The last 3 weeks have absolutely flown by and how fitting that I am writing this blog at 35000 ft as I fly home with our Summer 08 School Up and Riding courses in Portugal finished.

As I said in my last entry, Sherborne School as in 2007 were an absolute pleasure.


For St Edwards Oxford, this was their first Ticket to Ride experience and judging by what can only be described as an emotional goodbye, they had an unforgettable experience.
The sun shone, the surf definitely didn’t disappoint and as a group they were full of character, enthusiastic, uncomplicated and just a really fun bunch, to spend time with. Driving back from the airport on Sunday night without the usual banter coming from the back of the minibus was a strange feeling!!

The relationship between the ttride group and our Portuguese surf camp is developing nicely. Working with the guys at the camp could not be easier, we love staying there and they love the groups we bring over.

Whenever I go travelling I always enjoy taking the time to pay attention to the way things get done in different countries. The Portuguese way is up there as one of my favourites, out of all European countries they have got to be up there as one of the most relaxed. One of the best things about the Portuguese people is that they never seem to be too busy or in too much of a rush to stop and say hello. This should not be compared to the English custom of a quick “Hello”, the South African “ Howzit” or the aussie “alright mate.” The Portuguese will without fail stop what they are doing, shake your hand and happily spend the next 5 minutes to however long chatting away before continuing with their day which never seems to stray far away from a gloriously slow pace of life. The Portuguese are all about siestas, fine wine, fresh fish, sunny weather, doing things tomorrow and good waves that form perfectly over amazing beaches filled with beautiful people. What more could you ever ask for???

I have said it before, and I will say it again, the Portuguese know how to live and if they didn’t all smoke so much whilst sipping their espresso’s as a way of cutting down on the number of siesta’s they have, there is little doubt in my mind that the average in life expectancy in Portugal would break into three figures.

Looking back over the last paragraph I fear I might have digressed. This must be put down to the fact that I am sandwiched in between screaming children with parents that would prefer to look around the plane to check if we all think their kids are as dreamy as they do. Of course not, pal!! Don’t get me wrong I love kids, but on planes, the sound of one screaming, the other clicking their seat belt, and the one directly in front with his head wedged between the seat dribbling onto the very keys I am tapping away on, is a little testing.

In fact these little rascals have made me lose my train of thought completely, so to sum up, I have had a rip roaring 3 weeks living the kind of lifestyle that we set Ticket to Ride up for in order to enjoy. I have really enjoyed getting to know each group, the students have been fantastic and they should feel incredibly lucky to have the kind teachers to take them surfing.

So enough said, I feel incredibly lucky to be able to call the last 3 weeks work, thanks to everyone who has been involved in making these trips so memorable.

I can’t wait for my next adventure. For Tim that moment is right now because our African Road trip is underway. Looking forward to getting the updates.


W

With the internet down in the surf camp, I apologise for not updating you sooner with the latest from out here in Portugal. I have just got back from the airport where I waved goodbye to the Sherborne School. The past week has gone so quickly and there has been plenty of action which I will try and put into one short blog as I wait for St Edwards Oxford to come through the arrivals gate.

With Sherborne School landing in Portugal for their second Ticket to Ride Surf trip, the pressure was certainly on to beat the 2007 trip that Linley ran for Sherborne School last year. It was great to see the same 3 teachers returning this time with a different group of boys and another member of staff. With this in mind is was my aim to ensure that I put my own stamp on this 2008 summer surf trip, and with a bit of luck top last year’s trip.

To break the trip down into a more manageable account I will start with the surf. According to Tiago (Surf Camp owner/local surf legend) the week of surf that we have just enjoyed is the best that he can remember for Portugal in the summer. Alex and Andrea (instructors) put on 7 fantastic surf lessons, pushing the guys into some of the longest waves that I have ever seen ridden by people that are new to surfing. Chatting to the boys as they reluctantly packed their stuff to catch the plane it seems that this trip has more than met their expectation when it comes to what is for some their first real taste of surfing and for all their first opportunity to enjoy surfing abroad.

When the guys aren’t in the water there is never any sign of them wanting to take a break (no matter how late they stayed up chatting to the local girls the night before “so naughty”). If it is not football, its rounders, if not rounders, its touch rugby and if it isn’t touch rugby it is a new ttride trademarked combination of American football/touch rugby. There is not a minute in the day when these guys are not putting 110% into some kind of energetic activity.

This brings me nicely onto to these boy’s eating habits. Unbelievable!!!! It is genuinely not uncommon for these lads to go into a restaurant and order three burgers, 2 ice creams and then maybe trade some sun cream for a slice of pizza. When they have finished all that the hang around ready to be the first to snap up any scraps you might leave on your plate. If the waitress come outs with two more burgers and seems lost, not knowing which table they are meant for, the boys simply claim it, devoir it, say thank you, and then leave in search of the next event.

When it comes to manners, these guys do not disappoint. Everyone they met always felt obliged to come over to me and tell me what a great bunch of boys they were, and for me, this made this trip an absolute pleasure. To have 10 boys all keen to make the most out of the trip, (even if it that meant some stealth bar work, and fair play these lads were committed) made this week fly by without incident.

The last week has been dominated by surf, sun and unlimited amounts of fun and one thing that cannot go without mention is how lucky these boys are to have staff who are just as keen as them to enjoy every last minute of what can only be described as an epic week.

Safe journey home guys,

Can’t wait for next year,


Will

It's been a while since I've been down in the South West in June, you forget how long the days last. We've been fortunate enough that every evening the weather cleared, with the wind dropping and the sun coming out, this coupled with a decent swell, and natural day light stretching to 10pm leads to some pretty good times! Tim's been down here enjoying his last few days of the English Summer before waxing up his 6 10 rhino chaser and heading over to S.A, to tackle some monster Winter swell and take charge of our trips over there. We popped in for a quick one at Harlyn last night (one last team surf)... new swell, quite punchy waves if you picked the right one.

I'm staying down in my caravan over in Polzeath which has turned into a small TTRide Rider commune! I've been renting it out to Frosty (Z-H 1) for the Summer, Nick Holland's two doors down, and Sara Woolf's literally next door. We sorted them all out with jobs at local surf schools, and so they've been down here for the past two weeks waiting for the season to kick off. It's great to see them all becoming such close friends; there's a few more coming down in the next two weeks, so with our Riders growing in numbers and all the t-shirts looking a treat in Carter's I think Polzeath's going to be a fun place to spend the Summer!

The t-shirts arrived on Monday and are now up and available in Carter's, off the back of Will and Lottie's initial idea Nikki's done a fantastic job designing these, fingers crossed they'll go like hot cakes over the next few weeks.

I'm still up with Ben finalising all the details for the new website, the more I go through it the more excited I am about having it completed. There's still a decent bit of work to be done, but we're putting the hours in to make sure that it's ready for the weekend. Kiri's coming down with all her housemates and we're all going to the Jack Johnson concert in Watergate on Saturday night, so I'm pretty keen to have it off my shoulders by then!

Early reports from Will are that Portugal's scorching hot, with some decent waves aswell, so sounds like the Sherborne boys are having a great trip. It's St. Edwards next week, and the conditions looks like they're going to hold for that too, Will's got himself onto a good one there!

School’s out for the Summer, and with it the TTRide team are all over map on various missions and vacations.

Will’s off out in Portugal currently leading our school surf trip for Sherborne school, looking at the forecast the sun’s shining and the weather looks ideal. I had a quick chat with him yesterday, and he seemed highly concerned about ensuring a solid base to his tan before the group arrived, seeing this as the finishing touch to all of his hard preparations!

Tim’s taking a few days off to prior to his lengthy stint in South Africa where as the newly appointed Head of SA Operations, he will be leading both the July and September trips, returning home for Christmas, and then heading back out to lead the January and Mozambique trips. Tim did such a fantastic job with his group at the start of the year, and having him in charge of the adventures fill’s us all with a huge amount of confidence.

I’m currently down in Cornwall with a few tasks under my belt. Firstly we’ve designed the Staff clothing for the well know Carters Bar, Nikki did a great job designing them, and it’s always very exciting seeing newly designed clothes for the first time. We’re also in the process of overhauling the website, as our trips have grown and we have bought out a variety of new adventures over the past few years the website has become a bit full and cluttered (I’m sure you noticed!), so Will has masterminded a new cleaner site which I have the pleasure of adding the finishing touches. Fingers crossed it will be live at the end of the week!

So with all of the boys out and about poor Nikki’s been given the short, but all important, straw of keeping things in line up at HQ. She’s had a great first 3 weeks, and from our perspective we couldn’t be happier. So as long as she can survive the solo stint up in the big smoke she will have capped off an excellent first month in her new position at TTRide.

All the best from us all, and I hope that you are able to enjoy the sunshine wherever you are!

Until next time…

L

Well its now 3 weeks down and I have been left to my own devices in the office while the boys have hit the road carrying out exciting tasks for Ticket to Ride. Linley is down in Cornwall for the next week spreading the gospel, while Will leaves today for Portugal beginning our sold out summer of school trips and Tim has been out hitting the gap shows. I don’t feel sorry for any of them as they are all heading to sunshine, beaches and surf, don’t worry guys I’m just fine here on my own.

Next week is Tim’s final last few days in the office before he heads out to South Africa until Christmas. Does anyone out there feel sorry for him..…no I didn’t think so. Tim will be based out in South Africa running trips and preparing for the next group of lucky riders to head his way. Enough said on that as I am extremely jealous, after spending 3 months out in South Africa with him running Zero to Hero trip two, I cant believe he’s going back out there without me, it just shouldn’t be allowed!

I have joined the company at an exciting time and I’m loving every moment of it, there is a lot going on and with summer coming up its full steam ahead and I’m getting stuck right in. With the reading materials lying around the office being surf mag’s its not a bad place to work at all.

Yesterday a box of football kit arrived in the office for Tim to take out to South Africa for the Cape Town Juventus team. While out in South Africa our riders have had great enjoyment meeting the local boys football team from Masiphumelele township and playing football matches with them on the spectacular setting of long beach in Kommetjie. This year Ticket to Ride have sponsored their football team and we can’t wait to see the team in their new kit this year. Having met a lot of the kids this year and last I wish I could see their faces as they open them. I’m sure they will be ecstatic with excitement as the kit unites them as a team, they will look fantastic!

Closer to home we have some new promotional clothing coming out for this summer which will be sold in Carters bar in Polzeath, Cornwall. Ticket to Ride is joining forces with Carters bar and the design encompasses a day in the life of someone with a very lucky lifestyle, cruising along on a bike with surfboard under their arm heading for the beach……or perhaps Carters! So watch out for them as they will be soon modelled by Carters bar staff and available on sale as hoody’s and t-shirts.

So I’m coming to end of writing my first blog woho, there will be many more to come from me and I hope to see you on the beaches of Cornwall throughout the summer! Bye for now!

Nikki