So….March, the first month which is Spring, depending on whether you go for Meteorological Spring (the 1st of the month), or Astrological Spring(which starts at the Spring or Vernal Equinox). It’s also significant for me as along with many people it’s my year end financially, but it’s also the last month in what I sometimes laughingly call my ‘quiet season’.
Once the clocks have changed at the end of October, until they change again at the end of March I don’t have many in person tours , although this year I did offer a public tour in Coventry in celebration of International Women’s Day. The tour explored the places in the city centre associated with 3 medieval women who had a profound impact on the development of Coventry, which became one of the most important cities in medieval England.
Otherwise, March was really about networking, admin, personal learning and development and planning for the late spring and early summer, when I have 5 trips that are multi-day tours.
Networking started with a bit of a bang and definitely a shock to the system. It was the FSB bootcamp. A whole day of networking and learning, starting with networking breakfast at 7:30 and then a form of Speed networking before we got down to the main business of the day. Expertly hosted by Sandra Garlick and Gus Bhandal, with the theme ‘Step into Success’ it was a great way to focus on what I hoped to achieve over the next 3-6 months.
Another event which I try to attend every year is the British Travel & Tourism Show at the NEC. It’s a good opportunity listen to some great speakers about current travel trends and also to meet up and chat to other people in the UK travel industry, including fellow guides from around the country.
We’re still in what I call AGM season and our local association the Heart of England Tourist Guides had it’s AGM at Coombe Court. Before the main AGM we had a talk about its airfield. I hadn’t realised what an important role it had played during both World Wars.
Online networking gives us a chance to speak to people from around the world. I joined Latitude online an event set up to be a space for conversation and connection within responsible tourism. It was interesting to see that all across the world there are similar challenges and concerns about how to manage tourism sustainably.
A lot of the month was also very focussed on preparations for the trips that I have in April and May. This included a whole day in London to meet with fellow tour leaders for RIT’s England and Wales Tour. I had conversations by email and phone chatting with the product manager from HF for a couple of tours in the Cotswolds which are new this year as well as a zoom meeting with AAV Luxury Travel to discuss possible tours in Oxford.
The month wasn’t all work and no play though. I’ve been reading quite a lot, just for pleasure, a whole series about Murders in the Brecon Area of Wales. We also managed a couple of trips to see live performances; Murder at Midnight and a Murder Mystery Dinner. There seems to be a theme here!
And we went on a trip to France. As the trip was really a series of city breaks we managed a whole variety of different tours: in person (including one in French), recorded commentary when on a bus and a boat, and self-guided on our phones. Even though I was on holiday I couldn’t stop myself from analysing them. You know, thinking “this works well” or “this could be a bit better”.
Yes, I know if you read my last diary we went away in February as well, but looking at the commitments we have both taken on there’s no time for a holiday now until about November! We must plan them better next year. Good job we both really enjoy what we do.
The photo is the tomb of Katheryn Parr – the only monarch to be buried in a parish church. I took the photo when we visited Sudeley Castle as I’ll be going there at least twice later in the year with groups.