Creating something special.......

I remember the moment like it was yesterday, it was nearly 12-years ago, I was standing at my local bus stop with my then girlfriend and now wife, Rebecca and we were heading off on a trip of a lifetime.

As the bus stopped and we loaded our rucksacks on board, I turned to the bus driver and ordered my ticket, “two returns to Cape Town please”. Of course, to him, I was joking, we were heading for Bristol bus station but for us, this was indeed the first leg of a long trip down to South Africa to follow the British and Irish Lions, an adventure that had, for a long time, been firmly at the top of my bucket list.

We arrived in Cape Town one-week before the first-test was being played in Durban and after meeting up with friends and family and having dinner and a few beers on the first night, before I knew it, we were heading to Newlands Stadium for a provincial game against the Western Province.

We headed into the ground early to soak up the atmosphere but it was not until I saw the players wearing those famous red shirts that it finally hit me. I was in South Africa; I was watching the Lions and I was indeed, living my dream!!

The tour from that moment on was an overwhelming success. Even taking into consideration that the Lions subsequently lost the test series, my experience was even better than I had dreamt it would be. The amazing people that we travelled with (and met along the way), the stunningly beautiful places that we visited, the pulsating nature of each test match, I could go on but literally everything was absolutely fantastic. On my return, I would often ask myself the question, did we have a great time for any specific reason or did everyone that was on that tour in 2009 have an equally amazing time? I am sure in their own way, everyone would have had a brilliant trip but for me, I eventually settled on my own answer.  The reason that my journey was so incredible, was because it was exactly that, it was my journey. I, along with the people that I travelled with had planned the trip ourselves and we built an itinerary based on what we wanted to do. I had been on group tours before, where every day was planned out with what sometimes seemed like military precision and as good as they were, I always felt that I was dancing to someone else’s tune. This was simply not the case on this tour, it was us that were playing the tune and we all had a bloody good go at dancing (badly) to every beat of it along of the way.  

This conclusion ultimately helped to form part of the philosophy for the travel opportunities that through Keyhole International, I help people create now. This approach has certainly been central to the tour packages that have been designed for people wanting to follow the 2021 Lions in South Africa next July and August. I wanted the experiences that I was offering to be structured enough to give my guests a framework to travel within but flexible enough for them to explore their chosen destinations in their own time and at their own speed.

Now, it is all well and good having that as your wish but in order to do that you need to have access to travel providers who can service that requirement. Thankfully for me, this is where my trusted partners in South Africa have really come into their own. I am so fortunate to be working with people who, when it comes to creating travel experiences,  I have this in common.

Since I started advertising for this tour, I have had a number of conversations with people who have that same dream that I had (and still have) of wanting to go to South Africa to watch and follows the Lions tour. As you can imagine, some of those people have had a very clear idea of what they wanted their bucket list trip to look like and some have needed a little more guidance. Consequently, some itineraries have been designed over one or two zoom calls and some have needed multiple hook ups to make sure that we managed to build exactly what the customer was wishing for. Throughout this process, we have ended up creating a variety of different itineraries but they all share that vitally important common characteristic. They have all been designed with the individuals who are going on them at the heart of the journey.

Some of the itineraries that have been created include all three tests, some include two and some include just one test. Some include a whole range of excursions and some include very few. Most include a safari experience of some description, a few people are going to be doing one of the world’s biggest bungee jumps and indeed some that will be jumping into a cage and having a close encounter with a Great White Shark or two. Some people are touring vineyards, whilst some will be touring  Battlefields. We even have guests who will visit Victoria Falls and Botswana on their trips. As you can see there is a lot going on.

I am very aware that when you offer something very bespoke, you have to prepare yourself for differences and luckily South Africa is so diverse that it has plenty of options to choose from.

Whatever the group and whatever the itinerary though, the process has been amazing. No matter what the size of the group or the individuals involved, I have loved getting to know my guests and even better than this I loved making that phone call or sending that email which confirms to them we have been able to deliver exactly what they want. It has not always been possible and for some it has meant advising them to look elsewhere for their trip. Although this is never nice, I believe it is for the best as I never want people to just settle for a trip. If they are hoping for their dream trip, it has to be exactly that……...their dream trip!! 

So that is where we are with the South Africa Tour 2021. As we begin to see the mist of Covid-19 very slowly beginning to lift, we can start to look forward to a brighter future. If that means that you would like to think about creating your own trip, please give me a call and let’s see what we can achieve.

For me, the Lions in South Africa is unique in so many ways but considering everything that has happened in 2020, this tour next year will be extra special and I am sure that my guests will feel the same, no matter what they have planned!!