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As your Personal Travel Expert, I'm here to make planning your next holiday stress-free and easy. Whether you know exactly what you want or need some travel inspiration, I'll use my knowledge and expertise to create a bespoke holiday you’ll love. From the whole package to those finishing touches such as car hire and travel insurance, I've got you covered!
In this monthly video podcast we get to chat about how the travel concierge role works for you, why it is beneficial, and the various options that could be available to you for your holidays, honeymoons, stag/hen breaks, etc.
This is a www.visual-pr.co.uk production
00:00 Speaker: Welcome back to Doug Tanner, the travel concierge. I do still love that name. I'm sorry, it's so cool. Episode four this time. And obviously we've got the main man, Doug Tanner, here with us. Greetings, sir. Hi, Chris. And this one, I've been looking forward to this one because I think there's going to be an awful lot of people that are going to relate to this. Yeah. Because we want to go into those, the emotions that we get when we are booking the holiday.
00:26 Speaker: Go on the holiday. And I'm probably going to end up touching on when you come back from the holiday. Yeah. And because I know that you and I have had this conversation many a time is that the reason why you do what you do is that holiday shouldn't just be a throwaway. Oh, quick, we need to book holiday for this year. We need to get away at some point. It's like, make it those memories. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you know, what...
00:54 Speaker: You work hard. Everyone works hard. And how much time do you spend going on holiday? And what is a holiday for? What's the purpose of going on holiday? Yes, it's to shut down and recharge. But actually, as you've touched on, when you come back, it's the memories. Yes. It's the memories you make. And that emotion can be really quite profound when you think what you've done in those week or two weeks, whereas what you've done for the rest of the year working.
01:22 Speaker: You know, how does it compare? That then bonds your family and does so much. Yeah, very good point. Bonds the family. And that kind of leads on to the point I was going to make is that those memories are relevant whatever your age. And I've kind of, and I'm trying not to give too much away as we go through the booking, the having and the returning, but it is relevant to the kids. I've still got memories and emotions that can come flooding back in an instant. Not always on the surface, but something could trigger them.
01:50 Speaker: As a young adult, normally involves probably Ibiza or something like that. As an adult, and especially as a parent, it's a whole new sequence of memories to come. And then you've got the different phases of the age of your kids. Then, and I know we've been touching on this. In your latter years, is that the best way of saying it? Absolutely. It then becomes important. The kids have maybe flown the nest and you're now going off and do things that they wouldn't want to have done. Yes. But now we're going to go off and do it.
02:22 Speaker: Every stage of your life is a new sequence of memories and experiences. Yes, that's right. And that's where the emotions come in. I was talking to a lovely lady this morning in her latter years, shall we say. And she was saying the things she's been and done on holiday. She never mentioned about anything that she did at work. And she now wants to go on.
02:43 Speaker: another holiday to build more memories for her and and to recall to her family and it was wonderful to hear i sat with her 45 minutes and you know we talked about so much but it was all about where she'd been, you know, she'd been at the Irrawaddy and they'd done this and they'd, you know, they'd been to Burma and, you know, when you could access Burma, that was a while ago. And, you know, they spent time in Vietnam and it was fantastic. And it was all, it all came back, it all came flooding back and you could see the joy in her face of talking about it. So that to me was a real like, there you go, that's what a holiday, you know, a holiday is such a funny term, but actually it's a complete, there's so much to it. There really is.
03:23 Speaker: I've got two things that come straight to mind. My parents and my wife's parents have both retired. And you don't retire to do nothing. You retire to be able to go and do more. And invariably, that is travel. They're going to see different places, experience different places, meet different cultures, eat different cultures, you know, all of those kind of things. And equally, sadly, there was, he says, trying to just disguise the story, there was the neighbour of somebody that is...
03:56 Speaker: has got early stages of Parkinson's, sadly, and so knows that there's a finite period of time to be able, not just physically, but insurance-wise, to be able to go on holiday. They've already said it'll get to a stage and suddenly it's like four grand for insurance or something ridiculous. So they are plugging in loads. And so it goes to show that's how important it is. Let's get out there and experience those different things right now. Because otherwise you don't do it. And I'm starting to learn, and I wish I'd...
04:25 Speaker: sort of thought of this before is that i've done multiple years of all-inclusive resort i don't need to go anywhere it's massive it's got everything we eat we drink whatever we want there's entertainment there's pools there's beaches and it's wonderful but i'm suddenly going i could have been here that's right so that's where the planning that's where the that's where i try and do one of my questions when i ask is actually what was your best holiday that you've had and
04:54 Speaker: obviously hopefully recreate that or recreate something but what do you remember about your best holiday and that then starts a conversation and I'm starting to take notes and go okay right well that's what you're looking for and that's where the emotion starts because they go oh yeah I can oh my goodness yeah we did this and we did that and you can see the emotion build and that's what I really enjoy is starting that process of you know so okay so what do you want from the holiday you know where do we go literally but where do we go and how do we how do we fit in the best thing
05:23 Speaker: Absolutely. As I've said before, many of these, it's possible to just go online, book a holiday, and off you go. But I did it. I did a trip to Marrakesh where I went to a resort, something like you. And there was a tower in the resort. And in the resort, there was a sort of a greenish area, which looked quite nice. You went up the tower. Nowhere outside the resort was green. And you thought, well, this isn't...
05:48 Speaker: This isn't Marrakesh. This is an image of what you want me to have of Marrakesh. So, you know, and you see this light bulb. Oh, my goodness me. There's so much out there. Literally what you said, there's so much out there to go and see that you didn't necessarily think of when you first started. So that's the processes. And the problem with an all-inclusive resort that we can't, now don't get me wrong, we'll probably alternate or something because there's something good about them as well, but is that you're almost there going, well, A,
06:16 Speaker: i don't need to go off anywhere but b i don't want to because as soon as i go out there my included food and drink yeah isn't included now i know that that's kind of a a narrow-minded way to think about it but it's a very easy trap to fall into yeah and i think it's my wife's been nagging me for a little while especially with our teenage young teenage daughter is that going we need to start going to experience more and that is coming into the equation so if we we have sort of like nicely segued into the first part is that the emotions of book in that holiday yeah
06:48 Speaker: First things first is I'm going to throw an absolute compliment at you, and this is why I love what you do and your organization do, is I won't always know what it is I want to know. You just said some of those questions. Now, all of them spark to me is not definitive answers is what you're looking for, but you're trying to understand where our mind's at, where our emotions are at already. What's going to trigger my emotions? And that helps you form.
07:17 Speaker: the options that start being pieced together and put in front of us absolutely yeah you know it's great you know exactly like you said the all-inclusive i was reading this morning about uh slightly off script here but this morning about a cruise around croatia a small cruise there's only 18 cabins on the ship and it's like oh my word what a fantastic trip to go on and they only give you breakfast and lunch and the idea is you'll be in a port in the evenings so you go and eat local
07:42 Speaker: You go and find a local restaurant and you go and eat local. You're putting money back into the local economy and you're experiencing the local... So that cruise will be there for the evening? Yeah, it'll be parked there for the evening. They'll leave late at night. That I like. When we did it, the only cruise I've been on was that we were leaving port at like six, rings a bell, something like that. And so we were getting out for lunch. Yeah.
08:08 Speaker: And I certainly remember we went to two Spanish ports and we went looking for tapas restaurants. Yeah. They weren't open to the evening. That's right. They shut for siesta. Yeah. And we were like going, oh, let's get back on the boat and have lunch then. Yeah. And it was just really, really hard, you know. So that sounds amazing. Yeah. So there you go. It's another thing, you know, sort of thing to experience.
08:30 Speaker: And so we then go on to, so we've got the holiday sort of booked, you know, so we've got that. And then it's the anticipation, isn't it, of actually going somewhere. And why I've gone to this is the story of a family who'd never cruised before. They had two young boys and they booked a cruise that sailed from Southampton. And they said, when we drove into Southampton Port and the boys saw this huge cruise ship, and literally you got the cases out of the car, you got on board. They disappeared. And you were on holiday. Yeah. And the boys were like, oh my goodness. And when they got to one of the places in Spain, the family went off around the, like you've done, like see the locals, and the boys were going, can we go back on board trip, please?
09:13 Speaker: because the ship was so good. So, you know, it's just all the stuff and it's the memories the boys were building of being on board the ship and having a fantastic time. So, yes, it's a really interesting thing. And again, queuing at an airport, funnily enough, can even be quite fun. You know, we like queuing, don't we, the English? It's true, yeah. But you're on holiday, aren't you? A lot of people say, I don't like airports, which is fair enough.
09:40 Speaker: But actually, it's the holidays started, and that's when the sort of anticipation starts. I think you make it part of it, don't you? And I know, again, off topic a little bit is that we used to do a lot of drive down to the south of France, and we'd make two overnight stops on the way down. And again, this is something when you're great at being able to piece those things, because we sometimes did the sites where the frame tent was already pre-erected.
10:08 Speaker: a little b and b in a lovely little village or a chateau you know these different experiences we had and my parents my mum created this thing that uh it was like a material job round the back of the the front seats so facing towards us in the back was then these numbered pockets right right and they created wrapped up little gifts in each one and if we'd been good for a period of time i don't know whether they predetermine that or what um they'd go you've been incredibly good you can now take a gift out of the gift out of number seven or whatever it is and how did that make you feel i met well
10:46 Speaker: The fact that I'm still regaling that story tells you all. And they would know what it was because there would be times that it might be sweets, it might be a little toy, it might be something to read, you know, all these different things that just made...
11:01 Speaker: Sitting in a car? Fun. I mean, well done, Mum and Dad, for doing that. So, you know, whilst some might have gone, what? You can make these things as much fun as you want. And I still have that, you know, Mum and Dad used to make it that the plane spotting was quite an exciting thing. You know, we might go to the airport like a couple of days before and just see the planes going in and out and go, I can't wait to be on it. And so that was part of it. So I agree, the emotions of the build-up to the holiday.
11:30 Speaker: Nowadays, it includes me staying near the airport or something the night before. Right, yes, absolutely. And make that fun. So you're chilled, you're ready to go. But your daughter now will think, oh, that's all part of the holiday. Absolutely. We're staying in a hotel, you know. We try to make it where you can actually see the runway even just a little bit. Yeah. Because that night time when the airport's lit up, the planes are going in and out.
11:59 Speaker: And I've got photos still that some of my favourite photos of when my daughter was a toddler and she's on her knees on the bed, peeking through the curtains, watching the planes and just even the well-lit airport. I have to confess. I haven't been asked for that one. Runway view. But I often get a sea view. Only for the night before, not for the whole holiday. I mean, just literally the night before. No, that's funny. Yeah, Gatwick, I think there's more than one that facilitate that. And it's just something that is like, yeah, no, of course I wouldn't enjoy it all the time, but holiday's supposed to be that something different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's brilliant. And still talking on the booking side of things and the emotions, what I loved understanding a bit more is that,
12:40 Speaker: we were having a discussion that there are a breed of people that love the planning. Yes. And we thought we were of that, but what we found is that we were going around in circles and it was becoming a pain in the neck. There was bits that we would miss because we wouldn't know where to look. And I found that even if you were piecing these pieces together, it was the then investigating what each of those mean, looking at photos, looking at YouTube videos and going, okay, so Doug's put this.
13:08 Speaker: Oh, my gosh, look at that. Yeah. So you're still kind of planning for the doing rather than planning for the booking. Yes. Oh, yeah. I like that. That's right. No, no. Yes, part of it is forming that thing. And I give you enough information. I have a system where we can give out a quote with links and information, that sort of stuff. So you can then go off and further investigate what you need to do or what you want to do. So, yeah, it's a great tool and it's very visual.
13:38 Speaker: And obviously it gives all the timings and everything else on, but it's fantastic so that it can generate that, oh, what about doing this or what about doing that? And we can build it on it from there. And I love what you're saying there, like the plan of everything is that my wife and my friends and other members of family call me Captain Mannering because everything's got to be, I've got to know what's happening. There's got to be a plan. And it gives me that. It's all there. And we've taken that.
14:07 Speaker: the examples uh i just even said france is to kind of go oh actually i don't have to keep going right how far down am i going to get what what do i need to book let's have a look for something where do i go looking for a b and b in in this french village or whatever yeah again just a for instance is that you're able to take care of those little bits and pieces and go and find them for us and piece them together yeah no it's great no i do enjoy it that's part of the job but i i actually really enjoy so yeah put it together
14:36 Speaker: So we've got the emotions of the booking, the anticipation of that holiday, the countdown, everything like that. Yeah, yeah, actually a countdown, yeah. Out of interest then, so we've got everything, we think we've got everything booked with you, that we've got all these different things, whether it's the transport, whether it's the different locations, it's this, that and the other. And suddenly we find, oh, someone's told us about this location that we can go and visit.
15:03 Speaker: Can I then turn to you and go, Doug, that holiday we've booked with you, can you have a look at adding this on? Absolutely. Yes, yeah. Really? There'll obviously be, you know, props, of course, because you'll be cancelling one part of it to do something else. Well, just adding it. Adding it in. Yeah, no, that's right. No, absolutely. So we've still got that flexibility even in all of that build-up and everything. If you've got an itinerary, we can absolutely add stuff into it and things like that. As long as there's a gap. Yeah. Well, yeah, there's a holiday happening.
15:31 Speaker: actually around now, where a couple of something like got eight locations in Italy. Wow. And we pulled that all together with all the tools that we needed to do. But again, it was that fulfilling their dream of where they wanted to go. And they have got a list, brilliantly organized, it's all planned, of what they're going to do each day in each city. So they're going to, you know, Rome, Milan and Venice and all sorts, all around. And we even got them, you know, a gondola ride in Venice sort of thing, got all that booked for them.
16:00 Speaker: But yes, absolutely. We can put as many elements into it as the sort of things that fires you up to build that sort of anticipation. Because I find that you start looking into it more and more. You go, I now know where I'm going. We've got it all booked. Right, let's start looking. And of course, YouTube these days is that you suddenly find out and you go, oh my God, that sounds cool, doesn't it? Yeah.
16:23 Speaker: Have we got the ability to do that? And sure, we could go and book it ourselves, but it's like, you know, there might be other bits and pieces. That was just an aside. I'll put you under the bus then because you might not have known. Then, of course, we get there. And I think that there's several emotions is that we get to relax and enjoy it because everything's taken care of. Yeah, absolutely.
16:43 Speaker: One of the things I try and do on almost every booking is do private transfers. You know, get to an airport. You've got a guy with your name. You're not searching for the coach. You're not wandering around the airport, go, where do I go? You've got a guy with a driver, sorry, with your name on the board. You follow him to the car, load up, and you're driven to your hotel. It can often, quite often, be half the time it would take you to be on the coach. You're not seeing everybody else got dropped off. You're just there. And that just builds the...
17:10 Speaker: the fun a bit as well so it creates that oh we have our own taxi you know and and i was about to say yes you do go with that because i did it with you for the first time last year yeah uh over in turkey yeah never done it before i always thought that that was just the rich and famous that got yeah yeah and and it depends how far away you are whether it's a viable option of course but
17:33 Speaker: If you can do it, and this one really didn't cost us very much at all, and everyone else is going off onto the buses, then you sit there waiting because there's people from another plane, there's people still in the airport. Getting the bags, they haven't arrived. We were like, boom, straight in, yep, let me take those cases for you, into the car, get on in, air-conditioned car. They had a little fridge with some drinks in there as well. And then off we go to our resort. And again, it's that emotion. It's that emotion of going...
17:59 Speaker: Oh, yeah. Actually, we're sorted. We're still on holiday. Exactly. It is. It just builds. You can build and build and just have it so that you don't think, oh, this is rubbish. So, you know, it's good. And that you know nothing's, you know... I was going to say nothing's going to go wrong or there's no vulnerability. I think that's probably the key one. If something was going to go wonky, then there's someone else that can help with that. But equally, it's normally the unknown that can make things go wonky. Yes. And it's like going, no, no, no, everything's okay. Yeah, everything's sorted. Because you get it as a holiday maker yourself as well. Yeah.
18:38 Speaker: So you understand that. Yeah. And then we're there. We're getting to experience everything. We're truly switching off in whatever our holiday of choice was. Yes. Is it do little? Is it do lots? Yes. Is it multiple locations? Is it one location with other things that we can do? Yeah. It's all taken care of. Again, one of the nice stories I have was a couple who, again, I suppose you say in the later years, but they wanted to go and see Ephesus in Turkey.
19:05 Speaker: And they asked me, how do I get there? I tell you what, I'll put you up in Kusadasi. Oh, I've never been there. You know, so we put them up in a hotel in Kusadasi. They went to see Ephesus. And the whole thing was, oh, my goodness, I'd never been to Kusadasi. What a great place. You know, and I never even thought of it. And it's that. Exactly. They came back and, you know, that was part of it. When they got there, the hotel was great. The staff were great. And again, it just all goes to build that, you know, fantastic time that you're going to have.
19:32 Speaker: and it's the it's the whole thing isn't it you go on holiday to not only recharge but actually review you know what you want to do and also enjoy it absolutely apparently you're supposed to enjoy holidays yeah exactly and now what does enjoy i love there's been times when i've kind of gone but i've had a lovely feeling as i've gone
19:59 Speaker: tick i've now seen it i've done it i've experienced it yeah and although i might have at the time gone wasn't the most exciting thing to do which occasionally happens um i still now look back on it and go i'm so glad that i've done that yeah i've been and seen that and it comes up and comes saying i've been there yes i've done it i've seen it it was it was really good you've got to go and do it yes um but you wouldn't necessarily need to go back again actually a lot of these experiences are one and done aren't they yes
20:28 Speaker: because you've got to go and experience it i've got loads that i still want to go and see yes without question um Some of the stories I hear from my parents now are making me even more hungry for it. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I think that you need to go and satisfy. TV, we're devouring the ability to go and talk about these different things around the world. Yeah. And you kind of go, I need to go and see that and experience it and feel it. Yes. Because you don't get the true emotion just from watching on a TV. No, that's right. And there's a couple of presenters that are really good where they go off piste. Yes. And they really sort of go, oh, didn't realise that was here.
21:05 Speaker: and oh my goodness look at that and that's what the the building of the memories is all about and it's it yeah it's the memories for all of us you know but i mean as you've alluded to is if you can get your children or your childhood memories to revive or actually get them fired up like you're fired up then you've built a bank of happy memories that you can refer back to in sort of when you're feeling a bit you know rubbish at home or whatever it's a deep dark winter correct and you go i remember when we were so and so you know well my daughter now she's she's 13 and she is um so she's at secondary school learning things and so she's now at that age where she's
21:42 Speaker: doesn't just want to do kids clubs or messing about in a pool that sure she would like to do plenty of that but she's got a thirst for knowledge right yeah and so to be able to go now that doesn't mean that we go okay we're doing 10 days solid of traipsing around all these museums and monuments and everything else but to be able to throw in and you know i use one example for me is um take pompeii as an obvious one oh yeah
22:08 Speaker: but what i now know from seeing bits and pieces is there's some some might say even better places to go around that yeah there's another i think it's an x town is probably the right way to say it a little bit further down i've forgotten the name of it i think you're right yes it is and i want i've been told that's even better to go right yes
22:31 Speaker: And I wouldn't have known that if it wasn't for the TV or people like yourself going, well, absolutely, we can sort out getting you into Pompeii. But what you should also do is go and see Herculaneum. And actually, do you want to go further up and see some of the, you know, whatever element there? And that's the beauty of being able to see more. We don't know what we don't know. We don't know what you don't know. And one of the things I learned, and we did the Pompeii, and we did the Beauty of Mount Exuvius, and we did a coach tour. We thought, let's do this. So we booked it with a lunch, a coach tour.
23:01 Speaker: lunch um so we had a lunch halfway up on the trip to visuvius and then what we realized was if we'd hired a car the car park is at the bottom of view visuvius the coach park is halfway up wow winner winner so we had not only had lunch a part of the deal but we got to be halfway up before we had to start walking up it. And the coach just arrived at the start point. We got out and he went and parked. We did the walk back down again and back down. It's the little things that you think, oh, right, okay. So the coach is better in that case than having a hire car. And they picked us up from the hotel.
23:37 Speaker: you know which is you know again and that all it brings back these memories you know you think oh my goodness that was a great trip because you know Pompeii is amazing and so so is Vesuvius and that sort of stuff so you know it's yeah it is it's a great resource isn't it of being on holiday a resource to to recall uh when and i think proactively open your mind yeah i've got memories of when i was a kid and we went to france to some of the uh world war ii sites yeah so the most obvious ones being say some of the the uh the different colored gravestones yeah um but equally we went to some of the the beach landing bits and you've got some of the the
24:19 Speaker: bunkers and what have you still there but the biggest one for me was that we went to some trenches that are still you know less trenchy now because it's sort of almost catching up with the rest of the surface but it's still there and you can go in them and you realize just how close yeah both lines were which is and i remember as i must have been teen but it would have been low teens i'd imagine maybe mid-teens um and being there and thinking
24:46 Speaker: I cannot believe that they were this close and apparently they could even hear each other. So they had to be mindful of that. And then suddenly this realisation that there was not a single bird over this whole area. Wow. And that stuck with me and gave me this, gave me a deeper thirst for knowledge because I went, you know, I'd never appreciated that life wasn't.
25:12 Speaker: the bubble I'm living in at all. There's a lot more to it. That doesn't mean everything had to be macabre or anything like that. It was just like, I want to learn more. But that's what these holidays will build in emotions. It'll build a trigger. It'll build a memory that's a momentary memory.
25:30 Speaker: But actually that will then lead on to further emotions, thoughts, and everything to do with being away. And I'm just going to come back to it. I'm going to say it again. It's not something you get at work. No, no, no, no. And we work, obviously. We need to work. We need to live and all the rest of it. But let's make the holidays as good as we can while we can just so we can get the best. Value is the wrong word. Value isn't the word. The best memory is the best.
25:58 Speaker: everything out of it because i say that you know they're just such an opportunity to have an amazing time um and yeah let's let's you know let's really go for it and i i do agree i think last year we did 10 nights 12 nights i can't remember what it was now in an all-inclusive and it was an amazing place really looked after but you know we came back not fully fulfilled yeah
26:24 Speaker: because we kind of went that was nice and I needed to relax and recharge but there was something missing and it's like We need to force ourselves to go and do it. It's all too easy to just collapse. And I think my parents used to occasionally do it as this great mix where it would be do something one day, relax the next, do something, relax, do something, relax. Even when we went to, say, the Florida parks and stuff like that, it would be relax, do something, relax, do something. And that worked for us. And again, that's where this plan, this itinerary comes in. Well, it's even more simple than that. We went to Menorca, took our boys to Menorca in October half term, a couple of years in a row.
27:01 Speaker: And we always hired a car. I thought, I'm not going to get in a coach. So I hired a car. And we found this beach on the north side of the island. Very quiet. There's a little shack selling ice creams. And just about 10 metres out, there was a rock shelf about two foot below the water level. So, of course, I could get my boys out to there. And with the snorkel on, as you swam away off this rock shelf...
27:23 Speaker: the sea just disappeared beneath you. And we could see all the fish and all the activity and everything. And that came up, like I say, that came up last week, speaking to my son. They were talking about holiday. Yeah, do you remember that, Dad, when we went to Minorca? We went to this beach and it... Yeah, there we go. You know, it's just that trigger point, isn't it? And I think to sort of almost get towards the wrap-up stage or coming towards the sample package that we do every episode is that I historically have had horrible...
27:52 Speaker: emotions after holiday where i feel absolutely distraught that the whole thing's over yeah which is great it means you've had a good holiday but that would say there whereas the more we did in it the more that i was able to remove that away by remembering and talking about and going through this and of course nowadays it's you know we'll always have the photos and the videos even more so than yeah than when i was young yeah and and so the more that you're able to to throw it cram into it yes the more that you're able to get yourself out of that funk as i call it yeah and actually kind of go no that was amazing wow that was amazing and it might
28:32 Speaker: promote more reading or watching of certain things even if it's still on youtube because you're going to go do you remember this we saw that what was that all about yes let's go and find out more yeah so absolutely you know we do a follow-up call when people come home um how was it you know what was it what was it about your holiday and you know we are getting great responses coming back it was fabulous we did this we did that and that's what we want we want to you know build in experiences yeah
29:00 Speaker: Experience, again, is a funny word, but it's just the whole holiday thing wants to be memorable and therefore create the right emotions. It is. I mean, I've just been watching a good friend of mine, or good friends, because him and his other half, fiance, and they've gone over to Morocco, over to Marrakesh and everything.
29:22 Speaker: and the photos of them they sort of said right 4 30 alarm call this morning but well worth it as they're up in a hot air balloon amazing over the whole area um they've gone not quad biking it's basically i guess they're beach buggies and even just some of the places where they're sat eating food or the the whatever you call them the shisha pipes or whatever else and they're doing and you just all this stuff that you've watched through and gone
29:45 Speaker: Wow, that's a fulfilling holiday, that one. And like I say, is there anything I haven't said before we go to the package? Because I was about to get to a sort of pre-conclusion on this. Yeah, no, I think so. No, it's just basically just when people, when you book a holiday, if you want to think about what do you want from the holiday? That's the one question I want. What was your best holiday and what do you want from your holiday? And hopefully I can make it happen and recreate it even better.
30:14 Speaker: And I think there's an important distinction there, isn't it? Is that they could come to you and go, Doug, this is everything that we want. And you can go and piece that together. Maybe throw some extra bits in or alternatives or whatever else. But equally, you can turn around and go, I don't know, Doug. I want to learn. I want to see some of these things. I'm kind of leaning towards this country or this continent or something like that. And again, you can piece it. So it's like...
30:40 Speaker: Little or nothing, but you're right. The important thing is, right, do you want whitewater rafting and adrenaline stuff? Do you want culture? Do you want relaxation? Do you want a mixture of this and this? And that's where we then get to piece it together. No problem. Speak to this man. That's the key thing. On that front, the usual feature that we have is always a sample package. Sample package. And it's important we say that, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it's one that just happens to be out with not just travel at the moment. Yeah, it's a bit left field. It is. It's a bit left field, but, you know, it's the sort of thing that... So this is a 12-night...
31:23 Speaker: cruise, basically. It's with a company called Oceania and people go, oh my goodness, they're expensive. But what I'd like to ask you is when you come back from holiday, how much have you spent? Because what you do on this trip is you spend it to book it. And once you've spent it, there's no more to add.
31:45 Speaker: So, you know, you've got the 12 nights. That's historically what's been missing from cruises, isn't it? Yeah. Because like we used to say all-inclusive resorts, it's all paid for and done. Cruises typically end up spending a fortune. Well, quite a lot. Most cruises now do full board and you opt to have a drinks package. But even excursions. Excursions are extra. A lot as well. Yeah, and gratuities and Wi-Fi.
32:08 Speaker: Here we are. We've got all this. We've got full board with including unlimited wine and beer with lunch and dinner. So you've got some shipboard credit. So that means you can pay for whatever you want on board. You can pay for extras and things like that. Free gratuities, free Wi-Fi, which is the Starlink. Amazing. Free laundrette, free evening theatre shows. You've got a pool and jacuzzi and you've got a spa. But what it does, it's the route it takes. It's quite interesting. It goes sort of Antwerp. There we go. Antwerp, Bruges.
32:38 Speaker: Cork and Dublin. You wouldn't necessarily have thought of going, Cork is lovely. They are. Because, of course, one of them is, I would imagine, you'd get to go and see the Titanic Museum. Yeah. And then get back on the ship. That would be interesting psychology, wouldn't it? Cork and Dublin. And then you go down to some towns I'm not even going to attempt to pronounce in France. But the point about these is they're not cruise ship ports.
33:01 Speaker: Hard for me to say. They're not big ship ports. They're the small ports that these people go into, these cruise lines go into, and they can get you in there, get into the local culture and make memories, you know, and do that. And you go down to San Sebastian, again, another place in Spain, and then to Lisbon and come and disembark. Yeah, and I mean, yeah, because you've got...
33:21 Speaker: Pouillac, Bordeaux. We all know that's good for its wine at the end of their year. San Sebastian, Guijon, and then finishing in Lisbon, in Portugal as well. So you're taking Belgium, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal. And one of the key things that I noticed about this one, maximum 800 passengers. So that's the reason why they can go into some of these other places. We do have an interesting one that we were chuckling at. I think it's Le Havre, isn't it?
33:51 Speaker: It's Paris, brackets Le Havre. It's actually that you dock at Le Havre. Do you know what? We went to Le Havre as a stop for our cruise and Le Havre had just won promotion back to the top. league and they were doing the open top bus thing and it was incredible that we're there and suddenly you've got these lined streets and the blue flares and everything and again it's these experiences that you had that I would never have been part of that and we just went let's follow this and we went with it up to the principality or whatever and they're doing the speeches which of course we understood nothing of but it was amazing but there is a coach trip from Le Havre down to Paris so you get to take that in as well
34:30 Speaker: We haven't quite worked out where this bridge is, but you reckon it might be... You did say where you think it was, but I've forgotten where it was now. Answers on a podcast. Exactly. Where do you think that is? Where do you think that is? And then, of course, this is just an example of the ship itself. Yeah, so it's sitting having breakfast out on the deck, open air. I loved the breakfast out on deck, actually, when we did the cruise. That was special that, you know, you were either at sea or you just arrived at a port and so you were static, but you weren't ready to go and walk in, so you're having breakfast.
35:05 Speaker: in the sunshine overlooking a new place. I did love that. Yeah. But, I mean, so that's a 12-night cruise, I think, isn't it? Yes, a 12-night cruise. Yes, yes. And that's just an example of something, isn't it? Absolutely. It is available now to book. Yeah, it's available now to book. This one is actually listed for September 25. And, yeah, you know, it's there.
35:31 Speaker: It does have a value on it, which is reasonable. But it's just that you get so much. And whereas you might book a less expensive cruise, but you're having to pay more. So literally, by the time you've arrived home, you've probably paid the same amount. So it's that balance of having luxury cruises. And again, if you're going to go on holiday for one or two weeks a year,
35:52 Speaker: what's the harm in having a bit of luxury agreed you know so it's yes tempered with it's still got to be affordable so you know and again it's it's uh and i think that you know that's that that's a key thing and by the way you'll notice that no figure was mentioned there because we've learned that it's safer not to because that can change yeah and we're putting a video out that you could be watching in in three months time so the best thing to do is get in touch but whether it's that particular one that is of interest
36:21 Speaker: or whether you just want to see some of these different things, if there's places that you want to. Obviously, you can't piece together a boat. You don't have control of where a boat goes. No. Not yet, anyway. Not yet, no. One day. But you have access to all these various different ones. I mean, even like they do some short cruises as well, if that was your. Yeah, you can do three to five day cruises. And again, you can swap cruise. So if you're out in the med, you could actually do one and then swap onto another one. Yes. Or the other one.
36:50 Speaker: The one I really love, the five-mastered schooner, where you've got like 30 people on board to sail around the Adriatic. Wow, what memories is that going to involve? There's so much out there, and it's just a case of not necessarily seeing the first thing you see on TV or something like that.
37:09 Speaker: But what more can you have from a holiday to build the memories and just get really excited about things? Without getting lost in the internet of all the possibilities. And guided. There's some of it where they start guiding you and you don't know everything that's available. And that's the other thing. There is so much out there on the internet, you can easily get swamped with the choices. So it's quite nice to sit down and think and think through what you want. And get something that really suits what you want. Take the stress out of it for us. Yeah.
37:37 Speaker: Happy to do that. Love it. I do love it. We know I'm an absolute advocate of the work you do. The possibilities are endless. The effort is reduced dramatically. And that can be that we could be booking, which we intend to do, is booking next year's holiday now and paying for it over a period of time. We've even got 2027 on holiday. So what are we now? 25. So on booking, available to book.
38:02 Speaker: Wow. In many cases. That's great. Plan ahead. Plan ahead. Pay ahead. Pay ahead. Just pay it monthly. Spread the cost. And yeah, you can actually get your anticipation going. Well, there you go. DougTanner.NotJustTravel.com for the website. And that's got all the contact details out there. Yeah. The contact details should be underneath this in the details. But the email address is? Doug.Tanner.NotJustTravel.com.
38:32 Speaker: Brilliant. I mean, nothing to lose in terms of reaching out and just checking out the possibilities. Checking out the possibilities. And yeah, look forward to hearing what you want to go, where you want to go and what we can do for you. Fabulous. Well, we'll see you next time for episode five. We haven't decided what the topic is going to be yet. We'll work that out in due course. But I hope that you've enjoyed this episode and it's really inspired you, the possibilities. You can tell that I'm an absolute convert on this one. It just is amazing. But for now, get in touch with Doug and we'll see you for the next episode. Cheers.