Flying Colours Travel

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1 Flying Colours Travel Christmas Newsletter December 2017 As Im sure we say each year, its hard to believe that its already December and another year is about to be farewelled. Surely its not just me that they feel like the years are speeding by faster and faster each year? A huge thanks to all who came along to our Expo in November, a first on a Saturday for us. The weather was hot and though we clashed with a few other events on the day we were happy with the turn out and are already working to make next year better than ever - stay tuned! Its been a big year in the office with old faces gone, new faces welcomed and some new innovations we re working on which you can read about inside the one we are most excited about if the new Travel App that can access all of your itineraries at the swipe of your smart phone or tablet. Very cool! We ve been fortunate enough to spread our wings and further our knowledge and passion for travel by exploring Northern Western Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Canada, Northern Territory, Bali, Maldives, Europe, Uluru, Adelaide, Kho Samui, and rub shoulders with celebrities at the Grand Final Luncheon and the Logies! Many of you have travelled to some wonderful far away places this year and we thank you for the opportunity to allow us to help you get there. Where is hot for 2018 you ask? Canada is once again proving popular, as is Africa. It has been our pleasure to have been able to help many of you plan your holidays and look forward to doing so again in the future. We would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families the very best for Christmas and the New Year. Jacqui & The Flying Colours Travel Team Don t Forget to like us on Facebook Flying Colours Travel A new website is on its way! Keep an eye out for our new improved website - coming soon! Would you like to receive our outs? Also new to the office are our newsletters filled with updates and specials. If you haven't already received them and would like to let us know and we will be more than happy to add you to the list P: E: flyingcolours@netspace.net.au **Calling Solo Travelers ** If you are a Solo Travellers, male or female, looking to travel with others and would like to register your details please let us know so we can add your details to our database and keep you up to date with solo tours and single supplement specials

2 CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2017 Travel Insurance - When should I take it out?? It s a question we get asked a lot. We suggest that you should take out your travel insurance as soon as you make a payment on your holiday to ensure that there is cover for events unforeseen. I m sure all of you have heard about Mt Arung in Bali and the chaos it has caused for thousands of peoples travel plans, which then poses the question - will I be covered by travel insurance? Say you booked a Bali trip at the start of the year, but never took out their insurance until after Mt Arung erupted, you wont have cover against claims arising from its effects (such as delays and cancellations). But if you took it out your insurance when you booked before they knew it would erupt you would (as it was an unforeseen event). Its often thought that travel insurance only works whilst you are away, but that s not necessarily the case. Cancellation cover can works for you before you go in the event of cancellation. Don t leave it until the week prior to travel to take it out, what happens if you break your leg two weeks before your holiday and you cant go? No insurance means you will out of pocket for any cancellation expenses, often up to 100% of your trip. We represent Covermore, Suresave and Aussietravel Cover, as each one is slightly different so suit your needs. Note that this is general advice only and you should refer to your PDS and policy certificate for T & C s Stuck for a Gift? Give the gift of travel We have a great new range of our Paklite and Hedgren bags, packing cells as well as our gift vouchers. Soon we will also be stocking Contiki Vouchers which will be perfect for friends, kids or grandkids to kick start their travel journeys. These can be loaded up with funds for them to book or put towards payment of their Contiki tour, and of course we can help with the whole package, and you can keep track of them on the AXUS Travel App! Whats the travel app you ask? Keep reading Christmas Paklite Special: 40 % Discount off Paklite Cases 10 % Discount off Hedgren Bags GIFT VOUCHERS AVAILABLE 10 % Discount off all Travel Accessories Information Sessions 2018 Where do you want to hear about?? APT will also be coming down in March and making a presentation of their 2019 Early Birds to Europe. We would love to know what destinations YOU would like to hear about - Europe, River cruising, Small Ship Cruising, North America, Asia, Russia - Tell us what you think! Save the date - 14 March 2018

3 PAGE 3 CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2017 Expo Wrap Up Hot weather and the Camping & Caravan Show didn't stop you all from coming along to our first Saturday Expo which was a great success. We had several hundred people through the door and 30+ suppliers in attendance on the day. The Expo is a great opportunity to start planning your holidays or getting ideas for the future. We are already in the looking forward to 2018 and are hoping to have our Expo around the first couple of weeks of October. We will certainly make sure we keep you advised. Thank you to those that were able to make it on the day and without your support and attendance we would not be able to hold such events in Sale. Introducing AXUS Travel App We are so very excited to share with you this great new innovation which will allow you to access your itineraries from an app on your smart phone or tablet. Flight itineraries, hotel information, copies of your tickets, passports, vouchers, maps, destination information at your finger tips - and all of your trip information will still be accessible even after you come home so you can keep track of all of your trips! Flights reminders and gate departure information is all available when you use the App. We have already had some great feedback and suggest that it will be excellent for all clients whether you are travelling for business or leisure trip, if you would like more information about this please contact the office and we will sign you up with your access code and away you go!!! Travelers Refund Scheme A reminder that when travelling overseas you can claim the GST tax paid on goods bought in Australia and then taken with you out of Australia on your trip (subject to terms and conditions of course). You ll need your items, receipt, passport and boarding pass and then present them at a TRS desk at the airport or seaport. Alternatively you can lodge your claim on the TRS app. For more information check out TOP TRAVEL DESTINATIONS NOVEMBER / New Zealand 2/ Indonesia 3/ USA 4/ UK 5/ Thailand 6/ China 7/ Singapore 8/ Japan 9/ Fiji 10/India Speaking of Apps Did You know that some airlines require you to download their app to your phone or tablet enable you to access the entertainment? Virgin, Qantas, Silk Air are among those that require you access the apps through the free wifi onboard to watch movies on your flight.

4 PAGE 4 CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2017 A big tick off Ky s bucket list To top off 2017, Tim and I celebrated our 10 on the 24 November so to commemorate the occasion we treated ourselves to the Maldives! The Maldives is located in the Indian Ocean, south west of Sri Lanka and India, and made up of 1192 heavenly islands connected by speedboat or sea plane from the capital Male. We arrive into Male in the evening via Singapore with Singapore Airlines and after a 45 min speedboat transfer in the dark we arrived at our first stop, the All Inclusive Olhuveli in the South Atoll. All Inclusive is a great way to go in the Maldives with all of your food and drinks being taken care of (all inclusive differs from half / full board where only the meals are included, all inclusive covers drinks as well). Staying in the Beach Villa we had our own private stretch of beach and lagoon and at 84sq, the rooms are a great size and the resort offers Deluxe Rooms and Overwater Villas well. The Resort also features complimentary wifi, satellite tv with DVD, king bed and a garden bathroom with an (enclosed) rain shower and an open air shower. At the conclusion of our stay at we re transferred back to the airport for Clubmed Kani to transfer us by speedboat to their island resort located in the North Atoll (as its not always possible to transfer from island to island directly its common to head back to the airport for another boat transfer). Clubmed Kani is set along 2km of private pristine white sandy beach and for 5 nights we indulged in our Overwater Bungalow in the Manta Exclusive area which is exclusive for guests to include breakfast en suite, champagne at sunset, a private check in area, lounge with self service bar, morning/afternoon snacks, a dedicated private beach and transfers to the sister Clubmed property Clubmed Finolhu. For those who ve read the last couple of newsletters, I ve managed to visit 2 other Clubmed properties within the last 5 month. I love them! Clubmeds are All Inclusive properties - accommodation, activities, entertainment, meals and drinks (including alcohol) are all included. There are some activated that are optional; extras such as spa treatments, parasailing, excursions or scenic flights. If you chose not to do these its possible you could visit Club Med and not spend anything at all. Even though the weather in December should have been sunny unfortunately for us we didn t have the best weather for the final 3 days and due to storms our scenic flight, parasailing, snorkelling, a visit to the capital city Male, a local village and to Finolhu all were cancelled due to the weather. This is just means we have to go back! Club Med has two properties in the Maldives - Kani which has 4* & 5* areas and the luxurious Finolhu Villas which is an over 18s resort with a variety of Beach and Water Villas built on an expansive 5 hectare lagoon. The Maldives has a year round hot tropical climate, with 2 monsoon seasons, the southwest from May - October and northeast November- April. Generally the Southwest brings more wind and rain in June and July. Generally the temperature never falls below 25 degrees so it s a great all year round option. There are a great number of resort options in the Maldives to suit all budgets, with flights typically travelling via Singapore into Male as I did. If this is one to tick off your bucket list then contact the office with your dream resort or budget and let us help make it happen. Rail hail or shine you wont be disappointed with a visit to the Maldives!

5 New Website:We have been working on our new Website for quite a while now and hope that by the time you receive this Newsletter it will be up and running. We are hoping that this provides our clients with the latest updates and deals available, updated information about the office and staff travels along with the latest trends in travel. We will have our Newsletter online and access to all the latest Cruise deals through Cruiseco. Don t forget to check it out and we would love your feedback about our new look. Constant Update & Change In 2018 Flying Colours Travel will be celebrating 30 years in business. We are very excited about the year ahead and plan to have lots of special events throughout the year to celebrate this milestone and highlight some of the changes we have had over the years and the exciting times ahead for us. Flying Colours Travel was part of the American Express Travel group when we first opened and are now part of the Magellan Travel Group. I look forward to sharing some of our story with you next year and know that some of our clients have been with us for the all of the changes we have had over those years. It is important to constantly improve the way we do business and make sure that we are providing our clients with the most current and up to date product and services available. Along with the new website, our newsletter and new Travel App we have also joined Signature s Hotels & Resorts Collection, which offers over 1,000 of the world s best hotels, resorts, lodges and spas in more than 400 unique destinations worldwide. ALL participating properties offer THREE exclusive amenities. These amenities include: 1) Breakfast for two daily 2) A Signature amenity like resort credits or spa credits or complimentary golf/transfers, or in-room welcome gifts. 3) Complimentary WIFI These amenities are worth up to $450 based on a 2-night stay, double occupancy!

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