Become a Home Based Travel Agent

"Airside" "Kerbside" in less than 30 minutes
By Paull Tickner

Returning from sales trips to your fine country and joining the (sometimes) quick moving line through Passport Control, I always feel sorry for the long lines of visitors from all over the world who are shuffling wearily towards Immigration and Customs.  As I speed through (well, on most occasions) I think of the further delays that await them, caused by the slow moving traffic crawling  into London only to find that their rooms won’t be ready until 2pm.

There has to be a better start than this to a UK vacation and there is. 

I can confirm that there definitely is a very user friendly alternative and it’s all entirely possible if your clients fly into the heart of England using Birmingham International Airport (BHX) where you can go from air-side to kerbside in less than 30 minutes.  

The reason why this is important is because in early 2014, the airport’s runway will have been extended and I have a pretty good hunch that with the congestion at Heathrow and Gatwick, other trans Atlantic carriers will have spotted the potential and you will have other options over and above Continental Airlines non-stop from Newark.

Until then, thousands of north east travel agents and millions of consumers have the chance to make the going so much easier by braving Newark and taking the relatively short flight into BHX where the story is all about good news for travellers.

Within 30 minutes of clearing Customs and Immigration, your clients can be in Coventry Cathedral where next year there’s a very big programme of events that will mark their 50th anniversary.  Alternatively, they could be enjoying a cup of coffee in Stratford upon Avon before taking a hop on hop off open top City Sightseeing bus tour of the Shakespeare Houses where the costumed interpreters bring Elizabethan England vividly to life. Follow this with a traditional pub lunch and when they get to the hotel their rooms will be ready for a short nap before heading out for a stroll and an English Afternoon Tea in one of the town’s many quaint tea rooms.  Leaving room for a pint of Old Speckled Hen and an early dinner, this sounds like my kind of Day 1 of a UK tour!

Also on the BHX doorstep are the Cotswolds and magical places like Chipping Campden, Stow on the Wold and Broadway.  If it’s the spring or summer, after leaving the airport, we could take your customers to a nice spot for a full English breakfast before a stroll around Hidcote Manor Gardens, arguably one of the finest in Britain.

The Birmingham gateway does the trick for anyone who likes the idea of depositing their jetlag in a quiet spot in the Cotswolds and making short journeys where they can see a lot in a short space of time.  This could include award winning gardens, stately homes and castles both large and small, medieval jousting and flying displays by birds of prey at internationally renowned Warwick Castle and world class theatre at the recently reopened Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford.

Finally, dare to be a bit different by suggesting that some of your cruise clients could use the Birmingham gateway for cruises departing from Southampton and Harwich.  Before you scoff at the idea, look at the map where you’ll see that not only are the roads good between the airport and the cruise port but with Shakespeare Country and the Cotswolds to play with, your anglophile travellers will thank you for giving them a couple of nights in Cambridge on their way to Harwich, while others will be equally pleased to break their journey further south in Oxford and Salisbury

Something like this launches a vacation or a pre cruise extension really well and it can be guaranteed to put a smile on your client’s faces and a few extra dollars in your pocket.