Travel with Katie Butler: Giving something back to our local communities

We are delighted that our Mission Christmas Toy Appeal was a success in both our Heckmondwike and Ossett stores.

Katie Butler, Total Travel, writes: All the gifts have now been delivered to the Cash for Kids warehouse in Leeds (thanks to my long-suffering husband) and will be allocated to children in our areas.

As always, I would like to thank you for your donations – we really have been overwhelmed by your support and generosity, especially as so many are feeling the pinch, with the continued cost of living crisis.

We have collected for this charity since opening as Total Travel (ten years ago) and it is something we love to do – it's a great feeling – giving something back to our local communities.

Giving tickets out to our customers is always a really enjoyable part of our job but especially in December when we are sending customers away for Christmas.

Whether it’s to spend the festive period in warmer and sunnier climes, joining family for Christmas overseas, or a UK break to a large holiday rental so bigger families can come together for the holiday period.

But my absolute favourite has got to be giving out tickets for Lapland!

Yes – it’s Lapland season and we have many lucky families travelling out to see the 'big man' himself, in what this year, is thankfully, a very snowy magical experience.

Seeing the excited faces when the kids come to collect the tickets with their parents really does make me feel like I have the best job in the world – turning holiday dreams into reality. There surely can’t be anything more exciting to sell than holidays!

We (along with every other travel agency across the country), are preparing for our 'peaks' season next month, which is ordinarily the busiest month for new bookings.

Our suppliers are also preparing their 'peaks' campaigns, details of which we will receive just before we re-open after Christmas.

Hopefully, there will be some fantastic deals to be had and I can't wait to receive the updates.

Whilst January is our busiest month, December is quieter and we expect next week to be very much the calm before the storm.

After all, like me, many of you will be rushing around completing final Christmas preparations, and a holiday will be the last thing on our minds. Yes – we all save that for January!

Last week was another mixed bag of new bookings, although remaining consistent with the whole of the year – late bookings accounted for 27 per cent of our bookings.

We also sold a lot of gift experiences for last minute Christmas presents, ranging from driving experiences – to photo-shoots – to helicopter stadium tours. We expect next week to be much of the same.

We will be closing on December 23 in both Ossett and Heckmondwike and we will re-open on December 27.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and also thank all our customers, old and new, who continue to support our independent travel agency. Have a good one!