Helen Vincent

I'm based in

Poole

Available for new enquiries

It's Nice To Meet You

Hello, I offer a confidential, personal and bespoke travel service using my 30 years experience in travel to find the very best holiday for you.

I have the pleasure in arranging personal (and group) travel for clients, everything from city breaks, family holidays to luxury long-haul holidays. My areas of expertise include: luxury, tailor-made, long-haul, luxury & adventure travel and cruising, groups and activity event trips. Pre pandemic I booked over 350 people from all over the world including the British Youth Sailing team to the World Championship in China flights and tours. I can book everything from honeymoons, safaris, cruises, road trips, luxury trains, touring, excursions and even all of it put together to fulfil your dreams.

Travel Counsellors gives me access to the industry best holiday tour operators, airline, ground agents and activities all safely protected with own ATOL, with a 24/7 crisis team on hand to support all clients booked through this system at all time anywhere in the world. I felt it was the perfect opportunity to work personally with my clients, arranging and sourcing the very best holidays and business travel. All backed up with award winning technology with the support of a world leading independent travel company, one of the biggest Travel company in the UK.

My personal travel experience includes Sri Lanka, Maldives, Madagascar, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador and The Galapagos, Peru, Argentina, activity holidays: cycling, skiing and water sports, Morocco, India, Australia, Thailand & Asia, Indian Ocean, Hong Kong and China - and throughout Europe.

My experience prior to Travel Counsellors of owning a bespoke tour operator for 18 years, arranging some of the most fabulous holidays in amazing places - which was voted TTA Tour Operator of the Year in 2011/12, has given me considerable experience and expertise in the industry.

After successfully selling the business to take a break in 2013 I have since then been asked many times for advice and help to book super holidays, so I have decided to team up under the Travel Counsellors umbrella to offer these services and enjoy being part of the TC family.

I very much look forward to helping you plan your perfect holiday - where would you like to go next?

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Explore my guides and blogs

Escorted Touring in Italy

Escorted Touring in Italy

Amo l’Italia! Italy holds such a special place in my heart - an affection forged in my teens when I was an Au Pair in Lugano on the border of Italy and Switzerland. A very special and most wonderful time. Quite simply, I think I fell in love - with Italy, it's people and, basically, all things Italian. Over the years I have visited this stunning country many times. In particular, I have spent ma

30 Jun 2023 5   min read

Aurora Expedition Cruising - and the New X-Bow hull ship

Aurora Expedition Cruising - and the New X-Bow hull ship

What a lovely day out we were treated to with Aurora Expeditions - kayaking in the Solent and a high speed rib ride to the Needles, spending time with the passionate staff from Aurora Expeditions. What is expedition cruising? The first expedition voyage to Antarctica was some 25 years ago for Aurora and their spirit of adventure still burns just as bright. There are limited group numbers to e

24 Sept 2019 5   min read

Skiing in Les Gets & the Portes Du Soleil

Skiing in Les Gets & the Portes Du Soleil

Family or Friendly French ski resorts The Portes du Soleil ski area is one of the biggest winter playgrounds in the world, with 12 linked resorts on either side of the French-Swiss border. In the heart of the French and swiss Alps, the ski area Alps is located between Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc, skiers come for the excellent snowfall - more than 8 metres every year! The Portes du Soleil offers 4

23 Sept 2019 5   min read

Antigua

Antigua

I just love Antigua, 365 white sandy beach, relaxed way of life and super food - what is not to like? It is only a 8 hour direct flight from the UK - daytime flight out and overnight on the way home on BA or Virgin - making it a perfect winter get away. Or combine with Miami, as we did this summer, only 3 hours from Miami direct flight. The island is easy to get round, car hire is very safe - t

23 Sept 2019 5   min read

Iconic Miami

Iconic Miami

It had been 20 years since I had visited Miami and going back with our now teenagers was going to interesting ... well it doesn’t disappoint. Hot, clean, friendly and definitely iconic. Getting around is so easy with the free trolley buses (with air conditioning and free Wi-Fi). Download the app so you can see where the stops are and when the next trolley is coming. Tip - using only electric golf

11 Sept 2019 5   min read

Celebrity cruise on Carnival Sensation

Celebrity cruise on Carnival Sensation

My family’s first cruise ( with teenagers of 16 & 18 yrs) was going to be an experience on way or another! It was a 5 night cruise out of Miami - we chose this cruise as it fitted with our holiday dates and included Havana. Unfortunately Mr Trump then with 1 month of departure date - declared that Cuba was off limits to Americans and American cruise ships - we were very disappointed. However the

11 Sept 2019 5   min read

Classic crusie liner

Classic crusie liner

I recently had the chance for a ship visit on the classic ex Transatlantic ocean liner The Astoria. Having watch this ship sail majestically into Poole Harbour I look forward to seeing the cabins, and accommodation on board. A great size ship taking only 550 passengers with 2 restaurants, 5 lounges, bars and Calypso Show lounge, nightclub and outdoor swimming pool it certainly is comfortable. Th

30 Mar 2019 5   min read

Costa Rica - Family holiday

Costa Rica - Family holiday

When my children were 6 and 8 years old, I felt they were old enough to join me and my husband on one of my research trips, combined with a family holiday to Costa Rica. They loved it and a great highlight for them was Arenal Volcano near Lake Arenal, the largest volcano in the world, erupting every day since July 1968 until 2009. The local Costa Rican guide had the children in the front of th

25 Oct 2018 5   min read

California - Road trip

California - Road trip

This trip was arranged by Visit California, with 10 groups all visiting different areas of California. My group visited the northern region from San Francisco. I would say this is an area of specialist interest for those who like a road trip and want to see the unusual California. The Redwood Forest are amazing, and these are now my favourite trees. I love the way they grow a little family

07 Sept 2018 5   min read

Thailand - City, beach & jungle

Thailand - City, beach & jungle

How lucky to win a place on a Travel Counsellors trip to Thailand. I love traveling and to travel with my super colleagues to an amazing place is such a bonus. Thank you so much to Emirates and Centrara and EXO. I flew with Emirates to Bangkok via Dubai staying at the Centara Grand at Central Plaza Ladprao. A busy time in Bangkok, somewhere I haven't visited for 25 years! The roof top bar/resta

07 Sept 2018 5   min read

Glagapgos

Glagapgos

I visited Lonesome George in February 2008. Galapagos is such an incredible place with an amazing variety of wildlife. Many of the creatures are endangered species protected by the Darwin Research Station. Our Galapagos ground agents were kindly able to provide a detailed history of Lonesome George, we hope you find this an interesting read. Celebrating the Life of Lonesome George, the world-fa

07 Sept 2018 5   min read

Ras al Khaimah

Ras al Khaimah

What is this.... well if you haven't heard of Ras al Khaimah it is one of the 7 United Arab Emirate states, only 40 minutes from Dubai airport along some very new road. Ras al-Khaimah, historically known as Julfar, is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Its name could be taken to mean "headland of the small huts", which can be attributed to the indigenous buildings tha

07 Sept 2018 5   min read

Singapore

Singapore

A short stopover in Singapore on the way home was not long enough! I love this city and would have liked to have a few days to explore and take in the sights and sounds. If you have a flight layover - the airport offers a free tour of the city, with two options. Depending on the time you have you must be in transit for this though. As we were travelling on a NON through ticket we had to co

04 Sept 2018 5   min read

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong what a city! Busy, vibrant and some serious shopping to be done! Start with the Star ferry for the famous bay crossing, an institution for the locals and a mythical voyage that the national Geographical Traveller magazine lists as one of their 50 experiences of a lifetime. From the boat you can appreciate what some consider as being the most beautiful skyline in the worlds, where t

04 Sept 2018 5   min read

Xian - The Terracota Worriers

Xian - The Terracota Worriers

The Terracotta Warriors are on everyone's bucket list - they are incredible. However, I would like to prepare you if you are planning a visit, the Chinese Government now allow 80,000 visitors a day in the site! It is madly busy in the viewing of the pits of the warriors, so be prepared for queues, jostling and the heat. Standing in battle-ready formation and numbering into the thousands, the T

04 Sept 2018 5   min read

Beijing

Beijing

Visiting Beijing is a must when in China - it is busy, with a population of 20 million! I have been some 28 years ago to China and Beijing but don't remember much apart from bicycles everywhere. That had really changed and now the car is king, and the roads are really busy. Use of the subway is recommended as the fastest way to get about. Though funnily enough, they are now trying to reintroduc

04 Sept 2018 5   min read

Club Med - Bali

Club Med - Bali

A week of relaxing in Bali. This was my first visit to Bali, (I know, how have I missed this special place!) We picked Bali as I have always wanted to visit and the climate seemed perfect for August, which so many places in Asia are not at that time of year. The weather was a super 28 degrees, sunny and not too humid - the dry season. We had one day of rain in the hills of Ubud but that didn

04 Sept 2018 5   min read

What my customers say

Fabulous, easy, quick, efficient, reliable, honest and most of all knowledgeable of the areas we want to travel to. Highly recommend. Helen Vincent was with us all the way, making a fabulous trip come to life. Thank you Helen Vincent.

Kate Kinkead

Corfe Castle

Awesome personalized service from Helen; took the weight off our hands entirely, to plan and book our bespoke travel arrangements.

Chris Monk

Poole

Great guidance and hand holding and patience from Helen. Wonderful to have someone take the reins over something so important to us. Helen was fantastic.

Nina Hytner

London

Helen has booked over 15 flights for me now and her attention to detail, professional manner and excellent customer service keeps me coming back! Thanks Helen for everything you do. Regards - Barbara

Barbara Cox

Dorset

Helen is excellent , knows her stuff, always gets us the best deal and know every other in and out of the travel business! Awesome :)

Phil Collins

Poole

As always a super service . I wouldn't' book a holiday without a call to Helen first!

Rachel BAILEY

Exeter

Helen is awesome. She's organised, helpful, has great ideas and easy to work with. I've booked over 10 business trips with her this year and all of them have been 100% amazing! Thanks Helen for all your attention to detail and help. Here's to the next booking! Regards Barbara

Barbara Cox

Poole

Would not dream of a holiday without your invaluable help and advice …peace of mind is priceless

Nicola WAKEFIELD

Poole

Great response and support from Helen ( as always!), even though she was just heading off on a holiday of her own!

Chris Monk

Poole

Helen is amazingly helpful and friendly. She is absolutely essential to my life now. I find arrangements for holidays quite stressful to do on my own, so she is invaluable in keeping me sane.

Hazel Funnell

NORWICH

Helen was a breathe of fresh air to work with in booking exactly what we needed. She understood our needs for our little boy in a wheelchair and has found us an snacking holiday at a great price. I would definitely recommend her and look forward to booking future holidays with her. Thanks Helen x

Kelly New

Poole

Helen is amazing very patient and helpful

Joanna Walker

Poole

Helen is amazing very patient and helpful

Catherine Hopkinson

TEDDINGTON

Very helpful, open to looking at alternatives, quick response to communications, overall a brilliant service to help us book our family holiday!

Nina Ross

Poole

I can't speak highly enough of Helen. She is so helpful. She takes the time to find out what you would like to get out of your trip, places you would like to visit and then puts together an itinerary for you to look at and discuss and change as you wish. She organised a holiday for us to Vietnam a few years ago and it was fantastic.

Katharine Pollard

Poole

Helen is very conscientious and really helpful. I'll be using her for all my booking from now on, as travel has become more complex and having Helen as the expert to help navigate travel is the best option for everyone. Thanks Helen.

Barbara Cox-Lovesy

Poole

Excellent service and undertaken with a lot of patience, especially as we didn't know where to go or what to do! Thanks Helen

Shirly Scully

Wimborne

Very helpful and found a fantastic offer for me.

Karolina Rabiej

Bournemouth

Always great service attention to detail and personal touch Helen is outstanding

Irena Daniels

Poole

Helen's travel knowledge and experience at arranging holidays, was spot on. She turned our 'flight only' booking, into a fabulous holiday for us. We were wanted a hiking, sight seeing, ski holiday, but knew we needed help to make it happen, Helen was great, she kept to budget and managed to include all our holiday needs, arranging all the hotels and transfers for our trip. We had a wonderful time. Thank you for all your help in making this happen.

Caroline Cockroft

Poole

Helen is very conscientious and really helpful. I'll be using her for all my booking from now on, as travel has become more complex and having Helen as the expert to help navigate travel is the best option for everyone. Thanks Helen.

Barbara Cox-Lovesy

Poole

Helen did an outstanding job organising our holiday. She was resourceful, fast and professional. She knew well the country we were traveling to and she was efficient in helping us figure out the Covid requirements. I will definitely go to Helen for our next travel endeavour and I am sure once again she will get it right.

Patricia Fitzpatrick

Poole

I have already recommended Helen to two friends. She has just been fantastic, finding us our holiday, taking care of the booking and helping us to navigate the covid requirements. When our plans had to change very late in the day Helen really pulled out the stops to make sure we didn't lose any money and to help us rearrange our plans with minimal stress. I am so glad we booked via a travel counsellor - it really has made it all much less stressful, and i would not hesitate to recommend Helen.

Joanne Shingler

Poole, Dorser

I also wanted to thank you for all your support and realise that I need to be quicker off the mark. You were so patient, supportive and professional and I really appreciated it, not least coming back with new options to think about. I will cruise, and I will come back to you.

Sue Eley

Weymouth

I cannot recommend Helen highly enough.She has patiently helped me plan lovely family holidays. She listens to my needs and researches really well. Unfortunately we have had to put plans on hold and cancel and this has been no trouble to her, refunds are quick and she cheerfully and optimistically helps me plan for next year. I'm looking forward to some great future trips. Catherine

Catherine Hopkinson

London

When I gave Helen our proposed holiday dates and a request for Sun, Sea and WiFi, she came up with an amazing holiday to suit our whole family including two teenage girls. The location was one I had not heard of before and I never would have discovered it on my own. The boutique hotel was perfect, the local restaurants were superb and we really did not want to come home. The travel plans were perfect and we really did not have to worry about a thing.

Ruth Knight

Norwich

Thanks Mum for looking after us off on our Gap year xx

Jenna Vincent

Poole, Dorset

thanks so much for a super holiday Helen, somewhere we wouldn't have thought of going - beautiful and amazing first hotel... looking forward to next years plans.

E T

Poole, Dorset

Helen - just to say thanks you. We had a fantastic holiday. Everything went absolutely according to plan, we couldn't have asked for more as professionally organised holiday & Elephant Hill was really great xx

Liz Crumb

Poole, Dorset

Thank you for your help, your care and attention to detail and your excellent customer service. Best wishes

Janine Hogan

London

Helen can never do enough for you and is so knowledgeable.

F Nossiter

London

Hi Helen Just wanted to say a huge thank you! Costa Rica so far is absolutely amazing! And all you have organised is just perfect..... So thank you from all us Booths xxx

C Booth

Poole, Dorset

Fantastic service , just exactly what we needed to help us find a place in Corsica with famiily/ friends all coming to different times and different directions. Would have never managed this without the help from Helen.

Ute McCrudden

Poole

You have been the most helpful and patient holiday advisor I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Thanks again. Carol

Carol Bromiley

Faversham

Felt I must write to thank you for organising my amazing trip to Vietnam, although I have previously booked directly with exodus it was great having your experience and getting me a direct flight and a super upgrade! Everyone else on my trip was so jealous of me flying directly - there were cases of lost luggage in our party and long delays in transfers in other group members .. Knowing I was coming home straight away made coming back home much easier and reassuring to know luggage unlikely to go astray. Thanks heaps. Can't wait till my next trip!

Rebecca Carron/Francs

Poole

A short note to say thanks for all the work you put into the China Topper Worlds trip – I can only imagine he amount of effort required. We had a fantastic time, a trip to remember forever. I hope you managed to enjoy the visit as well!

Andrew & Jeanette Evans

Bedford

Fantastic service really helpful and lots of information. Booking was hassle free and saved me a lot of time. Helen was knowlagable and full of good ideas and tips regarding our trip. Very happy with the service we received and I will use again and will recommend to family and friends.

Rachel Bailey

Exeter

Always very helpful and friendly and comes up with a number of holiday options and will keep trying until we find what we are looking for.

Sarah Sonraya Grace

Poole

Super, personal service. Speedy return of mail and calls. Lovely, friendly, helpful attitude. Questions answered informatively which promoted confidence and helped to clarify the arrangements for us.

Inge Day

Ashby St Ledgers

Just had to say a massive thank you from Sian and I. The holiday was absolutely what I had dreamed of and more. The work behind the scenes that you did ensured that everything ran on rails, was so impressive and even the change in hotels turned out to be a blessing as the Kempinski was amazing. The Marriott provided a totally different vibe which made the holiday experience feel much longer than 4 days. We laughed, walked, ate, drank (and then had more to drink) and spent a hideous amount of money but for me the memories and whole experience was truly priceless. So thank you.

Nicola Wakefield

Poole

The service we have received from Helen Vincent, our personal Travel Counsellor ,has been absolutely outstanding. We have already recommended her to several of our friends and business associates and we look forward to using her service when booking any future trips.

Keith & Vicky Baggette

Poole

Totally awesome service! Will definitely be using you again, and recommending you to all my family and friends. Thank you for a hassle free, speedy holiday/flight booking.

Nicola Wakefield

Broadstone

Helen has been amazing ! She is so patient and understanding and truly zones in to finding you the perfect holiday . Would highly recommend to all my friends and colleagues . Thank you Helen - I would never book another holiday without your wonderful service again !

Vicky Bagette

Poole

Helen's many years of experience in the travel business shine through. Her attention to detail is meticulous.

Jon V

Poole

Absolutely fantastic service with speed and great advice all the way through! Helen was such a lovely person to deal with, which took the stress away completely!

C Booth

Poole

Very efficient and organised. Very helpful and knowledgable about the travel industry which really makes a difference.

M s

Poole

Helen was great and helped us enormously ...... We were pretty indecisive but got there in the end and Helen was super patient and very helpful and we are very much looking forward to it. We will definitely be using Helen again.

Neil Marsh

London

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Tailor-made for you

Your holiday isn’t just a trip away. It’s a longed-for escape, time to reconnect with loved ones, or a dream adventure you never thought possible. That’s why I take the time to truly get to know you and understand your hopes and expectations, then use my experience, connections and passion for the destination to create a trip that makes those dreams a reality.

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Personalised service. Always

When you plan a holiday with me, you’ll be given my personal mobile number from the very first call. I’ll listen to your thoughts and ideas like I would a friend and arrange accommodation, activities, and flights that are all personalised to you. And I’ll share my personal tips and recommendations, so you can experience the true beauty of each destination.

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Stress-free travel, and more time
for what matters most

I believe your time away should be stress-free, easy, and seamless from start to finish. So, I take care of all the details for you - from ATOL protection, insurance, and flexible payments to access to the myTC app, which keeps everything in one place.

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Support when it matters most

If the unexpected happens, you can rest easy, knowing that I’ll handle any last-minute changes, flight cancellations, or disruptions before you even pick up the phone. So you always feel happy, carefree, and ready to make the most of every moment.

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