Family in
Focus
MADE talks to Edinburgh mum, Amy Allen, about being a travel consultant.
I began my career as a doctor and moved up to Edinburgh after meeting my husband Graham. After having our son Jamie, I found it hard to balance work and life. The opportunity to work from home as a travel consultant for Haslemere Travel, a leading independent agency, allows me to combine my passion for travel with a flexible working day. Being able to talk to people about something I love and being part of clients’ journeys, offering a flexible and individual service - while spending time with my son - makes me happy and proud. Why did you choose Haslemere Travel? They are a well-established and family run business who have very similar values to me, a passion for travel and offering clients a personalised service. Travel and holidays are such a precious time I believe that every part of the planning needs to be perfect to make them extra special for everyone. Has having Jamie affected your own travel Yes and No. We still travel a lot and Jamie has a very well-used passport. He took his first flight from Edinburgh to Bristol to see my grandparents at two weeks old! I think if you can be relaxed about travelling with children, they are so adaptable that they cope well. We book apartments rather than hotels, so we have space for Jamie,
as well as cooking facilities, but he loves exploring new places. We even took him on a six-week trip around Australia when he was 20 months, it worked really well. Any top tips for travelling with children? Plan flight times around them if possible. Interconnecting rooms and child friendly hotels can be worth their weight in gold. If you know where to look, hotels can really make a holiday with kids. We took Jamie on safari in Africa just before his 3rd birthday. He absolutely loved it. The lodge we stayed in were happy to have young children, he had a great time being outside 90% of the day, and he loved going on the game drives with us in the evenings. An extra pair of hands also comes in useful with luggage and airports, so I often use the services of a travel nanny agency, as each nanny has passed through an interview process as well as screening. Which destinations do you recommend for family holidays? At this time of year, there are some amazing offers for late ski breaks or summer family holidays – if you know where to look! But I loved Alaska, with its amazing scenery and wildlife. We took a cruise through the inside passage, an amazing way to see the landscape; even though neither of us had cruised before and didn’t see ourselves as necessarily being the ‘cruise passenger’ type person. I’d recommend it to anyone.
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How did you get into the travel business?
If you would like help with any upcoming travel plans or help with making a holiday with the kids extra special please contact Amy at amy@haslemeretravel.co.uk made january / february 2015
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