Its been a few weeks since I put my thoughts to paper – and a hectic period it has been too, with the office move and recruitment well underway. Add to that the fact that we are combining an office with a house move!
We are now entering our busiest time of the year with increasing number of clients on holiday, many just about to go away and plenty of enquirers. Its also a time when our personal service , though I say it myself, comes into its own, as we can piece together suitable holidays from the limited rooms left over peak holiday periods. Much of each day is spent on the phone to our hoteliers checking the latest availability- and in some ways it’s one of my favourite aspects of the job - real problem solving.

As we work with small and family owned places such a thing as online availability is out of the question. Indeed I always prefer to speak to the hotel direct to see the various options that are available, for examplemoving a holiday back or forth a day or two to get a combination to work. Once you get to the islands – especially the Outer Hebrides -it becomes even more of a challenge with ferry timetables becoming a major factor.

Availability on some islands, such as Islay and Mull has always been difficult, as there is a real shortage of good accommodation here - and we use it all! Our wildlife holidays also use several small local excursion operators whose trips may only have capacity for 8 or 12 people each day – and we have a very long list of fully booked dates already. So if you are looking for availability for busy periods we are good place to come, but you will need to be patient – rarely can we tell you straight away if a holiday is available- it will take a few phone calls. Mind you that’s where you need a travel advisor!

One event in Scotland probably deserves more comment this week. The smoking ban which came into effect from 26th March . Though I am looking forward to going to a smoke free bar tonight for the first time (yes sadly have been stay at home since the weekend), my gut instinct is against telling adults not to do things, but as non-smoker is difficult to be against the outcome. Anyway it will certainly have a major effect on social life here – guess there will plenty of people out side bars having a fag and hopefully more outside terraces will appear, where there is space, o benefit to all. It would be good if it does help more people give up, and it will make bars and restaurants more pleasant places for non-smokers. Just so long as all my smoking friends don’t spend all night outside!

For client information, hotels will still be able to offer smoking bedrooms where guests can smoke – but from what I can see this is really only gong to be the larger properties, who have the capacity to set aside rooms specifically.

Well today now its off to get the keys for our new flat in Glasgow, so fingers crossed!

This week the snow returned with a vengeance –at least for much of the north and Highlands. Even islands like Mull received a good few inches. Now the mountains and hills are looking their very best with the hope of some sunny days ahead. Good news for winter photographers, and even better for Scotland’s ski resorts, who must operate on the hope of at least a few weekends each year to remain viable.

Meanwhile we are getting ready for our big move, which will happen over Easter – yes McKinlay Kidd is off to the west, to Glasgow to be exact. It’s a city which Heather and I have always liked and with a number of factors coming together the time is right for us to shift both ourselves and the business. Our new office will be right in the city centre – but I’ll still be able to walk to work. More details to follow!

For this interested, we are also recruiting now as the business continues to grow! (For those interested, see www.s1jobs.com).

Today I was in London on a Wildlife event with VisitScotland (the Tourist Board for Scotland), meeting journalists and overseas operators to publicise Scotland’s fantastic wildlife. March is officially wildlife month for Visit Scotland and the team there are doing a great job to promote what is undoubtedly one of the country’ s world class features. Our programme of wildlife holidays is consistently amongst our most popular offerings.

Last week our trusty and much loved iMac gave up the ghost. Its demise – some 7 years after we bight it – it was lime green for those who know macs - has given us a few issues with lost data (though the vast majority was properly backed up thank goodness). It also marks the passing of what was a good friend – the only computer we had when we started the business – even then it was 5 years old – and a trusty workhorse ever since, well at least until last week.

Such a beautiful piece of machinery deserves better than finishing up in one of Edinburgh’s “Community Recycling Centres” – so we are now looking for ideas – apparently there’s a pdf on the net on how to turn them into fishtanks.

The Scots like nothing more then beating England at any sport, and Saturday found us in Ullapool, on our latest recce, sitting down in a friendly bar with a pint of Red Cuillin (great real ale from Skye), to watch the Calcutta Cup- Scotland vs England at rugby for those who don’t know. The bar was split with a group of around a dozen watching the big screen, while another group, mostly locals were by the bar, seemingly in ther own conversations. Rugby is after all really a minority sport here, especially in the Highlands. However with 10 minutes to go, and a Scottish victory close, suddenly the whole bar became more animated and the chorus of Flower of Scotland arose.

It was a great result and well deserved - although I am Irish, I am still pleased to see Scotland’s rugby team returning to the passionate and effective rugby of times past. Just hope that we can win in Dublin in 2 weeks time!

Our weekend recce was successful in finding 2 more hotels for our programme - in Ullapool a small and characterful hotel which doubles as an arts centre. Perfectly lcoated for those touring the Northwest Highlands as well as for the ferry to/from Lewis. The other was a 5 star small hotel in Ross shire - on the east coast - with a strong whisky presence. After a few drams and wonderful dinner on Friday, Saturday morning found us on the sandy beach just 5 minutes walk from the hotel- although it was bitterly cold! Another beach for my collection!

As usual on a recce we saw several other places which will not be featuring in our holidays, despite their presence in guidebooks and other recommendations. Nothing beats personal experience.

After one of the mildest and quietest winters for several years ( on the weather front) looks like plenty of snow will arrive by midweek. As we are planning another trip to the west coast this comong weekend will have to keep an eye on this! Hopefully the sun will come out by Friday and we can get the camera out for some more wintry pics for the website.

Another busy week finished with a party of Romanians and our first ever booking from Djibouti! When you stop and think about it the internet has become the great enabler, so that business like ours can attract potential customers from all over the world.

Our website receives ever-increasing traffic, but it is also still great when you can tallk to customers - even a brief conversation with someone from the other side of the Atlantic helps you make sure you are giving them the best possible serivce and I am sure (hope) they like to hear a freindly voice at the other end of the phone. Mind you tiem differences can be bit awakward to work out - I nearly rang someone in Atlanta, Georgia last week at what would have been 6am in the morning their time - not a good idea for business!

Noticed that the east coast USA is currently experiencing the worst snow falls in living memory. Bad news for them, and something for us to think about - I usually think that what’s hapening there now will be with us soon.

Hopefully this will not disrupt our next planned recce visit - to the area to the north of Inverness - Sutherland. Want to drive right round the top, taking in Dornoch, Thurso, Tongue and Scourie. Just about as far as you can get in mainland Scotland from Edinburgh. Should be dramatic - we last were there eight years ago, for Hogmanay.

These seem to be the popular themes for 2006 so far. That’s why I love this job really - and the product. I have always worked in businesses where what I’ve been selling is actually enjoyable for both the customer and the provider (well, except when I had to come up with a new sales strategy for Brussels Sprouts - yugh!) and travel is certainly no exception.

It’s been good to catch up over the last few weeks with all the various small business partners we work with across Scotland, hearing about their own plans for the year ahead - many are in the throes of refurbishment, and like us, have not really had much time off.

A couple of our hotels have new owners and I am always particularly keen to find out what their own plans are, and to get to know them as soon as possible. Time for some more miles on the car!

I decided the start of the year would be a good time to launch this blog. I perhaps under-estimated just what a busy time it would be, but I’m pleased to have this up and running - even if ‘writing the blog’ has been added to my to do list!

This, our third year, has started busier than ever. The Isle of Mull and our wildlife and whale-watching holidays are extremely popular, spurred on no doubt by some of the wonderful TV coverage in the past year - notably Coast, the wildlife film Eagle Island, and the BBC’s Springwatch.

Islands generally are in great demand, with lots of enquiries for the
Outer Hebrides, where the ferry timetables are particularly complex! Looking forward to seeing the response to my latest idea - “Tiny Islands”, which combines two of the smallest but still fascinating Hebridean islands - Iona and the less famous Gigha.

We are also planning quite a few honeymoons or birthday surprises. I
especially enjoy doing this - it’s a lot of responsibility, but gives us
the chance to put together really special holidays showing off the very
best that Scotland can offer.

One challenge at this time of year, is that many of the small family run hotels with which we work close in January for their own holidays. This makes checking room availability a little slower than usual! Still we certainly don’t begrudge these very hard working people some time off.

The weather has really been pretty mild for a Scottish winter..so far.. though there’s plenty of time for some more snow yet. This didn’t stop a London based visitor to our house this week turning up in what could only be described as a quilt for a coat.