Saddleworth Travel Centre

Perfect Paris A month ago I went on the Eurostar (first time) to Paris for a few nights for the second time and I was totally impressed by the whole experience. Arriving by train is a lovely experience because you have ‘arrived’ the moment you walk out of the station, you are completely ‘in’ your destination without any passport control or soulless airport terminals or bus through the suburbs. Our hotel was in Montmartre/Pigalle just a short walk from the station and less tha...n an hour from checking in we were walking up the steps to Sacre Coeur to take in the views across the city. Next day we had a damp walk to St Lazarre station to get the train to Giverney in very unpromising conditions for viewing a garden in the countryside. Having persevered we were rewarded by the sun reappearing and Monet’s garden looking as though it had been freshly washed for our arrival. I can’t go in to the full glory of this place but will say that if you can get there you will have seen one of the prettiest places on Earth – it was wonderful. Next day we visited the terribly sad site of Notre Dame and watched the modern phenomenon of posturing narcissists taking selfies in front of the still stinking remains of the cathedral. I don’t know why that got to me so much. We went on to catch the train to Versailles. Versailles is a place to visit with some very good walking shoes on. We did 12 miles just walking the grounds and most of the time we felt like ants crawling across a giant map. It is hugely impressive and that is exactly what it was designed to be but we couldn’t help comparing it with the beauty and intimacy of the day before. The next day we walked the posh parts of the city centre on the way to the Tower and thoroughly enjoyed it all. It confirmed our impression of Paris as a vibrant, clean, modern and historic place with a population of charming and polite people quite contrary to the stereotypical Parisiens. Flying home to Terminal 3 at Manchester brought us back down to Earth with over an hour in the queue for passport control. Welcome to Britain!!!
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Japan seems due to be the destination that we are asked about the most at the moment. We have had a couple of bookings for the Rugby World Cup this autumn and for skiing holidays next winter but many more enquiries of a general nature. Maybe the rugby publicity machine and of course the Joanna Lumley treatment late last year has raised the public awareness but we have been having a crash course on the subject over recent weeks. Japan is made up of a collection of islands with... bustling cities, imperial palaces, mountainous national parks and thousands of shrines and temples. Shinkansen bullet trains connect the main islands of Kyushu (with Okinawa's subtropical beaches), Honshu (home to Tokyo and Hiroshima’s atomic-bomb memorial) and Hokkaido (famous for skiing). Each region has its own identity providing you with many activities and places to savour. Just some of the many highlights include soaking up the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Tokyo, seeing Japan's largest mountain – Mount Fuji, learning the traditional Geisha culture in Kyoto, witnessing the amazing cherry blossom season, and tasting the incredible range of seasonal food on offer. Of course it is also famous as one of the world’s most expensive destinations particularly in the Tokyo/Kyoto area but we have been pleasantly surprised at the prices we have been getting for the more serious enquiries. The skiing for example being on a par with the Rockies for price and if you want to see a range of areas the escorted tours on offer are no worse than many other destinations. Maybe conversation in your social network has brought up Japan as a destination and you don’t know where to start your planning – I can honestly say that with all the research we have been doing recently I am sure we can save you some time and find you the right deal.
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Beautiful Budapest I was fortunate in that I had to attend a conference last weekend and it was in Budapest which I haven’t seen for 12 years. We were blessed with lovely Spring weather and enough leisure time to appreciate the beauty of this grand city. Some of the main highlights included the Tourist Board opening the massive Market Hall in the evening and serving 600 travel people drinks and dinner in the main aisle, another was the use of the very imposing Concert Hall as... venue for our final dinner. I love it when the local promoters go all out to impress and they did themselves proud leaving all of us with some fantastic memories and a desire to sell the destination to anyone we meet. I sort of expected to be impressed with the city having seen the highlights before but what truly impressed me was my accommodation. I was in a cabin on the AmaViola a very luxurious river cruise ship part of the AMA Waterways fleet and it was a new experience for me – one I would love to repeat. The standard of food and drink on board and the care and attention of the staff truly stood out as world class it was properly posh and yet very relaxed and I can’t think of a better way to proceed through some of Europe’s great cities. The evening cruise up the Danube with all the superb buildings lit up for display was completely awesome. I have sold quite a few of these river cruises over the years and was always a bit surprised at the cost because it can be steep but I now reckon they are actually good value. As with all top of the range experiences there is no quantifiable reason I can give for changing my mind it is all about how they make you feel and they made me feel good!!! So huge thanks to AMA Waterways and the Hungarian Tourist Board and I will be doing my best to share my experience with as many people as possible.
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Is ‘Luxury’ anything to do with price? Try this exercise: get 10 people together, give them each a sheet of paper and ask them to define ‘luxury’. You’re likely to get 10 very different answers! In short, despite luxury travel being big business, the term ‘luxury’ is becoming increasingly diluted, meaning it is difficult to find a universal consensus as to what the travel industry considers to be ‘luxury’ – and equally what consumers consider it to be. Over the last decade,... consumer demands have increased, and this disruption has led to people expecting high-quality service in almost every aspect of their lives. Hence, luxury travel can now refer to almost anything from personalisation to authenticity, money-can’t-buy experiences to sustainability. In fact, over the past five years, the search term ‘luxury holidays’ has been steadily losing its share, while terms like ‘bespoke’, ‘unique’ and ‘retreats’ are all on the rise. From this, we can derive that luxury travel is not always defined by monetary value and materialism, but emotional experiences enjoyed. Think about why a customer buys a Rolls-Royce, a Patek Phillipe watch or a Chanel bag; they want to stand out from the crowd by owning something that almost no-one else has. The same principle applies to travel - customers want to feel pampered on a unique, exclusive getaway that they feel has been completely tailored to their needs. We believe that the continued survival of high street travel agencies like ours is down to the fact that our customers like to feel that they are buying something personal to them and that feeling is very hard to achieve by choosing options on a drop down menu on-screen. We consult with you and take on board your wishes and then strive to deliver everything you require. Even if in the end you buy a standard package holiday we hope that our involvement in the process makes the whole experience feel special.
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February 2019
Is Peace and Quiet the next big ‘must have’ for family holidays? Of course it has always been the case for super luxury resorts where it seems the less you offer your clients the more you can charge them. It has also been long established that all marketing media feature people enjoying the view/dinner/sunset/beach all on their own as if that was the epitome of our desires for a holiday. However according to a recent article I read online titled ‘the 15 most di...sappointing places to visit in 2019’ all of the places listed were likely to be the top of millions of people’s bucket lists. I suppose that is the problem right away – millions of people with the ability to get themselves to far flung corners of the world. Once there however all they want is the comforts of home and a classy selfie to post online. It is unlikely that the vacuous and crass are going to stop travelling any time soon so now even greater thought needs to be given to trying to predict where they will not be going. The extreme version of this would be ‘War Zones of the World’ tours but I believe the travel insurance costs would be beyond most budgets. For those of us with normal spending power there are ways to look at standard brochures and pick out the key words that put off many of the hordes. ‘Uphill walk’ is a good one as are ‘tranquil’ and ‘car required’ and ‘torch needed at night’. Another approach is to head for places that have had their day and now no longer attract the people you would rather avoid. Or go for destinations they will not have heard of or couldn’t spell. For any help you may need with choosing your next destination we are here to help.
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Is Sunshine Saturday a ‘thing’ now? Never heard of it before but as the title of an article on the BBC it made me read the piece – some of which I have reproduced below since the general thrust supports my own feelings about the year ahead. Booking a package If you baulk at the generic monotony of a stereotypical holiday package, this may be hard to read - but this could be the year to put those prejudices aside. Why? Well we've recently seen a significant bunch of airlines a...nd tour operators go bust. Booking a package means the whole holiday is protected. Plus the packages on offer - even from some of the airlines - are not the three star staple to the Costa Brava (not that we're knocking that!) Packages have become more expansive on where they can take you, to fit a budget. Victoria Bacon from ABTA, which represents the UK travel industry, told Newsbeat there is much more choice now. "There is an abundance of deals and offers available. "Booking early helps you get the best value for money for the holiday of your choice."
How to fly after Brexit You may have seen the headlines like "Don't go on holiday after March 29" or "You can book trips to the European Union with confidence after Brexit." So who's right? The Independent's travel editor Simon Calder told Newsbeat "neither is correct". "You can happily book a trip outside the EU - say to Tunisia, Turkey or Florida - knowing that the flights will go ahead." While you will be flying over some EU countries, they've all signed an aviation agreement allowing something called overflights. The situation within the EU is a touch different but flights will still take off, says Simon. "In the event of a no-deal Brexit, flights on UK airlines to the European Union will be capped at 2018 levels. "So if there were 200 flights from Britain to Cyprus last summer, there can be only 200 this summer." This could lead to cancellations of some flights, which are already being sold. Again, the man often seen as the face of UK travel, reckons this makes a package holiday a strong bet for 2019. "The worst that can happen is that you'll get all your money back, if the holiday gets cancelled."
Of course it doesn’t have to be this one day but the message is good – get it sorted early!
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Think of us at this time of year!

I have recently had a series of city break bookings to some great destinations like Copenhagen Berlin Lisbon Rome Malaga and Krakow and they were all surprisingly reasonable in price. That in itself is not the reason for my musings this month but the linking factor was that I booked them all on Expedia. We have always in the past tried to book city breaks with full service tour operators so that our customers have the best possible experience. Recently we have been finding th...at people are more confident travellers these days and are prepared to take a chance on a hotel that doesn’t appear in a brochure. They also are quite prepared to fly with No Frills airlines at odd times. If they are also prepared to make their own way from the airport to the hotel then we fall straight into the ‘book it yourself on the internet’ category and people are surprised to find that we are still able to help them. It is still possible to come to us for our knowledge and experience and have us do all the paperwork, checking in, visas etcetera and it not cost them more. I suppose the move forwards is that the customers developing confidence means they are prepared to do more and the prices are so good that even a slightly lower grade experience is worth it because it was cheap? I would prefer to hope that they are still getting a great experience and they are prepared to give it a go because they trust our judgement. The good thing about that is that as we book more and more our experience is growing all the time. The other great thing is that all our customers come and tell us about their trips so we have relevant and up to date reviews. Come and see us for your next ‘booked on the internet’ adventure!
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So the summer holidays are over, the kids are back in school, the traffic is back to its usual mess and the evenings are getting shorter. What a summer it was as well, enabling us all to live a Mediterranean lifestyle for endless weeks and wear shorts for months, I loved it this year. After the winter we had we really deserved a good one but is it just me thinking that it will not be repeated for the next few years? Maybe I am just a misery guts but I already miss being able ...to sit outside in the sun in the evenings and I am really looking forward to a little golf break I have booked in October. The more I think about the coming winter words like drizzle and flooding and snow dominate and I think I need to get something warm and sunny booked for January or early February just to keep my morale up. It seems I am not alone in feeling this way because the last couple of weeks have been like the January Sales here in the office. People have been booking last minute cheapie Greekies as the prices are amazing and lots of pre-Christmas getaways in the Canaries or Madeira. Some have looked at the prices of 2 weeks in the Canaries in the winter and decided to go to Mexico for less which is a great alternative if you can put up with the flight. Maybe we should all be looking a little further away for the next year or so because of the Brexit bomb due to explode in March? You would need a truly awesome crystal ball to be able to predict the swings and roundabouts once that one goes off! Perhaps it will be easier to view it all with some detachment if your holiday is in Mexico or Iceland or Chile. As ever it will be a pleasure to help you make your plans.
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So the first of our big groups is back from their first holiday without parents. They had a great time in Falaraki and their hotel's owners emailed us to say they were a lovely bunch and a credit to themselves.

So apart from Whit Friday we seem to have had about six weeks of good weather so far this summer and no sign of it breaking soon. It feels as though we have already had the summer holidays and yet they are still three weeks away. In any normal year by about this time I have customers coming in in despair and demanding that we find them some sun before the season is over but this year is different. The suburbs of Britain are full of people living the outdoor lifestyle and enjo...ying consistently good weather which in these Brexit-y times is quite ironically continental. So if getting some colour onto your pasty legs is no longer the priority what is the key factor in helping to decide your holiday destination? I had thought about writing about holiday destinations you could consider which wouldn’t be covering the World Cup (Italy Holland USA etc.) but it seems to have become universally compelling so there is no escaping that. It may be a bit premature to propose driving holidays in Germany and Spain with England flag decorations on your car but keep your fingers crossed. Backpacking in Belize, the churches of Northern Portugal or the Medinas of North Africa what will the focus of your next holiday be? Incidentally all of those are real suggestions from our customers this year and I would suggest that not many high street travel agencies would be able to help put those dreams into reality. We pride ourselves in our knowledge and our flexible approach to unusual requests with the aim of getting our customers onto the holidays of their dreams. We also have access to a massive range of specialist Tour Operators because of our independent status so why not come down and give us a challenge?
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Just so you know we have no phones and will not be reconnected until tomorrow morning at the earliest. No idea why they went yesterday afternoon. Apologies to anyone who has been trying to get us. Please try email or facebook as we still have the internet. Sorry for any inconvenience. Peter and Deb

Is it not over yet? Snow over the last weekend made me feel that Easter was more Christmassy than Christmas, and reinforced my belief that you just can’t trust the British weather to be predictable. What is going to happen during the summer holidays when we will all feel that we need some respite from ‘Beasts from the East’? Is all we are going to get flood warnings and cases of rickets breaking out? Who knows but it is hard to be confident that it will be all right when the ...time comes. I hope the thought that first leaps to your mind is that you must get your summer sun abroad this year and you rush to your friendly local travel agency (us!) to get it sorted as soon as possible. If that is your intention I would advise that you do it soon because we are already noticing that the availability of some of our favoured destinations is becoming quite tight. We have seen customers having to compromise on their departure dates or duration of holiday because their first choices are not available. I can only suppose that trade reports of high demand in popular places is due to the weather and the perception that there are fewer nice places to choose from these days. It feels like I write a similar article to this at least 3 times a year usually in response to some experience here in the shop. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to help a customer with money to spend and not being able to find anything suitable for their needs. Don’t be that person, get yourself organised and get your summer holiday booked ASAP!
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Azores Again! I was thrilled last week to find out that there are going to be flights to the Azores from Manchester again soon! Ryanair are starting a service once a week on a Thursday to Ponta Delgada and although it will mean an early start (5.40am!) you can be in Atlantic paradise in less than 4 hours. The Azores form an enchanting archipelago of nine emerald green islands set in the Atlantic Ocean between Portugal (1,500km) and North America (3,900km). At one time thought... to be part of the legendary lost continent of Atlantis, the islands were discovered in the 15th century by Portuguese navigators en route to the New World and became the link between Europe and the Americas. In fact, they belong to Portugal and are part of Europe. We would recommend the island of Sao Miguel as an ideal island for an introduction to the Azores. There is plenty to see and do during a week long stay. Take a drive to see a fabulous volcanic crater lake; visit a pineapple factory and tea plantation; bathe in a thermal hot pool in Furnas' botanical park; swim with dolphins; play a round of golf – the list goes on. For a multi-centre holiday the islands of Sao Miguel, Faial and Terceira are popular combinations for first time visitors. I had the pleasure of visiting four of the islands about 10 years ago and I was charmed by the peace and beauty I found there. I am looking forward to talking to people about my experience and sharing my hundreds of photos with anyone who is interested. The company that took me there was Sunvil who many of you will know as Greece specialists but through their ‘discovery’ programme they have been offering holidays in the Azores for nearly 30 years. For more information visit www.sunvil.co.uk/discovery/the-azores or call in and see me.
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How do we choose our next holiday destination? Recommendations from friends? columns in newspapers? or just being told by your travel agent are all pretty common ways but how about just going to somewhere you saw in a film? A growing number of holidays are being taken so that fans of a particular movie or mini-series can go to see the places they have admired on the screen. Obviously here in Saddleworth we have been on the receiving end of this phenomenon for many years since... the Yanks movie was released. There are places all over the world that get far more than their share of visitors based purely on a location scout’s whim. The story that brought this to my mind was that the town used for the filming of “3 Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri” is actually in North Carolina and is preparing itself for an avalanche of visiting cinema lovers. They do well to prepare because some places have been transformed by the worldwide attention a hit cinema release can cause. Skopelos is “Mamma Mia”, Kefalonia is “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”, New Zealand is Middle Earth and Dubrovnik is “King’s Landing” to millions of people. The critical merit of the film seems not to affect the numbers of visitors! Visit Britain have much to be grateful for to the location scouts involved in the “Harry Potter” franchise as I am sure the residents of Sylva, North Carolina, will be eager for some Oscar recognition of their home town (by proxy). So if you are a lover of “Game of Thrones” or “Broadchurch” or even “Shirley Valentine” but you don’t know where these idyllic place are come and see us at the Travel Centre and we will endeavour to put you into the film set of your dreams!
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I have attached the Daily Telegraph’s bargain hunting tips for 2018 and can only add that to save time and money why not let your travel agent do it all for you! Happy New Year everyone.
1. Be counter-intuitive. Sunday nights in city hotels are the quietest and cheapest of the week. Plan your city break from Saturday to Monday instead of Friday to Sunday and you are likely to find both flights and accommodation are much cheaper. 2. Be spontaneous. Go where the last-minute bar...gains are. 3. Be flexible. Some price comparison sites, such as skyscanner.net, allow you to search for fares over a whole month. If you are free to plan your travel flexibly, you can make big savings. 4. Look at the bottom line. It is easy to be seduced by a headline discount or percentage savings. But because holiday prices change according to demand, many such offers are arbitrary and fluid – so you can never be quite sure that you are being offered a real “saving”, or whether the higher price which has supposedly been discounted was never realistic in the first place. 5. Remember the extras. The key components in any holiday are the flight and the accommodation. But eating out can also add significantly to your costs when you get there. Many hotel rates do not now include breakfast, let alone half board or all-inclusive arrangements. And with certain types of holidays, some aspects can make a huge difference to the overall price. For example, you might think you can put together a bargain ski holiday by booking a flight and hotel independently, then find that it costs you hundreds of pounds for the transfer or hire car to the resort.
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Happy Christmas to all our friends and customers!

I was reading a travel industry survey recently and was surprised to see that the biggest growth area at the moment is in ‘activity’ holidays and that the biggest part of that growth was in the ‘over 50’ age range. I suppose my surprise was due to the advert-influenced perception that ‘activity’ was all about running up mountains and flinging yourself down cliff faces which clashed with the stereotype of an ‘over 50’ person. Having recently entered that age category myself I ...realise that my life is not all about denture fixative, comfy shoes and beige trousers so clearly that stereotype is wrong. That realisation made me question what constitutes an ‘activity’ holiday. I have come to the conclusion that pretty much any holiday that isn’t focussed on a beach could qualify since anything you do that isn’t lying down in the sun could then be classed as an ‘activity’. So what are people actually doing on these holidays? The answer was deeper into the survey and it seems that photography, painting, cooking, walking, drinking, looking at buildings and going to the park are all classified as activities. By these standards pretty much every holiday I have is an ‘activity’ holiday, if I had only known I would probably be fitter! Since most people have the same stereotypical imagination as I do I think I will describe all my future trips as activity holidays and have people think I go away to prowl the Inca Trail or paddle around Iceland. The reality will be that I am comfort-testing the pavement cafes of Lisbon just like everyone else. Remember to book your next ‘activity holiday’ with people who understand exactly how active you want to be on your holidays and come and see us a Saddleworth Travel* *If we aren’t half way up Kilimanjero that is.
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