21.01.12 – My final 4tours.biz blog!

First of all (as usual!), apologies for the lack of blogs lately but as you can probably imagine things have been rather hectic as we have been working very closely with martins on the handover of the business. Martins have ran some private tours already and are going to bravely start a limited tour programme from next weekend, needless to say, we wish them every success. As from about the middle of next week I will hand over the admin of the site to Noelle and William Martin and hopefully our new site www.signaturetours.ie will be up and running soon so if you enjoy my blogs keep a look out, also don’t forget my homepage at blogger.com (http://barrattexec.blogspot.com/) I will continue to post news on there as it happens. Our last tours back in December really did mark the end of an era for us and it is hard to adjust to giving up our baby, you know what is happening to our business but what about our vehicles? Well I shall now reveal all in order of age: Celtic Spirit – Our original bus is staying with me and Chris and has recently been resurrected for a trip to UK hopefully next weekend where it is to have an obscene amount of money lavished on it to make it as good as new and ready for our forthcoming nostalgia tours. Celtic Princess – Our faithful minibus is again staying with us but is now no longer a bus, it is undergoing a conversion to our very own camper which will help us to travel during the summer a little and indeed our first festival is booked for August! Celtic Pride – Now up for sale and honestly will be a fantastic buy for anyone – contact us if you are interested! Celtic Shadow - Will remain to be our car and will be available for chauffer tours under our new company. Celtic Star – Is to be the main vehicle operating Barratt Tours as it has been sold to Martins – they had better mind my friend Rambo! Celtic Angel –Our new coach is to be the backbone of our new Signature tours – look out for them! So major changes and a bit of a scary time but we are both feeling good about the new found freedom that we will have particularly in the summer months. Finally as this is really my last official Barratt Tours blog I would just like to thank everyone that has made Barratt Tours what it is today and I will do my best to thank you all in order: My partner in life and business – There would be no Barratt Tours to sell without the help of one very special person – Christine, she has been a rock to me as well as other driver, cleaner etc etc. I think we have made a fantastic team and her exploits and qualities are too many to mention here but suffice to say she deserves far more than half the credit for our success. Our passengers - nobody is more important than all the lovely people we have met over the years that have really made our job a pleasure. At the lowest times it has always given me a boost to hear words of encouragement from appreciative people who choose our tours and one of the greatest buzzes for me is when I hear things like” I did this tour with you in 1998” or similar – I will really miss that! Our friends in the trade – There really are too many to name without running the risk of forgetting somebody, so you all know who you are both fellow day tour operators and coach operators – it has been an honour and a privilege to work with some of you lovely people and the feeling of “belonging” has made the journey very special to me and Chris. Our competitors – from the (mostly!) friendly rivalry between us and our fellow rail tour operator (hi Jim) to the crazy and blatant copying of other lower quality operators I suppose this has been a vital ingredient of the wild 14 years of our Barratt Tours journey, one thing I hope is that you will all be rewarded with the amount of success appropriate to the amount of commitment, imagination and integrity that you have (if that is true it don’t look well for some, ha ha!) The last thing I would like to say is that we wish Martins all the luck in the world with Barratt Tours and I hope that we have given you a firm foundation to build on, indeed I hope you will make one of my visions come true – I want to see a brand new Van Hool TX in full Barratt Tours livery – go on, I know you can do it!

25.11.11 – Big changes for us and Barratt Tours!

First of all sorry for the lack of blogs for a few months now it is fair to say we have been making some life changing decisions and free time has been shall we say slightly limited! As I hope regular readers will know, we enjoy our jobs but after 14 years of running Barratt Tours we felt it was time for a break and another challenge, this business really has taken it out of us and with the increase in competition we feel we are having to work ever harder for less return. We always have loads of ideas of what we would like to do but the sheer amount of work in running our day tours has really tied us down, we took a holiday a couple of weeks ago and whilst relaxing in the sun I realised that it was the first Saturday that we hadn't worked since early March! So what is happening? Well I have to report that we have sold the Barratt Tours day tour part of our business to our very good friends Martins Coaches of Limerick along with one of our vehicles. Martins are long established and we feel sure will pick up where we leave off and operate great tours, they have some excellent driver/guides to step into our shoes. This will take effect from 1st Jan 2012 so if you want to take a tour with us personally our last ones will be to The Cliffs on 17th December and Blarney and Cork on 18th December, we are thinking of having a few special guests along for both so book now and give us a good send off! I cannot pretend that this has been and easy decision but a number of more personal reasons clinched it, as you know Chris was really ill last year and the sad passing of her mother really made us focus on things outside work. Also the realisation that we hadn't been able to do anything in the summer other than work for 15 years made us think, you might know I love music and old vehicles but every event connected with either happens when we are flat out with work! To summarise really we were starting to feel that life was passing as by particularly since we are both over 21 now! So what are we going to do? I have some big plans to launch a new website - still travel related but not involving coaches much! Also we are keeping our new coach Celtic Angel to offer our own small group tours which we will be running together which will be nice and these going to be known as Signature Tours, we will be releasing details of these very soon so keep watching the website – it will be linked from Barratt Tours! I think I have given you enough news to digest for this week, look out next week for an up date and more information on our plans and the Barratt Tours programme for 2012. As a final thought I would like to thank everyone that has taken our tours over the last 14 years this incredible journey would never have been possible without you!

29.08.11 – Another August nearly done!

It has been quite a busy period for us because as I have mentioned we are working on a major change for next year so every minute that is not spent driving, cleaning buses, doing office work or fixing buses is spent working on plans for 2012, I think we are still getting a good share of the business but as ever things could be better – hence why we are having a major shake up! This week is a very nice one for us because, as usual my lovely parents are coming over to see us on Wednesday night for a weeks visit, it will be lovely to see them and test out my dads coach washing skills which at the age of 76 have to be seen to be believed! Unfortunately work commitments mean we get little time off to spend with them but it is always lovely to have them touring with us, I know their visit means a lot to Chris since she lost her own mum and my mum has filled the role of surrogate to Chris beautifully – thanks mum! I had an “interesting” day on Saturday for the wrong reasons all was going well until Caherconnoll when my microphone chose to expire! I have a spare hand held mic which came with my coach which I had always assumed worked as it was brand new but guess what? It didn’t and so I had to shout a few facts which is not easy until Doolin when Chris met me with a replacement, I hope it didn’t spoil anyone’s tour, although some might have been glad to have me silenced! I hope to be able to share some big news and pictures next week of a momentous occasion for Barratt Tours, times certainly are changing for us and I think they might be changes for the better although I’am not sure our bank manager would agree – watch this space, we are bursting to tell you!!

21.08.11 – Freewheeling through life!

First of all big news we received a really pleasant surprise in the post the other day, sadly it was not a cheque for a million Euro but a certificate from Tripadvisor giving us a five star rating and a certificate of excellence, relatively small things like this mean such a lot to us and so for all of you that voted a huge thank you – we really owe it to you! I’am writing this as I often do at Caherconnoll and today is a big day in the Burren in that the Sky ride bike race is taking place, so far I have been totally untroubled by it and I have to say the organization of the event seems to be very good, we were all well warned of closures in advance and, touch wood, all is going fairly to plan. I cannot believe that we are already coming to the end of August, normally at this time we would be thinking of holidays for the winter but there is so much going on behind the scenes here for next year that we are not really sure what will be happening, as usual Thailand is beckoning but its looking a long way away at the moment! For all time is flying by I have to admit our stress levels are not too stable, as you will gather there is a lot going on in our world and whilst I think we are getting our share of business the problem still remains that on quiet days we are still loosing some passengers to our opposition and so we both end up working for nothing which just proves the point that there is not really enough business to go around, what is so heartening though is that we seem to be getting the bulk of the business despite being slightly more expensive and we think that has a lot to do with word of mouth and sites like Tripadvisor, without sounding too cocky it has taken 14 years to gain a reputation like ours and whilst we are by no means perfect we are a lot closer than some, check out Tripadvisor and you will see what I mean!

07.08.11 – A rainy day in Blarney!

First of all apologies for the lack of blogs lately, technology has failed me, I had 3 typed and my USB drive promptly died so they are lost for the moment, if any of you know how to rescue one of these things let me know, I have lost a lot of info I need! Life has also been nothing short of mad lately for us, we have so much going on both in our business and personal life that we barely have time to breathe! As well as running the best tour company in Ireland which is now officially the most fun as voted by 9.9 out of 10 cats who expressed a preference (sorry cant help myself, our competitors hype beggers belief!) We are still dealing with the business of Chris’s late mothers’ affairs which is not easy with everything else that’s going on at the moment. Back to the here and now, I find myself becalmed in the reception of the hotel at Blarney Woolen Mills as the weather has turned a bit nasty which has scuppered my usual routine of taking a walk for an hour or so. Let me bring you all up to date, we recently had another trip over to UK on business but unfortunately I cannot reveal why just yet – suffice to say I think we will surprise you in a good way! We are currently working on a deal for next year that will mean the biggest change for us since we moved to Ireland, these are exciting a terrifying times for us, watch this space for news real soon!

02.7.11 – We want value at any cost!

We are getting back into the rhythm of running our 9 tours every week but it does feel harder each year – maybe it’s an age thing! We have finally received our new brochure and we think it looks lovely, also the new brochure marks a new strategy for us, we have given up trying to compete on price so we have come up with the idea of competing on value for our Cliffs of Moher tour. We wanted to find a way to show how much we appreciate people making an informed choice and choosing our tour. We are going to offer everyone on the tour a discount voucher giving a range of deals on food, gifts and admissions, we have been negotiating these deals for a while and I hope they will show that we are dedicated to offering the best experience and value to our dear customers at all times and I hope they might tempt a few people to try us over our opposition. Whilst work is fairly settled at the moment I have to report that behind the scenes we are planning the biggest change for Barratt Tours since we formed our little enterprise 14 years ago, exciting and nerve racking times are ahead for next year, I would love to share our plans but unfortunately we have to remain tight lipped for the moment, there will be a little hint later this month but life is both exhilarating and not a little scary at the moment! I honestly cannot remember either of us having so much nervous energy and creativity, when we are both working we are bouncing ideas off each other all the time – I dread the phone bill! However I can assure you that not much will change this year but watch this space for next year! I have been so absorbed with work and home life lately that I have strayed away from telling you all about one of my great loves and escapes – music. I have been listening to all my favourites lately but one band in particular continue to entertain me – Elbow, they have released a new album “Build a rocket boys!’ and it is a beautiful piece of work with some lovely lyrics and the kind of big sound that they specialise in. We went to see them at the O2 in Dublin in March and they were stunning as were their support - the Irish band Villagers who played a lovely set – check them out, I think they will be huge!

13.06.11 – I think word might be spreading!

Well, that was quite a weekend! I was in Cork yesterday and we were totally booked out with my coach and Chris was at The Cliffs with a respectable load on her coach so business is picking up slowly and I honestly think it is little more than word is starting to spread about our little business. Whenever we finish a tour we always try to remind everyone to help to promote us by spreading the word if they have enjoyed our tour either by a Tripadvisor review or simply telling someone else and it really seems to be working, I love the fact that people are choosing us despite the fact we don’t make silly claims or spend a fortune on advertising or indeed commissions to booking agents. I have often said this but I believe that the internet has been the greatest “leveler” for small businesses like ourselves, no matter how large a company you are if your product and attitude is not right it seems the truth will out and one unhappy customer can do a world of damage! I also believe that the current practice of some of our larger competitors paying huge commissions on bookings to hotel receptions, hostels etc has a very limited shelf life, we are finding people have much more savvy now and do their own research on review sites and forums and making up their own mind well before the hard sell at reception! So, in conclusion I hope that we can continue to compete and that all our hard and honest work will continue to bring rewards by people taking a more informed choice when it comings to booking tours, I honestly don’t believe any of you to be as stupid as some companies clearly think you are!

11.06.11 – Chris has a new car!

It has been a mad week again at Barratt Tours, numbers are all over the place, some days are quiet and then out of the blue we get a really busy day, that’s what happened this weekend, we are busy today for our Cliffs tour and totally booked out for Cork tomorrow but we do have large group booking still it is lovely to be busy at last! We had a lovely day off yesterday, when Chris’s mother passed away she left us her car which was a very practical and smart Honda Jazz but its not really our scene so we have decided to sell it and buy something less sensible! Before the Honda Chris’s mum fell in love with a car which was not very sensible – a Mercedes SLK, she loved that car and it was only when her health was failing that she had to change it. I said to Chris that for what we will get for the Honda she could buy a used SLK and it would be a fitting memory of her mum – needless to say she loved the idea! Always the motor dealer I threw myself into finding one and yesterday we viewed one which ticked most boxes but needed a little bit of work and guess what? I have just got myself another project! We are collecting it next Friday and I know Chris cannot wait – she deserves a treat after the couple of years she has had and you never know I might even get to drive it once in a while, I will post a photo next week. Mention of the next couple of weeks reminds me that on 22nd and 23rd June we have a large group booking which means we cannot offer our day tours on those days. Sorry if you were planning on traveling with us those days but we just cannot afford to turn away large groups at the moment, it will be business as usual from Sat 25th June though!

27.05.11 – The show must go on!

Business is just crazy at the moment; we will have a good group one day and then nobody or a very small one the next. Last Wednesday was one of those unexplainable days, we had a large group which Chris looked after but we had a good few on my tour then on Thursday we had 4, it really is strange! We don’t mind running with small numbers on occasions but with fuel at the level it is now it really can be tough, however we have spent the last 14 years building up the day tour business in Limerick so we are certainly not about to give up because one company thinks it has a right to all the day tour business in Ireland! Sometimes though when you are fighting a big faceless company life seems very tough and unfair however we are still loving our jobs and people mostly love what we do so that often makes life worthwhile! We are now offering a pick up for our Cliffs tour in Adare three times a week which is taking some planning but is going OK so far. My spirits haven’t been helped by the fact that we have had a couple of mechanical problems lately but on both occasions our passengers had no disruption or delay, for just 2 people we do seem to cope better than many but it helps that we have many friends in the trade! Mention of friends in the trade has got me thinking, we really do know some lovely kind and genuine people who seem to not only tolerate us but respect our business I think the reason for that is that we have always done our own thing and developed our own niche business and in the process I like to think that we have never poached any other companies business, nobody has a right to business but often it seems to make no sense to go head to head with somebody who is doing the job well, particularly when there isn’t really enough business to go round.

21.05.11 – Magic Moments!

Business has been very mixed of late but I have a large group today for the Cliffs and we have a couple of private tours next week so we are surviving. Our competition have cut their price below us but I honestly don’t care, we are as cheap as we can be and if this is a race to the bottom we are going to continue paddling! Lets get away from business and take ourselves out into a universe of positivety. One thing that is really lifting my spirits is to see how Chris – my very own free spirit has coped with all that has hit her this winter and is still positive and smiling. Chris is a very spiritual person, not really in a religious way but she is a great believer in destiny and that we all have someone watching out for us. Lately she has taken to occasional quiet meditation and it really seems to be helping her stay focused and upbeat. She has even given me my own crystals for stress, I don’t know if they will work but I have a feeling this season will test them out! The death of Chris’ mother has really focused us and inevitably we find ourselves looking back into collective memories not just of her mum but times in our life that were special and I have been thinking about those times. Sometimes special memories could be of the mundane, one of my treasured memories is the two of us on the overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in Thailand, we were just lying on the bunk in each others arms watching lights and little houses and villages flash by, we were listening to “Chasing cars” by Snow Patrol on the ipod and the world just stopped and seemed rather magical for a while. But on the other hand someone else on that rattly old train was probably worried about being late for an appointment the following day and cursing the slow progress – you see magic for some, mundane to others! I often wonder when I run a tour is there a magic moment for someone on board, maybe when we stop down on Galway Bay and the wind is howling and I’am secretly cursing the weather while somebody might be leaning into that gale, taking great lung fulls of Atlantic air and thinking how marvelous it is to be alive. I really hope so if I thought I could create a magic moment for somebody then it would make this job seem more than worthwhile. If you have had a magic moment on a Barratt Tour let me know I would love to hear it, I suppose I’am becoming a bit spiritual in my old age! If I receive one magic moment I promise I will share one of mine from a tour – it really is a good one!

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!!

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!

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!

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!

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!

Richards Blog 16.06.09 – A little piece of Liberty!

It has been quite a mixed week business wise this week, we seem to be really busy one day then really quiet the next but overall we are keeping our heads above water, I have been busy in the garage as well replacing a seemingly unbreakable suspension component which smashed on Saturday, thanks to our wonderful (or woeful!) road network, I had to drive to Portlaoise in the car yesterday for parts then spent the afternoon fitting them to my coach, also I had to prepare the small coach for test tomorrow so I’am quite happy to be working today, it really is a break to be touring today!

Our life is pretty hectic at the moment with behind the scenes plans coming to fruition for our new product and a new micro website that is coming together nicely now, it is all taking far longer than we anticipated but then that is a familiar story! I don’t know if we are doing more now or (perish the thought!) we are getting older but this season is really taking it out of us, at the moment I’am as tired as I normally am in August but I think our disrupted winter and getting the new coach ready is to blame, normally we find a routine by this time but it is taking a little bit of doing this year! I heard a great saying the other day which I think applies to us at the moment:

“I try to take life one day at a time but lately several have ganged up on me at once”

Now talk of one of my only recreations at the moment – music, I downloaded the new Madness album the other week “The Liberty of Norton Folgate” and whilst I have always loved the unique blend of ska and reggae that Madness create I honestly believe this to be one of their finest works, it really is a concept album which seems a mad idea for the “nutty boys’ but it really does work on all levels, it tells the story of an area of London which I never knew existed called Norton Folgate and up until the early 1900 s was outside the laws of the land and was a magnet for artists, poets and mad people – sounds great! I really must have a look round that area next time we hit “the big smoke” I have always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with London, I used to work there regularly after I left school and never really liked the place but since the death of Chris’ brother who lived in there just over a year ago we have become friends with some of his friends and I have mellowed a little in my attitude – our last visit was great so I’am now looking forward to our next visit and I will find my own little piece of liberty!

Richards Blog 27.05.09 – Is it me, or does everyone hate me?

Don’t worry, I haven’t gone totally mad (just yet!!) but I really do notice how things are changing here at the moment, as you know I spend an awful lot of time on the road and I never cease to be amazed at other drivers attitudes, I have become immune to the total lack of regard motorists show to a larger vehicle and have learnt to accept that if I meet a small car on a narrow road it will always be me that has to give way and do all the braking and steering whilst the car driver sits and watches! But I have recently noticed a new phenomenon and this is mainly from local drivers, I can be doing nothing wrong other than trying to get my way through as best I can but I often find myself on the receiving end of all kinds of threats and abuse or at least and interesting array of gestures! Chris had a situation the other day where somebody pulled out in front of her far too close and then didn’t accelerate so she overtook in a perfectly safe place, she stopped at traffic lights further up the road only for the motorist to shout that he was going to report her for being a dangerous driver! Another good one was just the other day when I was in Doolin, I met a young girl in a car in the very tight spot just ouside O’Connors, I again managed to squeeze through only to glance down at her to see her cursing and waving at me with a rage that had to be seen to believed! I honestly still don’t know what I had done – I would really like to know though! You really do need a thick skin in this job!

Now I certainly don’t want to put you off visiting our beautiful country it seems most of this behavior is in cars, I had a group of flight crew from a well known US airline on my tour the other day and they told me that they had noticed everyone was much more short tempered lately so it seems this is not unique to Ireland, I think an explanation could be that people have been well off (or at least they thought they were!) for a few years and now things are slowing down it seems to be driving the masses into the foulest of humour!

I don’t think my mood has changed too much, to be honest I’am just pleased to be making a living of sorts doing a job I enjoy, we have never been ones for new cars and flash houses etc, our pleasures are simple and cheap – maybe that is why we can laugh at the others!
We are still planning a major new product and it is getting ever closer so watch this space for the most unbelievable offer in our history!

Richards Blog 21.05.09 – This is the winter of our discount tents!

I couldn’t resist that title it come from an add for a camping shop that I saw years ago! The weather has been absolutely crazy even by Irish standards this week, it has overall been very cold and wet but suddenly we will get an unexpected good day like yesterday when it was beautiful around the coast and a t the Cliffs, I had a private tour and took the group up to Galway so a long day but quite a nice one with the weather co operating for once!
We have again had a tough week with unpredictable numbers, I have quite a large group today but yesterdays good weather seems to have helped! I believe the weather has a huge effect on our business and coupled with all the recession doom and gloom here it would depress even the most optimistic person!

The recession isn’t all bad in that we are now getting deals on travel and accommodation that would have been unheard of 2 years ago, as usual we are trying to diversify further and will be announcing some products soon that will offer truly remarkable value – watch this space! For us the Celtic Tiger is dead – long live the Celtic Tiger!

If you haven’t heard of The Celtic Tiger it was a phrase used to describe the outrageously overheated economy in Ireland during the early part of the millennium, all concerned were certain that it would go on for ever (including the banks it seems!) but you wouldn’t have to be too gifted an analyst to realise that an economy based on 80% property and construction might be ever so slightly delicate! I can honestly say that I don’t believe that the Celtic Tiger had much effect in our sector and some would argue it had negative effects in that it took the countries ‘eye off the ball” with regard to tourism and in many ways I would subscribe to that view - we needed to come back to earth but maybe not with such a severe bump!

We had a great night out to beat the doom and gloom on Thursday and saw a band from Mayo and Roscommon called Gorilla Radio they could really rock and did a great diverse set with everything from Lady Gaga to Metallica – personally I preferred the Metallica though!
I finally got out on my bike on Wednesday and went into town to run some errands in bright sunshine only to get caught in a monsoon on the return journey! I was quite literally soaked to the skin! I have a new waterproof overall but guess where it was? In the cupboard at home of course!

Richards Blog 25.04.09 – Another season, hopefully another dollar!

Well today is the day it all starts again! As usual I’am typing this at Caherconnoll on the Cliffs tour and I must admit that much as I try to fight it I do have a feeling of trepidation, we had flying start to our spring tours and business has definitely been up but it has been back to earth with a bump for last 2 weeks as passenger numbers have been very low. We have made a huge investment (for us!) in vehicles over the last couple of years and we are really proud of our fleet but fact is we do need customers to survive! We try to run all of our tours but it is really tough when we make a loss, however as Chris reminded me this morning I do feel a bit this way every year!

On a much more positive note I think our new coach will be making its debut on a private tour on Tuesday and I’am looking forward to that although I cannot say a first trip with a new vehicle is my favourite – it takes a while to get used to heating, air con etc but I’am sure it will be fine, my few trips locally getting it tested etc. have been very pleasant and we are delighted with the way our ‘Celtic Star” (aka Rambo!) has turned out, “he’ really is a handsome devil – much like his regular driver!

Now starts 26 weeks of constant work but I do love the predictability of our jobs particularly if we are lucky enough to get good numbers over the season, we are also working on a couple of projects that will bring us a boost, one being a new offering from Dublin that will include return rail travel, accommodation and a tour for less than the cost of one of our competitors day tours! Also we have commissioned a new website that will be a fun micro site that will link with this site but make our web presence a bit more fun and light hearted as well as revieling even more facts about your favourite tour operator - There is no hiding place it seems!

My music this week is still consisting of a joyous exploration of Elbows’ back catalogue which has led me (some would say inevitably!) to another Manchester band Doves who are currently impressing me with their incredibly diverse sound, too many influences to mention I think! They are possibly not as wordy as Elbow but just as creative and best of all they are from the North!

Richards Blog 18.04.09 – Back to normal!

After my deviations over the last few weeks it was firmly back to earth with a bang at 6.50 this morning when the alarm went off to wake us up for what will be an interesting day. There are 2 events that will spoil my well ordered and rehearsed plans for today’s tour.
Firstly we have the Ballyvaughan hill climb motor sport event which will result in closure of part of our route causing me to divert and miss out part of Black Head, I have come up with a plan that will involve a bit of doubling back but will at least mean the group will see Galway Bay so hopefully it will work out.

The other hassle is tonight as there is a big rugby match in Limerick (Munster v Leinster) which kicks of at 7.30 so the traffic will neatly coincide with our return toLimerick and to add to the fun I have people to make the Dublin train – Lanzarote seems a long way back now! When I eventually make it home we have to jump straight into the car and go to pick up the new coach which has been having its air con serviced locally so no early night!

Next week promises to be hectic with tests on buses, meeting and picking up and handing out our new brochures in Limerick and Dublin as well as one of us having a private tour on Friday, so no rest for a while, also of course we will be starting our full programme next weekend so starts 26 weeks of work without a break – good job we enjoy our work, it sounds strange but after all the traveling and being apart in the winter a bit of normality might be no bad thing!