A Festive Thank You from UK Travel Planning & Partners

As the holiday season unfolds, we're taking a moment to share heartfelt gratitude with our cherished listeners! Doug and I want to extend our warm wishes for a joyous Christmas and a bright New Year as we announce a festive pause before returning with a special year-end episode on December 31st. 

This episode 129 is a special thank you to all who have supported our podcast journey—whether you're a regular listener, a website reader, or a social media follower. Our community has grown and thrived, and we are eager to continue this journey with you into 2025. 

We also have the pleasure of sharing holiday messages from some of our wonderful partners, each adding a sprinkle of festive cheer and exciting travel ideas for the coming year.

Ollie from Discover Real London, Lisa from Go Cotswolds, Andrew from Expedition Yorkshire, Chris from The English Bus, Domi from Scalens Studio, Riz from XFA Cars, John Cortese from Tripiamo, John from Boutique Tours of North Wales, Robert from North Coast Explorer Tours, and Charley from Take Walks and Devour Food Tours join us to share their holiday greetings and a peek into what they have planned for travellers in 2025. 

From iconic London tours to the picturesque landscapes of the Cotswolds, Far North Scotland and Yorkshire, our partners reflect on the memorable experiences they've curated this year and invite you to explore more with them. 

As we wrap up another remarkable year, the connections we've made with our travel community are what we cherish most. Here’s to more adventures, laughter, and unforgettable journeys in the New Year. 

Happy holidays to all of you from myself and the team at UK Travel Planning!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Hi and welcome to episode 129 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Now this week, myself and Doug are here just to wish you a happy Christmas, happy holidays, and just to let you know that we won't be here next week. We are going to be taking a break for Christmas. We will be here on the 31st of the 12th for episode 130, but that is going to be, again, just a quick roundup of highlights of 2024 and what to look forward to in 2025. But we will be back with full episodes at the beginning of January, as always.

Speaker 1: 0:48

But this episode, as I said, doug and I are here to basically say a huge thank you to all of you for your support, listening to our podcasts, reading articles on our website, joining our Facebook groups, following us on social media, following us on YouTube, which is a new venture that we're trying out at the moment, and also, in this episode, have some messages from some of our partners as well to wish you all a happy holidays and Merry Christmas for this season. But from myself, I just want to say thank you so much again for tuning in and listening to us throughout the year and all our wonderful guests Having a great time over the holidays with your family, and I think, doug, you've also got a message.

Speaker 2: 1:36

Yes, I just want to take this moment to send you all my warmest wishes to all of our UK travel planning and London travel planning community. Thank you so much for all your continued support. It really is appreciated. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a fantastic new year.

Speaker 1: 1:52

What Doug said, so he said it better than I did. But, yes, thank you so much. And here are a few messages from some of our partners too hello everyone.

Speaker 3: 2:04

This is ollie here from discover real london. I wanted to say a huge thank you to all of the uk travel planning, podcasts and facebook group family. For everyone who's visited us over in our city this year. It's been a pleasure to take you out in our iconic taxis and show you the big sights, the secret parts of city and even take some of you on our day trips outside of London as well. Merry Christmas to everyone, and if you are planning a vacation to the UK next year, please consider us for one of your tours. We look forward to welcoming you all over here soon.

Speaker 4: 2:41

Hi everyone. Just a quick message from all of us at Exavate Cars to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for an incredible first year with UK Travel Planning. It's been a blast and we couldn't have done it without you. Here's to more laughs, smoother rides and a fantastic 2024. Cheers from XFA Cars team.

Speaker 5: 3:01

Hi folks, it's Lisa here from Go Cotswolds guided tours of the Cotswolds. I wanted to wish you all a very, very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from myself and all of the team at Go Cotswolds. Thanks so much to Tracy for having me on two episodes of the UK Travel Planning Podcast this year. Hopefully we can chat again in the new year. Thank you to everyone who has listened to the podcast. It's been great chatting with people in the Facebook community and also thank you to everyone who has already booked a tour with Go Cotswolds.

Speaker 6: 3:35

We're looking forward to meeting more UK travel planning fans on a Go Cotswolds tour in the future. Hi there, it's Andrew here from Expedition Yorkshire. I just wanted to wish you a very happy holiday season for you and your loved ones. Wherever in the world you may be listening to UK Travel Planning Podcast, my gift to you this year is a little travel inspiration. How about Yorkshire in the north of England? It's world-class, beautiful, whatever time of year you choose to visit. And should that be Christmas time, how about traveling with us to the cozy little village of Howarth, home of the Bronte sisters, Castle Howarth with its extraordinary Christmas displays, or Whitby by the sea, which is abundant with seasonal charm? You can learn more about these possibilities with our exclusive private tours at expeditionyorkshirecom.

Speaker 7: 4:26

Hi Tracy. This is Chris from the English Bus, small group tours of England from London. Just wanted to say a very happy Christmas to you and all of your listeners and users from us at the English Bus. We are very much looking forward to our Christmas tours this year where, of course, we'll be visiting Stonehenge, as we do almost every single day, and bath where this coming christmas there is a fabulous christmas market, huge german style christmas market based around the heart of bath with loads of stalls selling little christmasy trinkets and a nice hot mulled cider and mulled wine. We're also looking forward to our winter solstice Stonehenge tour, where we get to go to Stonehenge to see the sunrise on the shortest day of the year. Witness the pagans and the druids chanting, singing and celebrating Makes a nice change to the busy, busy summer months. But again, we wish you all a very happy Christmas and a happy new year.

Speaker 8: 5:28

Hi, this is Dami, your London photographer from Scalene Studio. With my team, we want to wish you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. London is truly magical during the festival season. As a photographer, I absolutely love capturing these festival moments for people, whatever it's a family shoot with all the Christmas lights, or couple enjoying the magicka of the city, or maybe solo travels before we explore London together. It's time when everyone feels a bit more joyful and you can really see this on the photos. Wish you all a wonderful holiday season filling with love, peace and a lot of great memories For myself and my team. We wish to meet all of you here in London who are listening to me now and take beautiful pictures together. Happy holidays from all of us at Skyline Studio and we are looking forward to seeing you soon in London. Ciao.

Speaker 9: 6:29

Nadolik Clewen from John at Boutique Tours in Wales. Thank you for all those that have found us this year and toured with us, and a very big thank you to Tracy at UK Travel Planning for helping bring you in our direction, and we look forward to looking after many more in 2025. So our one big tip is, if you're planning, get in now and contact us.

Speaker 10: 6:54

Hello Tracy and the rest of the UK Travel Planning gang.

Speaker 10: 6:58

This is John Cortese from Tripiamo here, and if you're not familiar with Tripiamo, we're a company that helps people feel super confident to drive anywhere in a foreign country, and particularly across the United Kingdom.

Speaker 10: 7:12

Whether you're going to England, scotland, wales, northern Ireland or everywhere, we create online virtual guides that you can take before you actually get to the United Kingdom to make sure you feel confident knowing the rules of the road across the UK, or even make sure you feel confident to drive on the opposite side of the road before you get there.

Speaker 10: 7:33

We have lots of other guides for lots of other countries, but particularly around this holiday season, we know how special it is to be driving and be anywhere in the UK, from the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, london, to some of the New Year celebrations in Edinburgh, or just being in the Lake District for winter and all of the snow and scenic drives you can take. It's quite a spectacular place to be around the holidays and although I won't be there, unfortunately, I'll be in New York City at my home with some of my family. I hope, if you are traveling to the UK this winter, and especially around the holiday season. Have a happy and healthy holiday. Whatever you celebrate, whether it's with yourselves, by yourself, with your family, with loved ones, and we hope it's a festive, wonderful season for you.

Speaker 11: 8:27

Have a great holiday and a happy new year. Hello, this is Robert from North Coast Explorer Tours on the north coast of Scotland. Now, I know you're usually used to listening to Sally Ann's voice, but as I'm not touring at the moment, I thought I would step forward and introduce myself to you all. Winter up here in the North Highlands is a little on the dark side, with the sun setting at half past three and rising somewhere around nine o'clock. Though it may be a little dark, it does mean that we have wonderful skies. Sunsets seem to linger for hours, the sky is a beautiful orange colour and when it finally does set, we get great views of the night sky because there's no light pollution up here and of course the northern lights too, which we've already seen several times this year.

Speaker 11: 9:10

One might think that, because it's the off-season, I might be putting my feet up and enjoying a glass of whiskey or two, but, truth be told, I'm just as busy as when I'm out on the road.

Speaker 11: 9:21

I'm still studying for my degree and, of course, researching new places to see and to go. One of those places is a reindeer centre which is not too far from where we live. It gives you the opportunity to go, get close to the animals and also learn a little bit about the breed and also how they live and how to care for them. I'm sure they're very busy this time of year getting ready to deliver all of those presents to all of those children who have behaved themselves this year and according to Sally-Anne, I'm on the list too. So as I sit here eagerly awaiting the delivery of my Christmas presents, can I just say thank you to all of those people who have toured with us this year and to everybody else who's listening to the podcast. We wish you and your families all of the best from this time of year and maybe we get to see you in person next year. Happy Christmas.

Speaker 12: 10:13

Hi, tracy and Doug. It's Charlie here from Take Walks and Devour in London. So as the holiday season approaches, I'd like to take this moment, on behalf of myself and the entire team at Take Walks and Devour Food Tours, to wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and a joyful new year. This time of year brings a special magic to London, with the city transforming into a winter wonderland. From the sparkling lights of Oxford Street to the enchanting Christmas markets, the festive atmosphere is truly something to behold. Now we are still running some tours throughout the Christmas season, so do come and join us and see London's iconic landmarks wrapped in twinkling lights and seasonal decorations, reminding us just how magical this city can be, especially at Christmas time.

Speaker 12: 11:02

We are incredibly grateful to all our customers for your continued support. Your confidence in choosing us to showcase London's incredible beauty, rich history and vibrant culture has been the cornerstone to our success and growth. Each tour you've taken with us, each experience we have shared together, has played a vital role in shaping who we are as a company. We're deeply thankful to you all, and it has been an honour to be a part of your London adventures. We'd also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the amazing vendors and partners we work with. Your dedication and collaboration have made all the difference in creating these unforgettable experiences. So we invite you to join us and experience the magic of this beautiful city. Come alive with festive cheer and create memories that will last a lifetime. From all of us here at Take Walks and Devour Food Tours, we wish you peace, happiness and all the joys of the season. Here's to a fantastic Christmas and New Year filled with new adventures and discoveries.