Tour Managers Tales

Hello everyone, at long last I am back ...... too many problems trying to log on ... but hopefully they are now resolved, there is a lot of catching up to do .... where to begin ... okay  January '13 - Spent  in Cape Town, South Africa .... an absolutely brilliant city to visit .. beaches galore, weather excellent and very reasonable prices good exchange at 12.-13 Rand to the GBP £  February  - A weekend in a very cold Bergen, Norway .... had a good time.  March - Norwegian Coastal Voyage to see the Northern Lights which were excellent, was very cold but well worth it.  March - Spent my birthday in Gothenburg, Sweden .... another cold but nice weekend.  April - Back to work and off to Miami .. and join a cruise through the Panama Canal to Los Angeles.  May - Off to the Canadian Rockies and Alaska, sailed from Vancouver with Holland America on the MS Zuiderdam. June - Was in the hottest place in Europe .... Lapland, Finland ... 30c. ....

Hello everyone due to a few problems all of which now seem to be resolved should be back very soon in the meantime here are some pics from recent travels. I am having a short break in Crete at the moment weather has been good but it is rainning at the moment. Not to worry the food and drinks are going down well. Catch you all soon.

Hello everyone, I am now back from the Rockies and Alaska, what a great trip it was, the wildlife was in abundance, I have never seen so many bears ..... I have some really good photos which will be posted very soon, (having a problem with my Bluetooth at the moment) ...  but hopefully have them on as soon as. I hope that everyone in the group arrived home safe on Saturday. It was great being with you all, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and have some fantastic memories to relive over and over again. Catch you all again later, come back soon to see the pics, 

Hello everyone,  greetings from a nice and sunny Anaheim, I know its been a couple of weeks since I arrived here in California, unfortunately not had a lot of spare time to blog ... but here is a complete run down of the places visited since the 20th May ... unfortunately heading for home on the 3rd June arriving back in the UK in time to help everyone celebrate the Jubilee, hope that you are all having a good weekend. Come back again soon, next week I am off to Canadian Rockies and Alaska ....  San Diego - Shaped like a hook and protected by the peninsula of Coronado, the 22 square miles of San Diego Bay form a natural deepwater harbour around which the second largest city in California has grown. The bay was discovered in 1542 by the Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. Colonization did not follow until 1769. In that year, the founding father of the mission chain, Junipero Serra, arrived into the region as part of a military expedition to secure Alta California, fo...

Hello everyone, hope that this finds you all well, been at home a few weeks now, buit its nearly time to get on the road again, on the 20th May I shall be heading to California, for a 16 day tour, taking in all the major sights as well as spending time in Arizona, visiting the Grand Canyon, and in Nevada, in the great city of Las Vegas, I do hope that you can join me on this exciting non stop fun filled tour, see you all back here on the 20th ...

Kia Ora, Hello again, unfortunately now back home in what is a sunny Stafford, the final few days of the New Zealand trip were spent in the beautiful Bay of Islands,from the 19th - 22nd,  although the weather was not the best, torrential rain and gale force winds .... we did manage to enjoy it. After leaving Auckland we crossed the harbour bridge, and made our way to the Kauri Museum, at Matakohe. Here we had time to experience this fantastic museum, and learn all about the Kauri tree and its uses. The afternoon drive was through a native forest, where we stopped to view the oldest largest of the Kauri trees, Tane Mahuta (the big tree), it is said to be over 2,500 years old, and stands tall in the forest (see pics below). Later we travelled through to our destination of Paihia, in the Bay of Islands, when we arrived we met with Lena, our guide from Culture North, she took us on a short orientation tour ending at the Waitangi Treaty Ground, where we had a vi...

Hello everyone, welcome back,  it has been a few days (okay a week or so) since the last update,   so I thought it time I put pen to paper !!!  we had a great couple of days in Queenstown the weather improved and got a lot warmer, even managed to burn one side of my face !! Enjoyed an evening cruise on the TSS Earnslaw followed by dinner at Walter Peak, it ended with a sheep show before the return sailing to Queenstown. The following morning we were off to Mount Cook, on the way we stopped iin at Arrowtown the old gold town. It was then on to Gibbstons Winery for a tour and taste ... very nice it was too ... then it was a healthy stop .. Mrs Jones Fruit Stand, before the journey took us over the Lindas Pass to Omarama and lunch. Exciting afternoon as some of the folks went on a flight with Air Safaris over Mt. Cook and the surrounding glaciers and mountains. We spent the night under Mt. Cook at the Hermitage. The following day took us first to Tekapo, and then on to Chris...