Its snowing in England - Crazy British weather!
First things first heres our 'Quote of the day'!"Mince pies date back to medieval times and possibly long before. They are descended from a huge pie baked on Christmas Eve containing chopped beef, suet, nuts, spices and fruit of which whole dried plums were an important constituent. The pie was originally baked open but as time wore on a crust was added, on top of which a pastry effigy of the infant Jesus was laid to represent him lying in his cradle"Second thing - heres our tour thank you of the day -"Dear Sasha, Just a quick email to express our satisfaction with the tours we did with Astral while in London last week. All tours were highly enjoyable, and lived up to all expectations. The driver-guides were interesting and witty and their commentaries were very informative, while the locales were particularly well chosen. Everything amounted to a few days very well spent in England, and we look forward to traveling with you in future trips to the UK. We’d also like to express our satisfaction with your partners at Classic Coaches.
Warm Regards, Marta Isabel "Now on with my Blog (Nick)Crazy Britsih weather this week - its been snowing ? Bloody cold but the scenery looks stunning. Its unusual to be so cold in November, I believe thay call it 'typical oceanic Island weather' We expect to have snow in the UK around March / April time, however its started much earlier and the met office predict a record breaking winter freeze. I remeber only ten years ago when the weather was more consistent - sunny in July, wet in April and always snow on Christmas day. Global warming has changed all that. I guess the advantages of all those aerosol spays mean we have cooler winters and warmer summers. A selfish bunch we are - I dread to think what the climate will be when my kids are my age?
For those of you who do not know me my name is Nick Kendrick and I have been working for Astral Tours for ten years. Originally I was a guide (and a bloody good one at that! So if you have any history questions or need adviuce on travelling through Britain please post me your questions and I promise a comprehensive honest answer.
I am currently stuck in the office, however we have a great team and our office is certainly not the 'normal' office enviroment - phew........
London is very quiet at the moment - where have all the tourists gone ???????
Our daily tours are operating as ususual, however numbers are very low. Fortunatley being a small family run company who owns all our own vehicles we can diverify. Astral are very resourceful and dynamic - we have survived 'foot and mouth', two gulf wars, saars disease, bombs in London etc etc etc
WE ARE HERE TO STAY!!!!!!!!!
The phones are stating to ring - I will have to finish my blog, however I will continue my ramblings tomorrow and complete the story of Astral. If I'm boring you please tell me to shut up - I'm getting into this blogging, anyone out there interested or need some help with touring Britain ??????
Before I go - heres my favourite tour below - if you come to England this is the tour to do - its a unique itinerary (one of my original routes I'm proud to say)
P.S Excuse my spelling - I write very fast and dont check ???
Click here for full details
and heres my funny link of the day
» Stones and Bones Tour » Full Day Tour
Highlights: Stonehenge » Salisbury Cathedral and ancient market town » Old Sarum Castle » Avebury Stone Circle » Chalk Hill-Figures » Silbury Hill » Country Pub Lunch
'A wonderful journey through the mists of time, exploring the mysteries and rich heritage of ancient Britain'
Visit the beautiful medieval city of Salisbury and explore the magnificent Cathedral crowned with the tallest spire in Britain and built by medieval craftsmen over 750 years ago. See one of the few surviving original texts of the Magna Carta and wander around the picturesque streets of this ancient market town.Afterwards,we visit Old Sarum Castle (Old Salisbury), one of Britain's earliest settlements. First occupied over 5000 years ago, its been occupied and defended in turn by the Romans, Saxons and Normans and it was the site of the original city and cathedral. Explore the ruins of this once thriving city in their ancient and beautiful setting, and enjoy spectacular views over the sweeping landscape of Salisbury Plain.
A highlight of the day is a hearty lunch in a cosy country pub nestling in the beautiful Woodford Valley. Maybe sample the local ales before continuing our scenic drive to the awe - inspiring prehistoric monument of Stonehenge - Click here for 2006 Special Access Dates. Hear about the many myths, legends and mysteries of this World Heritage Site, built over 5000 years ago, and take time to reflect upon its powerful, mysterious presence. As we meander through the the countryside to Avebury, we pass famous white horses carved into the chalk hillsides and picturesque, tucked away villages. We explore the mysterious phenomena of crop circles and take a closer look at any which may be in the area (seasonal).
Avebury, the largest stone circle in Britain and the product of over 500 years of effort by Neolithic man. Enjoy a walking tour of this ancient site and try your hand at the ancient art of dowsing. Prepare to be amazed !There's also time to explore the charming village of Avebury with its thatched cottages, antiques and village church - and maybe enjoy a cream tea.
We also see Silbury Hill, Europe's largest prehistoric man-made monument yet forever a mystery, before returning back to the present - London.
A truly legendary day out in the ancient Kingdom of Wessex !
This full day tour departs daily from Central London. 8.15am - 6pm. Free pick up from most Central London Hotels. Adult Price: £59Child Price: £54 (3 - 16 yrs)
Ramblings from the accounts department
"One of the highlights of our recent trip to the UK was our
outing to Bath and Stonehenge. From my first e-mail contact with Michael to
book the trip to getting picked up promptly on time by Dave, my friend and I
had a good feeling about the company. When the tour began with Peter behind
the wheel, I knew that we had picked a winner.
Pete's upbeat personality and extensive knowledge transformed a bus of
strangers into a group of friends on a road trip. We were lucky to have
him. At Stonehenge we confirmed the meaning of life is 42 and during our
travels we discussed that life as a 'buttered bun' is better than doing
without. (Those who were on the bus that day know what I mean.) I wish
that there had been time to do another tour. I recommend your company to
everyone wishing to have an excellent time with friendly, knowledgeable
guides (that's you, Pete!) while traveling in a clean, well maintained
vehicle. In a word, it was Outstanding."
Nancy Farrell
27 November 2005
Did You Know:
The historic Windsor Castle in Britain has more than its fair share of ghosts, according to the United Kingdom-based Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena. The ghosts include some royal ones, including King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, King Charles I, and King George III ("Mad" King George). King Henry is supposed to haunt the cloisters near the Deanery with ghostly groans and the sound of dragging footsteps.
I wish I had known this before I went to visit the castle recently!
My husband and I were looking for something to do the weekend before last and I told him about our Romans, Royals and Gargoyles day tour. We decided that it sounded like a great day so we set out for Bath with the intention of doing a bit ofChristmas shopping. I found the perfect dress for his work's Christmas 'do' within a few minutes of being there. (Shoes were a different story though!)
We needed a traditional cream tea in the famous Pump Room to recover from all that shopping. So, feeling slightly full but nicely relaxed, we set off for Windsor Castle.
The view of the castle as we drove along the M4 was beautiful. It was a freezing cold day but that meant the sky was a crystal clear blue. I really enjoyed wandering around Windsor before going into the Castle. I don't know about anyone else but learning a bit more about the castle had the effect of making me feel very small and insignificant. The bulding has been there for over 900 years and seen a huge number of Kings and Queens come and go. (Glad we didn't see any ghosts - I'm not very brave!)
Anyway, after all that shopping and sightseeing we were feeling pretty tired. We went for a snack to finish off the day and then headed for home. I think next weekend we'll try the Magical tour and find out a bit more about the mysteries of Glastonbury and Stonehenge...
Tales from a travel office
We had a few clients late this morning due to over indulgance with Thanksgiving celebrations. Too much beer and pumpkin pie. Still we got them in the end so all was not lost. Cold day for touring today - don't envy them at Stonehenge which is an exposed site even on the best of days. But at least there wont be too many people there today - today is a day to stay in close to radiator. A girl in the office went to see her sister last night and had to scrape snow off he rcar this morning. Not a good start to the day. And they reckon there will be worse to come this weekend - London area usually gets of lightly but we'll see.
But hey, I don't care - I'm off to New York tomorrow ! I shall be the tourist from hell - If I take a tour, I shall be late for pick up and then scream don't the phone at the tour operator demanding they send the bus back to collect me even though I decided to have an extra half hour in bed, then I shall be late going back to the bus when we get off and visit places, keeping everyone waiting whilst I buy my postcrds, and then I shall demand my money back because we get back late and I miss my theatre reservation.
No - I wont be ! I shall be a model tourist. On time, polite and just happy to be having some time out and enjoying somewhere new.
Look forward to some Christmas shopping, sightseeing and Avenue Q which has been highly recommended. And some of our office are off to Cardiff to see a rugby match - big game apparently if you are Welsh or from New Zealand but ibt doesn't do it for me.
So busy day today getting everything done. Sometimes you wonder why you go away cos you end up doing two weeks work before and after you break.
No time to blog today so a short one. Have a good weekend and keep warm.
Q
An Evening in Salisbury
Hello,
Over half way through the week now. I'm off to Salisbury tonight to babysit for my Niece (5 yrs) and Nephew (11 months). She' s off for a night out into Amesbury with her husband and I'm left holding the baby (literally!).
I love the Wiltshire area. The first time that I visited it was with our company on our Stones and Bones day tour (Stonehenge, Salisbury, Old Sarum Castle, Avebury and a pub lunch in the price). Funnily enough not long after that my sister moved there because of her husbands job. I love visiting her there and seeing all of the attractions and beautiful countryside.
My niece has the day off from school tomorrow so I think I'll be a nice little sister and take the horrors away for the morning. She only lives 5 minutes away from Stonehenge so we will probably end up there. My niece loves looking at the 'big stones' and trying to make shapes out of them. We may also end up at Old Sarum Castle, she loves running around the ruins and looking at the pictures of what it once looked like.
After such an eventful morning it will be a drive back to work for me. A well deserved rest from the kids - love them to pieces but its always nice to hand them back!
Did You Know That: The largest prehistoric monument in England is not Stonehenge but the Avebury Circles nearby. Most of the village of Avebury lies within the circle of stones which dates back to 1800 BC.
Back To Work
Back to work on a Monday morning after a pretty busy weekend. Headed into London on Saturday for a bit of culture. Underground was not too crowded and ran perfectly meaning we were in Covent Garden just after lunch time. Covent Garden is a great place to head to on a Saturday afternoon to check out the street performers - never quite know what you're going to come across! There was a busker just outside the station and he was so good before we knew it we has been standing there for 10 minutes. Tearing ourselves away we made for the main square and one of my favourite pubs, The Punch and Judy. The great thing about London during the winter is a lot less crowds - meaning we could grab an excellent spot on the balcony and watch the street performers. Some were great and some were just insane - great entertainment.
After a couple of drinks to warm up from the cold it was off to Leciester Square to catch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Really enjoyed the movie - a lot darker than the others and not quite as much for the kids. Even if the previous three movies haven't caught your fancy I would recommend giving this one a go. The phenomena of the Boy Wizard certainly shows no sign of abating - as the popularity of our
Harry Potter tours continues to prove.
Another busy week ahead of us here in the office with Thanksgiving fast approaching. We still have seats on the tours so if you fancy escaping from the city for a day give us a call.
A day at the travel office
Busy week in the travel industy in London - we all took turns going to the World Travel Market. It was good to meet agents and partners - nice to put faces to names.
Downlaoded emails today and got another nice thank you in - its great when our customers take the time to write when they get back home. Makes it all worthwhile. There is real satisfaction that we made one day of someone's holiday really special - and thats what we set out to do all those years ago when we founded our company. You can click on our web site for lots more - genuine thank you's from genuine people. http://
www.astraltravels.co.uk"I took the Stones & Bones tour last weekend and wanted to give you some feedback. First off, PETER was a wonderful guide! Very funny & informative. He kept it interesting & even took the time to get some music together for our travels. He made it fun."
Looking forward to a busy week next week - seems like there are lots of people heading to London for the US Thanksgiving Holiday. We can't promise turkey, pumpkin pie, beer , a family gathering more beer American football and more beer and more family but we can promise a great time in London. Beautiful day in London today - cold but blue skies and sunshine. Makes every thing gleam and look wonderful - makes you proud to be a Londonner. I am heading over to New York for a long overdue visit - it coincides with Thanksgiving (so will be looking for turkey, pumpkin pie, beer and football - but not the family arguments !) but its also coincides with my BIG 40 ! Looking for a tour company like ours to show us the best of New York and round and about. Suggestions welcome.
That's all from a sunny London for now. Looking forward to the weekend.............have a great one.
World Travel Market - London, United Kingdom
Thought this would be the ideal opportunity to start a travel blog. Our team have just spent the last three days at the World Travel Market in London. We managed to meet most of our US agents and meet up with old friends - an excuse to have a couple of beers and be optomistic about 2006. Londons tour business has been pretty bleak since July 7th (bus bombs!) and many companies have struggled ever since. I know at least one company - Martins coaches trading as Royal Heritage tours have gone bust (kind of somes them right in a way as they copied our unique itineraries and even copied our literature) but seriously it has been a poor year for tourism this yeay. For the first time in ten years we have discounted our day tours (ten pound off!
www.astraltravels.co.uk) We are now looking forward to next year.
We are a relativley small operation with emphasis on looking after our customers unlike the greedy big operators intent on whirlwind tours of britian and not giving a damn about customer service. We have 12 luxury vehicles and started up in 1995 with one crappy old minibus (anyone remember the early tours ??????) We have come along way since then but still like to think we are small enough to care and big enough to cope. The office is quiet at the moment so I though it would be a great time to strart this blog (all new to me) and we all are gonna take it in turns writing a daily paragraph or two and letting the world know about the workings of a small independant company in London - some of you may have seen the Office ? Not quite like that but it should be interesting to see what comes out of the team. We will endeavour to tell you about the industry in general, changes, british weather, travel updates, whos got hanmg overs etc etc and hopefully might encourages some of you to take one of our tours some day? Plus we will post one of these each day!
The phrase "One for the road" - During the middle ages and mediaeval period, the condemned were taken from London city gaols to Tyburn Hill for execution. En route, along what is today’s Oxford Street, the cart stopped and they were allowed one final drink at a country inn situated on the road. The ‘one’ they were drinking was for the road to death
