Now many operators and suppliers already know, that National Sales Manager, Martin Slater loves a good curry and in his last 12 years at Greatdays has, whilst on the road, spent many a lonely evening in Indian restauraunts up and down the country.

At the end of March, it was the turn of Kym, product consultant in the European department, together with Greatdays' Executive Director Paul Beaumont to pack their bags and head for the Continent – destination Black Forest, south-west Germany. On the agenda was a whistle-stop tour of some of the most picturesque parts of the area including the spa town of Baden-Baden, the village of Lahr, where the annual Chrysanthemum Festival will be held later in the year, as well as Gengenbach and Karlsruhe.

Whilst we normally associate April with 'April Showers', our day trips department thought it would be a good idea to bring Christmas forward a few months and sent 'Dale', the sales team mascot, along to our 'Sound of Music' Christmas Taster on Friday the 13th, to the Mercure Hotel Chester, to join a mix of invited Group Organisers and Coach Operators.

The Disney department spent a lot of their time at Disneyland Paris during March 2012 looking after 2 of their annual events.

We were delighted to have been invited to the official opening of Leons Travel's brand new £3m premises, which clearly sends a bold statement that there is a long term future for holidays by coach. Paul Beaumont – Group Executive Director and Martin Slater – National Sales Manager made the short journey to offer their support and have a guided tour of the offices and garage premises, plus assist with the sampling of some light refreshments.

Claire from our sales team along with Mark, Head of UK Operations and the sales mascot 'Dale', recently took some clients to our first 'House of 10,000 Secrets' event, held at, 'The Magic Circle' in London. Kindly hosted overnight by the Thistle Hotel Euston. After a 2 course buffet dinner there is a short walk to the venue with a welcome drink on arrival. Magicians performed a variety tricks with close up table magic before they entered the auditorium for a short but very informative talk on the history. This was followed by a 45 minute live show from three different acts. Later there was enough time for guests to explore the museum with its priceless treasures and original props from the likes of 'Sooty' and 'Tommy Cooper'. How many of you knew that HRH Prince Charles is a member of the 'Magic Circle'?

Claire from our 'sales team' (She really needs to spend more time in the office!), was on her travels again recently to her home town of Liverpool to experience a ships visit on Fred. Olsens newest and largest vessel, the 'Balmoral'. Claire was enjoying it so much, by the time she got to the Observatory lounge with its panoramic views and talented piano player, she wanted to sail away there and then! But as we need her manning the sales lines, she will have to wait a little longer and perhaps choose one of the 13 cruise departures from Liverpool alone, Fred. Olsen have planned for 2013.

In March Greatdays Managing Director Andy Beard spent 3 days in Moscow at MITT, Russia's leading and largest travel exhibition. Andy accompanied Marina Slade (Inbound Sales Manager) and Larisa Firth (Assistant Inbound Operations Manager) on this event which saw nearly 80,000 attendees pass through the doors of the exhibition. The team were there promoting the well established Greatdays UK Incoming services to the Russian travel trade. During the 3 day exhibition the team also managed to squeeze in a reception with Tim Barrow the newly appointed UK Ambassador to the Russian Federation at the UK Embassy, the MITT trade reception at the Ritz-Carlton, a trip to a very snow white covered Red square and a visit to the Kremlin!

The Day Trips Department were pleased to see the first Shropshire day trip of 2012 take place on the 19th March.

Martin Slater – National Sales Manager was delighted and privileged to be invited to the delivery and unveiling of Phillips International's new Paxton Elite coach. The ceremony was carried out by Wyre Valley MP Mike Garnier. The coach has been named 'Diamond Sovereign', which fits in with Alan and Celia Phillip's buy-British policy and the Queens Celebrations.

The Day Trip department were pleased to wave off the first day trip of 2012 on Saturday 18th February. The group were not about to let the wet and windy morning spoil their enjoyment and they set off for the Fylde coast in good spirits.

Here I am again, this time promoting our extensive range of products to Group Organisers and Coach Operators at the 'Tourism & Events Showcase' held on Saturday the 4th February at Harewood House, Leeds.

We were pleased to take a table for the first time at the Steve Reed Tourism event held at MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) in Manchester on Monday 30th January, our last exhibition of the month. But more to follow in February and March!

Another exhibition completed during the busy month of January. Here we are at Alexandra Palace in London, ready for the opening of the Excursions show. This is always a busy show for us, the stand manned by our 'Sales Team', whilst our UK operations team like to go and look for new ideas from the many exhibitors. This year we also launched our first ever Day Trips brochure for groups in the South East.

We have just attended the GTOA National AGM & Conference, held at the Park Inn by Radisson in York. The event gave us the opportunity to experience various attractions this area has to offer, such as Eden Camp, Castle Howard, Clifford's Tower, York Castle Museum and the Jorvik Viking Centre. All ideal venues for your groups to visit.

We have just attended our first exhibition of 2012, 'The South West Show' on Saturday 14th January based 'at-Bristol'. Joint organisers Group Travel Organiser Magazine and Tourism South East worked together to support Tourism Businesses across the South West and beyond with the introduction of this new travel trade event.