Explore Blogs

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.

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)

Explore spend a lot of time looking at Responsible Tourism and supporting charities in the UK and around the world. The ethos and practice of the company is also for individuals here, at Nelson House, to do something as well. Usually there is someone raising money for charity and this month has been no exception.

Some people that impressed me (because I can’t stand heights) however, were my colleagues who jumped out of an aeroplane to raise money for the Mufinidi Orphange in Tanzania.

Debbie and Michelle

Our Commerical Assistant in Marketing, Michelle takes up the story:

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One of the wonderful people I have met on Explore trips is Anne Fairlie. She works for our Canadian agents, Trek escapes and regularly goes on an Explore trip (at least once a year). She recently went to Laos, on our Spirit of Laos tour, and has written up an account of the trip. This happens to be my favourite bit as its show what a difference a ‘responsible’ tour leader can make, on a very micro level:

Our Explore tour leader had been working in Lao for about 5 months. She would take pictures of the people she met in the villages, get them printed on her days’ off in Bangkok, and then hand out the pictures the next time she passed through. What a treat this was for the villagers as in one of two instances, someone had died, and she was able to provide a picture of the person for their loved one to treasure.

Anne also took some pictures at one of the SOS orphanages in Laos, where Explore tours generally visit.

I’ve replicated Anne’s report below in full.

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And while I’m looking at links on technorati…

Megan talks about her absolutely fantastic trip to Jordan. She also has some great shots of the tour up on flickr - the photo sets marked Jordan (obviously).

Megan also commented that she had a fantastic local guide called Hazem, who “…added so much to the holiday”.

Local guides always seem to make a lot of difference to people on our tours whether they are the tour leader or local guides in specific places, it can make all the difference between get to know the place or just seeing it.