight to Amsterdam but were later told the airport was closed and we had to go on a coach transfer to Newcastle (oh, a coach- what a pleasant change!) By the time the runway was cleared at Newcastle we had missed our connecting flight to Bangkok at Amsterdam and so had to spend a night there (kindly paid for by KLM) and caught the flight the following afternoon so we arrived in Bangkok one day late, we then settled into the serious business of enjoying our holiday and had a wonderful time in fact I will post more stories of the trip and some pics soon.
Fast forward now to our last week and we had had a great night out with friends for drinks but during the night Chris felt unwell and was rushed to hospital, it turned out she needed an operation and had to be kept in for a while, we had to change our return travel plans but at least we had a few days to recover. The healthcare Chris received was absolutely superb at The Bangkok Pattaya Hospital so thanks again to all there. Chris is now well on the mend and seems to be in good health now probably better than she has been for a long while now.
We had to change our return flights and returned to Newcastle by Emirates via Dubai – a long haul but as comfortable as cattle class can be! We then had to collect Celtic Princess from Durham as it has been having an overdue makeover so we headed back via Liverpool to Dublin ferry and arrived home on Thursday at 9 at night.
On arriving home we had more misery which we expected really, our neighbour had contacted us way back in January to tell us that we had a water leak at home and there was water gushing from the eves. On inspection he found that a pipe had burst in our loft and the resulting flood had brought two ceilings down, the burst pipe was due to the extreme weather, we had temperatures as low as minus 12 in January!
Whilst we knew about the damage nothing can really prepare you for the mess and even though the flood was 2 months ago the smell and damp remains, we are now faced with finding a builder and having extensive work done to both our bathroom and bedroom, this is in addition to the thousands of other jobs we have to do in preparation for this season. More to come about my first tours and the holidays next week!
The Scene at Newcastle Airport
Happy days on holiday!
I think my last blog was written in Blarney and we were anticipating my lovely parents Golden Wedding anniversary, well I’am delighted to report the night went off marvelously and I even made a short speech which even though I say it myself went well! We then headed back to Ireland to prepare for this season and I caught up with a few jobs on our coaches before we headed off on 23rd December with our new car on the night ferry to Liverpool from Dublin, on reaching Liverpool the weather looked a bit grey and continued to deteriorate as we headed up the motorway and we were in a blizzard within an hour, at that point the radio travel news announced that our normal road over the Pennines – the A66 was closed so we had a considerable diversion via Carlisle in tricky conditions. Once we aarived we had a very nice family Christmas and headed away for New Year to Bimingham and more snow but had a great time at our favourite New Year party at the Jam House (a superb live music venue).
We were due to leave for Thailand on 6th January and true to form it was still snowing hard, we checked in at Teesside Airport for a KLM flight to Amsterdam but were later told the airport was closed and we had to go on a coach transfer to Newcastle (oh, a coach- what a pleasant change!) By the time the runway was cleared at Newcastle we had missed our connecting flight to Bangkok at Amsterdam and so had to spend a night there (kindly paid for by KLM) and caught the flight the following afternoon so we arrived in Bangkok one day late, we then settled into the serious business of enjoying our holiday and had a wonderful time in fact I will post more stories of the trip and some pics soon.
Fast forward now to our last week and we had had a great night out with friends for drinks but during the night Chris felt unwell and was rushed to hospital, it turned out she needed an operation and had to be kept in for a while, we had to change our return travel plans but at least we had a few days to recover. The healthcare Chris received was absolutely superb at The Bangkok Pattaya Hospital so thanks again to all there. Chris is now well on the mend and seems to be in good health now probably better than she has been for a long while now.
We had to change our return flights and returned to Newcastle by Emirates via Dubai – a long haul but as comfortable as cattle class can be! We then had to collect Celtic Princess from Durham as it has been having an overdue makeover so we headed back via Liverpool to Dublin ferry and arrived home on Thursday at 9 at night.
On arriving home we had more misery which we expected really, our neighbour had contacted us way back in January to tell us that we had a water leak at home and there was water gushing from the eves. On inspection he found that a pipe had burst in our loft and the resulting flood had brought two ceilings down, the burst pipe was due to the extreme weather, we had temperatures as low as minus 12 in January!
Whilst we knew about the damage nothing can really prepare you for the mess and even though the flood was 2 months ago the smell and damp remains, we are now faced with finding a builder and having extensive work done to both our bathroom and bedroom, this is in addition to the thousands of other jobs we have to do in preparation for this season. More to come about my first tours and the holidays next week!
The Scene at Newcastle Airport
Happy days on holiday!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Richards Blog – 29.11.09 – Another season !
Well once again I’am writing this in a slightly damp Blarney on our final tour of 2009, as usual I have mixed feelings – its hard to switch off after 6 months of continuous work but I think it will truly dawn on me in the morning when I might just have a lie in! I think I have said this before but this has truly been one hell of a season for all the wrong reasons, so I think I will mention the low points followed by the highlights (if I can think of any!)
Lowlights:
Well first of all has to be Chris’ mother unfortunate illness (she is much better now) which meant we had to cancel our holiday to Thailand and spend about 3 months apart – that really was tough.
Coach problems – yesterday was the anniversary of when Celtic Pride broke down on our last tour of 2008 and it has honestly taken until last month to get all its’ problems finally cured – its going great now though! After that we have had various niggles and even the trusty Celtic Princess has had one major problem this year but well again now! One night particularly sticks in our mind I think, it was in July when we were having our garden landscaped, we both got in from tour, me with Celtic Star, Chris with princess and we discovered that the gardeners had managed not only to cut through our water supply but also the mains electricity for good measure! While chris was sorting that lot out I had a look under my coach as it had developed a distinct clunk on its rear suspension only to find a major component broken – off the road then! We then had to pick Chris’ coach up from our mechanic only to find that it developed another fault – off the road then! So there we were sitting on the bench outside the house at ten o’clock still with no power to do e.mails and no water and two broken down coaches with a big group booked for our Cliffs tour the following day – for once we were both lost for words! Needless to say we got all sorted and hired a coach for the following day – the show must go on but I cannot remember feeling as low in a long time!
Next bit of misery happened early in August when we were burgled at home , not only was a fair bit of damage done our visitors got off with some cash and personal items – to be honest we are not really over that now!
Now the weather, we have had three miserable seasons now but this year the summer never really happened and we had to endure endless days of rain, indeed at the moment we are facing the worst flooding Ireland has ever seen, thankfully we are ok as we are on high ground.
Business has been poor both because of the weather, the decline in tourism ad the decline of Shannon Airport which is looking to become critical if Ryanair follow their threat of taking away a further 18 flights, it is beyond me how our government can allow this to happen – flights mean business and personally we have never been busier in Limerick than when Ryanair were at the peak of their operations – this is a fact and whatever it takes to keep this business should be done, we can repent at our leisure over this one! Also we are facing ever more competition, some of it fair but much of it very unfair, but we well used to fighting now.
Highlights:
First must be the recovery of Chris’ mother and seeing her return to full strength.
Also a happy memory is the outrageous night out that we enjoyed in London in memory of Michael – Chris’ late brother, in particular a very drunken Malaysian meal which I feel he would of thoroughly approved of!
Taking delivery of my new Coach – Celtic Star and bringing it from England – despite a very difficult journey!
The visits of family over the year – my sister and Russ and my lovely parents later – these provide a welcome tonic and break from the routine!
Collecting our new car Mercedes (new to us!) from Sheffield and driving it across, just love looking at that 3 pointed star on the bonnet as you glide along!
Last one is the anticipation of my parents Golden Wedding celebration next weekend, it will be great to have all the family together on such a happy and momentous occasion.
So, I suppose it hasen’t been as bad as all that but it sure has felt bad at times! The only way now is up and we have some great plans for 2010 but in the meantime you can now book all our tours for next year at 2009 prices, so go on support Irelands’ smallest and most resilient tour company!
Lowlights:
Well first of all has to be Chris’ mother unfortunate illness (she is much better now) which meant we had to cancel our holiday to Thailand and spend about 3 months apart – that really was tough.
Coach problems – yesterday was the anniversary of when Celtic Pride broke down on our last tour of 2008 and it has honestly taken until last month to get all its’ problems finally cured – its going great now though! After that we have had various niggles and even the trusty Celtic Princess has had one major problem this year but well again now! One night particularly sticks in our mind I think, it was in July when we were having our garden landscaped, we both got in from tour, me with Celtic Star, Chris with princess and we discovered that the gardeners had managed not only to cut through our water supply but also the mains electricity for good measure! While chris was sorting that lot out I had a look under my coach as it had developed a distinct clunk on its rear suspension only to find a major component broken – off the road then! We then had to pick Chris’ coach up from our mechanic only to find that it developed another fault – off the road then! So there we were sitting on the bench outside the house at ten o’clock still with no power to do e.mails and no water and two broken down coaches with a big group booked for our Cliffs tour the following day – for once we were both lost for words! Needless to say we got all sorted and hired a coach for the following day – the show must go on but I cannot remember feeling as low in a long time!
Next bit of misery happened early in August when we were burgled at home , not only was a fair bit of damage done our visitors got off with some cash and personal items – to be honest we are not really over that now!
Now the weather, we have had three miserable seasons now but this year the summer never really happened and we had to endure endless days of rain, indeed at the moment we are facing the worst flooding Ireland has ever seen, thankfully we are ok as we are on high ground.
Business has been poor both because of the weather, the decline in tourism ad the decline of Shannon Airport which is looking to become critical if Ryanair follow their threat of taking away a further 18 flights, it is beyond me how our government can allow this to happen – flights mean business and personally we have never been busier in Limerick than when Ryanair were at the peak of their operations – this is a fact and whatever it takes to keep this business should be done, we can repent at our leisure over this one! Also we are facing ever more competition, some of it fair but much of it very unfair, but we well used to fighting now.
Highlights:
First must be the recovery of Chris’ mother and seeing her return to full strength.
Also a happy memory is the outrageous night out that we enjoyed in London in memory of Michael – Chris’ late brother, in particular a very drunken Malaysian meal which I feel he would of thoroughly approved of!
Taking delivery of my new Coach – Celtic Star and bringing it from England – despite a very difficult journey!
The visits of family over the year – my sister and Russ and my lovely parents later – these provide a welcome tonic and break from the routine!
Collecting our new car Mercedes (new to us!) from Sheffield and driving it across, just love looking at that 3 pointed star on the bonnet as you glide along!
Last one is the anticipation of my parents Golden Wedding celebration next weekend, it will be great to have all the family together on such a happy and momentous occasion.
So, I suppose it hasen’t been as bad as all that but it sure has felt bad at times! The only way now is up and we have some great plans for 2010 but in the meantime you can now book all our tours for next year at 2009 prices, so go on support Irelands’ smallest and most resilient tour company!
Richards Blog 22.11.09 – Additions to the fleet!
Our 2 newest arrivals, watched over by Celtic Spirit (Bertie!)
As ever it has been a bit hectic at home, for all we are only running weekend tours we have had a heap of jobs to get our coaches ready for next season also Celtic Princess is heading over to Englandat the beginning of December to have some overdue bodywork damage fixed. At the same time as that visit we have a lovely occasion to attend – my parents’ golden wedding anniversary so really looking forward to that.
We finally have our new car on the road and it is going to be operated as a limo – watch this space for more info, we are absolutely delighted with it though and in case you forgot it is a lovely Mercedes E Class. Our garage is rather full at the moment as we have had another arrival, regular readers might remember that I like classic cars and in fact I’am a bit of a sucker for lost causes! I heard about an old Fiat 600 lying in a shed from a friend and needless to say I was tempted to go and have a look and there lying forlorn and covered in dust was the cutest little 1967 Fiat! For all it is cute it has suffered from some amount of corrosion and would once have only been fit for scrap however I came to the conclusion that if it had survived 40 odd years it really deserved to be saved and so – you guessed it! A deal was done and we went to collect my new prize on a trailer behind Celtic princess last week, it is now safely in our garage and unbelievably I managed to start it the other day so it has been added to my list of “to do” jobs!
I’am actually writing this in Blarney on Sunday and having an interesting day as we have had the foulest of weather this week and much of the UK and Ireland is flooded at the moment indeed Cork (where I’am heading this afternoon) has been very badly affected so I will let you know what it is like!
We are currently making plans for next year and we are heading to Dublin next week for a meeting with our friends from Irish Rail with a view to launching a new product from Dublin that will offer great value – so as ever, watch this space!
Also next weekend marks our last 2009 tour so if you thinking of a trip to Blarney book for next Sunday and you will get a special deal if your quick!
A quick update, visited Cork and floods in the area were bad but thankfully the City Centre was OK on Sunday!
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