From clients to friends....
I first had contact with Kevin roughly 10 years ago, I was working at a large retail travel agency at the time and I received a web enquiry asking for help on an upcoming trip. As I always do, I picked up the phone and called Kevin to discuss what he had in mind. We confirmed a booking and that was the beginning of a wonderful working relationship. After moving over to Travel Counsellors, Kevin and Vanessa remained loyal and continued to book their travel plans through me.
Without ever having met in person, I had been through the birth of their three children, arranging secret birthday surprises, engagement surprises, romantic weekend away surprises, the surprise wedding arrangements and so much more. They got engaged last year and the wedding was set for October this year, so we were excited with all the plans and started to work on honeymoon ideas.
In the beginning of March, the famous year of 2020 started spiraling out of control for this family! A mere 4 days after their adorable little boy was born they had a house fire, I was called to help assist with accommodation whilst they get their home fixed up, then lockdown happened and they were stuck for 3 months at the self-catering apartments I had booked for them. To their disappointment, they made the difficult decision due to Covid-19 and government rulings to postpone their wedding to 2021. Whilst they were dealing with this disappointment I remember feeling so guilty sending them invoices for their extended stay at the self-catering apartments every few weeks (we had no indication how long we would be in level one for) and with everyone being affected financially by Covid I felt awful having to charge them a service fee. There was one particular day I will never forget, I had Kevin on the phone and in the midst of all the uncertainty, he insisted that I always charge my service fee because to him my service was invaluable. Through their own crisis and hard year, they were prepared to support us as a family and stay loyal to me as their agent. It speaks volumes to who they are as human beings.
With almost daily contact through the lockdown, I listened on and admired Vanessa's courage to deal with a newborn and two young girls in an environment that was not home. By August, the entire family had gone through Covid and their house disaster continued.
I finally met Vanessa and Kevin for the first time in person (albeit with half our faces covered with a mask) in August, after so many years of speaking over the phone and via email helping them with different holiday arrangements it was incredible to finally see what they look like in 'real life'. I am a hugger, so you can imagine that it was so difficult to just do the elbow greeting, after years of getting to know each other.
In September I received a call from Vanessa, she wanted to surprise Kevin and go ahead with the wedding, she needed my help! My heart burst with happiness for them, something good had to happen for this wonderful family this year. We got straight to work and arranged a secret dinner where Vanessa had a personal invite made for Kevin, inviting him to meet her at the 12 Apostles on the 24th October for their wedding. I relish the idea of organizing surprises; it is so rewarding when it all works out! It was incredible to get my own surprise when our invitation to their wedding arrived via post a few days later! To say it meant the world to me would be an understatement.
Fast forward 10 years, our relationship has grown from client to friend year on year and this is us celebrating at their wedding this past weekend. I truly love what I do for a living, and if every time I pick up the phone to assist a client the outcome results in anything close to this, I can't see myself stopping anytime soon! The Ross’s have been my inspiration, COVID-19 not even you can slow me down!
Congratulations to you both, and thank you for being such amazing people, friends, and clients! May you have a lifetime of happiness and love.
#TCexperience #Wedding #top5 #12apostles #clientstofriends #travel #travelagent #lovewhatido #travelcounsellors