17/07/2021
Hello everyone,
I am sorry for being quiet lately but as some of you may know, I have taken on a second job and since December have been working at the Albert Pye School in the office, three days a week.
At the end of June, I had a wedding couple and their guests fly out to the beautiful island of Santorini. They had the most amazing wedding.
I couldn't have done it without the magnificent support from Olympic Holidays and their weddings department.
I must also thank Gabi Birbeck who lives on the island with her own wedding business. She organised every last detail, finding them a beautiful traditional Taverna to hold their reception, organising their photographer, wedding transport, DJ and much more.
Between us we made sure, the bride and groom had everything they needed. They felt very safe and they said that it was everything they had dreamed of!
However, the lead up to their departure was not quite so easy. Their first airline cancelled their flights from Stansted, I re-booked them from Gatwick, this was then cancelled. I then re-booked them once again from Heathrow to then learn the disappointing news that Greece was not on the Green list and therefore the clients would have to quarantine on their return. I then booked their final flights for 10 nights as they had to decrease their duration due to quarantine. To say it was stressful is an understatement.
As many of you will also know, I lost two familiy members last year, one being my Dad at the very start of the pandemic. The amount of changes / refunds and re-books I had to do when I should have been grieving for my Dad was very hard. I also feel that the constant changes and amount of time I have had to spend on bookings without any gain has impacted on the time I have spent with my family. They are only young once.
And so, I have made the decision to take the Summer Holidays off to spend with my boys and enjoy the time with them without any interruptions.
I haven't any departures now until mid September and feel that this could be my only opportunity to have this time with them and give them back the time I have spent away from them during this difficult time.
The traffic light system is flawed and just makes bookings much more difficult because we and customers get excited when Countries are added to the Green list for them to then be put back on the Amber list within a matter of weeks. This has happened just this week with the Balearic Islands.
Many countries are also imposing quarantine on UK visitors too so I feel that although there is some light at the end of the tunnel, we are certainly a long way off as yet and I feel I would rather wait untl there is more certainty.
This post is not to put people off booking because travel is very safe. This was demostrated by my couple and guests who returned from Santorini.
Our Government needs to gives more clarity on travel and stop chopping and changing their minds so we can be more confident. I am sure travel will return to it's glory and we will be able to visit these wonderful destinations hassle free once more but for the Summer, I am signing off.
I will be available until Friday 23rd July for any queries on existing bookings and then I will be back available on the 7th September when I am back in the office.
I hope everyone is well and wish you all a lovely Summer.
Many thanks,
Emma x
