Karla McCulloch, travel counsellors

Karla McCulloch

Of all the things that could have gone wrong, this could only have happened to me! 10 days before our much needed and planned Christmas holiday I broke my leg while playing netball. I will never forget the moment I was told that I needed an operation and would therefore be unable to travel. The feelings of guilt, disappointment and upset that my family wouldn’t be able to, as planned for over a year, actually travel was huge. However, after a few days of tears and pain I realised that there are so many more important things such as health and my family all being together that were so much more important and that there would always be next year’s holiday to look forward to and plan. Thankfully, my travel insurance covered the full cost, so we did not lose out financially and as soon as I was on the road to recovery, I immediately stated planning the next vacation. Once you have the travel bug in your blood it is one of the most important factors, as we all work so hard, we also must have those special locations and memories to make it all so much more worth it.

After the bad start to the year, I was determined to make the next holiday the one that would be the best so started thinking here would be the place to go. With so many amazing destinations which are open to us in the UK the selection process is sometimes harder because we have

so much choice with the world being so much more accessible on every aspect now. So, we finally agreed that Jamaica would be the one, we had visited for a day on a cruise a few years ago and fell in love with the people and rum of course! So we booked in the January and then Covid hit in the March. We couldn’t have been so unlucky could we?

Obviously travel came to a grinding halt and I then spent the next 6 months focusing on my customers bookings rearranging, cancelling, then rearranging again, chasing refunds again and just making sure that all my wonderful clients knew exactly what was happening with their dreams and plans at all times. Unfortunately the whole experience was beyond anyone’s control and truly has to be the hardest times ever in the travel industry for everyone concerned. Having worked in travel for 20 years I have worked through carious country strikes, Ash clouds stopping travel in Europe for days upon days, Tsunami’s, tornadoes, hurricanes bit nothing could be compared to the Covid Pandemic. However the network that we have supporting us at Travel Counsellors is absolutely fantastic with over 1900 of us globally if there was something I needed help with it was never an issue. I made sure that all my clients and friends knew I was available to help at any time even if a friend of a friend had not booked with me but someone else and they were having issues with getting answers that I would help them as there were so many people who were struggling to even get a call answered due to the sheer volume of enquiries from everyone. I can say the only really bad experience I had was with one of our suppliers unfortunately whom would not permit a refund or even a date change on a villa (we no longer use this commonly thankfully). After many calls and emails to them I eventually got them to agree that they would give me a travel voucher to be used for future travel. After speaking to my client I agreed I would refund them for their full value and I would retain the voucher as I could easily repackage this once the travel routes permitted travel again of course. I believe this is why we are now all seeing a surge towards people booking with travel agents and away from the online DIY booking systems as with a trusted travel expert such as myself all the stress and worry everyone has experience over the last 15 months is taken out of your hands. I began my career nearly 20 years ago working for CO-OP travel on the worldwide and tailor made department. After a few years there I then moved into the corporate business travel sector for a company called Key Travel. This company was a specialist company whom dealt with Charity travel for organisations such as Save The Children, Comic Relief, Samaritans Purse, Amnesty International to name just a few. So my daily bookings at this time would not be to mainland Spain for a week or two but tickets for missionaries to Kabul or to Africa to help with aid relief, to all the places where aid where is essential and drastically needed. We also dealt with many academic organisations such as University’s, medical organisations, religious organisations and a few corporate engineering companies also. I stayed her for 10 years and

during my time here I also worked on the emergency 24 hours call out service where I would take calls in emergency aid situations. One of them I remember was when the Tsunami hit Asia in 2011. The whole team were on hand to help get as many people home as possible but also get as many relief workers out to help rescue people for days! This was just one major situation I assisted to get people help and believe after 6 years of working on this team I have pretty much encountered most travel situations that you could possibly think off!

So after many years of working in this field I took the plunge and at the end of February 2020 I took the plunge and opened my own business travel franchise with Travel Counsellors. With nearly 20 years’ experience in travel you can be assured that you are in safe hands. The year of 2020 started with a boom for me as I had a couple of clients whom started booking business travel with me immediately but obviously once the pandemic really took hold and travel was halted , things slowed down considerably. So the months of April, May and June were spent helping clients and colleagues rearrange or obtain refunds for our clients and as you can imagine the sheer volume of these were in the thousands. I am pleased to say not one of my clients was not left with an option of a refund however, even if it meant it coming out of my own account as I truly believed that even if some suppliers were being awkward their was no way this would impact my customers! Since then we have obviously had travel corridors reopen a few times so I have still be working throughout helping people get that holiday overseas where possible, if not possible abroad we really do have some of the most beautiful hidden gems within the UK for a staycation. In fact the surge for stay cations this past year has been massive and why not. Not only are we giving a boost to our own economy which has suffered significantly during the pandemic but we have so much to offer from caravans, camping, luxury lodges with hot tubs, quaint charming cottages to castles and amazing scenery to hike in, would be crazy to not take this precious time out with our loved and cherished and make those special memories while adhering to travel guidelines.

So did we make it to Jamaica? No I am afraid not but we did reschedule it to travel this Christmas instead. After the initial disappointment again after a few weeks we decided we would take the plunge and book that bucket list destination, the Maldives for December 2020 instead. So within 3 weeks of booking and departure I had to arrange the required paper work and PCR testing requirements for both leaving the UK, arriving into the Maldives and then returning. Which I can assure

you was a little stressful but actually ran smoothly with some expert help from myself of course!

I can say that flying over the crystal clear blue sea and stunningly beautiful islands on the seaplane we arrived at our final destination finally. Remembering the feeling of climbing down the steps and being hit by the heat and smells of sunshine and sea, well this was amplified even more when surrounded by exotic palm trees and the noises of the bats in the background of the lush Jungle that surrounded the beach bungalows. At last we could finally relax and begin the holiday of a lifetime.

So if you’re on the lookout for an experienced trusted travel agent to help you navigate this new normal as we head towards a brighter future then please do not hesitate getting on touch with me. With regular offers, updates on all the latest travel news, advice and inspirational plans for your bucket list vacation, I am here to help and make those dreams come true! With still so many mixed messages from the Government on international travel please rest assured I am able to help, give advice or just confirm if you are doing the right thing , then please do get in touch. I truly believe the skies are going to be open again soon for us all to go and get that just off the plane hit of sunshine and smell of holidays in the air.

Why not head to my website; www.tctravelmanagement.co.uk/karla.mcculloch where you will find all the fantastic offers I have available for you. You can also email me: karla.mcculloch@travelcounsellors.com or pick up the phone on 0161 744 0025, where I will be available to help with any questions, help or advice.

Please keep your eye out for my monthly travel news and top tips as I will be joining you every month through 2021.