We were asked to write about Arctic Direct for a local Business Magazine, Cotswold Business for their September edition. Here’s our article. When it is live, we’ll put a link to it here LINK PENDING.
The Arctic on the Edge of the Cotswolds
You can take a holiday or you can have an adventure and, with Cricklade based Travelbee Arctic Direct, they specialise in adventure. Formed in a back bedroom a decade ago, Travelbee is now a leader in Arctic adventure travel – specialising in bucket list travel; northern lights, husky sledging, snowmobiling to a variety of destinations including Sweden, Iceland and Finland and if you want to ski to the North Pole, they can make it happen!
I spoke with business owner Charlotte Marshall-Reynolds to see how the Arctic came to the edge of the Cotswolds.
“I wanted to take a trip to Sweden” said Charlotte “but the things I wanted to do travel agencies simply weren’t offering and I figured I wouldn’t be the only person who would want to go and see the Northern lights so I created Travelbee, we became Travelbee limited in 2007 and then developed Arctic Direct shortly after that. Now we offer tailored tours to the Arctic through Arctic Direct and Weddings in the Arctic through Travel Bee.
And you offer Arctic diving too?
“Yes, we started the Arctic diving around 2009, I’m a keen scuba diver and so it was a natural addition to the business offering. We send people to dive in Norway, the White Sea and we’ve just had two people come back from scuba diving at the North Pole.
Diving at the North Pole, how does that work?
“It’s not a short trip and it’s certainly not your average holiday – two of our repeat customers from Saudi wanted a bespoke package so we arranged for their flights to Longyerben, Norway. There was a slight delay for them departing as the Arctic ice used as a runway at the pole broke up so we had to wait for a new airfield to be built but they arrived safely, camped out did their dives and are now back home. We’re currently looking at another bespoke tour for them to do the seven summits challenge – a hugely exciting prospect.
So have you done the trips you offer?
“Most of them, I’ve not been to the North Pole Yet but pretty much everything else. I think my favourite was seeing the Northern Lights for the first time. We have some fantastic trips to the Arctic wilderness – you start off with your husky team and they are massively excited, barking an howling and then as soon as you set off all you can hear is the snow crunching under your sled and the sound of the dogs panting as they pull you along. On this particular tour, you and your guide take your team of huskies out to the middle of nowhere, your accommodation is a log cabin with basic facilities and you get the opportunity to really experience nature in its purest form. The silence in the middle of the wilderness is something else. After you’ve fed your husky team and the dogs have gone to sleep, lying back on a reindeer skin watching the northern lights dancing overhead- it is truly magical.
Isn’t all this hideously expensive?
“All of the packages we put together are tailored entirely to our client’s requirements and we pride ourselves on the quality of the packages we provide. This isn’t your typical holiday. Basic 4 night packages start from £995 but it depends entirely what you’re looking for and when you want to travel. Some of our clients have limited budgets, some of our clients have no budget. We’re not sending people on a standard holiday; we offer excellent value for money because of our excellent customer service and the quality of the holidays we offer.
And you do weddings too?
“Yes, Travelbee is the weddings side of the business and we’ve helped many couples with their winter wonderland wedding. Customers really value that we’re industry leaders providing bespoke weddings and will often come back to us for their winter holidays. There are so many options for weddings, civil partnerships and blessing ceremonies at the destinations we specialise in and we have many have many happy couples who have chosen us to arrange their big day – I got married over in Iceland myself so I can confirm, like so many of the destinations we offer, it’s an absolutely amazing place!
Where now for Travelbee
“We’ve been doing a lot of work with overseas markets, particularly Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong – we’ve had some really successful dialogue and a number of new clients from these regions so that is our first priority for expansion. In addition, we’ve just launched our 2017-18 educational tours so are looking to work with schools on adventure travel which is hugely exciting for us.
