Manager's Note

Hello valued clients, friends and those of you who are viewing our website for the first time. What a busy and exciting start of the year we have had here at Kings! As I mentioned in the last brochure, we travelled to Sydney for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo show in February. All our Tour Managers, Katherine (from the office) and I escorted the tours and it is safe to say we all had a fantastic time! The show itself was brilliant (with a ripping display of fireworks to round it off!) and our touring of Sydney and its surrounds was also very enjoyable.

We have kept our Tour Manager Dorothy on her toes; she returned home from the Tattoo and set out again for Vietnam with our group not long after! Everyone had a fabulous time so we are putting on the tour again in February 2011, a perfect time to go and a wonderful itinerary. We make sure that you see the real beauty of Vietnam; the engaging historical sights, lovely hotels and the diverse range of food.
March was even busier for us with the release of our Andre Rieu Concert Tours in Sydney and Adelaide. Some of our clients will be ‘Spending a Day with Andre’ in October but no doubt we will all have an amazing time. The tour sold out in two weeks, so you will see in the brochure we are taking registrations for our next tour which will be released when Andre announces his additional performances in Australia.

Our bi-annual New Zealand tour also left in March and as always Grand Pacific Tours lived up to their reputation – that is one superb tour! Our October 2010 departure is filling up fast – so if you would like to book on let us know soon!

Our Easter trips, Norfolk Island, South Africa and Autumn Leaves of Victoria tours have come and gone; unsurprisingly, the first reports I received about the groups were about how lovely our clients are! We are lucky to have so many wonderful people travelling with us.

Whilst we have toured to Africa for a few years now, this was the first tour with our new itinerary. Apart from a few small changes, we are repeating the tour again next April. Each place is a highlight but the stay at the Makutsi Safari Lodge is an experience not to be missed. They care about the animals so much and they look after you like family. Everyone who goes to Norfolk raves about the beauty of the place, one client even mentioned moving there!! The Autumn Leaves of Victoria group had perfect scenery in Bright; exactly what we were after. Roseanna (from the office) flew to Melbourne to join the group for a few nights.

If you are looking at escaping the winter weather for a week or so, take a look at our Kimberley Country, Exmouth and Karijini National Park Tour and The Ghan and Darwin Tour - there is still time to book on one of those.

Later in the year is a perfect time to head to New Zealand and Tasmania. Our new Tasmania Tour is an exclusive Kings Tour - we are working closely with a wonderful operator in Hobart to make this a small group experience with personal touches.

As it is every year, Christmas will soon be upon us before we know it! If you are hoping to plan a little Christmas getaway this year, have a look at what we have in store for 2010.

Our "something different" for Christmas this year is our Hong Kong Tour. Jenni from Have a Go News celebrated Christmas with her family there a few years ago and highly recommended it. Whilst it wont be a white Christmas, it will be cold so the perfect temperature to enjoy a traditional Christmas Dinner. Hong Kong decorates the city with an abundance of lights and Disneyland puts on a special celebration called Disney's Sparkling Christmas. I hope you will join us in discovering the magic of Hong Kong, guaranteed to enrapture those young at heart!

If you want to be home for Christmas but would like to do something different to celebrate the New Year, then join us on our New Year in Hobart Tour. You stay 6 nights in Hobart and enjoy the local sights, the Taste of Tasmania Festival and see the Yachts arrive from the Sydney to Hobart Race.

We have started to put a few tours in for 2011 for those of you who are planning ahead. There are some worthwhile earlybird deals such as Fly Free for Europe River Cruise, Partner Fly Free for Russia and amazing group rates on the Sun Princess cruise from Sydney to Fremantle – it’s not until July next year but it's the perfect time to cruise around the top of Australia so don't miss out.

Roseanna is off to New Zealand in June to experience the South Island and Katherine is off to Bali soon for a warm holiday. Bob is brushing the dust off his name badge and getting organised for the Eastern Canada and USA Tour. For those of you joining him, make sure you keep him on his toes!!

Jenny Page
Manager