Some things never change.

1.Occasionally weeks go past before I write a new blog entry.

2. I love exploring Scotland to find new places and experiences for our holidays.

One of my acid tests of any holiday is what is the journey like – and we all know how a delayed flight or similar can ruin the enjoyment of the first few days of a holiday, or indeed, if on the way home, turn the pleasure of the experience too quickly into a distant memory.

It was while flying to Barra in October that we came up with the concept of Great Scottish Journeys. Yes, the flight was delayed – by a couple of hours due to fog, but somehow, especialy once we were skimming just above the clouds, watching the highest peaks poking through into the blue like some ethereal landscape, we both thought the same: this journey was already a highlight of the experience.

It’s the same feeling get when I catch a ferry to one of the islands. Maybe its because catching a ferry from my home island was always associated with the anticipation of new adventures, or the pleasure of going home.

Driving these days in much of the world is increasingly a tiresome chore. In a previous career I had to drive regularly from Glasgow to Aberdeen and Invernes, adn occasionally to many other key towns in Scotland. Of course such trips were sometimes a chore…but then you would catch a snowy peak or glassy loch in your side window, and then think wow – my colleagues are currently on the M25/M61/M4…..am I the lucky one or what! My favourite trip was to Fort William, which of course meant going through Glencoe. For those of you who don’t know it, it is truly awe-inspiring, and to some extent part of it’s appeal to me is that it’s a main route through the Highlands. Too easy for the business traveller to moan about the tourist traffic or the lack of places to grab a coffee. Try it for yourself!

It’s been a busy, exciting and definitely better than expected autumn so far.

We had our best ever September, with many highlights including a group from Poland for 5 days, who had a brilliant time in Edinburgh and the Highlands -  and apparently went home with half a distillery.

We enjoyed a memorable weekend with a group of classic car drivers with a tour that included the Mull of Kintyre, where the sun came out and it was almost warm.

My end of year recce trips all seem to have taken place in sunny weather – watch out for some new additions to our 2008 programme.

Then last week Heather and I fulfilled a long held ambition and flew to Barra, where the airport is also the beach, and the timetable is subject to tides, stayed a night, enjoyed walks on long sandy beaches and some great home-made scones before heading back to Glasgow.

Then, a massive surprise for us, we won our category in the prestigious 2007 Scottish Thistle Awards – known as the Tourism Oscars, at a glittering event in Edinburgh. I can’t believe it ( and haven’t stopped grinning since!) It was especially appropriate that we were able to share the occasion with several different people who have made it all possible – Jennette, Shona, Pam, Arthur and Julie. It was just a shame that Azra, who is currently getting to grips with having a young baby and a toddler was not able to join us.

The next two months are the time when we finalise preparations for the new season and there are plenty of new initiatives in hand, with lots of new holiday ideas of course, as well as an online booking and payment system, new cancellation insurance policy and a whole new back office system.

One thing will not change is our focus on giving our customers great value, and our end of year customer satisfaction scores are pretty amazing. For those of you who have travelled with us you will know that we ask you to rate every aspect of your McKinlay Kidd holiday experience. We analyse all scores and take our suppliers through their performances to see where they can improve and to congratulate them (more often than not) where they are proving excellent experiences. For ourselves the key score is whether a customer would recommend our services to their friends, and this year – when we have looked after more clients than ever the recommendation level has risen to a superb 96%.

The challenge now is to make 2008 even better.

Heather and I, as well as all the team in the office, were delighted when we learnt a few days ago that we have been shortlisted for the Scottish Tourism oscars – otherwise known as the Scottish Thistle Awards. For a business just over 4 years old this fabulous recognition for what we have achieved. We are all looking forward very much to the awards ceremony itself at the end of October.

With another record breaking summer season begining to come to an end, even more valuable recognition comes from the hundreds of questionnaires and letters we have received from satisfied customers. Whether its been after wildlife holidays on Mull, island-hopping in the Outer Hebrides or fortnight tours of the Highlands, we can see that we are pretty much getting it right. Of course occasionaly things do go wrong, no matter how hard we try, but these have been rare.

What comes across consistently is that our clients are thoroughly enjoying the personal service they receive from hotel staff, guides and other people they meet during their stay. This individual approach and focus on customer service is one of the key factors I look for as we seek out new hotels to add to our portfolio. Over the next few months I will spending as much time as possible touring the country catching up wth our current business partners, reviewing plans for 2008 and very much on the look-out for new options. Its certainly an enjoyable part of the job – though it is stll not that easy to find just the right places for our clients.

It has been rather too long since the past post here, so as the autumn progresses I plan to be much more frequent keeping readers up to date with our new plans and the good and bad I find as I travel around…watch this space!

Just finished reading a good and rather different book – the Next Big Thing by Mike Russell. Described as a fable of modern Scotland, it tells the story of what happens when the Scottish establishment go looking for a big idea to invigorate Scottish tourism and is loosely based on the (true) story of John Lennon’s childhood holidays in the far northwest – Durness near Cape Wrath. There are quite a few clearly recognisable characters – the author has been an SNP politician for many years – but some pretty sound reflections on tourism today.

There is no doubt in my mind that Scottish tourism has incredible – and still unrealised – potential. The danger of always looking for the next Big Idea is that in fact most ideas are small to start with. Some of the best businesses we work with have grown by gradually improving and developing great but small ideas. What they have in common is that they have not stood still. Very few of them have had any meaningful support from the state, whose focus is always on the Big numbers. I guess that’s only to be expected, after all a business founded on grants and subsidies risks being dependent on them and there are plenty of examples from “big business ideas”, that when the grants run out so the business closes or moves on to the next country.

The SNP are now our (minority) government and one of their highlight policies was doing away with the Scottish Tourist Board – Visit Scotland and coming it with the business development organisations- Scottish Enterprise et al. To be frank not a policy I agreed with- so let’s see what comes out. In the meantime those of us who have chosen to make a living from Scotland as a tourist destination will keep focussed improving our own businesses, what ever politicians and state agencies throw at us. And yes, there is still the hope that we can find the next big thing.

Just back from a flying (well I went by ferry!) visit to Mull. Keeping up to speed with all the news from one of our most popular destinations.
Checked out some additional accommodation and went round all the hotels we currently use.
Everyone gearing up for the late May holiday period – one of the busiest on the island. There has been some great weather on the west coast of Scotland over the last 6 weeks – better than many over the past weekend for example. A few days of drizzle with us now, but fingers crossed for a return to sunshine thereafter.
Great news on the wildlife front: minke whale sightings have been excellent so far this year – almost every trip is seeing several, some great porpoise and dolphin sightings and the first basking sharks of the season have been seen. However, the Orca have not yet made their usual May appearance – for two years in a row they have been sighted on May 15th, but not this year.

Our whale-watch partners have introduced a new boat for this season – a little larger and more comfortable than the previous one, with a great upper-deck viewing platform, as well as more inside seating and such extras as speakers throughout so the hydrophones can heard by all guests at the same time, fresh ground coffee, stabilisers and, coming soon, an LCD screen. The Mars bar is still there for the first to spot a minke whale – one of our clients was the lucky winner last weekend. ( Very time I see James I remind him that he still owes me a Mars from my first trip with them 3 years ago!)

On land our guides have been finding otters on just about every trip also – with one family being particularly amenable in turning up regularly. Although there was tragedy for one eagle pair- the TV stars at Loch Frissa lost both their chicks when their nest collapsed – there are still plenty of other white-tailed and golden eagles there.

This trip no time for me to go out wildlife watching myself – that will have to wait for later in the year. I am looking forward to it already!

As a former Politics student I find elections fascinating and today’s elections in Scotland are of enormous importance. Polls show that the SNP (whose core objective is Scottish independence) have been consistently the most popular party for a number months now. The extremely balanced, mixed system of PR here will definitely mean no party will be able to form a government on its own, so the questions to be resolved are, who will be the main party in a coalition ( Labour or SNP) and which of the smaller parties (Lib Dems and Tories) will link with them. Could we see an SNP-led government, or perhaps the “unthinkable” Tory/Labour coalition? The Lib dems are much more likely to be “coalition friendly”, as they were in the last government. Then there will be the role of the third tier parties, from the Greens, to Scottish Socialists ( not forgetting the ever-colurful Tommy Sheridan and Solidarity). Together they may have enough votes to have a major influence, but will they actualy seek government positions?

As a business owner, as well as personal preferences, I also have to concern myself with the likely economic effect of the election, and I guess my main concern is what my customers and potential customers will think of an outcome which might mean an SNP led government. Will that be seen as anti-English for example – and 75% of my clients are English.

It has not been an easy voting decision for many people, and I know some will decide not to vote. I love elections, so I will definitely vote, but with less than unbridled enthusiasm for my choice. (A choice by the way which I am not going to reveal here.)

This morning I noted a poll in the Scotsman which reported that 83% of people thought Scotland would be a better place after today. I just hope the majority are right – buut as a student of politics I can confirm that majorities, especially in polls, are not always reliable in their judgement. Watch this space.

It’s great when a plan comes together. This month has been momentous for us in a number of ways. We have received more enquiries, more bookings and more website traffic than ever before in the¬†three and a half years we have been in business.

We featured in a wonderful article in Sainsbury’s magazine, on our wildlife holidays on Mull, which has provoked a great deal on interest. (We have also been mentioned in both the Guardian and Sunday Times recently.) This coincided very nicely with the launch of our newly revamped website. Add that to our other marketing activities and the results are clear to see.

We are also delighted to welcome a new member of the team on board – Julie Morris. Julie, who has plenty of experience in the fields of tourism, design and marketing, has already settled in well, but does need to be more careful in the number of chocolate biscuits she is bringing in for the office to share. Now we are on the first rather than fourth floor, running up the stairs is not an available exercise option to work them off!

Later next month we are planning to revisit Orkney Рwhere Heather and I have enjoyed some memorable holidays in the past. We will be looking at a number of hotel possibilities and  hope to be able to offer a full programme of exciting holiday options there from April onwards.

We are also working on a couple of other major initiatives to introduce new services by early Summer – exciting times ahead, I hope.

Today¬†is one of my favourite days of the winter – as its Burn’s night tonight. A chance for a good party, some great poetry and a few songs. Even if you don’t understand a quarter of what he wrote – and it really is worth studying – Burns’ writings are a joy to listen to, especially when in the company of a few old friends, a good hearty meal and with a few drams. Well that’s my view anyway!

Here’s my favourite:

Its a great time for a celebration as well. January is nearly over and soon the days will really be getting longer and the Scottish holiday season will be upon us.

It’s been a few weeks since my last entry but I promise to be better at keeping things up dated from now on. As well as plenty of bookings for the spring and summer we have been really busy preparing our new website, which all being well, will be live by the start of February. Our current site has really been with us in the same form since we launched 3 years ago, with several up dates as we went along. The new site looks quite different, and has numerous new features. Many thanks to Ben at Hungrybrowser ¬†(what a great company name by the way!)¬†our trusty and very talented web designer.

Will write more about all the new holiday options we are featuring another time, but we did start the year with a fantastic mention in the Sunday Times Top 100 holidays feature – our brand new Family Week on Mull holiday came in at number 16, and was the only holiday in Scotland in the list. It’s nearly sold out as a result.

Anyway I am off to find a touch of tartan to take to the Burns supper Heather and I are going to……..and just for the occasion here’s a wee bit of the bard himself. The philosophy in this poem has as much resonance today as it had 211 years ago;

“Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a’ that,)
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an’ a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s coming yet for a’ that,
That Man to Man, the world o’er,
Shall brothers be for a’ that.

I do get asked this question quite regularly. Of course my first answer is Scotland, and we certainly spend more time away from home here than any where else, which is a great way to mix business with pleasure. Our last trip of the year was to Lochalsh and Skye in mid-October. We had a quite incredible day on the Staurday driving the Beulach na Ba – pass of the Cattle – at over 2000 feet the highest road in Scotland. At the top the views towards Skye were from a different world. The weather that day was really sunny and we got some great pictures- a few of which will be appearing very soon on the website. It was made all the more specila as we had taken the Morgan 4/4 which we use for classic car touring holidays. It brought the scenery even closer!

Earlier this month we did venture overseas, and Africa is probably our favourite “abroad ” destination. This year we had a very special trip, spending 5 days in Rwanda, incing 2 days tracking Mountona Gorillas, then 5 days in Kenya. We lived for nealry 2 years in Nairobi and were delighted to catch up with our very dear friends the Pandit family. We then headed to the Rift Valey and to an Ecolodge called Shompole, on a Masai conservancy. The rooms were out of this world – very open plan with a stunning outlook over the valley. it was quite a wrench to leave- I think Heather would have stayed there for ever!

Now its back to Scotland, with winter definitely – and finally – here. More recce trips underway – off to Speyside and the Cairngorms today. Getting excited about the new season, with lots of new holidays and plenty of old favourites in the pipeline.

One New Year’s resolution – write my blog more often!

Just spent a few days on Mull, reviewing our very successful programme there. Lots of exciting ideas for 2007 resulting – so watch our for website updates in the coming weeks.

Was also priviliged to follow in the footsteps of many of the first tourists to Scotland and visit Staffa and Fingal’s cave. Despite a choppy sea on the way out the truly awe-inspiring sight of the cave and then the landing and walk along the basalt columns to enter the cave itself certainly ranks amongst my top things to do in Scotland. What was even more fascinating was when, a little later in the tourist office, I came across a book with pictures of Victorian tourists on the very rocks where we had been standing. Queen Victoria, Tennyson, Jules Verne, Walter Scott, JM Turner, Robert Louis Stevenson and of course Mendelssohn…..

We also added yet another deserted sandy beach to my collection – this time at Port na Bhan – watch out for this and other additions to Robert’s recommendations….

Tobermory itself never ceases to impress. On a late afternoon stroll along the seafront we reflected on the good quality shops (without too much tartan tat), atmospheric bars, increasing number of decent restaurants and of course the unique setting of the village. It is almost a blueprint of how Scottish villages should work best balancing the needs of locals and tourists.

Mull is also blessed with an incredible array and concentration of wildlife. The latest addition to my personal collection of Scottish wildlife experiences came on our Wildlife safari when the eight of us were lucky enough to spend around half an hour watching THREE golden eagles – an adult female and her youngster plus another curious juvenile interloper. They soared and swooped so acrobatically in plain view fo rus over a loch side mountain- almost aware that they were entertaining us.

Yes 3 days reminding me why I do what I do – trying to share a little more of this country with visitors.