Well I honestly don’t know where to start! First of all as is now customary I shall tell you where I’am typing this. I’am in the Galway Clinic waiting for Chris to come back after an operation and hopefully this might take my mind off the worry!
An awful lot has happened lately, at the start of November we had a trip toBirmingham to visit the coach show, we had a great time and it was a fitting end to what has been a really tough season. We have been operating weekend tours through November and December indeed our last tour will be this Saturday.
Unfortunately most of the activity for us is away from business at the moment, Chris’ mother has been unwell lately and so she headed across to England to be with her for a few weeks ago, I followed for a brief visit and returned with my father to visit the Irish Coach show in Dublin, we had a great weekend and it was lovely to have my dad with us for a few days, he also kept me company on a couple of tours before he headed back to England.
But the big news is that Chris has been in hospital for a major operation for the last few days and as usual for us things haven’t gone to plan, she has had to have more tests and operations, today is hopefully the end of it and with any luck she could well be out on Thursday, she is in the Galway clinic which is a marvelous place although needles to say of course it is a private hospital this is despite the fact that we now pay a levy for our health service but it unfortunately proved to be entirely useless in this case.
Chris has been in 11 days now and I have been traveling between home and Galway regularly (about 1.5 hours by car) but typically even that has not been easy due to us having truly awful weather conditions. We have not had much snow but we have had temperatures down to minus 10 at night and daytime temperatures barely above freezing, because of this and to be with Chris I have spent a few nights in Galway which would normally be one of my favourite cities but it has held little cheer for me lately!
Road conditions have been unbelievable with sheet ice even appearing on major roads, I was traveling up to Galway on Sunday to pay a surprise visit to Chris for the day, at home the ice had to be seen to be believed, literally everything was frozen I even had to defrost pad locks on the gate and garage as well as door locks on the coaches. Roads from home were pretty bad but being a Sunday morning I made good steady progress until I got into Limerick, heading out of Limerick on the main Ennis Road I was steadily negotiating a roundabout only to find the back end of the car slipping, I managed to correct it but the entire road was literally a skating rink! I called the Garda to report it and apparently I wasn’t the first near miss! I can appreciate the difficulties of winter maintenance to our cash strapped councils but this really was amazing!
Also around this I have been running tours and Saturdays’ Cliffs tour was particularly memorable first of all because I had a very nice group but also because of the weather again, we had freezing fog for a while out of Limerick but it was after Ennis that the fun began, we had our usual photo stop at Leamenagh Castle before heading towards the Poulnabrone Tomb, the road across the Burren was very icy but I took things very steadily and all went well, when we reached the Tomb I found the car park to be a sheet of ice so warned everyone to take care. Once we left the Tomb we descended into thick freezing fog for a while however that cleared and the views around Black Head were stunning with a few photo stops. We reached The Cliffs safe and sound and again the views were lovely, everyone seemed to have had a great tour and my passengers mostly drifted off to sleep as it was getting dark for the return journey. After Ennistymon we ran into freezing fog which persisted all the way to Limerick. Whilst I had a great day I don’t think I have ever been more pleased to see our yard and get out the bus, this weather really does take it out of you indeed I settled into my chair with a pint of Beamish and promptly fell asleep!
Back to the patient now the operation seems to have been a success and she s now sleeping off the sedative next to me on the ward, I will leave soon for my B&B and another lonely night in the City of The Tribes, my next installment will be much sooner and hopefully more upbeat!
One last thing, you might of heard that our beloved country is effectively bankrupt and today the budget is announced which will further squeeze our slim margins and inflict untold misery and do you know something? I look at Chris sleeping next to me and realise that the IMF, Cowen and all the other misery mean absolutely nothing to me at the moment, if they bring in 100% tax, diesel goes to Eu100 per litre and Paddywagon run a free tour from Limerick that’s fine but your health is priceless and oh so delicate, indeed I may drink a pint to that thought tonight even if I cannot afford it – Slainte! more news soon!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Richards Blog – 25.10.10 – Defrosting already!
As usual I type this at Caherconnoll and it is a clear day but really cold, I thought our smallest coach would do for today but we got some late bookings last night so I have my faithful stead, but great to see for the time of year!
We were both on tour yesterday and so I thought I would be clever and put the small coach in the garage after washing and fueling it so I would not have scrape ice off it but then, as I say I needed my coach which was of course totally frozen at 7.00 this morning fortunately it has an independent heater which I fired up first thing and within 10 min the ice was starting to give a little and by the time I left for my first pick up it was pretty civilised really. I must admit to not really liking this time of year and I’am starting to think that I may just be suffering from S.A.D as it is barely light when we leave home and is dark when we get back, maybe I just need a break!
Talking of break we are having one next week, we are heading across to Birmingham to visit a coach trade show – we are not really in the market for much but I do like to keep up with technology and I must admit it does cheer me to look at the amount of complication that new coach buyers have to face now, the more I look at new vehicles the more I appreciate our own whilst they are not simple they are fairly logical and can be fixed without a computer! This is not to say that we are standing still indeed I have plans to launch (or re launch!) an addition to our fleet next year which may herald a new direction for Barratt Tours, it will also strike a tear of nostalgia into these stressed old eyes – can anyone guess?
As you may have gathered we are now winding down our tour programme, this will be our last week on weekday tours however we will still be running Blarney on Sundays and The Cliffs of Moher on Saturday so why not join us? If you get the right day this time of year can be very special even if your driver is suffering from S.A.D!
We were both on tour yesterday and so I thought I would be clever and put the small coach in the garage after washing and fueling it so I would not have scrape ice off it but then, as I say I needed my coach which was of course totally frozen at 7.00 this morning fortunately it has an independent heater which I fired up first thing and within 10 min the ice was starting to give a little and by the time I left for my first pick up it was pretty civilised really. I must admit to not really liking this time of year and I’am starting to think that I may just be suffering from S.A.D as it is barely light when we leave home and is dark when we get back, maybe I just need a break!
Talking of break we are having one next week, we are heading across to Birmingham to visit a coach trade show – we are not really in the market for much but I do like to keep up with technology and I must admit it does cheer me to look at the amount of complication that new coach buyers have to face now, the more I look at new vehicles the more I appreciate our own whilst they are not simple they are fairly logical and can be fixed without a computer! This is not to say that we are standing still indeed I have plans to launch (or re launch!) an addition to our fleet next year which may herald a new direction for Barratt Tours, it will also strike a tear of nostalgia into these stressed old eyes – can anyone guess?
As you may have gathered we are now winding down our tour programme, this will be our last week on weekday tours however we will still be running Blarney on Sundays and The Cliffs of Moher on Saturday so why not join us? If you get the right day this time of year can be very special even if your driver is suffering from S.A.D!
Richards Blog – 16.10.10 – Jet lagged in The Burren!
It has been a busy time lately and I’am pleased to report that I have not been on my own Chris is still getting by OK and is going into hospital in late November for an operation so she will have some time to recover before our holidays.
Chris’ bus also needs some surgery in sympathy to its’ regular driver! It has now been with us 3 years and the time has come for a freshen up as well as a few repairs underneath so we decided it was worth sending it to our favourite bodyshop in England, things were fairly quiet last week and so I decided to head over on Tuesday night – it turned out to be some journey though.
I left home at 9.00 on Tuesday night for DublinPort, Tuesday was a fantastic day but as often happens once it got dark and the temperature fell, fog formed. Most of the journey to Dublin was in fog and it was incredibly dangerous as I had perfect vision one minute but then the next I came into what I can only describe as a blanket of fog, visibility was terrible and literally every glass on the coach steamed up in seconds but after 5 minutes it would be clear again, quite a tiring journey! I reached the port around 12.30 in plenty of time for my sailing at the lovely hour of 02.15 on Wednesday morning to Holyhead, the Stena Nordica was clean and efficient, I got a meal (not sure what you would call it in the middle of the night!) and then had a couple of hours sleep in a cabin before the 05.15 wake up call with time for a quick coffee before heading off the ship into the romantic setting of Holyhead in Wales at 06.00!
I headed up the vastly improved road only to hit, guess what? More fog of course, thankfully this cleared eventually but I did keep hitting patches all the way up the M6 motorway. Drivers hours regulations dictated a break halfway back so I pulled into a truck stop for my second breakfast of the day. That and a good strong pot of tea restored my spirits and I arrived in Spennymoor County Durham about 11.30, quite a journey as I said!
My father then met me and the good bit started, I had a couple of days with my parents and catching up with friends before flying back yesterday to Cork where Chris was waiting to take me home.
Even after such a short break, I am finding it tough getting back into the swing of our Cliffs tour this morning but the weather is nice and we have a largish group so things are not so bad but last week was my first real time off since April so I have to be honest and say I am looking forward to our next break now which isn’t too far off.
We are running our Cliffs tour as much as we can and intend to offer it everyday except Friday until the end of this month along with Blarney on Sundays. Some attractions are closing at this time though indeed our friends at Caherconnoll Fort close for the winter on 25th Oct so if you would like to see that you had better book soon! We will be having a coffee stop in Ballyvaughan though and we will be offering the Cliffs of Moher tour on Saturdays until 11th December subject to demand.
Watch this space though for news of our 2011 tours, big changes are afoot, me and Chris are flat out working on some exciting new tours are packages these really will be different and unique – news very soon – promise!
Chris’ bus also needs some surgery in sympathy to its’ regular driver! It has now been with us 3 years and the time has come for a freshen up as well as a few repairs underneath so we decided it was worth sending it to our favourite bodyshop in England, things were fairly quiet last week and so I decided to head over on Tuesday night – it turned out to be some journey though.
I left home at 9.00 on Tuesday night for DublinPort, Tuesday was a fantastic day but as often happens once it got dark and the temperature fell, fog formed. Most of the journey to Dublin was in fog and it was incredibly dangerous as I had perfect vision one minute but then the next I came into what I can only describe as a blanket of fog, visibility was terrible and literally every glass on the coach steamed up in seconds but after 5 minutes it would be clear again, quite a tiring journey! I reached the port around 12.30 in plenty of time for my sailing at the lovely hour of 02.15 on Wednesday morning to Holyhead, the Stena Nordica was clean and efficient, I got a meal (not sure what you would call it in the middle of the night!) and then had a couple of hours sleep in a cabin before the 05.15 wake up call with time for a quick coffee before heading off the ship into the romantic setting of Holyhead in Wales at 06.00!
I headed up the vastly improved road only to hit, guess what? More fog of course, thankfully this cleared eventually but I did keep hitting patches all the way up the M6 motorway. Drivers hours regulations dictated a break halfway back so I pulled into a truck stop for my second breakfast of the day. That and a good strong pot of tea restored my spirits and I arrived in Spennymoor County Durham about 11.30, quite a journey as I said!
My father then met me and the good bit started, I had a couple of days with my parents and catching up with friends before flying back yesterday to Cork where Chris was waiting to take me home.
Even after such a short break, I am finding it tough getting back into the swing of our Cliffs tour this morning but the weather is nice and we have a largish group so things are not so bad but last week was my first real time off since April so I have to be honest and say I am looking forward to our next break now which isn’t too far off.
We are running our Cliffs tour as much as we can and intend to offer it everyday except Friday until the end of this month along with Blarney on Sundays. Some attractions are closing at this time though indeed our friends at Caherconnoll Fort close for the winter on 25th Oct so if you would like to see that you had better book soon! We will be having a coffee stop in Ballyvaughan though and we will be offering the Cliffs of Moher tour on Saturdays until 11th December subject to demand.
Watch this space though for news of our 2011 tours, big changes are afoot, me and Chris are flat out working on some exciting new tours are packages these really will be different and unique – news very soon – promise!
Richards Blog – 02.10.10 – We have had guests again!
The last few days have literally flown by as my lovely parents have been visiting from England, they came on a few tours and we had a couple of nice nights out it was great to have some company – it has been a long time this year and it has been a tough season in every respect. I went back to Dublin on Wednesday with my parents in their car (they were going back by ferry from Dublin the following day) so we had a look around and an early dinner in one of my favourite Dublin haunts – The Porterhouse in Nassau Street, not only is the food good but the beer is great, Porterhouse brew their own beer and their Oyster Stout went down a treat, it was such a change from the bland Irish brews, if you want to taste real stout give it a visit! I headed back on the last train to Limerick Junction and again Irish Rail were great the train was modern clean and bang on time, I cannot believe how more people don’t book our rail and coach breaks but choose to spend 14 hours on a coach, if any of you have any ideas how to spread the word get in touch!
Now I have to share some more serious news, Chris has been unwell for a while now although she puts a brave face on it and has worked throughout now things are quieter it looks like she needs quite a major operation and so is likely to be off the road for October, we will know more on Monday though. It really has broken my heart to see how she has struggled through these last few weeks but has still been remained bright and bubbly and giving great tours, it has only really been after work that I see how tired she is. The result of this is that I will be the only driver for October and we will still run our Cliffs tour five days a week (not on Friday or Sunday) and Blarney on Sundays but it will limit our ability to do pick ups for tours, after all even I cannot be in two places at once so please bear with us, as ever we will do our level best!
All in all this really has been another tough season for us both on a business and personal level, we have taken the decision to have a shake up next year and whilst we have not finalized our plans it is fair to say we will be making big changes, we will still be doing what we do best but because of the level of competition we face in our key markets we have to be that little bit smarter, I feel sure we can rise to the challenge and we have been testing a few ideas over the last few weeks and the signs are there that we can again capture our rightful slice of the market, I feel that our policy of never compromising on tour quality or content is paying off, so keep on spreading the word and help Irelands’ smallest tour operator show the big boys a thing or two!
I will keep you all posted of Chris’ progress over the next few weeks but please excuse me if my blogs are not too regular, it looks like I may be a little busy for October!
Now I have to share some more serious news, Chris has been unwell for a while now although she puts a brave face on it and has worked throughout now things are quieter it looks like she needs quite a major operation and so is likely to be off the road for October, we will know more on Monday though. It really has broken my heart to see how she has struggled through these last few weeks but has still been remained bright and bubbly and giving great tours, it has only really been after work that I see how tired she is. The result of this is that I will be the only driver for October and we will still run our Cliffs tour five days a week (not on Friday or Sunday) and Blarney on Sundays but it will limit our ability to do pick ups for tours, after all even I cannot be in two places at once so please bear with us, as ever we will do our level best!
All in all this really has been another tough season for us both on a business and personal level, we have taken the decision to have a shake up next year and whilst we have not finalized our plans it is fair to say we will be making big changes, we will still be doing what we do best but because of the level of competition we face in our key markets we have to be that little bit smarter, I feel sure we can rise to the challenge and we have been testing a few ideas over the last few weeks and the signs are there that we can again capture our rightful slice of the market, I feel that our policy of never compromising on tour quality or content is paying off, so keep on spreading the word and help Irelands’ smallest tour operator show the big boys a thing or two!
I will keep you all posted of Chris’ progress over the next few weeks but please excuse me if my blogs are not too regular, it looks like I may be a little busy for October!
Richards Blog – 20.09.10 – Happy days (or weekends at least!)
Business has been ok lately and weekends particularly busy, for the last 2 Saturdays we have had both the larger coaches on tour so a great bonus towards the end of season! Last week I had a really nice change, I had a group of Railway Enthusiasts from Belgium and Holland for a Cliffs tour on Wednesday and a tour to Listowel in Kerry on Thursday, the purpose of going to Listowel was to look at a very unique railway – The Latigue Monorail, this is a unique attraction which proved to be an absolutely fascinating visit both for me and my group, I could write at length about it but why not check out their website (www.lartiguemonorail.com) for the full story.
The group were all very nice and I suppose being a fellow railway enthusiast helped but whilst I enjoyed showing the group our Cliffs tour Thursday was a special change for me as the group was larger and I hired a full size coach from our friends in Limerick so a change of coach and scenery made it a real tonic for me! I like to keep my hand in at handling a full size coach as our more manageable vehicles make us a bit lazy! One thing I also enjoyed was giving a commentary with a more industrial slant, I have this dream of operating industrial archeology tours for specialist groups one day!
A very unique railway!
The group were all very nice and I suppose being a fellow railway enthusiast helped but whilst I enjoyed showing the group our Cliffs tour Thursday was a special change for me as the group was larger and I hired a full size coach from our friends in Limerick so a change of coach and scenery made it a real tonic for me! I like to keep my hand in at handling a full size coach as our more manageable vehicles make us a bit lazy! One thing I also enjoyed was giving a commentary with a more industrial slant, I have this dream of operating industrial archeology tours for specialist groups one day!
A very unique railway!
Richards Blog – 04.09.10 - I don’t believe it!
After our break in we decided that we needed a treat as we were both a bit down, so we invited some friends from Corkfor a meal and a night out in Limerick, we stayed at Punches Hotel and had a great night, it was just what we needed to lift our flagging spirits! On Thursday Chris had our smallest coach on the Cliffs tour and I had Chris’ coach on the Galway tour, the plan was she would head straight to Punches and relax and make herself beautiful whilst I headed home, left the coach, did e.mails then headed back in with our car before going out (my beauty regime is a little quicker!)
On Friday we had a day off so we used our car and took our guests out to Killaloe for a walk and a bite to eat and got back to Punches mid afternoon, the plan was that I would then take the small bus home and Chris the car after we had said our goodbyes to our friends, all went well until I got into the minibus to find glass everywhere, some low life had broken the quaterlight and stolen our tips box which contained the princely sum of five euros and our Thai Budda (a little souvenir from holidays!) I just cannot describe my feelings at that point after only being burgled at home the week before. Fortunately I knew a fellow operator had a Mercedes like ours scrapped and so luck was on my side as the window was intact, I then spent Friday night fitting the window with the age old technique of using a bit of wire with great success, so it was easily sorted but that is just not the point, we sometimes feel we are swimming against the tide, our luck is not great this year! I do think our little Budda is going to bring the culprits nothing but misery so that cheers me up!
We have had a fairly mixed week this week but one highlights was our competitor having the nerve to call us to take one of their passengers because they had another of their “convenient” breakdowns – or I suspect the truth was they only had one booking and they didn’t want to run, I will never see a passenger stuck and so carried the gentleman but the cheek of this company running a dead copy of our tour, undercutting our price and then wanting us to help them out has me speechless! But then again last weekend I had a lovely US couple join me at The Poulnabrone Tomb because they were desperate to leave another tour from Dublin, I think they realized the reality of being on a 14 hour tour! As ever I was happy to oblige and take them on our tour to Limerick where they took the much more civilized option of taking the train back to Dublin, they seemed to have a great time with me and I would not take any money from them as they had paid our rivals but the gentlemen did give me a handsome tip before leaving, doing the right thing does have its rewards, so if you reading this - thanks again and please continue to spread the word about Barratt Tours!
On Friday we had a day off so we used our car and took our guests out to Killaloe for a walk and a bite to eat and got back to Punches mid afternoon, the plan was that I would then take the small bus home and Chris the car after we had said our goodbyes to our friends, all went well until I got into the minibus to find glass everywhere, some low life had broken the quaterlight and stolen our tips box which contained the princely sum of five euros and our Thai Budda (a little souvenir from holidays!) I just cannot describe my feelings at that point after only being burgled at home the week before. Fortunately I knew a fellow operator had a Mercedes like ours scrapped and so luck was on my side as the window was intact, I then spent Friday night fitting the window with the age old technique of using a bit of wire with great success, so it was easily sorted but that is just not the point, we sometimes feel we are swimming against the tide, our luck is not great this year! I do think our little Budda is going to bring the culprits nothing but misery so that cheers me up!
We have had a fairly mixed week this week but one highlights was our competitor having the nerve to call us to take one of their passengers because they had another of their “convenient” breakdowns – or I suspect the truth was they only had one booking and they didn’t want to run, I will never see a passenger stuck and so carried the gentleman but the cheek of this company running a dead copy of our tour, undercutting our price and then wanting us to help them out has me speechless! But then again last weekend I had a lovely US couple join me at The Poulnabrone Tomb because they were desperate to leave another tour from Dublin, I think they realized the reality of being on a 14 hour tour! As ever I was happy to oblige and take them on our tour to Limerick where they took the much more civilized option of taking the train back to Dublin, they seemed to have a great time with me and I would not take any money from them as they had paid our rivals but the gentlemen did give me a handsome tip before leaving, doing the right thing does have its rewards, so if you reading this - thanks again and please continue to spread the word about Barratt Tours!
Richards Blog – 23.08.10 – More misery (where will it end?)
Well I’am heading to The Cliffs today and business is fairly mixed but quiet today and I have our small coach. Last week went OK until Thursday when I got back from doing our Galway tour and was looking forward to a night out. I went into our kitchen and stood on an orange which I thought was strange but I assumed Chris had dropped it leaving in a hurry as I looked round the house it started to dawn on me that all was not quite right cupboards were open that shouldn’t have been and then I realized we had been broken into again, just over a year after the last time.
Fortunately our “visitors” this time had not done much damage, they had forced a kitchen window and somehow got in there (I suspect it was a child) we had very little taken – a small amount of cash, Chris’ Nintendo and a watch which wasen’t hugely valuable but it had some sentimental attachment for me as Chris bought it me to replace the one I had stolen last year! It seems that I’am destined not to own an Armani watch!
I suppose we got off lightly as we really did loose a lot last time and had a fair bit of damage done so nothing like that this time, what is the same though is this feeling that we have been invaded and whilst we are working harder than ever to pay bills and taxes etc there is a minority here that think nothing of breaking into houses in broad daylight while honest people are at work. The law has changed here lately to give more power to home owners to use “reasonable force” to protect their property. Those of you that know me will know that I’am a peaceful and fairly level headed person but I have to admit that the way I feel now, if one of our burglers were in front of me and I had a gun, I can honestly tell you that I would have no hesitation in pulling the trigger, I really do feel that bitter and I know Chris feels it worse than me, we have only just got the house straight after last years break in and our flood damage. So now we are bolting windows shut and getting a much more sophisticated alarm but this is all big money at a time when we can least afford it!
I was listening to the radio on my way to town today and there was huge controversy about a new government idea that vehicles that are taxed for commercial use should not be used for pleasure so that means that our struggling tradesmen cannot drop the kids off at school or whatever for fear of prosecution for tax evasion, I wonder if that worried the low life that robbed my house last week! Would we not be better taking them off the streets than trying to bleed the last few euros from people just trying to make a living?
If this sounds bitter then you would be right, I have never felt much bitterer in my life, it really is hard to make an honest living in this country at the moment! I think I shall buy myself a van and blatantly flaunt the law by going shopping in it or picking up a takeaway - hows that for civil disobedience – I shall continue blogging from my cell on death row!
Fortunately our “visitors” this time had not done much damage, they had forced a kitchen window and somehow got in there (I suspect it was a child) we had very little taken – a small amount of cash, Chris’ Nintendo and a watch which wasen’t hugely valuable but it had some sentimental attachment for me as Chris bought it me to replace the one I had stolen last year! It seems that I’am destined not to own an Armani watch!
I suppose we got off lightly as we really did loose a lot last time and had a fair bit of damage done so nothing like that this time, what is the same though is this feeling that we have been invaded and whilst we are working harder than ever to pay bills and taxes etc there is a minority here that think nothing of breaking into houses in broad daylight while honest people are at work. The law has changed here lately to give more power to home owners to use “reasonable force” to protect their property. Those of you that know me will know that I’am a peaceful and fairly level headed person but I have to admit that the way I feel now, if one of our burglers were in front of me and I had a gun, I can honestly tell you that I would have no hesitation in pulling the trigger, I really do feel that bitter and I know Chris feels it worse than me, we have only just got the house straight after last years break in and our flood damage. So now we are bolting windows shut and getting a much more sophisticated alarm but this is all big money at a time when we can least afford it!
I was listening to the radio on my way to town today and there was huge controversy about a new government idea that vehicles that are taxed for commercial use should not be used for pleasure so that means that our struggling tradesmen cannot drop the kids off at school or whatever for fear of prosecution for tax evasion, I wonder if that worried the low life that robbed my house last week! Would we not be better taking them off the streets than trying to bleed the last few euros from people just trying to make a living?
If this sounds bitter then you would be right, I have never felt much bitterer in my life, it really is hard to make an honest living in this country at the moment! I think I shall buy myself a van and blatantly flaunt the law by going shopping in it or picking up a takeaway - hows that for civil disobedience – I shall continue blogging from my cell on death row!
Richards Blog 26.07.10 – Not another holiday weekend!
Well I should know better than to make those comments about hiring vehicles in as we very nearly needed to today! My coach had one of those mechanical surprises that have a habit of biting you at this time of year but we got it sorted and it is back on the road and we shall fight another day and at least it didn’t break down and it had the consideration to develop the problem at the end of a tour!
We are busy again today and I’am on our full day tour whilst Chris has quite a few people on our new bargain break from Dublin, so she gets a later start as she doesn’t meet the train until 12.16, at least we get to have a quick chat at The Cliffs!
If you are a regular reader of my ramblings you might recall that this weekend is my most hated weekend of the year – August Bank Holiday weekend, traffic is quite light today but depending on the weather tomorrow and Monday will probably bring out the day trippers and I’am looking like being in the Burren both days – happy days!
At least business is on the up at the moment and we had a great week last week (just as well as I have a huge repair bill to pay!) But we do feel more confident and ready to fight for the business that it has taken 13 years to develop and we have a couple more tricks up our sleeve to win back some more business, that’s one of the great things about our little company, we can change quickly to meet changes in the market, also we have no huge commissions to pay so what you pay for your ticket comes to us, not a booking agent or anyone else for that matter – I think that seems fair – don’t you?
Back to our home life, I never thought I would say this but I had a great day on Wednesday painting out my “railway room” it sounds strange but a bit of painting was so therapeutic, it was nice to be away from driving and oil and filth in the garage, it also means my creative modeling talents can come into play soon!
We are busy again today and I’am on our full day tour whilst Chris has quite a few people on our new bargain break from Dublin, so she gets a later start as she doesn’t meet the train until 12.16, at least we get to have a quick chat at The Cliffs!
If you are a regular reader of my ramblings you might recall that this weekend is my most hated weekend of the year – August Bank Holiday weekend, traffic is quite light today but depending on the weather tomorrow and Monday will probably bring out the day trippers and I’am looking like being in the Burren both days – happy days!
At least business is on the up at the moment and we had a great week last week (just as well as I have a huge repair bill to pay!) But we do feel more confident and ready to fight for the business that it has taken 13 years to develop and we have a couple more tricks up our sleeve to win back some more business, that’s one of the great things about our little company, we can change quickly to meet changes in the market, also we have no huge commissions to pay so what you pay for your ticket comes to us, not a booking agent or anyone else for that matter – I think that seems fair – don’t you?
Back to our home life, I never thought I would say this but I had a great day on Wednesday painting out my “railway room” it sounds strange but a bit of painting was so therapeutic, it was nice to be away from driving and oil and filth in the garage, it also means my creative modeling talents can come into play soon!
03.08.10 – God, I love bank holidays!
I never got my blog finished on Saturday so here is the update from Tuesday now the dust have has settled a bit! I’am on my 4th Cliffs tour in a row and we were busy right over the weekend, I fact we were caught by surprise with some late bookings yesterday morning and ended up with a few overloads so Chris gave up her day off and helped – bless her! It was lovely having her company and we made it through the bank holiday unscathed for another year!
I must admit to not having my best day on Sunday I was doing my first of our new half day tours and again we were busy thank goodness but I did have a few pick ups and it was hard to get everyone picked up from hotels etc but everyone was ready and we were even a little ahead of time at The Cliffs, unfortunately that is where my misery began, I had a customer who didn’t think he should have to pay the one euro facilities charge to Clare County Council and then proceeded to tell me that my tour was bad as I was late etc etc, now this was one person that we picked up at the University which meant we had to make special arrangements and I had to leave early to oblige them but despite this fact this young mans’ hatred for me knew no bounds and I must admit to feeling a bit insulted particularly as this is one aspect of the tour that we cannot change!
Normally when I have a customer complaint (they are few – honestly!) I try and resolve it by trying to see it from their point of view and doing my best to pacify them by chatting and (hopefully) making them feel that they matter but this fella hated me and I must admit to being defeated! Normally this would trouble me a bit but I have to confess to being furious when I got back home after dropping everyone off, I was cleaning out my coach for Mondays’ tour when I became aware that there was a lot of bits of rubber foam around the rear which I thought strange until I got to the back and saw where my friends group had sat, one of them had decided to attack the foam moulding around the rear crash rail with a knife and throw the bits around! Now we really do care about our coaches, this felt really personal and I was a bit sore, I have never had anything like this happen in 13 years of running tours, even when we have carried school kids in the past!
I vowed not to let this get to me but I have to admit that the thought of it is still a bit sore, as regular readers will know we do get quite attached to our coaches and they really become a home from home for us, over the years mine has developed into a bit of a shrine, I have my Chinese cat from Thailand, a miniature pair of Dutch clogs that was given to me by a lovely lady from Holland years ago, my Thai Budda and garland, my mascot TJ (a reclining Sylvester the cat) a lovely homemade silk butterfly given to me by a Chinese lady last year and last but not least my Guardian Angel given to me by Chris years ago. In this respect we are not just another bus company, everything about us is personal and Chris’ coach has similar trinkets of hers, so all in all damaging my coach is a bit like damaging my living room. I harbored thoughts of trying to contact where the group was staying but what good would it do? Instead I’am relying on Karma, so to the gentlemen in question, prepare for some bad luck!
I must admit to not having my best day on Sunday I was doing my first of our new half day tours and again we were busy thank goodness but I did have a few pick ups and it was hard to get everyone picked up from hotels etc but everyone was ready and we were even a little ahead of time at The Cliffs, unfortunately that is where my misery began, I had a customer who didn’t think he should have to pay the one euro facilities charge to Clare County Council and then proceeded to tell me that my tour was bad as I was late etc etc, now this was one person that we picked up at the University which meant we had to make special arrangements and I had to leave early to oblige them but despite this fact this young mans’ hatred for me knew no bounds and I must admit to feeling a bit insulted particularly as this is one aspect of the tour that we cannot change!
Normally when I have a customer complaint (they are few – honestly!) I try and resolve it by trying to see it from their point of view and doing my best to pacify them by chatting and (hopefully) making them feel that they matter but this fella hated me and I must admit to being defeated! Normally this would trouble me a bit but I have to confess to being furious when I got back home after dropping everyone off, I was cleaning out my coach for Mondays’ tour when I became aware that there was a lot of bits of rubber foam around the rear which I thought strange until I got to the back and saw where my friends group had sat, one of them had decided to attack the foam moulding around the rear crash rail with a knife and throw the bits around! Now we really do care about our coaches, this felt really personal and I was a bit sore, I have never had anything like this happen in 13 years of running tours, even when we have carried school kids in the past!
I vowed not to let this get to me but I have to admit that the thought of it is still a bit sore, as regular readers will know we do get quite attached to our coaches and they really become a home from home for us, over the years mine has developed into a bit of a shrine, I have my Chinese cat from Thailand, a miniature pair of Dutch clogs that was given to me by a lovely lady from Holland years ago, my Thai Budda and garland, my mascot TJ (a reclining Sylvester the cat) a lovely homemade silk butterfly given to me by a Chinese lady last year and last but not least my Guardian Angel given to me by Chris years ago. In this respect we are not just another bus company, everything about us is personal and Chris’ coach has similar trinkets of hers, so all in all damaging my coach is a bit like damaging my living room. I harbored thoughts of trying to contact where the group was staying but what good would it do? Instead I’am relying on Karma, so to the gentlemen in question, prepare for some bad luck!
Richards Blog 26.07.10 – Phew – what a weekend!
Business has finally picked up and I’am delighted to say for the first time this season we had both coaches full on Saturdays’ Cliffs tour, we were however lucky enough to have some groups which is a big help! Needless to say all our competing companies were similarly busy and I have a new pastime on tour and that is “spot the tour company” now this might seem strange, after all surely you look at the name on the side of the coach but this would have got you nowhere on Saturday, coaches were hired in from all over Ireland, so much for having a brand! Now I cannot say we never hire, we are forced into it by mechanical problems sometimes but on the whole if you take a Barratt Tour you will travel on a Barratt vehicle, that way we are sure air con and pa system etc are all working and if its not then it is our fault! As usual I suppose we just care too much but I believe our lovely fully liveried and clean vehicles are our greatest asset! I have to say when we were working together on Saturday and Celtic Star and Celtic Pride were parked side by side it is a great feeling to see your name emblazoned on the side, it makes it all seem worthwhile somehow!
Of course there are a few companies offering tours now that don’t even own any vehicles, maybe they are right but I couldn’t imagine taking an Aer Lingus or Ryanair flight without seeing a green shamrock or a golden harp – maybe I’am just old fashioned – what do you think?
Competition is becoming even fiercer now and I hear that one of our competitors in Limerick are now trying to do deals to win business, well if they read this (and I would be so flattered that they actually take the trouble!) I can re assure them we have made our one and only price cut and they can be sure if a customers’ buying decision is based on price then they will win, however it is based on quality, presentation and reputation then it could just be an entirely different story! As I have often said we have worked too hard to develop our little company to sell it out and cut corners and quality as I feel certain that it is quality that will win in the end, I hope so as we are gambling everything on it!
I hope I don’t come across as bitter in my ramblings (or rantings!) in fact I hope you deduce that I’am passionate about what we do and that I’am certain of our quality (we are certainly not cocky – just confident) and I hope some of you can identify with the fight we have against larger more faceless companies, you words of encouragement really do fire us up almost as much as the pleasure of dealing with the lovely free spirited and discerning customers we are attracting, keep in touch and I shall now be using facebook more so if you haven’t already why not become a fan and we can chat online!
Of course there are a few companies offering tours now that don’t even own any vehicles, maybe they are right but I couldn’t imagine taking an Aer Lingus or Ryanair flight without seeing a green shamrock or a golden harp – maybe I’am just old fashioned – what do you think?
Competition is becoming even fiercer now and I hear that one of our competitors in Limerick are now trying to do deals to win business, well if they read this (and I would be so flattered that they actually take the trouble!) I can re assure them we have made our one and only price cut and they can be sure if a customers’ buying decision is based on price then they will win, however it is based on quality, presentation and reputation then it could just be an entirely different story! As I have often said we have worked too hard to develop our little company to sell it out and cut corners and quality as I feel certain that it is quality that will win in the end, I hope so as we are gambling everything on it!
I hope I don’t come across as bitter in my ramblings (or rantings!) in fact I hope you deduce that I’am passionate about what we do and that I’am certain of our quality (we are certainly not cocky – just confident) and I hope some of you can identify with the fight we have against larger more faceless companies, you words of encouragement really do fire us up almost as much as the pleasure of dealing with the lovely free spirited and discerning customers we are attracting, keep in touch and I shall now be using facebook more so if you haven’t already why not become a fan and we can chat online!
Richards Blog 17.07.10 – Home on the range with colliers and teemers!
Well business is still very poor, you know that I always tell how it is and I believe that our business is currently about 50% down on what was already a poor year last year, I don’t have any answers or observations to offer and so I’am not going to dwell on it and depress both me and yourself, dear reader!
With this bleak outlook for business at least things are improving at home, the best news of all is that Chris is fit and well after her operation the other week and thank you for your good wishes. Our home is also on the mend, for those of you that don’t know the tale of misery, we were burgled last year and this winter we had a burst pipe which destroyed 2 rooms and damaged much of the house but finally our trusty builder is nearly finished and as of last night we are back in the sitting room, its lovely to just flop in my armchair sometimes, we have also had a ruthless de-clutter and I’am a convert to the idea that a cluttered house makes a cluttered mind, also this means that I’am slowly mounting a take over bid for my “den” which is our spare room this contains one of my hobbies – my model railway which is to be a 148th scale model representing a fictitious part of South Shields in the North East of England near where we grew up. This masterpiece represents the legendary (to anoraks like me!) Harton electric railway which was years ahead of its time, it was actually electrified in 1904 and worked for over 80 years before coal production ceased at Westoe Colliery. The railways main function was to take both coal and stone waste (a by product of coal mining) to the River Tyne where it was loaded on ships. The coal ships were known as colliers and they would carry coal all round the UK coast but mainly toLondon and the South. The stone waste (mainly shale) was loaded onto a curious little ship known as the David Marley which took the stone about 5 miles out into the North Sea where it was dumped.
Now, as you might gather I absolutely love industrial history and one of the greatest joys of modeling for me is research, fortunately there is one good book to help me and my own jaded memory, also last winter I took the trouble to visit South Shields and spent a great afternoon uncovering clues to the whereabouts of parts of the railway and although the colliery itself is now completely covered by new housing there are still plenty of clues and relics particularly down by the River Tyne near the Tyne Ferry landing where the area known as The Low Staithes once stood, this is where the wagons of stone were teemed into ships. Teeming is the term given to the rapid unloading which believe it or not was done while the wagons were moving by gravity through the teeming shed and an unlucky fella called a teemer had to run alongside open and closing the trap doors under the railway wagons now, believe it or not, although this sounds Victorian it went on until 1987, I often wonder what health and safety would make of it now!
I’am lucky enough to remember watching this from the ferry landing when I visited with my father (the ten minute trip on the ferry to North Shields was a treat!) It was an example of the great industry and ingenuity of North East engineers how this all worked but it did, quietly and efficiently for years. Mention of the ferry reminds me that I couldn’t resist a trip last winter for old times sake and it was still great, in fact this winter I’am going to treat the old man to another trip as he gets on free with his OAP travel pass!
I hope you will forgive this weeks indulgence but it has done me good to go to a happier place away from the day to day fight that our business has become, if you have enjoyed this taste of Northern England Industrial history get back to me and I might give you another progress report!
One of the locos I will be modelling taken mid 80 s
With this bleak outlook for business at least things are improving at home, the best news of all is that Chris is fit and well after her operation the other week and thank you for your good wishes. Our home is also on the mend, for those of you that don’t know the tale of misery, we were burgled last year and this winter we had a burst pipe which destroyed 2 rooms and damaged much of the house but finally our trusty builder is nearly finished and as of last night we are back in the sitting room, its lovely to just flop in my armchair sometimes, we have also had a ruthless de-clutter and I’am a convert to the idea that a cluttered house makes a cluttered mind, also this means that I’am slowly mounting a take over bid for my “den” which is our spare room this contains one of my hobbies – my model railway which is to be a 148th scale model representing a fictitious part of South Shields in the North East of England near where we grew up. This masterpiece represents the legendary (to anoraks like me!) Harton electric railway which was years ahead of its time, it was actually electrified in 1904 and worked for over 80 years before coal production ceased at Westoe Colliery. The railways main function was to take both coal and stone waste (a by product of coal mining) to the River Tyne where it was loaded on ships. The coal ships were known as colliers and they would carry coal all round the UK coast but mainly toLondon and the South. The stone waste (mainly shale) was loaded onto a curious little ship known as the David Marley which took the stone about 5 miles out into the North Sea where it was dumped.
Now, as you might gather I absolutely love industrial history and one of the greatest joys of modeling for me is research, fortunately there is one good book to help me and my own jaded memory, also last winter I took the trouble to visit South Shields and spent a great afternoon uncovering clues to the whereabouts of parts of the railway and although the colliery itself is now completely covered by new housing there are still plenty of clues and relics particularly down by the River Tyne near the Tyne Ferry landing where the area known as The Low Staithes once stood, this is where the wagons of stone were teemed into ships. Teeming is the term given to the rapid unloading which believe it or not was done while the wagons were moving by gravity through the teeming shed and an unlucky fella called a teemer had to run alongside open and closing the trap doors under the railway wagons now, believe it or not, although this sounds Victorian it went on until 1987, I often wonder what health and safety would make of it now!
I’am lucky enough to remember watching this from the ferry landing when I visited with my father (the ten minute trip on the ferry to North Shields was a treat!) It was an example of the great industry and ingenuity of North East engineers how this all worked but it did, quietly and efficiently for years. Mention of the ferry reminds me that I couldn’t resist a trip last winter for old times sake and it was still great, in fact this winter I’am going to treat the old man to another trip as he gets on free with his OAP travel pass!
I hope you will forgive this weeks indulgence but it has done me good to go to a happier place away from the day to day fight that our business has become, if you have enjoyed this taste of Northern England Industrial history get back to me and I might give you another progress report!
One of the locos I will be modelling taken mid 80 s
Richards Blog 10.07.10 – Anything but work!
This is my second attempt at this weeks blog, the first one was depressing even my fragile mind at the moment! We were in Dublin handing out our new brochure yesterday and I have to say it was our most depressing visit ever, we couldn’t believe the amount of competition on some of our products but I’am going to take a radical departure this week and forget about Barratt Tours altogether and talk about us (or at least I will try to!)
Instead I’am going to give you an insight into what makes us tick outside work on a more personal level, if I have one fault or virtue (you decide!) then it is that I have always worn my heart on my sleeve and probably reveal too much about what goes on behind the scenes of our little enterprise, we never have much to hide anyway! This week however has been one that has been really hard, Chris had to go into hospital on Wednesday for a minor operation but, of course we had a few passengers for our Cliffs tour and so I had to drop her at the hospital at 8.00 and then have a bite of breakfast before starting the tour. I hope I gave a good tour but have to admit to being deeply worried about Chris but my mood lifted when she rang me while we were at O’Connors pub to tell me she was alright, I suppose our job is like being on stage – the show must go on but trying to keep a happy exterior can be hard sometimes!
The happy exterior is being put to the test lately, we always get paranoid when business is not good but the market at the moment is really concerning us, we are even starting to doubt ourselves but fortunately our passengers often put our mind at ease and re assure us that what we are doing is good and that we are doing the right thing in not “selling out” for a short term gain in business, after all we didn’t risk our home 13 years ago to give up now but it does put a huge strain on us personally, we don’t need to talk to each other about how bad business is, we tend to have this ability to know what the other is thinking and unless we have come up with a brainwave there is no point in depressing ourselves further!
The other day I was out on tour and met one of our “successful” competitors tours out on the Burren now this company has had praise heaped on them by our former Minister for Tourism for being young and dynamic etc etc, I was having a photo stop and showing my valued customers a few sights at one of my favourite spots on The Burren, I had walked across with them and was enjoying the interaction but where was my colleague? Sitting on board the coach reading his paper of course, it seems that my old fashioned ways of helping people off the coach and mixing with them at photo stops is not the way to success and fame! This was not an isolated incident I look around me and see how badly people are treated but it seems service and manners are hardly a selling feature thee days!
I think I have mentioned this before in my blog but I’am currently re reading a fantastic book called “The Art of Possibility” by Ben Zandor. Now this is a book that I would often have glossed over as it tends to be thought of as being one of those “self help” kind of books but it really does help me, I wont bore you with too much about it but the real gist of it is that it encourages you to move out of “The measured world” into “the world of possibility” now this may sound idealistic and I suppose it is but how many of us exist solely in a measured world?
To apply this theory to our little business is easy, I spend a lot of time in the measured world thinking things like “we have 6 customers, but x tours has 46” or worse still “we had 46 for this tour on this day in 2006 and today we have 6” this is certainly in the measured world, if we spent as much energy considering how we could get 46 again then we would undoubtedly more efficient and cheerful but here is the problem. At the moment I’am only human version 1.0 and have never been programmed to remove the doubt and paranoia bugs that infest my operating system, I think I badly need a reboot up the a**e !
But this whole possibility thing has intrigued me and I have thought of a way that we could cast ourselves wide into “an ocean of possibility” and take away all measurement but from where I’am standing the water looks a little icy and I think I might see a shark or two! If I have wetted some of your appetites then drop me a line and I might tell you what I have in mind, it will be the bravest move we have ever made if we do it but I think we might just be able to pull it off if nothing else it will prove how much we are certain that what we do is right and honest, as always let me know what you think!
Instead I’am going to give you an insight into what makes us tick outside work on a more personal level, if I have one fault or virtue (you decide!) then it is that I have always worn my heart on my sleeve and probably reveal too much about what goes on behind the scenes of our little enterprise, we never have much to hide anyway! This week however has been one that has been really hard, Chris had to go into hospital on Wednesday for a minor operation but, of course we had a few passengers for our Cliffs tour and so I had to drop her at the hospital at 8.00 and then have a bite of breakfast before starting the tour. I hope I gave a good tour but have to admit to being deeply worried about Chris but my mood lifted when she rang me while we were at O’Connors pub to tell me she was alright, I suppose our job is like being on stage – the show must go on but trying to keep a happy exterior can be hard sometimes!
The happy exterior is being put to the test lately, we always get paranoid when business is not good but the market at the moment is really concerning us, we are even starting to doubt ourselves but fortunately our passengers often put our mind at ease and re assure us that what we are doing is good and that we are doing the right thing in not “selling out” for a short term gain in business, after all we didn’t risk our home 13 years ago to give up now but it does put a huge strain on us personally, we don’t need to talk to each other about how bad business is, we tend to have this ability to know what the other is thinking and unless we have come up with a brainwave there is no point in depressing ourselves further!
The other day I was out on tour and met one of our “successful” competitors tours out on the Burren now this company has had praise heaped on them by our former Minister for Tourism for being young and dynamic etc etc, I was having a photo stop and showing my valued customers a few sights at one of my favourite spots on The Burren, I had walked across with them and was enjoying the interaction but where was my colleague? Sitting on board the coach reading his paper of course, it seems that my old fashioned ways of helping people off the coach and mixing with them at photo stops is not the way to success and fame! This was not an isolated incident I look around me and see how badly people are treated but it seems service and manners are hardly a selling feature thee days!
I think I have mentioned this before in my blog but I’am currently re reading a fantastic book called “The Art of Possibility” by Ben Zandor. Now this is a book that I would often have glossed over as it tends to be thought of as being one of those “self help” kind of books but it really does help me, I wont bore you with too much about it but the real gist of it is that it encourages you to move out of “The measured world” into “the world of possibility” now this may sound idealistic and I suppose it is but how many of us exist solely in a measured world?
To apply this theory to our little business is easy, I spend a lot of time in the measured world thinking things like “we have 6 customers, but x tours has 46” or worse still “we had 46 for this tour on this day in 2006 and today we have 6” this is certainly in the measured world, if we spent as much energy considering how we could get 46 again then we would undoubtedly more efficient and cheerful but here is the problem. At the moment I’am only human version 1.0 and have never been programmed to remove the doubt and paranoia bugs that infest my operating system, I think I badly need a reboot up the a**e !
But this whole possibility thing has intrigued me and I have thought of a way that we could cast ourselves wide into “an ocean of possibility” and take away all measurement but from where I’am standing the water looks a little icy and I think I might see a shark or two! If I have wetted some of your appetites then drop me a line and I might tell you what I have in mind, it will be the bravest move we have ever made if we do it but I think we might just be able to pull it off if nothing else it will prove how much we are certain that what we do is right and honest, as always let me know what you think!
Richards Blog 21.06.10 – If we fight the good fight…….. ?
Well it has been a fairly uneventful week and I have to report that numbers are still at a very low level, we are surviving but only just! Those of you that have followed our progress over the years will know only too well that we are not people to sit back when business is poor instead we are always looking to re invent ourselves to appeal to a broader market and that’s what we hope we are doing now.
The business form Limerick has always been a bit unpredictable and over the years a sizeable chunk of our business came from Dublin in the form of day tours and short breaks using our rail connection but this business has literally been snatched from our grasp by the growing band of operators offering day tours to The Cliffs offering exclusively coach travel. When these were initially launched we watched with mild amusement at their antics flying around trying to fit 400 plus miles into a day tour and thought that it would never catch on but how wrong we were, there are now 3 operators fighting over this declining market and inevitably taking a chunk of our business. So what are we going to do? The obvious answer would be to launch our own tour but that is not our style apart from the fact that we have no desire to drive over 2000 miles a week we do not feel that the bus only option is a realistic one for our passengers, it might sound great on paper but from feedback we hear it is not always so good in reality!
The train really does score highly over coach travel as a way to cross Ireland, I have to be honest and say that the scenery of the Midlands is hardly spectacular whichever way you go, so why not just relax, walk around or have a drink and arrive refreshed to board a coach for the interesting bit with a driver that is fresh and happy without having already done 150 miles and thinking about the next 250!
We have decided to launch a new tour from Dublin leaving on Saturday and Sunday at the very civilized time of 10.00 to The Cliffs using the train as far as Limerick with a simplified tour that gives a full 2 hours at The Cliffs whilst still giving a taste of The Burren for a price that is little more than the bus all the way option, this includes a reserved seat on the train for only Eu49.00.
Or what I think is our best deal ever is we are offering that tour with a hotel in Limerick on Saturday night and our Blarney tour to return to Dublin on Sunday night for only Eu99.00 pps – how’s that for value!
Now you may be wondering how we can do this well I’am going to let you into a trade secret, we do not pay agents commission on any Dublin packages – many other companies are now giving over half their fare to third parties, we don’t think this makes long term sense, we would rather pass on the savings and receive our bookings online direct. Now this might sound a bit fanciful after all doesn’t everyone book tours at the tourist office or their hostel or hotel? We don’t think so, I remember a certain well known Irish airline effectively cutting out travel agents and going to all online bookings – was this a crazy decision? I don’t think so and neither do Ryanair, they seem to be doing rather well out of it!
Our only snag to all of this is spreading the word, we are just organizing a new brochure and a flyer promoting our summer specials and we have another project bubbling along rather nicely which will involve a new website, also we have new nicetours.biz packages about to be launched – busy times but hopefully we are turning the corner and might show our competitors that this little company could just give the Goliaths a hit where it hurts but we can only do this with your help – give us a try, we are sure you wont regret it!
Personally the lack of business does take its toll, by this time of year we are normally settled into the frame of mind of working hard and devoting all our time to running tours and looking after our coaches but at the moment we are running tours and thinking of ways to create more business like web changes, designing brochures and general marketing which honestly does take its toll, all we talk about is business, be it bemoaning the lack of it or discussing ways to create it, our Thursday night out is the only “us” time left and that goes by way too quickly!
So can we win if we fight the good fight? We think so but we can only do it with passengers so check out our new offers and give us a try, you will be more welcome than ever!!
The business form Limerick has always been a bit unpredictable and over the years a sizeable chunk of our business came from Dublin in the form of day tours and short breaks using our rail connection but this business has literally been snatched from our grasp by the growing band of operators offering day tours to The Cliffs offering exclusively coach travel. When these were initially launched we watched with mild amusement at their antics flying around trying to fit 400 plus miles into a day tour and thought that it would never catch on but how wrong we were, there are now 3 operators fighting over this declining market and inevitably taking a chunk of our business. So what are we going to do? The obvious answer would be to launch our own tour but that is not our style apart from the fact that we have no desire to drive over 2000 miles a week we do not feel that the bus only option is a realistic one for our passengers, it might sound great on paper but from feedback we hear it is not always so good in reality!
The train really does score highly over coach travel as a way to cross Ireland, I have to be honest and say that the scenery of the Midlands is hardly spectacular whichever way you go, so why not just relax, walk around or have a drink and arrive refreshed to board a coach for the interesting bit with a driver that is fresh and happy without having already done 150 miles and thinking about the next 250!
We have decided to launch a new tour from Dublin leaving on Saturday and Sunday at the very civilized time of 10.00 to The Cliffs using the train as far as Limerick with a simplified tour that gives a full 2 hours at The Cliffs whilst still giving a taste of The Burren for a price that is little more than the bus all the way option, this includes a reserved seat on the train for only Eu49.00.
Or what I think is our best deal ever is we are offering that tour with a hotel in Limerick on Saturday night and our Blarney tour to return to Dublin on Sunday night for only Eu99.00 pps – how’s that for value!
Now you may be wondering how we can do this well I’am going to let you into a trade secret, we do not pay agents commission on any Dublin packages – many other companies are now giving over half their fare to third parties, we don’t think this makes long term sense, we would rather pass on the savings and receive our bookings online direct. Now this might sound a bit fanciful after all doesn’t everyone book tours at the tourist office or their hostel or hotel? We don’t think so, I remember a certain well known Irish airline effectively cutting out travel agents and going to all online bookings – was this a crazy decision? I don’t think so and neither do Ryanair, they seem to be doing rather well out of it!
Our only snag to all of this is spreading the word, we are just organizing a new brochure and a flyer promoting our summer specials and we have another project bubbling along rather nicely which will involve a new website, also we have new nicetours.biz packages about to be launched – busy times but hopefully we are turning the corner and might show our competitors that this little company could just give the Goliaths a hit where it hurts but we can only do this with your help – give us a try, we are sure you wont regret it!
Personally the lack of business does take its toll, by this time of year we are normally settled into the frame of mind of working hard and devoting all our time to running tours and looking after our coaches but at the moment we are running tours and thinking of ways to create more business like web changes, designing brochures and general marketing which honestly does take its toll, all we talk about is business, be it bemoaning the lack of it or discussing ways to create it, our Thursday night out is the only “us” time left and that goes by way too quickly!
So can we win if we fight the good fight? We think so but we can only do it with passengers so check out our new offers and give us a try, you will be more welcome than ever!!
Richards Blog 21.06.10 – I try to take life one day at a time ………!
………but lately several have come up on me at once! I love that quote not sure where I stole it but it would neatly sum up my life at the moment!
I think I left you last time with me anticipating our weekly Thursday night out well guess what? It never happened! I was on our Galway tour and my coach developed an electrical problem which amongst other things meant the air con died, now it was really hot on Thursday and so I had a problem, a good friend of ours came to our aid (thanks again Paul!) and leant us a coach to get our passengers back to Limerick, I then had to take that back after the tour and have a rather warm journey back in mine, so no night out but at least our passengers weren’t hot and bothered!
My faithful coach was cured easily on Friday by our electrical genius and thankfully wasn’t too expensive for once! So, fast forward to Saturday and our Cliff tour.
We had quite a large group and I had my coach again, we met the train and I headed off towards Ennis where I had my last passengers to pick up. Before crossing The Shannon I started to meet slow traffic and this continued to crawl for about 3 miles, it turned out we were stuck behind a cycle race which we eventually past on the dual carriageway but I was delayed at least 25 min, I headed to Ennis and got our last passengers but was dreading getting into Clare as we had the Tour de Burren cycle race to contend with next (yet another cycle race!)
Things went ok and there was no delay until Ballyvaughan when we came on the start although most of the race was actually returning so we headed around Black Head and I was coping ok with the oncoming traffic (the road is very narrow!) but after Black Head I met another coach in a nearly impossible point to pass, fortunately someone helped reverse traffic and get us to a point where we passed with about an inch to spare and another 15 min lost! Anyway we headed on and came to the road to Doolin which had been closed for the race so another 10 min diversion!
After a slightly shortened lunch I arrived at the cliffs about 3.40 but I really wanted to give the group our normal 90 min but that would leave us a tough job to make the train back to Dublin at 6.55 so Chris decided to meet me just outside Ennis and take our train customers straight to Limerick while I did the few drop offs we had – it worked a treat but it was quite a day!
I hope this shows that we do “go the extra mile” to make sure everyone gets the best experience possible and I think all things considered my group on Saturday felt a little sorry for me but still had a great day, I cannot honestly say that I enjoyed it much though – I prefer a peaceful life!
I think after all that I might tell you a bit more about Thailand next week – I badly need a diversion from work!
I think I left you last time with me anticipating our weekly Thursday night out well guess what? It never happened! I was on our Galway tour and my coach developed an electrical problem which amongst other things meant the air con died, now it was really hot on Thursday and so I had a problem, a good friend of ours came to our aid (thanks again Paul!) and leant us a coach to get our passengers back to Limerick, I then had to take that back after the tour and have a rather warm journey back in mine, so no night out but at least our passengers weren’t hot and bothered!
My faithful coach was cured easily on Friday by our electrical genius and thankfully wasn’t too expensive for once! So, fast forward to Saturday and our Cliff tour.
We had quite a large group and I had my coach again, we met the train and I headed off towards Ennis where I had my last passengers to pick up. Before crossing The Shannon I started to meet slow traffic and this continued to crawl for about 3 miles, it turned out we were stuck behind a cycle race which we eventually past on the dual carriageway but I was delayed at least 25 min, I headed to Ennis and got our last passengers but was dreading getting into Clare as we had the Tour de Burren cycle race to contend with next (yet another cycle race!)
Things went ok and there was no delay until Ballyvaughan when we came on the start although most of the race was actually returning so we headed around Black Head and I was coping ok with the oncoming traffic (the road is very narrow!) but after Black Head I met another coach in a nearly impossible point to pass, fortunately someone helped reverse traffic and get us to a point where we passed with about an inch to spare and another 15 min lost! Anyway we headed on and came to the road to Doolin which had been closed for the race so another 10 min diversion!
After a slightly shortened lunch I arrived at the cliffs about 3.40 but I really wanted to give the group our normal 90 min but that would leave us a tough job to make the train back to Dublin at 6.55 so Chris decided to meet me just outside Ennis and take our train customers straight to Limerick while I did the few drop offs we had – it worked a treat but it was quite a day!
I hope this shows that we do “go the extra mile” to make sure everyone gets the best experience possible and I think all things considered my group on Saturday felt a little sorry for me but still had a great day, I cannot honestly say that I enjoyed it much though – I prefer a peaceful life!
I think after all that I might tell you a bit more about Thailand next week – I badly need a diversion from work!
Richards Blog 12.06.10 – We should have a tour on Friday!
Well it has been another mixed week in fact we didn’t run our Galway tour on Thursday as we had no passengers which meant I had an extra “day off!” I actually spent the day helping one of our friends in the trade as they were having one of those behind the scenes crisis’s that we are all too familiar with, they had a very expensive coach broken down on their busiest day and were in dire need of a trusty driver to look after the first day of a French tour so cometh the hour, cometh me! I spent a nice easy day driving a full size coach and even had the luxury of a guide – it made a nice change actually but felt strange not talking so much!
We had a nice meal out and an early night on Thursday because our main day off was looking rather hectic! Chris had been on tour with her coach on Thursday and managed to have a puncture (fortunately on the way back!) so I had nice big wheel to change! Also our small coach needed 2 new tyres so that was taken into town to our trusty tyre shop. Chris had also mentioned that her air con was not as cool as it should be so I took a look and found 2 fans not working and they were ordered to be changed next week! So all in all a busy day, and the cost of all this? – a cool Eu600.00 which we could well do without at the moment but we never skimp on maintenance – those 3 coaches cost too much for that!
Another cost of all that was that I managed to pull a muscle in my back and spent most of yesterday in agony (Chris covered my tour!) I’am inBlarney today and it feels much better, just as well as I’am heading to The Cliffs tomorrow with a largish group! Now I hope you can see why running tours every day is just not an option for safety or our sanity!
We are just putting the finishing touches to our new Limerick brochure and we think it is looking great the new brochure will also bring in some slight changes to our tours but I’am not going to divulge that just yet, after all it takes our competitors a few weeks to copy everything we do so we might as well surprise everyone this time!
Personally we are ok at the moment although I would be lying if I said that our current level of business isn’t a concern, indeed our biggest stress at the moment is because we are each working on projects to increase business well into the night and it does take its toll but if that’s what we need to do to stay in the business we love then so be it, we can always dream of holidays next January!
It sounds strange talking about the business as being the job we love but that really is the way we see it, some of our tripadvisor reviews mention our enthusiasm and passion for the business but the truth is we have worked very hard to get where we are now and we will fight tooth and nail to keep our little business, it has been really touching how people identify with our stuggle as more and more big brands try to dominate the world there does seem to be a genuine enthusiasm for smaller more “organic” businesses and long may it continue!
We are hoping to get a Thursday night off although we do have a transfer on Friday – a bit of live music could be just what we need to keep our spirits up, I will report next week!
We had a nice meal out and an early night on Thursday because our main day off was looking rather hectic! Chris had been on tour with her coach on Thursday and managed to have a puncture (fortunately on the way back!) so I had nice big wheel to change! Also our small coach needed 2 new tyres so that was taken into town to our trusty tyre shop. Chris had also mentioned that her air con was not as cool as it should be so I took a look and found 2 fans not working and they were ordered to be changed next week! So all in all a busy day, and the cost of all this? – a cool Eu600.00 which we could well do without at the moment but we never skimp on maintenance – those 3 coaches cost too much for that!
Another cost of all that was that I managed to pull a muscle in my back and spent most of yesterday in agony (Chris covered my tour!) I’am inBlarney today and it feels much better, just as well as I’am heading to The Cliffs tomorrow with a largish group! Now I hope you can see why running tours every day is just not an option for safety or our sanity!
We are just putting the finishing touches to our new Limerick brochure and we think it is looking great the new brochure will also bring in some slight changes to our tours but I’am not going to divulge that just yet, after all it takes our competitors a few weeks to copy everything we do so we might as well surprise everyone this time!
Personally we are ok at the moment although I would be lying if I said that our current level of business isn’t a concern, indeed our biggest stress at the moment is because we are each working on projects to increase business well into the night and it does take its toll but if that’s what we need to do to stay in the business we love then so be it, we can always dream of holidays next January!
It sounds strange talking about the business as being the job we love but that really is the way we see it, some of our tripadvisor reviews mention our enthusiasm and passion for the business but the truth is we have worked very hard to get where we are now and we will fight tooth and nail to keep our little business, it has been really touching how people identify with our stuggle as more and more big brands try to dominate the world there does seem to be a genuine enthusiasm for smaller more “organic” businesses and long may it continue!
We are hoping to get a Thursday night off although we do have a transfer on Friday – a bit of live music could be just what we need to keep our spirits up, I will report next week!
Richards Blog 07.06.10 – We are number one in Limerick!
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!
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!
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