Dear Valued Clients and Followers,

We hope you are all keeping well !

Writing to you breaks the monotony of cancelling and amending bookings, although it is pleasing to see that the majority of our clients are taking the Credit option and re-booking their holiday for next year.

This may seem weird to some of you, but what you may also think is weird is that we’re finding that many cruises for next year are heavily booked, and don’t have the suites and balcony cabin types that our clients desire. These are already booked out on many cruises and river boats for 2021 ?!

So maybe it’s true in what we’re reading, that 2021 is going to be a busy year for travel and holidays.

In terms of the airlines, it will interesting to see what happens with Early Bird airfares for 2021. Will there be fantastic fares or maybe they’ll only gradually increase capacity (flights) and consequently have high demand and normal pricing ?

The same applies to Tours and Hotels. It may or may not be the year of the Bargain as suppliers gradually ramp up capacity but try to make up for their 2020 losses.

We can’t wait to see how the year pans out in terms of travel. No-one has experienced a pandemic in their lifetime, so no-one knows the outcome. As they say, “we are all in this together” .

Many of you have sent some very heartwarming messages (see below) to myself, Keiran and the Team – so we say ‘thank-you’ for the love and care that you have shown us. Planning your holidays is very ‘personal’, so even though we are a business, please never under-estimate the ‘personal care’ that goes into organizing your holidays and business travel.

Personally, I worry a lot about our fellow Church Street Traders. Keiran is President of the Traders Association and I’m on the committee, so we have intimate knowledge of the profit (or lack of it) that many Church Street businesses were operating under before the virus. We hope that you, our clients, will support LOCAL during and after this pandemic.

It will be a whole new world out there in 2021 and we are up for it – because we thrive on challenges! We just can’t wait to be designing new Itineraries for you and choosing your Hotels and Tours and shopping around, on your behalf for the best deals. Maybe those ‘On Hold’ wait times with our Supplies and airlines, and a shop full of clients, is not so bad after all.

The processing of refunds and amendments, which is 95% of our time currently, is really very boring, but it has to be done. It indeed makes us appreciate the good times.

So many of you, no matter which Industry you are in, will “SEE THE WORLD IN A NEW LIGHT“ moving forward (see above picture).

Good health will always be paramount, but family and being able to make choices about visiting friends, entertaining, going out to restaurants, and browsing the shops, is going to be so much more appreciated. And our freedom to go to Sporting events and the beach will also Not be taken for granted.

Looking forward, there are now many destinations to be dreaming about and we’ll bring details of those a little further down the track.

Stay well, and talk to you soon.

Julie Avery & Keiran Cromie

Please Note: We remain Open with almost the same staffing ( Downstairs Shop, Upstairs Office or their Home). So the best contact for now is by eMail or phone.

Recent Client Comments:
"Julie, so glad to receive your excellent email today.I'm glad that you are so strong and determined. Looking forward to you coming out the other side and going on to even better things. Your resolve is amazing and greatly has contributed to your success.

Thank you so much for this email, a lovely surprise making the postponed trip for 2021 more and more likely.

Thanks for the Rail Passes refund, Insurance and your time. If ever a Travel Agent was required, thankful we have a great one.

I am very comfortable with your approach. Thanks for looking after us so well.

Again, our thanks for the fantastic job you are doing in unique circumstances.

Julie and team have been brilliant. Helping non-clients is typically Julie and is clearly a loving gesture. We are locked down in what is like a paradise situation, compared with so many been stranded in parts they don't know with limited resources to live and escape from.

If you're not using a travel agent, your'e NOT on your own: Julie Avery is there to help: but better change your ways or next time you may not be so lucky."