October is nearly upon us and I am wondering when we will see the promised copy of the Inspirations magazine on our door mats so we can at last see what the secretive new holidays are. Unless I've missed something somewhere I've only seen three revealed.  I've had a very quick check through the posts and can't see a release date.

Many thanks

Avocet

The magazine should be with you next week and I do apologise - I was out of the office for a few days and forgot to leave instructions on what to tease you all with next...

So for our next tour:

Dust off those walking shoes on a holiday to Crete. You'll walk through unspoilt countryside and discover traditional Grecian hamlets. To make the trip extra special, you'll get to stay at the unique Arolithos Village.

Kindest regards,

Julia

After just doing the new Crete tour I have to say that I absolutely love the island and although I'm not sure if a walking holiday is for me, I will have to have a serious look at this new tour!

All the best,

Bob

Hi Avocet,

The magazine should be with you next week and I do apologise - I was out of the office for a few days and forgot to leave instructions on what to tease you all with next...

So for our next tour:

Dust off those walking shoes on a holiday to Crete. You'll walk through unspoilt countryside and discover traditional Grecian hamlets. To make the trip extra special, you'll get to stay at the unique Arolithos Village.

Kindest regards,

Julia

Walking in Crete was the first holiday I did (in 2006) -with Travelsphere. Some really nice walks and I could be tempted to have another go especially if the Samaria Gorge is included.

Peter

Will the new Alaska itinerary and the Galapagos tour be featured in the latest Inspirations booklet? I seem to have been asking about Alaska for ages, so I'll be seriously disappointed if it's not there and I've got to wait until the New Year.

If Alaska is not appearing in the Inspirations booklet, can you at least tell me if you will be operating departures from Heathrow? More recently, you had departures from both Gatwick and Heathrow following the change to Icelandair

Many thanks

Mike

Hi Julia,

After just doing the new Crete tour I have to say that I absolutely love the island and although I'm not sure if a walking holiday is for me, I will have to have a serious look at this new tour!

All the best,

Bob

Glad you enjoyed your holiday in Crete, Bob. Were you there in the heatwave? We were lucky and arrived at the end of it so temperature was in the upper 20's and bearable. There was usually a soft breeze to keep us cooler. Wasn't too enamoured by the airport - jammed luggage on arrival and on departure having to cart luggage around from 'bag drop' [except you can't drop it until you then go on to another queue for the scanner] to scanner with a friend who had broken her arm! Other than that the holiday was great and the Cretans are so friendly.

The new tour does look interesting whether you walk or not! Perhaps there could be two grades of walk. One for the rambling walkers and one for the strolling walkers!

Rae

I have spoken to the holiday creator about the Alaska tour (as this didn't make the Inspirations magazine), they have been continuously working with our overseas team on this tour and had to overcome a few snags. The tour has made it into the first draft of the turn of year brochure pagination so we are keeping everything crossed that nothing else holds up it's launch.

In terms of where it will fly from, the feedback from the group that flew with Icelandair was positive, and as such it is likely (but not yet confirmed) that this tour will depart from Gatwick.

Kindest regards,

Julia

Thank you for coming back to me, but this really is the MOST disappointing news - both in terms of us not seeing the Alaska itinerary until the New Year, and that it is likely to fly from Gatwick. Gatwick is totally and utterly out of the question for me, and after looking back to the May brochure, I was correct in saying that there was an option in 2017 to fly from Heathrow.

So my question is...why has the LHR option apparently been dropped? Because if Alaska departures are to be exclusively from Gatwick, this is one tour that I won’t be doing!

I guess that I’ll have to wait for the Inspirations booklet to arrive in a few days time to see if the Galapagos tour is featured.

Cheers

An increasingly disgruntled Mike

The much anticipated Inspirations magazine arrived through my letter box this morning. Imagine my dismay when, having already been told that the new Alaska itinerary would not be featured, I found that there was only the barest of details on the new Galapagos tour. From what I’ve read, the tour seems very similar to one of the two existing TS itineraries. Would that be correct? Also, when can I look forward to seeing this holiday on the website?

Any information at all would be most gratefully received, because if this continual wait for detail carries on much longer, I’ll reluctantly have to look elsewhere for my 2018 holiday choices.

On the plus side, it was great to read SallyC’s account of her Kenyan Safari holiday and to see abbadave’s wonderful photos from Costa Rica. Yvette Barnett’s excellent photography tips are also well worth noting - I know that she was featured in the last issue, but perhaps her very useful hints and ideas could be considered as a more regular feature in future editions.

Many thanks

Mike

So the information I have managed to glean from our holiday creator is that this will be similar to one of the Travelsphere tours, however they are looking to have different excursions on offer. He also mentioned that there is still time to make a few tweaks to the selected excursions so if there is anywhere in particular that you would like to see, why not let us know and he'll see if it can be included!

It will be 2-3 weeks until this is available to book and the first departure will be for 2019. The overseas team we are working with to put this itinerary together are currently volunteering in Haiti and understandably their wifi is not working 100%.

I'm glad to hear there were a few articles that you enjoyed in the magazine - we're loving Yvettes hints and tips too. I have my fingers crossed that she'll share more with us in the next edition - what would you like a little bit of direction with (if anything at all?) and we'll see what we can do!

Kindest regards,

Julia

In the Inspirations magazine The Galapagos Islands are named as one of the New Holidays for 2018, and you are now saying that the first departure will be in 2019!

Is this correct?

Cheers,

Hils

Many thanks for the information that you’ve managed to get from the Galapagos holiday creator.

Out of the 2 TS tours, I much prefer the Celebrity Xpedition itinerary which visits Punta Moreno, Punta Suarez, Puerto Ayora and Santa Cruz amongst others. So if there’s any chance of visiting these islands then that would be great. Do you have any information regarding 2019 departure dates? - early to mid May would be ideal if that was possible.

I’m sorry to keep asking questions, and complaining about the lack of detail, but I’m concerned that other ‘irons in the fire’ will get booked up if I don’t make some firm decisions soon. The fact that the TS Galapagos tour I mentioned above, which departs in Sept 2018, has already sold out, only goes to prove my point.

As for Yvette’s photography tips, perhaps some hints on how to control ‘depth of field’ may be useful to people. I’m familiar with the basics, but I’m equally sure that Yvette could explain the subject with great clarity, and tell me loads of stuff that I don’t already know!

Many thanks again

Mike

I'm waiting on the Inspirations magazine to arrive so I have no idea of the outline of the Galapagos tour at present!  I've looked at the TS tours a number of times and I'm hoping that the JY tour will feature some days in Ecuador as well as on the Galapagos i.e. similar to the TS Galapagos Island Hopping tour - if so, I would be more inclined to do it.  If that is the case I'd be keen to see the scenery in the area outside Quito, especially the Avenue of the Volcanoes if possible.  Just my suggestion!  I'm sure the days on the islands themselves would be wonderful.  However I'm not a snorkeller so I'd suggest that if some snorkelling trips are offered that there be alternative excursions available for those who don't want to partake.

All the best,

Bob

Hi Julia,

Thank you for coming back to me, but this really is the MOST disappointing news - both in terms of us not seeing the Alaska itinerary until the New Year, and that it is likely to fly from Gatwick. Gatwick is totally and utterly out of the question for me, and after looking back to the May brochure, I was correct in saying that there was an option in 2017 to fly from Heathrow.

So my question is...why has the LHR option apparently been dropped? Because if Alaska departures are to be exclusively from Gatwick, this is one tour that I won’t be doing!

I guess that I’ll have to wait for the Inspirations booklet to arrive in a few days time to see if the Galapagos tour is featured.

Cheers

An increasingly disgruntled Mike

Hi Mike,

Currently Gatwick will be the airport to be used for this tour, however we are always looking for more regional options.

Kindest Regards,

Amy

Hi Julia,

Many thanks for the information that you’ve managed to get from the Galapagos holiday creator.

Out of the 2 TS tours, I much prefer the Celebrity Xpedition itinerary which visits Punta Moreno, Punta Suarez, Puerto Ayora and Santa Cruz amongst others. So if there’s any chance of visiting these islands then that would be great. Do you have any information regarding 2019 departure dates? - early to mid May would be ideal if that was possible.

I’m sorry to keep asking questions, and complaining about the lack of detail, but I’m concerned that other ‘irons in the fire’ will get booked up if I don’t make some firm decisions soon. The fact that the TS Galapagos tour I mentioned above, which departs in Sept 2018, has already sold out, only goes to prove my point.

As for Yvette’s photography tips, perhaps some hints on how to control ‘depth of field’ may be useful to people. I’m familiar with the basics, but I’m equally sure that Yvette could explain the subject with great clarity, and tell me loads of stuff that I don’t already know!

Many thanks again

Mike

Good Afternoon Mike,

Thank you for your patience.

You have probably seen in another post that you can now book 2018 tours through the call centre.

However, the other tours will be made available to you shortly.

Kind Regards,

Amy