I should have been in Las Vegas today, pushing the balance on my flexible friend hard, however, due to events on 11th September and my already neurotic fear of flying, my present of a fleeting visit to San Fransisco and Vegas to visit some old school friends, for my partner to celebrate his initial successful treatment of skin cancer is once again a distant dream, but my yearning for a holiday SOON becomes for me something like an obsession, one of my staff booking a week in Gran Canaria just before Christmas has set me off again, so its off on the trail of the Holiday Brochures again (when I should be studying) and checking out what I can afford.

Earlier in the week, I obtained a quote from my local Travel House (owned by Thomsons) for a holiday for myself, my daughter and her friend which was all written out for me and included free insurance. Upon entering another store of the same chain I was called a liar calmly told that no-one would have offered me free insurance and it was my job to prove it, needless to say I was not impressed, and steamed homeward to try and locate the written out details, although upon ringing the original store, I was told by a young gentleman that it was their right to withdraw any offer at any time, that was just tough luck, and as I was already getting £198 off the price of the holiday, what more did I want?

Lunn Poly, a chain of UK wide Travel Agents also owned by Thomsons, they sell holidays from all major and smaller tour operators, flight only, ferry and UK holiday services.

Whilst I was on the phone, the young lady checked the price of the holiday, read the hotel details in the Gazateer (always worth a nose as it tells you the bad things that the brochure doesn't), gave me the web-site details for checking myself and advised me of a new service offered by Thomsons on holidays departing more than 6 weeks in advance, whereby you can reserve the holiday for a period of 24 working hours (Mondays for Saturday bookings), giving you time to check things such as holiday entitlements at work, school holidays whatever. I was advised that all this could be done over the telephone should I require.

I will now confirm my holiday (if my new boss takes pity on me) on Monday and the fund will be taken off my credit card details in store without another visit. You can pay by Debit Card, Credit Card, Cheque or Cash and they will pop the receipts in the post.

ANOTHER LITTLE TIP
If you are booking a particularly CHEAP holiday and travelling with a few kids, get the travel agent to check the price travelling with kids and then the same number of ADULTS, in our case, it was £81 cheaper to take three adults than two adults one child because of UNDER-OCCUPANCY supplements.

THE MORAL
Its not WHAT you tell the customer, its HOW you tell them that can ensure whether you get and keep their business or not. If a customer is irate because she has been called a liar, don't just tell them tough - humour them, remember at the end of the day it is CUSTOMERS THAT PAY YOUR WAGES.

So, providing I can have the time off work, watch this space for the Lanazarote ops - and if anyone has ever stayed in the Sol Lanzarote I would be interested to know about it.