Travel Information - Destinations Group & School Travel

We can offer our groups a number of alternative travelling arrangements. By coach and ferry from Dover to Calais, or via one of the other seaports, or by air from a number of different regional UK airports, and flying directly to your destination. To discuss your travel needs, call us on 01494 792184 and one of our travel advisors will be happy to advise you on the best way to travel.

Ferry Crossings

Ferry Companies - We work with all the main ferry operators, and can book any sea crossing route required. All our coach programmes include the Dover/Calais ferry route, but should you prefer to take one of the longer sea crossings this can be included at a small supplementary charge.

Spanish Ferry Crossings - Groups travelling to northern Spain have the option of taking one of the overnight ferries from Portsmouth to Bilbao with P&O Ferries, or from Plymouth to Santander with Brittany Ferries. 4-berth cabins will be included in our quotation. We can also pre-book all your onboard meals or you can purchase these independently once on board.

Hull or Harwich Crossings - You can travel on the overnight ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge or Rotterdam with P&O Ferries, or book for the day or overnight ferry crossing with Stena Line on the Harwich to the Hook of Holland route. 4-berth cabins will be included in our quotation for all overnight ferry crossings. We can also pre-book all your on-board meals or you can purchase these independently once on board.

Air Travel

Your Flights - In order to give you the best flight timings at the cheapest fares, we work with a number of low-cost and traditional scheduled airlines. These include Easyjet, Ryanair, Flybe, British Midland and British Airways. All our bookings are made through a fully bonded ATOL License Holder.

Departure Airports - To take advantage of these cheaper airfares, we tend to use Luton, Stansted, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool airports. Flights from Heathrow and some other UK airports may carry a supplement.

Flight Times - A number of different flight times are available with all the airlines we work with. However, in order to book your preferred flights at the lowest price, you will need to make your booking as early as possible.

Passenger Names - All passenger names will be required as soon as your booking is confi rmed to us. It is the group leader’s responsibility to ensure that all names submitted are correct, and are as they appear in each group member’s passport. We cannot accept any responsibility for any errors or incorrectly spelt names that are passed on to us. Any amendments or name changes will incur additional charges by the airline.

Coach Travel

Your Coach - We only use 37 or 49-seater executive coaches for our tours. These are modern comfortable coaches with lap belts, standard reclining seats, tea/coffee machine, cold drinks, toilet and VCR or DVD facilities. The 37-seater coaches are always in great demand, so early booking is recommended for these smaller coaches.

You Safety - We only work with reliable coach companies who have safety procedures in place, and who practice safety management programmes. All coaches provided for our tours are quality assessed, and are fitted with lap belts in accordance with current regulations.

No. of Drivers - The number of drivers allocated, would largely depend on the type of programme you have. Coach programmes that do not involve any overnight travel are generally assigned one driver. A second driver or feeder driver may be included if we feel that the itinerary requires this. Tours that include overnight travel will be assigned two drivers with possible feeder drivers.

Your Drivers - We know that the success of a school trip can depend, in part, on how well a group interacts with their driver(s). Our drivers do work very hard at establishing good working relationships with our groups, and the feedback from schools does reflect this - judging by the number of requests for the same driver(s) to be booked for our groups’ next trips!

Drivers’ Hours - All drivers are restricted to a maximum 13 hours duty day, extended to 15 hours three times a week, from which they are only permitted to drive for a maximum of 9 hours, extended to 10 hours twice a week. They require regulated breaks during long periods of driving, and must have a minimum of 11 hours overnight rest, reduced to 9 hours not more than three times a week. Your itinerary will have full details of your daily activities, together with precise start and finish times for each day.