Travel with Katie Butler: Celebrating ten years of Total Travel

Katie Butler, Total Travel, writes: For those of you that don't know – our Total Travel shop in Heckmondwike was previously a Co-operative Travel store and subsequently a Thomas Cook branch.

In March 2013 my staff and I received the devastating news that Thomas Cook were to close 195 stores nationally, Heckmondwike being one of them.

At this time, myself and my assistant manager Leanne, had worked in the store for over ten years and built up a rapport with our local customers. We certainly had no desire to take up offers of transferring to a city centre location.

It was now or never I guess. I had always dreamt of having a store of my own and this was the ideal opportunity, and so Total Travel was born.

Thomas Cook allowed me take on the premises and buy the business and we have not looked back.

It has been one heck of a roller coaster, after all, travel as we all know can be an extremely turbulent industry to work in.

Thankfully, 2023 has been a much more settled year than the last three, with only a few 'bumps in the road' (the glitch to the Air Traffic Control Services system, wildfires across Europe and freak weather conditions).

I am ridiculously proud of our team at Total Travel and I’m delighted to be celebrating our tenth anniversary – I really do have to pinch myself sometimes!

Never a year goes by without some kind of disruption, be it minor or major, and you can guarantee that your local travel agent will always be on hand to help, and to many this is a great comfort.

We have some fabulous high street travel agencies and homeworkers in our area who are only a short walk or phone call away, and we still need your support.

January is our busiest time of the year and I would like to remind you that if you are looking at holidays online, before you press book – remember your Local Independent Travel Agent.

We will look after you from start to finish, and most of the time we are competitive against online prices.

Supporting a small business is helping keep your high street alive and when you book with us – an actual real person – does a little happy dance (it's true).

Last week our team continued with its quest for knowledge – attending a training event with Leeds Bradford Airport, exciting updates coming soon, you really are going to love this one!

Late bookings continue to thrive and last week accounted for a huge 29 per cent of our total bookings, which is incredible.

Of course the cold weather is certainly giving a helping hand, as many of you seek to get away to warmer climes.

Tenerife and Lanzarote were our best selling destinations for the winter months and for summer Turkey took top spot again.

Next week we are looking forward to our Christmas party, it will certainly feel different now that we are a team of eight – the more the merrier!