Explore Blogs

You might not know, but Explore also organise School trips (or adventures as we like to call them). Right now one of our long time Schools’ customers - Teesside High School - are on their way around Thailand on their 4th adventure with us. A group of 19 teachers and students are travelling, and they are writing a blog about their trip with us, from start to finish.

So to see how Explore works from an education perspective go take a look at Teesside High School’s blog

Update: They have now returned - go to their blog to read more.

As mentioned previously, there is always some group at Explore trying to raise funds for Charity. Some are more dedicated than others! Personally I simply throw my money in the tin but therse guys, hats off to them, actually get off their backside and do something (I’m hanging my head in shame). So over to Emily (who looks after Explore’s Private Groups section):

Way back in December an entry form for the Hart Sprint Triathlon landed on my desk. With the Christmas excesses approaching the idea of getting fit enough to swim 400 metres, cycle 20 kilometres and finish off with a 5k run appealed to 18 Explore staff, friends and family!

In 2006 the event had been a big success in with 10 people taking part, 3 of whom had even done it before so the experience surely couldn’t be that bad!

So training started for most of the team in January, mainly in the gym due to the weather. Once the clocks had changed and the sun started to shine we started group cycle sessions on a Sunday to learn the route. Shiny new bikes where bought and the competition heated up.

We decided to raise money for the national charity Marie Curie Cancer Care as the staff involved came from all over the south of England. I have also been working closely with them over the last few months putting together weekend charity challenges to Lapland and Sicily.

So early on a Bank Holiday Monday, the nerves where high! The Explore team were some of the first in the pool. With all of us out of the pool within 15 minutes we jumped on our bikes to ride the 20 kms. The wind was strong so the speed was slower than in training. We had two heroic stories from the bike leg, Sean our Customer Relations Manager had a flat tyre as he left the transition area but showed real determination to cycle the 20kms in the name of charity. Then half way round the cycle course Rob (the husband of Flights Systems Manager – Kay) bike broke so he abandoned his bike to run the second half of the cycle before embarking on the run.

Many of us finished the cycle in under an hour and with legs like jelly set off on the cross-country run. James was well ahead by this point was the second person out of a field of over 400 to cross the line - although due to the staggered start actually came 39th! A great position for a first timer. Our first lady to cross the line was Lucy finishing in just under 1hr 30mins. The rest of us all come through over the next hour, with the motivation of our colleagues shouting our names form the finish line there where many a sprint finish.

After a good stretch we all headed to the pub for a well earned Bank Holiday beer. We all had a great day whether we were there to do well or simply get round and raise some cash. Total so far is £1,800 but we hope to hit £2,000.

Well done to James, Lucy, Tim, Tanya, Debbie, Lark, Fran, Rick, Claire, Kay and Sean, Rob, Phil and Carol for completing this great event and raising a great amount of money for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

If you are interested in helping raise money for Marie Curie Cancer care and enjoy the Explore experience please see www.mariecurie.org.uk or contact them on 01884 703 540.

Well a big “Congratulations!” to all the winners at the Travelmole web awards yesterday, particularly to the Caravan Club who won in the category we were shortlisted for: Best Tour Operator Website. As it is their centenary this year it seems only fair!

The event was held in Canada House and was superb - I particulalrly enjoyed the Canadian Tourism Commission video (even if they had some technical difficulties getting it to start). So if you don’t fancy a caravaning holiday… why not consider a trip to Canada - Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast looks fabulous!

Canada has been number 1 on my places to visit list for years, but at least I was on Canadian soil last night!

Recently been having a conversation with Clive Baldwin who is a Croatia fan. He has a website at www.THECROATIANFLYER.COM. Although not the best design in the world, it does have lots of interesting information about Croatia, particularly Croatian wine and Croatian islands. Worth having a look at if you are thinking about going there this summer.

Lots of things happening around the office at present. We’ve launched our Short Breaks programme for 07/08 - some very interesting tours in terms of Winter breaks, Wildlife and culture! Two personal favourites:

Voodoo Villages based on our Cradle of Voodoo tour but shorter! Togo and Benin in West Africa for just under a week.

Tatras and Slovak Paradise - winter short break but the price is fantastic - wish I could go on this one this winter.

We’ve also launched a holiday promotion for Families new to Explore with 5% off 5 tours (you can see more here) - By the way, existing family customers already get 5% off any tour.

And there are also some more exciting developments coming soon, and I’m not talking about Explore Blogs Twitter account.

Jane Tomlinson sent me an email yesterday about the Oxfordshire Arts Festival:

Come and have a shufti at my paintings, which I’m exhibiting for Oxfordshire’s visual arts festival (www.artweeks.org), on Saturday 26, Sunday 27, Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 June 2007, from 12 noon-6pm at 18 Newland Close, Eynsham, just six miles west of Oxford.

You’ll see colourful, vibrant watercolours and prints of magic landscapes from Oxfordshire, the UK and around the world, pictures of birds and animals, stones, pebbles and sunflowers. Have a sneaky peek here.

Refreshments are available, access for the disabled is good and parking’s dead easy. And there are lots of other artists in Eynsham exhibiting for Artweeks, so they’ll be tons to see.

Really hope to see you. Very best wishes,
Jane

I’m hoping (fingers crossed) to go down in June and take a look.

Looking at my regular dose of the Travel Daily ( an interesting little travel industry focused enewsletter) I noticed their lead article on over 50s Saga cruises:

Under the Single Equality Act, companies are banned from discriminating on the grounds of age in the provision of goods and services.

This means that companies cannot specify that a holiday is only available for over 50s or I guess for 18-30s only. I wonder how many other companies will be impacted by this government legislation?

Personally I think it makes tours far more interesting to have a good mix of people from all ages, backgrounds and even countries. Its been one of the minor highlights of my Explore experiences having people from Australia, Canada, the US and from 6 years to 70 years (depending on the type of tour of course)!

However, I would be very interested to know what you think?

Cameron Alexander (nee Parker), the Managing Editor of Easy living Magazine, headed out to Nepal on our Everest Tea House Trek. Alastair caught up with him her recently for this podcast. You can also read more in June’s Easy Living Magazine page 157!

 

 Cameron Parker - Everest Tea House Trek [7:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1782)

Update: I’ve had an email from Anna, who is booked to go on our Other Side of Everest tour - she would love to have someone to talk to about the tour - so if anyone who has been on this or any other walking and trekking tour in and around Everest and Nepal wouldn’t mind swapping emails with her then, let me know by leaving a comment or sending us an email at talktome [at] exploreblogs.co.uk (replace the at with an @).

Just seen that we are a finalist in the Travelmole Best Tour Operator website, which is very exciting! Last year we won the Best Responsible Tourism website so I’m hopeful we might do well!

On the subject of awards I should also congratulate the Adventure Company & Netizen for their recent win for Best use of Technology on a Travel website at the Travolution awards . They have obviously been spending a lot of time on the web as they have two new website live now as well!

Can’t wait until the Explore one goes live!

Also should mention our good friends at Select World Travel who also got nominated for a Travolution award in Best use of Social Media for their blog site. They are a travel agent based in Malvern who sell our tours and have a blog well worth reading.

Apparently the Virgin Responsible Travel Awards are also upon us too and you can nominate travel companies here. We have been short listed for the last three years for an award as RT is a key part of our ethos.

Its obviously awards season!

Amar Grover is a travel writer and photographer who has travelled widely in China, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East & North Africa. Recent trips with Explore have included Tibet and China. He writes mainly for the Financial Times, GEOGRAPHICAL Magazine and the Independent on Sunday.

Alastair interviewed him recently about his trip with Explore on our Across the Roof of the World tour, in China and Tibet. Obviously a stunning journey across a wonderful area, which Amar discusses in detail. A fascinating interview.

 

 Amar Grover Interview [6:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (5523)