TALKING SHOP


talkingshop THE SECTION FOR AGENTS ABOUT AGENTS


staycations By Laura Gelder


When I was growing up there was no call for the word ‘staycation’ – a holiday in the UK was still a given for the majority of people so it didn't need to be re-invented by a buzz-word. I spent much of my youth on the family boat,


Discover the Advantage in Malta


Advantage Travel Centres is gearing up for this year's Advantage Conference, taking place in Malta from April 26-29. The programme will kick off on the Thursday with optional excursions and the 'dine-around'. This popular social event has been re-introduced after positive feedback from those attending the event last year in Madrid. This year's guest speakers include


US super athlete and author Michael Johnson, whose book Slaying the Dragon explains how to turn setbacks


From Bognor with love


Believe it or not, fi lming for the new James Bond movie will take place in Bognor this summer and Butlins has some special themed packages to get the word out! Whilst Skyfall is being fi lmed guests


can sip on a vodka and gin martini, or indulge in an 00Heaven Hero spa package which includes a deep tissue massage and deep cleansing facial as they watch their favourite Bond movie! Agents can take a three- or four-night


family break at Bognor Regis, Minehead or Skegness, for just £20 per unit per night. To apply, see the ‘For You’ section on www.BourneLeisureSales.co.uk


into successes. Iron Maiden rocker and aviation businessman Bruce Dickinson will talk about his entrepreneurial acumen and recession setbacks. Leisure travel breakout sessions will include 'Business Re-engineering', challenging members to think about the future shape and structure of their business. The 'Best Practice' session, meanwhile, will concentrate on real examples of changes members have made in their internal operations and customer communications, to bring


Try out Red Sea Holidays


Red Sea Holidays has launched its 2012/2013 brochure, with new hotels and resorts and added-value options. New resorts include Dahab, Taba and


Taba Heights with new properties in Sharm El Sheikh, El Gouna and Makadi Bay, and new multi-centre tours, such as the 10-night Cairo & The Nile tour from £999 (based on two people sharing). “We’ll continue our education


programme into 2012, giving agents the chance to experience the main Red Sea resorts and new cruise offerings such as Luxor,” said Jason Hilton, Red Sea Holidays’ Sales Director. “Our expanded range of cruise and stay options allow


clients to combine a Nile cruise with the Red Sea, Luxor or Cairo.“ www.redseaholidays.co.uk


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positive change to their business. The schedule will also include a welcome party at the Reef Club at the Westin Dragonara Resort, Advantage golf on the fi nal day and a gala dinner on the fi nal night in La Valette Hall, the former hospital of the Order of St John, built in the 16th century. Excursions will take place on the Thursday morning and on the Sunday, taking in sister island Gozo, the walled city of Mdina and the historic capital of Valletta. www.advantageconference.co.uk


crouched in the cabin eating soggy biscuits and scribbling angst-ridden poetry by the light of an oil lamp. I look back at those days with warmth and nostalgia, forgetting that at the time I was often shivering at the bottom of the dinghy clutching a slimy rope my dad had frantically chucked at me because we were about to be stranded for the night by the low tide – again. If I look at more recent ‘staycations’ of mine, I


can recall good and bad moments. Like the time we camped in Glen Nevis and the midges were so bad we had to make sure one of us was smoking a cigarette at all times to repel them (it didn't help the lungs for climbing Ben Nevis). There was a camping trip to Snowdonia


when we had to buy our shower tokens from an incomprehensible farmer. And then the showers conked out, just as I'd coaxed my Herbal Essences into a pyramid of lather. In Dorset we pitched our tent in the drizzle


and sat doggedly in our canvas chairs for two hours until the pub down the road opened at 4pm – so much for the ‘great outdoors’! But then there were the good times: A glorious May Bank Holiday on Dorset's Jurassic Coast, where the sun shone, the azure water lapped at the dramatic cliffs and we sipped on sloe gin as the sun set over the green fi elds. A road trip around Norfolk accompanied by the new American Anthems power ballads CD brings back memories of Holkham beach backed by windswept pine trees, fi sh and chips, the sound of slot machines at Cromer, and a landscape of windmills and pastel beach huts set to a sound track of Starship. The funny thing is, good or bad, they‘re all worth remembering!


34 March/April 2012 • www.sellinglonghaul.com


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