18 February 2021

Now you’ve booked your dream wedding, your next, and in my humble opinion, most important job has to be planning the perfect Honeymoon! This is one of the most fulfilling parts of what I do, I LOVE crafting you your very own perfect bespoke itinerary, whether you’re on a budget or are looking for the ultimate in luxury…I can make your Honeymoon dreams come true! But the big question is, where in the world should you go? For me, this is very much down to you guys, the couple in question and your wants & needs, your likes & dislikes and all of the boxes you would like ticked. I have so many ideas for you! My favourites, to give you some inspiration on how diverse we can be with yours, include: Thailand A stunning multi-centre trip around Thailand, including the fantastic Elephant Hills, a day trip on a longtail boat, an evening dinner cruise, cocktails on the beach under the stars, speedboating to the islands, a stay in incredible 5* luxury, right on the beach, with a swim up private pool. Tanzania & Zanzibar An out of this world & truly unique safari in Tanzania combined with a relaxing beach stay in Zanzibar – take it from me, this one is a once in a lifetime experience, and not the overly expensive trip you might think it is. Cuba Or, let's look at a twin centre in Cuba taking in old Havana for a few nights then onto the perfect all inclusive experience in Varadero. USA Road Trip Take a road trip across America in a Cadillac! So unique & different! New York City How about a super-exciting romantic New York city break? I get so excited organising a lovely itinerary of everything you choose to see & do whilst in New York, as well as the usual must-sees such as the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, the Brooklyn Bridge etc., I will add in lots of extra exciting stuff that you just can’t miss, directions on how to get to places like the Friends building & other famous iconic places from movies & TV, the must-dos when you’re in particular areas, really personalise it to your wish list! Maldives We could pick the perfect Over Water Villa in the Maldives. For the ultimate in luxury, my favourite resort right now is the Anantara Veli Maldives. Honeymooners can take advantage of private candlelit dining, a day on a private island, couples treatments at the spa & the most stunning over water villa options to choose from. Looking for your own private plunge pool & direct lagoon access? This place is perfect! Greece Closer to home we could go for a stunning Swim Up Room in Greece. Stella Island on the island of Crete is my favourite. An adults only hotel with Private Pool Villas, Grand Overwater Bungalows with Jacuzzi, Over Water Bungalows & Premium Swim Up Rooms you are literally spoilt for choice & will experience a truly unforgettable Honeymoon! Mauritius Looking for a romantic hideaway where only grown-ups are allowed? VICTORIA’S exclusive couples’ wing could be the perfect answer. Nestled in tropical gardens & set along an unspoiled stretch of beach, exclusively reserved for adults only, the complex has Ocean View Rooms & Swim-Up Rooms offering the perfect setting for you to reconnect & spend precious time together. It is paradise! Italy You could travel by rail around Italy, taking in all those beautiful places you see on Insta! This one is on my own bucket list. Take the train from Milan & make your way to stunning Naples, visiting Venice, Florence & Rome on your way. Stay in gorgeous boutique hotels, sample the local cuisine & make memories that will last forever! Borneo How about seeking out the wildlife in Borneo? I know you will LOVE the proboscis monkeys, orang-utans & pygmy elephants as you cruise along Kinabatangan River & explore the rainforests. Peru Do the Inca Trail! A truly awe-inspiring trek through rugged meadows to hidden valleys surrounded by snowy peaks. Walk through hamlets, cactus gardens and fields of corn, visiting different magnificent Inca ruins along the trek culminating at the phenomenal Machu Picchu. Peaceful, calm & quiet; unbelievable & breathtaking in more ways than one! Ibiza Live out your wild side & go clubbing in Ibiza! For a romantic sunset experience, you can’t beat Ibiza. Sunsets on Ibiza are pretty spectacular and without doubt some of the best the Mediterranean has to offer. Each location and each day is unique, so when you go for the magical time when day turns into night, you can expect your own little miracle to take place! The world literally is your oyster! It’s incredibly important for me to get to know you as a couple personally & really find out about what experience you’re looking for, whether it’s total relaxation, adventure or culture, get down to the nitty gritty. I will listen intently, care about every little detail & set to work on putting together your dream trip, tailor-making it to be absolutely perfect for you – if you trust me with your very special plans I will treat your once in a lifetime trip like it’s my own, like it deserves to be! There’s no ‘one size fits all’ that’s the beauty of travel, & how I work with my clients being at the very centre of every single thing I do. I am always right here for you as your travel expert, making organising your honeymoon as stress-free & as exciting an experience as possible….and believe me, I literally get more excited than my clients sometimes! Why pick me for arranging your dream honeymoon? Because I love my job! I really do. I provide a very unique service using amazing award-winning technology. I am not a faceless website where booking a holiday is just a transaction, I am a human at the other end of the phone who will care about your trip, and you, more than anyone else ever will. I pride myself on giving you a very personal and exceptional level of service from the very first time we speak until you return from your trip. Every holiday I book is 100% financially protected so be reassured you are in very safe hands. As my office is in my home, I am able to speak to you at a time that suits you best, even if it outside of ‘normal’ working hours. This also includes 24 hour emergency contact, so you always have true peace of mind that you’re supported, never alone & are very much cared for. The current situation we are in has truly proved my worth & the massive benefits of having a human on your side who cares, I have been so proud to be here right through the pandemic to take care of everyone. In short, I am different, and proud of it!

02 March 2018

What can I say about Berlin? What a fantastic city, I loved it! My husband and I flew directly from Newcastle to Schonefeld Airport, where the weather was much like it was at home, just much colder! Our train journey to West Berlin where we stayed was so easy (we picked up pre-booked Berlin Welcome cards on arrival that we validated for our full duration) and as it was dark we got to see the city lit up including the famous TV tower at Alexanderplatz. We stayed for three nights in the amazing Max Brown Hotel Ku’damm which I can 100% recommend. It is immaculate, comfortable, warm and friendly. The rooms are very quirky and cool with everything you need. It is in an excellent location, five minutes’ walk from Kufurstendamm with its shops, bars and restaurants, and a 15-minute walk to Berlin Zoo station where you can take the train to everywhere, including direct to Schonefeld, which is how we travelled throughout our full trip. The daily included breakfast at Benedict’s was truly to die for. My top tip is to go before 9am as it's the most popular restaurant for breakfast in the area with the locals! It's open 24/7 too so if you fancy a late cocktail, nightcap or anything off the breakfast menu, it's yours. I just can't fault it! On our first day we took a brilliant pre-booked and highly recommended four-hour walking tour which started at Hackescher Markt (a great location in East Berlin for shops, bars and eateries). We were taken by Xavier, our expert guide, over the Spree River through Museum Island which features the Altes Museum at Lustgarten where Hitler famously held mass Nazi rallies after public opposition to his regime was banned. At the other side of the river we walked past the German Historical Museum which still has bullet holes from World War II in its pillars and on the building itself, it was incredible to see. Next, the site of the famous book burning on 10th May 1933 at Humboldt University, Babelplatz, initiated by the Nationalist German Student Association applauded by the Nazi regime. Joseph Goebbels was invited to make a speech and the 20,000 books they burnt were by authors they deemed non-German such as Karl Marx and Albert Einstein. A memorial now sits in the spot where it happened, it’s a must-see. We then passed through Gendarmenmarkt to Friedrichstrasse and had a pitstop at a fab restaurant/bar we went back to the day after called Maximillian’s. The food is of Bavarian-style and it reminded me of being in the Alps! The staff were dressed traditionally, and the service was great with a lovely atmosphere, delicious food and good value too. The Berlin local delicacy ‘Currywurst’ is served here and has got to be sampled, they did it proud, I highly recommend! Next was Checkpoint Charlie, the site of probably the most famous crossing point of the Berlin Wall. Today you can get your picture taken with the signage (only the frame is actually genuine though) and with guards dressed up who are happy to pose with you for a small fee. Apparently, these guys have an evening job too as strippers! Definitely head here, there’s a great museum where you can buy and take home your very own genuine piece of the Berlin Wall. A short walk away from here is Topography of Terror. Now this really is something to see. Not only is the last remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall in its original location situated here, it’s also the site of the SS and Gestapo Headquarters during World War II. Excavations have uncovered the cellars of these buildings where the Nazis tortured and executed political prisoners, they are now an open-air memorial. The Documentation Centre stands here too which is a permanent museum with exhibitions of the history of the site and so much more. This museum is completely free as Germany refuses to profit from anything to do with the Nazi Regime, they are not proud of this part of their history and want this known to anyone who visits. Being here was very emotional, it brought what has happened to the German people to a very personal level and gave a new-found perspective on what they went through. I’d definitely recommend it, be prepared for brutal honesty though and to have your eyes opened. On our way to the Brandenburg Gate, we stood on the site of Hitler’s bunker, initially constructed as an air-raid shelter and the place where he married Eva Braun before they took their own lives in April 1945. The bunker still fully exists underground, albeit purposely collapsed and filled in. It isn’t a commemorated place, but a small plaque stands with a diagram of how it looked, to mark its location. Next, we reached two very prominent focal points - The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, very haunting and powerful, and the Reichstag Building. It was dark by the time we reached Brandenburg Gate so it was lit up beautifully. We were told some great stories, my favourite was about Quadriga, the sculpture that sits atop the gate of a lady in a chariot drawn by four horses. It was originally created as Goddess of Peace, the symbol of peace represented by the wreath she carries. In 1806 when Napoleon occupied Berlin, he stole her and took her to Paris where she resided until Napoleon was overthrown. She was returned to Germany in 1814 and an Iron Cross was inserted into her wreath thus making her Goddess of Victory. To this day her ‘death-stare’ is commented on which coincidentally is directed at the French Embassy! Just incredible. Xavier also mentioned the hotel behind us, the Adlon Hotel. It turned out this was where Michael Jackson famously dangled baby ‘Blanket’ out of the window! Our whole stay in Berlin was just brilliant from start to finish, I truly recommend it to all city-break lovers. There is so much history to uncover, the people are extremely friendly, the food was great, it's so clean, the atmosphere and vibe was fantastic, and it wasn’t expensive. My top tip for first-timers would be to pre-book a walking tour like we did then plan the rest of your time there after that. Also, pre-book entrance to the TV Tower (we missed out on it as we ran out of time), even at 9am, there was a long queue to buy tickets here. Lastly, use the rail system, the U-Bahn and S-Bahn are far superior to our equivalents, we never once saw a delay, they were super clean, very comfortable and fast. The Berlin Welcome cards we pre-bought made life so easy, especially late at night and at busy times. If you like what you’ve read, please drop me a line! I would love to take care of your next trip to this fantastic city and tell you all about it in person.

12 December 2016

Well, what else can I say other than my first-ever Travel Counsellors conference in November 2016 absolutely blew me away! I have been to conferences before many times, in a past travel life. They’ve all been pretty great but somehow they have always felt a tad impersonal and it was still hard to shake off the feeling, especially in later years, that I was just a number. This TC conference of ours though? Wow! There was never a dull moment – we worked hard, we played hard! The company really means their strapline “With us…its personal” as conference felt exactly that. It proved to me the human-side of what we do is the most important thing to our success and I got so much out of the whole weekend. My first huge wow moment came on Friday evening when all 1500 of us joined the ‘Village Fete’ aka Manchester Central’s huge conference room! After meeting in the VIP area to have champagne, my partner and I were ushered into a beautifully decorated fairground! There was a huge (and fully operational) carousel, a coconut-shy, fairground games, stalls, food, sweet treats and so much more. We took our seats beside friends and colleagues, and enjoyed a wine (or two!) Not long after, our host was revealed, riding the carousel - it was Vernon Kaye! Vernon has hosted the TC conference three years in a row (and pledged, on stage, to host year four) and was absolutely brilliant. He was the compere for the whole weekend and made it very special for all of us. Then, we couldn’t believe our eyes when Jack Whitehall walked on stage! He made us laugh so much, telling us about the disastrous holidays he’s been on - he’ll now definitely be finding his very own Travel Counsellor and making those experiences a thing of the past! Irish hip-hop improvisers, Abandoman, came next and showed us exactly what they're made of, ad-libbing their way through a rap live on-stage using ideas off the tops of our heads, they were great! All in all it was an excellent kick-off to the events that followed, we were ready to knuckle down the following morning early-doors to our fullest and biggest day of conference. Over the course of the weekend, we had fantastic motivational guest speakers. Nadia Clarke addressed us on Saturday morning after a rousing wake up session from Sons of Pitches (they’re a very different ‘boyband’, so clever and very good at what they do!) Nadia is a beautiful 24-year-old who is deaf and uses an electronic wheelchair to get about plus an aid to communicate via, as she has Cerebral Palsy. I can only describe Nadia as full of fun and enthusiasm, she has a great sense of humour and she's truly inspirational and proves anything is possible. She told us all about her life in the 20 or so minutes she was on stage, during which time we laughed, we cried and were in complete awe. We also heard from Jo Fairley, co-founder of Green & Black’s chocolate (yum!) and Dame Kelly Holmes, double Olympic Gold Medalist and ex-Army P.E. teacher (who knew?), who shared her story and what she’s had to overcome to attain her dream. She was very down to earth and brutally open and honest with her struggles with depression and self-harming. This made her very proud of what she's achieved and rightly so. She made us laugh out loud when she revealed the routines and superstitions she went through before a race and before winning those now famous two gold medals in Athens 2004 – Google ‘Kelly Holmes Athens Portaloo’ to see what I mean! We had fantastic sessions from fellow Travel Counsellors, our brilliant head office team and the man himself, our CEO Steve Byrne. Each presentation was informative, motivational and upbeat. We learned about the huge £4.8million investment planned for 2017 in our technology alone and our new upgraded unique in-house booking system was unveiled to us. To me personally, the enhancements it has are the stuff of this long-standing travel agent’s dreams! So exciting! Our brand new training hub was also revealed. I can’t wait to get my teeth into it and stay ahead of the game on all things travel – new systems, new products, destinations and much more. As Mr. Byrne said to us during his captivating and honest presentation: “We care – great people and clever technology enable us to care more than anyone else”– I couldn’t agree more. Saturday evening brought our black-tie Gala Dinner. Everyone was dressed to the nines, the room was a sea of posh frocks, beautiful hair and dicky-bow ties. Champagne on arrival then we settled at our supplier-hosted tables for gorgeous wine, scrumptious food and our eyes firmly on the stage. Vernon did another excellent job of hosting this evening, the first part of which was both rewarding and emotional. We had an awards ceremony for top performing TCs, much recognition for achievements in what we're best at - customer service, my little face even popped up on the big screen for my best-ever sales month, and our dedicated charity of this year’s conference, Reuben’s Retreat were awarded a sum of money, purely from us all donating money into envelopes, of £23,000. Then main the entertainment began! First of all, soprano Laura Wright enchanted us with her incredible voice, singing classical and operatic music including the official anthem of the English Rugby team, she was fantastic! Then we were entertained by the fabulous Ronan Keating, who I have to say is very good looking in the flesh and like a fine wine, has definitely improved with age! He never missed a note and hearing all the old Boyzone hits and his solo stuff really kick-started the party and got us well in the mood for plenty of dancing and more wine! To round the evening off, Madhen took to the stage and wow, they were brilliant! They're a very talented band who sang, entertained us perfectly and kept us on our feet until the wee small hours. Surprisingly fresh as a daisy on Sunday morning (I know, after all that wine!) we headed to the closing of our conference which culminated in a video of the highlights from the previous two days. It was emotional and brought home just how much I’d enjoyed every single moment. I was leaving with an even clearer idea of who we are as Travel Counsellors and what it really means to be part of such a forward-thinking, caring, special company. I'm more excited than ever now for the future of my little business. I'm so determined to make my customers, family and friends proud of me and look forward to utilising every tool I have at my disposal to personally create memorable experiences for my customers and continue to look after them every step of the way. Thank you for reading! I will leave you with two more Steve Byrne quotes from our fantastic weekend: “We take people on who are special, who share the same values and we work together in one direction” “Better people make better Travel Counsellors”