Cape Verde

Dear Sue and Dawn, Another fantastic holiday! The Rui group does not disappoint. The Rui Tourag is the same formula we have experienced elsewhere and it works well. Good food, plenty of sunbeds, plenty of fresh towels. Entertainment every night, sometimes a bit cheesey, but it passes a good hour before bedtime, well our bedtime anyway. Rooms same as elsewhere, comfortable and cleaned well. There are specialty restaurants too which need to be booked. As at other Rui hotels, the sittings are 7pm or 9pm. For us, one is too early and the other too late! But we did try the Asian restaurant and were a little disappointed. Quite frankly, the food in the buffet restaurant - choice, quality, etc - is such that we didn't feel the need to use the specialty restaurants again anyway. This hotel is miles from anywhere. Literally. It is on 16km of the most beautiful beach, with nothing else there at all. Yet. Go soon before it gets developed. The sea is very rough and dangerous. There was never a green flag whilst we were there. But the pools are lovely and two of them are salt water, so no problem for swimming. The Rui Group actually built the 26km road from the airport to the hotel, because there was nothing there before. Transfers were efficient and quick. So if anyone wants a total chill out relaxing self-indulgent time, this is the place to go. And not too far to fly: under 6 hours going out and 5 1/2 coming back. We were not in the adult only section and most people we spoke to did not think it was really worth the extra money. Their pool was quite small and we were told a bit of scramble for beds and lots of smokers! There was plenty of room around the other pools. The weather/climate is perfect for us. 24/25 C every day (shade temp) with a breeze or sometimes quite a strong wind, but no humidity. They have rain they reckon on two days of the year in August! As a result, away from the beach the landscape is rather like one imagines the moon - I would describe it as a rock desert. The evenings though are cool and most women needed a wrap or cardigan. I think that about sums it up. Another hit for us!!!! Sally & Dave Rogers PS We were recommended to join the Rui Club. We have never heard of this before, but if you sign up there are bonuses to be had. For example, the couple who told us about it, got an upgraded seafront room on presentation of their card....

Sharon

Hi Sharon, Just a quick mail to thank you for a marvellous job in organising our Holiday to Tanzania/Zanzibar and that everything went according to plan apart from the Flight seats I don't Know what went wrong. Also we would like to thank Thomas Cook for the organisation of the Secrets of the Serengeti, Jeep Tours of the National Parks, what a time to go unforgetable,and all the Hotel/Lodges. Thank you to Akorn helping us with our onward travel arrangements (Charles in Nairobi) who did a superb job sorting our flights to our Hotel room also collecting us in the early hours. Also for the guys in Zanzibar who were waiting and organised our trips. Thank you very much Reagards Richard & Jen

India Trip

Hi Helen, Got back from the India trip yesterday. It was possibly the best holiday ever. Indus were great, the driver was lovely and the guides were perfect, all very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and obviously proud of their country. The holiday was a perfect mix of sight seeing and leisure time. We got upgrades to suites in Oberoi Delhi, Agra and Gurgaon. The suite in Gurgouan was huge, needed roller skates to get from one end of it to the other ! Best bit has to be Ranthambore, saw tigers on 2 of the drives, simply awesome. We're definitley going to do another India tour....more than likely further north. Thanks for your help in arranging it. Best regards Jane and Steve

Fiona Leamington

Vilamoura Golf Trip Fiona ,everything was just fabulous thank you and the whole trip ran like clockwork. We have had numerous thank you messages since arriving back and they all speak of how well everything was organised, so a great big thank you to you from me! As for the weather, well we had the first three days pretty good, in varying ways but we did play the front nine holes of the final day’s golf in rain and it was raining quite a lot the morning of departure. Nothing dampened the spirits though………. Once again, thank you for making my life so easy and thinking of everything for me and I have a sneaky suspicion that you will be hearing from me for 2013. Neil Hemmington , Hevey Building Supplies Ltd

Carol

Carol I just thought I would drop you a line to let you know that Anne & I had a terrific trip. The arrangements were impeccable and we were able to pack as much as possible into the time we were there. This was due in no small measure to the Travelsphere Rep., Steve Rodaway who was the consummate professional and nothing was too much trouble , he really did go the extra mile to make sure everyone got all they wanted from the trip. I would be grateful if you would pass these comments to Travelsphere. My thanks also to you for making the arrangements for what has been a memorable trip. Kind regards Susan Sinclair

Job Vacancy

“Carrick Travel are looking for an experienced Travel Consultant for their Travel Agency in Pershore, Worcestershire.
Full or Part Time will be considered and an attractive remuneration package is on offer to the right applicant.
If you think that you would make an enthusiastic and reliable addition to our team then call us for a chat
Tracey Carter - 01926 311415 or send your CV to:- Tracey Carter, Carrick Travel, 92 Warwick Street,
Leamington Spa, CV32 4UX, email traceycarter@carricktravel.com”

Chris - Leamington

We booked our trip with the Carrick Leamington Office, with Chris Edgeller providing us with excellent service throughout, and very knowledgeable and friendly help from both Sarah Capp and David Johns in their Australasia Department, together with excellent support whilst we were in New Zealand from Darlene Phillips from Travel Time, based in NZ.
We started in Hong Kong which was a fascinating experience and then travelled on to New Zealand, which had been a long-dreamed of destination. We ended by travelling back via Raratonga, in the Cook Islands and LA, giving us a true round the world journey. The whole trip was carefully planned to give us the best experience possible, with excellent accommodation throughout, which was well positioned and varied, with hotels, villas, wonderful B&B’s, boutique hotels, motels and farm stays. The final itinerary we were provided with was well researched and informed. This also highlighted the value of pre-booking both accommodation and tours, as on our travels we met those who had not been so well planned, and so were disappointed and did not do or see all they had hoped for. We were away for seven weeks, five weeks in NZ. We much appreciated the on-going support from Darlene and Chris during our trip, with any snags being resolved quickly. It was apparent to us that we were given excellent rooms throughout, with t he advantage of having booked early giving us our first choices of accommodation and places on all tours we wanted to do. Highlights for us were the trip to Doubtful Sound on the overnight cruise, Atholwood B&B in Nelson and seeing whales in Kaikoura and albatross in Otago, and of course, the wine tasting in both Blenheim and Hawkes Bay.
Having this tour so well organised was due to Carrick’s experience and ability to know their customer’s requirements and needs, and their skills in accessing local knowledge to provide best use of the time available and the opportunity to see and do all that these fantastic destinations have to offer.

Brian and Meryl Harris
Travelling January – March 2012