What a month!!

Well, I got into the travel industry 15 years ago and have come up against numerous issues in the past, which have been ‘testing to say the least.’ The likes of the Icelandic volcano eruption was one of the biggest challenges faced with thousands of travellers plans disrupted. The value of booking with a reputable travel agent really shows it’s worth when things do not go as planned.

The first ‘issue’ we have had to face, goes by the name Irma and whilst the hurricane tore through one of the world’s cruise hot spots, we could do nothing, but sit back and wait to see what the aftermath was like, and deal with all the effected bookings due to visit these beautiful places that have now been flattened! With locals not only having to rebuild their lives from scratch, they have lost a massive income opportunity until ships can or will dock again. We are just about to enter peak season for the Caribbean with many ships departing European waters to make the trip across the Atlantic to warmer climbs, but there have had to be countless itinerary changes to accommodate changes to prevent ships going to the places hardest hit.

Whilst on the subject of weather, and this one was no way as tragic as Irma, was a typhoon called Talim that battered southern Japan. This just so happened to coincide with the Diamond Princess supposedly docking in Yokohama to collect a rather large group of people we had booked on 2 different tailor made trips. Luckily we were able to put everyone up in the hotels they were staying in for an extra night and deliver them safely to port a day late.

The final ‘hurdle’ came in the for of an airline going bust! Monarch. This came as a bit of a shock if I am honest, and with them having such a stronghold from Birmingham airport, sometime as the only airline offering direct flight from there to Rome, Venice and Barcelona they were used an awful lot to get guests from the UK’s 2nd biggest city to these very busy cruise departure ports.

Be a travel agent they said. It’ll be fun they said!!