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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, episode two this time, and this one's going to be called The Hidden Costs of DIY Holiday Planning. And that is an encompass all on that cost, because we're not just talking financial, there is an awful lot to do with this. This is where I met Doug Tanner himself. is talking about all of this. My name is Chris Dawes, but more importantly, let's bring in the man himself, Doug Tanner. The man, the myth, the legend. Well, Blimey, there's a lot to live up to, isn't there? Morning, Chris. How are you? I'm good, sir. Yourself? Good. Very good, thank you. Yes, very good. Before we get into the real crux of this, I saw that you were at a wedding fair over the weekend. Yes.
00:41 Speaker: Brilliant, yes, yes. I'd completely forgotten that this isn't just holidays in the stereotypical sense. There's an awful lot more that this is relevant to. Absolutely, yeah. I mean, wedding fairs are great because...
00:52 Speaker: You meet all sorts of people. The comment was so funny. My partner who was there said, isn't it funny how the men just follow on around and go, yes, whatever you want, that's fine. So that was great. But yes, I met some lovely people and we've got some inquiries to do. One of the more interesting ones I've got is they want to go on honeymoon, but actually what they want to do is they want to go to the sets of a TV programme. It's in Canada. I won't say any more than that, but they actually want to go and visit the sets.
01:21 Speaker: And that's what the wife obviously wants to do. So the husband goes, yes, that's right. But I'm so looking forward to planning that for them. And we can do everything. We can get it all set up for them. car hire, hotels and that sort of stuff. So they just arrived there and I might even try and get a guide for them so they can get to all the right places. So that's the sort of thing that I really enjoy putting together. I've always used the phrase is that where you are in your element and you enjoy it the most is if you've really got to roll your sleeves up and go and look for it. And that's something that we just...
01:52 Speaker: wouldn't be able to go and do particularly correct yeah no i mean the suppliers i use are and i find this odd trade only they will only supply to to travel agents so you couldn't necessarily go online and actually find this holiday this this plan so that's the part you know i really enjoy and but even if you if you did now i'll probably repeat myself a few times during this but even if you did and you went and did it all yourself it's not going to cost you any more than you're actually doing it yourself so what i'm saving you is all that time of the planning and the working out all the logistics of you know literally i'll be going to be this play this hotel at this date and all this sort of stuff so um yeah and then another couple came along i had no idea where they want to go
02:34 Speaker: So I'm going to put three ideas out for them. I don't do any more than three. I usually only do two. Three ideas of where they want to go. Funny, they were, well, I can't remember what they were thinking. They were thinking Maldives or Canada or somewhere else. Right, OK. So I can sort of put things out. And what I'd like to say is this is a suggestion. Inspiration, I think. Inspiration, absolutely. It's inspiration. It's not this is what you're going to do.
03:02 Speaker: this is what you could do yeah do you want to tweak it yes absolutely but this is a starting point you know um so yeah no it's it's great fun and i say over 60 of what we sell you couldn't actually find online anyway because as i say a lot of it's trade-only suppliers uh specialist stuff that you know is is great because you can add so much more to a holiday then than than doing stuff yeah i mean if you you we go looking online and i know we have this conversation and i've done it year after year my wife and i sat down and you go looking and you kind of go oh that's nearly right
03:37 Speaker: let's go and look and it resets your search again and you've got to go and go through it all again and you're trying to make no that one looks oh no wait the flight's different but all you're really doing in most of those instances is a flight and a hotel yeah and and that's it and to be honest with you you're so punch drunk from the effort with that that you stick with that whereas
03:57 Speaker: You know, I love that for me with you, there was almost sort of two things. There's one that you were talking about where you kind of go, you know, we want to be able to go and do this and we want to do that and we want to go and see that, but we would really need a guide and yada, yada. But equally, we did this with you where we said, right, it's me and my wife, a 13-year-old daughter. We want this. We want her to have entertainment of some description. We want evening shows. And you kind of went and were able to...
04:26 Speaker: find the hotels that went tick tick tick tick tick. Yeah. So even a boring one was still a lot of work by yourself. Oh, it's not boring. It's not boring. It's great because, you know, anything like that, if it ticks your boxes, then it's right for you, you know. So, no, I love doing those. I love actually going and finding those, even if it is flights, hotel and transfers and that sort of stuff. It's a fairly straightforward one. If you can just add that little bit of extra in, then, you know, it really does make the difference, you know. And I find that it helps us.
04:57 Speaker: step away from going, I don't know, cliche. Yeah. You know, the obvious holidays and you kind of throw up and go, I've not really thought of that. Whether it's a country or whether it's a side of the country. Yeah. You know, all the sheep go one direction. It's like, well, actually, look at this. Classic example. I've got a place in Italy that I send people to and it's with a company that's trade only and all the Italians go there for holiday. It's actually on the east coast of Italy.
05:25 Speaker: Whereas everyone else is on the West Coast. All the holidaymakers are on the West Coast. And not many Brits go there. And we've got a lovely hotel. A family went there. I was a bit nervous because it was a new customer. And I sent this family there, two adults, two children. And they came back absolutely perfect. You know, it was absolutely perfect. Of course, if the Italians are going to go there for holidays. It's got to be right. It's got to be right. And again, I would never have found that.
05:48 Speaker: You know, we're just going, well, you can't find it online unless you really know what you're looking for. So, you know, it's having that. Because it does, you know, those online systems, they're forcing you down the route that they want you to go. They've got their planes lined up to go there. You know, they've got the hotels lined up waiting for you. And yes, it's an economic model that works. So we'll get you all there, you know. Yeah, exactly. I've had it so many times where we've just sort of gone, ah, forget it.
06:15 Speaker: And we've just bailed out and then we'll wait another couple of weeks before we go back to look at it again. Because it can just sap the time away. Well, that's the phrase I use quite often. I think people spend more time searching for a holiday than they actually spend on holiday. So, you know, it's and yes, a lot of people enjoy that. But at the end of it, what have you actually found? You know, if you've still found what you want or if you've just gone, that'll do. And in fairness, there can be a hybrid here, couldn't there? There could be that we kind of go look in. Totally. And go, right, Doug.
06:43 Speaker: i've now whittled down i kind of know where i want to go but we need this this and this and we want to add that and so we then could have done some of that research enough Yeah. Oh, totally. For it to still be fun and gone, that's enough now. Nothing sweeter than coming to me saying, I want this hotel on these dates, you know, for this room with a balcony overlooking the sea, you know, sea view, whatever. Brilliant. And I'll sort it. And again, it won't cost you any more than you doing it all. Everyone assumes it will, don't they? Yeah, that's right. Yeah. What's that? Oh, why should I use a travel agent? What's that going to cost me? Nothing. No.
07:19 Speaker: exactly so it's quite an interesting industry like that and that's where this episode we're going to go through some of those hidden costs but before i go on to that is that where you were saying about the wedding fair i love that it opens up honeymoons was the key one we're talking about there but i think you mentioned to me um before we went on air of that they want to go on holiday somewhere
07:40 Speaker: The year before. Oh, yeah. Representative. Yeah. You know, blah, blah, blah. Presumably you could get involved in having the wedding over there as well. You could get involved in that. Yeah. You mentioned, and I'm worried how you're doing your research on this one, Doug, stag and hendies. Yeah. Do you go over and just sample the... I don't get invited, funnily enough. Oh, what? But yes, obviously, you know, that's, again, a challenge. And it's, you know, I think the phrase herding cats is good. So, you know, where somebody's trying to, are you going to camp? And I can do that. Oh, really? I can chase people to make sure. Actually, I'm doing a wedding for a large number of people in Cyprus in September 27.
08:22 Speaker: Yeah. No, September 26th. Sorry, September 26th. And once I get the contact data, I'll basically pull all the threads together. So you don't have to have that. If you're trying to organise one of these, you don't have to go around and chase everyone. Wow. If I just get all the names and details, I can do all the chasing, do all the booking and pull it all together. Get the payments. Yes, take all the payments in, you know, especially for the wedding.
08:46 Speaker: We can then set up stage payments, so monthly payments, which is no interest and no charges. So it's direct debit. And it just sets up and pays. And I can set all that up for the individual clients. So, yeah, again, it takes off the thing. And if you've got something that is booking September 2026, you've got 13, 14, 15 months to pay. It certainly breaks down the hit of having to pay for that in a big lump. So you can just pay a deposit, obviously, and then we just take the monthly payments.
09:21 Speaker: i might be about to throw you under a bus here because i don't know the answer to this one but i was just suddenly thinking does that include that you could be taking payments from different people for that holiday and now what i'm thinking here is a honeymoon yeah and that becomes the wedding gift list if you will that people can contribute towards that good leading we actually have a honeymoon gift list really prop system where the the bride and groom or whoever they are can
09:50 Speaker: Set up a honeymoon gift list now what they get is they get their own web page Okay, you can go on and then what one guy's done is he set up a QR code on the invitation Okay, I don't know I'm doing that QR code so they go on the scanner QR code, okay that takes them to the web page They make a donation the bride and groom get notification that they paid They can hit a button to send a thank you all automatically and that's free
10:18 Speaker: wow and that's free so again you know it's no i'm not gonna use any phrases but it's free and it's it just sets it all up so yes i've got a couple who are having their honeymoon paid by the guests who don't they don't want another iron they don't want another iron in board exactly a kettle toaster you know what do i buy them i don't know do they want a vase well you know i'm sure a vase is lovely just not 50 of them not 50 of them oh so this way people get to contribute
10:43 Speaker: they they and they feel good and also their contributions for the honeymoon and again that's a free service we provide So it is actually a honeymoon gift list. I'm relieved because I suddenly thought I should have found out before we went on whether that someone could do that. Yeah, no. Got away with that one. Yeah, no, that's a good one. And the same applies. I love that chasing thing, the stag and hen do's. I mean, I'm part of a group that we're going on a stag do. And watching the best man and a couple of the others chasing all of us is just, it is herding cats. Painful.
11:14 Speaker: Yes. I can't believe you do that. That's incredible. Right. Let's have a look at some of these key areas where, you know, they are hidden costs of doing it yourself that we might not necessarily think of. There's sort of crossover of some of these, but I'm going to go through and address these as we go. The first one I think we really touched on here and we'll touch on episode after episode. It's slightly more obvious. The expert knowledge and advice that we've been missing out on. Yes. I can't know everything about everywhere.
11:44 Speaker: But what I have access to is literally destination experts. So I will then take what I know, I'll take the questions I get asked, and I'll go off and find them. Whereas I can ring up and literally get a straight answer pretty quickly. um you know i've got people who wanted to go horseback riding in in montana in a certain month a year i wouldn't then it's going to snow that once you know so yes you know you can go to the ranch it'll be cheap but there'll be no horse riding because it's going to be snowing so and it's that sort of thing that i can bring up and uh and get them get the in-depth knowledge of the of the destinations so um again yes i use specialists uh specialist companies that um uh are
12:29 Speaker: either based in the company country or um yeah they have people who are on in the ground on the ground sorry in the uk who have in-depth knowledge of when to go you know when's the best time to go to the maldives when's the best time to go here what should i do on there that sort of thing i can literally quick phone call and i can find out so i'm not gonna profess that i you know i couldn't know everything about everywhere yeah but you have access to the people who do know that's the key point we go to one person you're the one that's going to the others and i mean i have
12:59 Speaker: examples here of destinations hotels airlines yeah tour operators best times to travel any hidden gems in the area yeah that's a big one for me is that we might not be aware that anything's there they'll they'll have the most obvious ones that they're trying to get people to go but there's those hidden gems hidden gems like um going to rome you can get a private tour of the vatican you can get a private tour of the the catacombs i think they are in room you can and after hours you can actually get a tour after hours we can arrange so yeah so these are some of the things i've
13:35 Speaker: out that i've sort of arranged so yeah yeah so no it's great you know the fact that i can come up with things that again isn't you can't see you can't envisage online um and uh yeah that's why i find it you know it's great because you can sort of throw things in would you like to do this and would you like to do that I like this. That is incredible. But even some other things that I hadn't really thought of until we put this list together, local customs. Yes. And knowledge of those local customs, whether that's to make sure you don't get in trouble or whether it's that you can be ready to participate potentially as well. Yeah. That kind of, that knowledge, access to that knowledge, that could be the what, the where, the when. Yeah.
14:21 Speaker: you know all of those uh if we go diy we miss out on all of that yes yeah you might not miss out on it but it wouldn't be presented to you and you get the thought process going you probably might think about it while you're there but it's too late then and it's very expensive and i don't know about other people but i get very guarded once i'm there because they do a lot of trying to you know come to this welcome meeting yeah and then they're trying to sell you all of these these trips and what have you so i tend to be guarded by that point yeah whereas
14:51 Speaker: If we kind of have started thinking about the things that we can do beforehand, then we're more likely to get a varied holiday, not just collapse and do nothing. Yes. So, yeah, it makes sense. Next one, increased risk of errors and logistical issues. I mean, logistical issues are a big one that I experienced myself. That's right. The big one there is, I mean, obviously the simple.
15:16 Speaker: you know, fly, hotel, fly is pretty good. But if you've got multiple locations, you've got trains to catch, you know, you've got different hotels to check into, that sort of thing. So I think the one I cite the most, and I think I may have said it before, is the couple that went on honeymoon to the South America. They had, I think it was three weeks, they had eight flights.
15:38 Speaker: eight hotels and excursions to go on, and all, everything, bar one, one was cancelled because of the weather, but every single part of that holiday just worked. You know, they were met at the airport, because they were small airports in South America, and they were met off the plane with the driver, with their hotel ticket, or whatever they needed, taken to the hotel, and it just all flowed. So you couldn't actually have pulled that together yourself, because you wouldn't have known how to contact the local.
16:06 Speaker: airlines to get all that arranged that sort of thing so okay south america is a bit remote but i'm even thinking italy okay you go to italy um and you can do a multi-center uh and we will set up sorry my voice we can set up a multi-center holiday um and i think there's one we might discuss later but actual fact and you've got your
16:26 Speaker: flights or even train out there if you don't want to go by by uh plane you can actually get the train to italy we can set all that up and you've got your you know your verona your venice and your rome you know and you've got all the train tickets all sorted out in advance Again, getting there and doing it, some people might really enjoy it. Some people might throw a wobbly at doing it. It's overwhelming. Overwhelming. You miss the train and you don't know what time it is and trying to read the timetables and all that sort of thing. If you've got tickets in front of you, you're all ready to go. And again, it comes back to that thing. If you had done it, how long would it have taken you at home to plan it? And would it have cost you any more? No. So it's great that I can do this and still cost people.
17:09 Speaker: People pay the same. I mean, the next point actually is linked, so I'm going to bring it at the same time, is that support if things go wrong. Yes. So again, we've got that logistical issues, risk of errors that we're trying to cover off at the beginning, but it's once you're then on that holiday or you're about to go on that holiday. You were giving me an example of someone at an airport. Yes, the family, parents and two young girls going climbing in Austria.
17:39 Speaker: and they they had to london to or bristol to vienna vienna to innsbruck they got to vienna the flight was then they were all offloaded off the plane the cut the flight next flight was cancelled so they were given a ticket there you go go and stand in line and we'll get you sorted out basically the guy phoned me the gentleman phoned me um and said look what do we do so i got his details i phoned the tour operator we within
18:09 Speaker: Two phone calls. We had them booked on the next flight. It was the following morning, so they had to get a hotel, et cetera. But they were in a queue of 150 people off the plane waiting to speak to someone. By the time they got to the queue to speak to those people, that plane was full, but they were on it. If they'd waited, if they hadn't done anything and they got there, sorry, sir, the next plane is tomorrow afternoon, whereas they were on the morning plane. So...
18:33 Speaker: That was a great win. And it is. It's that ability to contact the tour operators directly. Yes. Which, unfortunately, the public have more challenge to do, but we have direct trade lines in, because obviously we're working with them all the time, so they will hopefully answer the phone to us. And they will respond if they know that we've got a problem.
18:53 Speaker: That, I think, is valuable. And again, there was no charge for that. That was all done part and parcel. I think that was late on a Saturday afternoon or something, you know. And I have to say is that it's very easy to kind of go, ah, yeah, but it'll never happen to me because I've done it year after year and it's been fine. And I agree until last year, and I'm not going to name any names, but I was at Birmingham Airport, and as you know, because we spoke to you, we spent two days at the airport, two nights.
19:21 Speaker: at the well three nights because we had one normal the night before our morning flight yeah but we were then put up in a hotel twice we had no ability to speak to anybody at the tour operator and in fact worse than that was the first night we were taken to a hotel and put up there and we were sort of going trying to get through to them going well what's going to happen when are we going to find out the bus is coming to pick us up but when we'll let you know we'll let you know
19:45 Speaker: And so it meant that we did not sleep that night because you're there going, what if I sleep through an email that says the bus will be there at eight o'clock in the morning and we missed the bus to get back to the airport to then get onto a flight. So we just didn't relax. And they just gave us nothing, no information. And do you know what they did do? They suddenly, we did get an email. So it was just as well we didn't sleep saying the bus will be there at this time.
20:10 Speaker: 35 minutes away from the point we got that email oh my word right you know it was it's just wrong and yeah and so that it will never happen to me i'm living proof that unfortunately it can and sadly if we'd have had if we'd have that was my lesson that i hadn't met you and gone through you at that point i went i'm not going through that again yeah No, that's right. I mean, even stuff like the Heathrow fire that we've had recently. Not that I could be able to solve something. I can't. Obviously, I can't make flights out of nowhere, but I'm a contact point. I'm a contact. What do I do? Okay, you sit tight.
20:41 Speaker: I'll see what I can find out for you and we'll come back to you. And that's where it's communication. It's like, I'll tell you to my sons, communication and consequences. If you can communicate and see what's going on and help, then it means a massive difference. Yeah, because it's that unknown. As humans, two and two very easily become 100 or zero. It's never four. So communication is key. I get that. And didn't you bring up an example of a visa as well?
21:04 Speaker: Yes, there was a lady, a lady I know. I booked a couple of trips for her. She said, oh, I'll do this one myself. She was going to Australia and she got to the airport and they said, OK, well, where's your Australian visa? And she went, pardon? good so when i book stuff i go through the paperwork and on part of that and i make a phone call as well have you got like your entry your entry visa for america you know even if you're just even if you're going on a cruise and you land in miami to then go down to the cruise port you you don't need to spend half a day there you've got to have an entry visa into usa so yeah so she managed to get she went online at the airport um australian visa yeah oh website down for maintenance
21:46 Speaker: so right okay so within half an hour of the flight i think it was an hour or something like that or half now the website came live and she got her visa done but it was stress levels yeah she was mad she wasn't going to be allowed on the plane without this this visa um so yeah i just have a helping hand have you got this in place have we got okay yeah yeah so again it's that you know it's just doing it really and just communicating it i mean there was even a basic one some of the european countries now we have to to pay
22:16 Speaker: um a visa now going over there is that is that a visa some european entry visa yeah i need to check on the details of that it varies and i remember some years ago and i forget which country it was but it had to be let's say it was 20 pounds i can't remember what the figure was but it had to be british sterling notes right yeah of 20 pound not in their currency they weren't interested in being in their currency because their currency wasn't very strong
22:45 Speaker: and thank goodness we only heard the day before we left that we had to do that otherwise i wouldn't have probably wouldn't have had it on me well again there's entry forms as well even if you're going you need to do a a country entry form so you know you might need to do that so i'll try and get i'll try and give you information on that before you go in so i've got a couple going to st lucia and again there's a there's a form you need to fill in just to go into st lucia it's not difficult but if you've got it done you can get it done up to three days before you fly then you've done it you know so it's uh it's good
23:14 Speaker: booking cancellations yes um now i'm i'm not here to to you know distribute anybody but there are there are things where you can go online and you can book it all instantly okay uh and i've had three people come to me where sorry i'll just backstep a bit we use a live system okay so when you're on the phone and you pay me the deposit and i click book
23:39 Speaker: OK, it's a live system. It will check for updates. And if there's any problems, it will come back and tell me. But that is then booked on that time and date. Other systems online don't necessarily use a live system. They will look at what it was hours before or something like that. And I've had three occasions where people have come to me where they've booked something, fully paid for it, paid for it in full to be then notified that the trip or the hotel or something wasn't right and the trip's been cancelled.
24:09 Speaker: And they've then got to claim the money back. It's not an easy refund. They've then got to claim the refund. And again, with these companies that do that. But what you've got with me is you've got me to talk to. As I say, I do a live system. Once it's booked, it's booked and confirmed. And you'll get confirmation through within 24 hours that it's all done and dusted. So it's very tempting to go for the cheapest option. But sometimes...
24:35 Speaker: you may not have the protections in place and the guarantees in place that what you've actually booked is i'm not saying it's going to happen very often but when it happens it's a complete disaster i can then get a panic phone can you help can you sort this out quick you know um so yes that's a that can be a challenge and i mean the cancellation is the extreme i mean another note i had is reduced protection and recourse uh on supplier issues of whatever those suppliers whether it's the flight the hotel yeah you know that we've got a full recourse
25:04 Speaker: Yes. And it's like straight to you and you're able to resolve or put us somewhere else. That's right. We're just going back to the family in Vienna. Basically, the company that organised the trip for me handled the refund for them. So, you know, I just can't contact. And they said, oh, my God, I'm so sorry. Right. OK, leave it with us. We'll contact the airline and we'll actually get the refund from the airline for you. So, again, it's done and dusted. And I'll give you my example last year.
25:31 Speaker: uh i was going over to actually i won't say the country because it starts narrowing down who who the the travel company was and i don't want to do that um i suddenly had this paranoia going okay well we're now a day late it ended up well we ended up not going it was cancelled it didn't happen but it was a day late then it was going to be two days late that we were going to get there and i'm like i take it that the resort they they must know all about this
25:58 Speaker: and i decided to not take that risk and i found an email for the resort and i emailed and said i'm assuming you know this already but we are not there with you because we're stuck here i take it you're not giving away our room let's just say it was not obvious that my room would still be there yeah turning up two days later and the other thing going right back to the beginning of a conversation where you book it all yourself if you'd book your flights
26:23 Speaker: your hotel and your transfer okay the flights might have been cancelled but you'd still be liable for the transfer and the hotel costs you know we we package it all together so if an element fails the package fails is it called and then you get you'll be entitled to a full refund so there's so many elements there that that mean you know you said about communication though and it's like going well why why haven't the travel operator let the resort know you know we had paid extra for a particular facing room and what was going to happen is that they go well they're not here yeah and someone else would have been going oh you're on your i'll tell you what you're on your honeymoon i'll give you this
26:58 Speaker: this extra special room and we'd get there and be given you know a street facing room or something despite we covered just because we were late through the travel so i'm with you on all of that it's the recourse and the final one before we wrap up and move on to the uh to the package example that we do every episode is that it is that reduced time to reduce stress and greater flexibility i mean that they're they're the the benefits of going through someone like yourself
27:27 Speaker: Yes, absolutely. Yeah, no, it's here and I am available 24 seven. I don't necessarily want to be. And you are, I can testify to that, you are. Yeah, that's right, yeah. Oh, I've been doing stuff on Sunday afternoons, you know, it's absolutely fine. I'd rather get people, you know, rather people come back and review my service with a positive note than, you know, wish they hadn't. And I'd say I haven't had that yet. My experience with you, Doug, is that you actually are having their holiday with them in your mind. I'm sorry, but I am. You do, you emotionally are well into it, and I really enjoy that element. Yeah.
28:00 Speaker: um right you can turn over to the the fireback page now because this is what we do every time is that we want to give people a flavor of the sort of things that you can be working on and uh what's the sample package this episode the sample package is italy again i love it i love italy lake garda venice and verona 2026.
28:21 Speaker: Okay, so how they describe it? Discover Northern Italy's finest sights in our unforgettable tour. The serene shores of Lake Garda to the cultural wonders of Venice and the romantic charm of Verona, the setting of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. What you get is you get your return flights and transfers. You get four-star accommodation with breakfast. It's an eight-day escorted tour with five included experience. So you just said, when you get to somewhere, what do you do? So what you've got here is you've got a tour with a tour manager and you've got small groups.
28:53 Speaker: And basically, you've got guided tours in Venice and Rome. You've got classic or undiscovered. You've got a full-day tour of the charming Lake Garda towns, a journey into the Dolomites. Again, I want to go to the Dolomites, definitely, on a guided scenic tour. And you visit a local vineyard for a cellar tour and wine tasting. I'm like, what's not to like? It's a bit of a lie. Yeah. And again, you've got 2026 departure dates from $1,259 per person. I don't know if I'm mentioning prices on this, but anyway.
29:23 Speaker: Yeah, that's April, May next year and even September and October. And you've got flights from all the normal, you know, Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Bristol, that sort of stuff. But based on two adult sharing and other dates available, but that's the sort of thing that you can put together. And it's just a brilliant holiday. You've got time, you've got days when you can do your own thing. I was about to say it does include that as well. Yeah, you've got days when you do your own thing, but you've got days when you're doing something. And if you want something of a little bit of a mix, then these are brilliant, brilliant trips to go on.
29:53 Speaker: And I'm just going to correct you because it's one, two, seven, nine, not five, nine. Just, you know, just to make sure we don't think. Oh, I got to. All right. Have you? Yeah, no, that's fine. Oh, no, I tell you what, that's because where did I see? One, two, seven, nine, 28th in September. My bad. No, no, no. But that's today as we are on the 14th of April, 2025. Exactly. The whole idea is to keep an eye on your Facebook. Yeah. Doug Tanner, not just travel. Yeah. Because that is sort of like keeping things up to date. There'll be packages.
30:22 Speaker: on there plus come to you and speak because this is just a sample this isn't sort of like trying to go go and get this now necessarily yeah well you can do um but it is it's an idea of the packages that are able to be put together so you either go looking freestyle yeah but equally as an organization you bring together these packages
30:42 Speaker: Pre-packaged, I guess, is the best way to say it. Absolutely. Yeah, it's pre-packaged. The prices are from, always from, because we don't know what the flight prices do. As planes fill up, prices go up, that sort of thing. I was really talking about the flights. I've got to say, normally when you see these... They're kind of like, you know, just from Bournemouth Airport. Yeah, that's right. Exeter Airport, and that's it. Whereas this, it is Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Stansted, Dublin. And it's like going, I've never seen it with that much of variation for these kind of packets. Yeah. So I'm really impressed with that. No, it's good. Brilliant.
31:17 Speaker: Amazing to get that insight. I mean, for me, you know that I'm a convert and it's the best way to do this and just throws up so many other opportunities as well as that peace of mind and less effort, et cetera. So great insight. I appreciate that, Doug. What's the best way to get hold of you? I think you've got the website, which should be...
31:40 Speaker: up on the top corner, wherever it is, as well. And your Facebook page, I think. Facebook, Doug Tanner NJT. Literally, Doug Tanner NJT is the Facebook page. Do you want me to do phone numbers? Can do. Yeah, so phone number 07425 370400. Or you can drop me an email again, which will probably be on the screen somewhere. Doug.Tanner at notjusttravel.com. Lots of T's. Lots of T's in there. You've got to get all the T's in to get it right. But yeah, so.
32:10 Speaker: just send an inquiry you know it doesn't have to be a booking um just what could i do where can i go what can i what can i do for this when can i go here i'm happy to happy to just put ideas out and it can be very vague aren't it going yeah i don't know i know that we want to kind of incorporate this we want to experience this the big thing really is is what you feel what you feel comfortable to spend okay because that does control quite a lot of it and i don't want to waste
32:37 Speaker: my suppliers times by coming back with something that is completely out of your comfortable spender range okay i don't want to use another word that we use but i just wonder what am i what would i be comfortable spending on this on the day this trip because that really does give me a great idea you know of what to do uh and what i can offer but i will also testify is that that you you not only yes you will stick to it but if there's also something that's just a little bit above you will let us know and kind of go guys this is a bit above but you do have this well i always try and come in with a quote on budget oh there's the word but quite on budget um but i will then say for this you could you could you know you could do this
33:19 Speaker: so but it's not i don't you know only if it's worth it i've seen you do it and not do it yeah depending on what's there but i like that that you're not kind of we could be missing a great opportunity because we've gone no no more than this no more than that no i appreciate people have a budget they want to stick to and that's absolutely fine um so you know it'll be always within i'll try and i will aim to do the first quote within budget so the big thing is
33:43 Speaker: We spend a lot more time working than we do on holiday. And so we want to make sure it's right. And Doug, you help us realise that. Love it. No, great. Thank you very much. Look forward to hearing from you. On that note, we'll see you in episode three next month. I hope you've enjoyed it. Get in touch with Doug and find out what your next holiday could be. He's your travel concierge. Cheers all. Bye.