As tradition goes, the Easter period shines as the busiest touring weekend of the Teamlink calendar and 2010 has been no different...aside from a few ‘hurdles’ that we were challenged with overcoming thanks to Mother Nature and French industrial strike action.

As we look back on our busiest Easter to date, Teamlink proudly escorted over 1500 customers on tailor made sports tours – incorporating a mixture of rugby, hockey, basketball, and even trampolining and gymnastics adventures! From Newquay to Chicago and everywhere in between, our teams have travelled all over Europe and beyond. Plus one rugby club who didn’t even know where they were going!...Click HERE to read more about Staffordshire University’s ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ to Dusseldorf and Leuven

However, a spontaneous Good Friday strike from SeaFrance ferry workers left us with an army of touring teams marooned at Dover ahead of their scheduled afternoon crossings. We love a challenge here at Teamlink and our strategically placed Tours Manager, Mat Burrows, dealt swiftly and efficiently with P&O Ferries and transferred all groups onto later sailings. Note to all: book with a tour operator!

As we wiped our brow and breathed a sigh of relief, Iceland decided that its global financial meltdown wasn’t quite enough to dissuade us with a forthcoming tour to Reykjavik by giving its biggest volcano the thumbs up to erupt in dramatic fashion. We all know ‘what happened next’, cue our next set of shirt sleeves to be rolled up for Operation Repatriation as our Ops Team downed tools to ensure every one of our stranded passengers made their way back to the UK as quickly as possible from destinations including Australia, Chile, Spain, France, Holland and Italy. With all teams safely back on terra firma, and all clubs scheduled to depart via air re-routed to destinations reachable via coach, we’ve slowly returned to ‘normal life’ albeit with a few thousand yard stares around the office and minus one unnamed member of staff who still remains ‘stranded’ in Fiji. It must be terrible for the poor soul being all the way out there tapping emails from his BlackBerry in that incessant heat.....

On top of all that, Teamlink also successfully launched the inaugural FrogFest Hockey Festival over the channel in France. With a 250 strong FrogFest Army assembled at the Chateau Du Molay, near Normandy, participants enjoyed two days of hockey and 3 nights of social at the world’s only all inclusive hockey festival! Congratulations to tournament winners Scaldis Hockey Team from Belgium, see you all in 2011!

So, from U13s to Colts, University and adult teams, here’s what a few of our happy Easter customers had to say about their sports tours:

“Absolutely fantastic tour - the staff were friendly and helpful, the food was good and the nights out were a lot of fun. Made a lot of new friends and am looking forward to touring again next Easter...Thanks for a great tour!”
Surrey University Old Boys, FrogFest 2010

“First tour I've arranged for our club. Using Teamlink means it's the first of many I'll be doing. Made what I thought would be a hard job easy.”
Cranleigh RFC, Newquay 2010

“From the first initial contact with Teamlink - they took onboard our requests and fulfilled it to our spec provided a 1st class service to ensure our trip was a once in a life time experience.”
Banchory Boys Football Club, Amsterdam 2010

“Teamlink makes organising a tour simple and convenient. The tour catered for our club's needs to the fullest. Thoroughly recommended!”
Imperial Medics Men's Hockey Club, Prague 2010

Submitted: 29th April 2010