Some people were not born for a fitness regime.  I shouldn’t have laughed but I did laugh out loud when the ‘Big Boss’ ( I don’t mean big in terms of size) Dipak, who runs the ground agents we work with in India, regaled me of his story.  Earlier this year he was in a great deal of pain with his back – so much so that he had to spend some time away from the office – something very difficult for a workaholic to do!!  His Doctor advised him that he should lose some weight – from where I don’t know he always looks the picture of elegance in his slim line suits!!  The Doctors also suggested he should do some more exercise – other than walking to and from the car! So Dipak – decides to start jogging… and breaks his ankle.  Deeming himself fit enough to travel overseas he does so and goes to a hotel gym- bad back, broken ankle and all.  What does he do – tears a ligament!! This is a sure sign that fitness doesn’t work for everyone!!  I realise through this incident (Dipak thought he was calling someone who would lend a sympathetic ear, ha ha) that nursing has nothing to fear about any new career choices I may make, as I know a compassionate nurse I would not be!!!

The real reason for our conversation are some exciting new developments that we are working on with Dipak to make India with Bales much more special that just a  holiday to India.  It is the differential we seek for all our destinations and we believe we can offer something that will excite you enough to want to travel to India – even if it hadn’t been your top choice before. Watch this space….. So to speak!!

As a family we did something that I thought seemed quite peculiar but in fact it was a very special day.  My Mother decided to celebrate the life of my Father (founder of Bales) who would have been 100 on 9^th September.  Se we had a  family party on Saturday the 12^th with  all of my brothers  and sisters (there are 8 of us), their partners, children and grand children comprising a grand total of 36 attendees. My young 7 year old niece suggested we got helium balloons, one each, and tied a message to each balloon and send it up to my father who would receive them in heaven. It did look amazing as we sent them all skywards at the same time.  That some bewildered householders somewhere have now received these in their back garden and tries to make sense of them, is another matter.

One of my brothers is adopted and is Vietnamese and also a Buddhist.  He gave an offering of food and drink to my Father and this had to be done before we all ate.  Again – could be perceived as strange but actually it was very heart warming.  I now think it is important to periodically celebrate the life of a significant person who has had such an influence and impact on all of our lives.  I thought this may interest our most frequent travellers as of course without George Bales there would be no Bales!!

We all make hundreds of decisions every day about things- some we don’t even think about subconsciously – others can be quite significant and some are extremely challenging and sometimes difficult decisions to make  and can cause a lot of anxiety. Why do I mention this to you now?  Well as we look to 2010 – we are constantly looking and reviewing our strategy and my personal difficulty is that in my ideal world I would like to ensure by speaking to everyone of you that travel with us (and indeed anyone that is considering travelling with us) what would give you the desire to travel with Bales every year?  We do speak to many of you and hope we have got it  right – but if there is something that you think you can suggest and contribute to which would make you inspired to travel with us then I would welcome your feedback.

Thanks in advance for any feedback you give us.

Speak again soon

Mandy

About Mandy Nickerson

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Mandy endeavours to share her travel experiences (where she will 'tell it like it is') and also detail the latest exciting projects that she is involved in. Mandy welcomes your feedback - please feel free to submit your thoughts, queries, comments and theories below.