Plettenberg Sessions

Hi all. So much seems to have happened since the last blog it’s hard to know where to start this one. Our time in Plett has been absolutely wonderful and we’ve taken full advantage of everything this beautiful area has to offer.

Our first few days were spent with Jon and Dona Henry from the International Surf School. The steeper and more powerful waves of the Plett coast together with the intensive coaching by the Henry pair proved just perfect for the guys to take their surfing to the next level. It wasn’t all smooth sailing though, as some of the guys had to bounce back from a few good wipe-outs, but that’s all part of the game, as they say.

On Saturday we finished off our lessons with the Henry’s in decent conditions at Solar beach. Everybody managed to get a few good waves, particularly the girls who all had an absolute screamer of a session. For the afternoon our initial had been to do the long awaited bungee jump, however, strong winds from a closing front meant that we had to put our plan on hold. Instead, we visited the nearby Tenikwa small cat sanctuary. As a nature guide I relish any oportunity to get back into the bush so this outing was just as much a winner for me as it was for the guys. Tenikwa looks after a number of threatened and endangered species of cat including Caracal, Serval, Cheetah and Leopard. Our guide took us for the grand tour of the enclousures, taking us in with some of the animals. It was quite something to have a pair of cheetahs, creatures normally found hunting game on the wild, African plains, playing at your feet without a care in the world.

We woke on Sunday morning to an ominous set of weather conditions. The wind was howling and the clouds were moving in fast. The swell readings were off the charts which meant we had to spend the day on land. By Monday though, the weather had cleared and it looked like we were going to be in for a classic day! With sunny skies and gentle winds we decided to revisit our bungee plans and made our way to the Bloukrans bridge on the border between the Easteren and Western Cape. At 216m the Bloukrans bungee is the highest commercial jump in the world. The only thing more scary that the anticipation of throwing yourself off of one of the highest bridges in SA is actually throwing yourself off of one of the highest bridges in SA. It was a daunting prospect, but everyone put on a brave face as, one by one, they made the plunge. It was all smiles as everybody came in off the bridge. It’s not everyday you get to something as crazy as that!

After the jump we made our way to the Tsitsikamma National park for a hike in the reserve. Our trek took us along a portion of the Otter Trail, a famous 7 day hike that takes you through rocky enclaves, sandy beaches and indiginous coastal forests. Our hike took us to the top of a cliff overlooking the reserve and the Storms River mouth. It was quite a long haul getting up there, but well worth it for that view! On the way home I took the guys along a scenic detour, showing off a few more of the natural beauties of the Garden Route. Just another epic day in Africa!

This morning we were back on the road in search of waves. With the swell still big from the storm we headed out for one of the protected bays nearby. Fortunately for us, the angle of the swell was such that the brunt it moved out to sea while the waves that got into the bay were small, gentle breakers which peeled down the point and onto the beach. Perfect for our little crew to get in a good few hours in the water. We spent the rest of the afternoon meandering our way back to Plett, stopping at a few of the view points along the way.

And that brings you all up to speed with what’s been happening here on our African Road Trip. Never a dull moment as we make our way east along the most beautiful coast in the world! Well I think so any way. Till next time…

Take Care
Bevan

Life is good here at Ticket to Ride

With Nikki settling in nicely, and July now within touching distance there is an exciting buzz in the ttride HQ.

In fact nearly everyone we speak to seems to be pretty be ecstatic with their situation having either just finished exams or in some cases decided to take well earned time out from what some describe as ‘the grinding routine of everyday life.’

Either way these are exciting times for our potential Riders and I am always the first one to tell people that the whole dilemna of “where to go? and what to??” is in reality one of the best dilemna’s out there.

Tim is all set to jet off out to South Africa and straight into their prime surf season. As head of Ticket to Ride trips to South Africa, Tim is going to be leading our 1 month African Road Trip this July. Looking over the group we have lined up and ready to hit some of South Africa's most famed surfing locations, I am pretty sad not to be on this one.

In fairness I am fairly sorted for my fix of sun, sea and surf as I am off to Portugal in 9 days for 3 weeks. Here I will be running our School Up and Riding Courses. Both the enthusiasm and seemingly unlimited energy of the boys and girls on these courses is incredible, however as long as don't over do it over the next 9 days, I am fairly confident that I can give these whippers a run for their money when it comes to energy.

Looking further ahead to our September Career Break Instructor Course seems to be a forefront of everyone's mind as far Rider recruitment is concerned. We already have a fantastic group lined up for this one with just a few spaces remaining. Having met most of them in person a week or so ago in Ticket to Ride's favourite London watering hole I have no doubt that this career break course will be an epic. The fact that some of the group travelled right across London to get to know their fellow Riders bodes extremely well for a trip where everyone is super keen to really make the most of everything offer and with our man Tim at the helm of this one, this one is predicted to raise the ttride bar even higher. And with high standards in mind I thought I would put up some surf shots of TTRide trip leaders.

Our January 2009 Course to South Africa and Costa are filling up as fast as ever, this must be in part due to the fact that A-level exams are almost over.

The TTRide website makeover is also on track as well as the the new TTRide movie. These two projects have so all in all…

Exciting times…

Ticket to Ride 'Worldwide Surfing Aventures'

Hola

It has all been about more of the same in TTRide land over the last few days. The weather been 'frankly quite wonderful i'd say' meaning there is a summery buzz about the place. Filling trip 1 of the Jan 09 trip with a load of super excited Riders is something we are of course extremely excited about. Our move towards Rider recruitment rather than a hard core out and out sales approach mean we are able to ensure each of our Riders are in the best position to get the absolute maximum out of TTRide Surf Trips.

Ben (TTRide Webwizard) is on track for the official launch of TTRide Costa Rica on Friday. We have decided to limit numbers on this trip to a select 10 Riders for Jan 09 as it will be our maiden trip and we want to get it absoloutely right. The July 09 6 weeker will have space for the usual 20 Riders. Learning Spanish alongside side learning to surf and then teaching English in the local school sets up a fantastic travelling experience.

Linley is off out to Costa Rica on Sat for 2 weeks, I am pretty keen to get out there again soon, Tim lived out there for 2 months during one of his uni summers in 2005. George is planning to settle out there permanently so between us all we have go the place pretty wired. The position of trip leader is still with me and George, however I am ready to fend off any challenges made by the rest of the team which I have no doubt are being carefully thought about.

Other developments have been new TTRide super poster that incorporates everything that we are at Ticket to Ride.

TTRide Summer 08 surf clothing is beginning to over dominate the TTRide HQ, so we need to get that out there.

With this in mind I propose a mini competition to send out one of new TTRide T-shirts to anayone who correctly answers the all too easy question below as I often who is taking the time to read these TTRide updates?

Graduate Rider's? Riders waiting for there trip to come round? Potential Riders? Other travel companies? Friends? Family? or just us???


What is the Capital of Costa Rica?????

Please email answers to info@ttride.co.uk
adding your address.
colour preference (see past blogs for photos)

and I will send a free t-shirt out to you today.


adios amigos e amigas (spanish classes for me please)

W

Ticket to Ride 'Worldwide Surfing Aventures'

Just thought I would say a quick hello from the TTRide Office that has a strange monday morning feel to it. It is now 2 weeks since I landed in back from sunny South Africa and I am now back in the UK routine... (different).

At the beginning of each year we start off with each TTRide team member's travel plans, who's going where, who running each trip (not the worst meeting to attend), one of the more boring priorities that always puts a dampener on the meeting is the question of who will be manning the the TTRide HQ in sometimes sunny London.

Having single handedly taken care of things in London for the past month Linley has just jetted off to SA to join trip one for their final 3 destinations. These locations make up the business end of the trip as they are focused on Rider working on final training and research towards their Surf Instructor and Surf Lifesaving qualifications.

Anyway, that's South Africa talk, and like you my updates come from the trip diary blogs which I check on a daily basis with fingers crossed that our trip leaders have had time to upload the latest news. March is my month to take care of everything back here and without wanting to sound too dramatic things are already piling up.

Next weekend we are Sponsoring the British University Student Surf Nationals on Fistral Beach. Having enjoyed competing in the event throughout my 3 years at Newcastle Uni I am so pleased to be going back down. The Student Nationals is Europe's largest surfing event and we are extremely proud to be a sponsor.

The rest of March is all about travelling the length of Britain on a regular basis attending promotional events in the TTRide Truck. For me it is not just about showcasing what we offer to those looking to join us on one of our adventures, it is also about meeting all the representatives from all kinds of different travel organisations. What is so nice is that whilst it is competitive there is still a good vibe amongst all the companies because almost without exception, everyone truely believes in what they offer and from a potential traveller's point of view there is an incredible choice when it comes to deciding what to do with precious time out.

2008 is already shaping up to be an excting year for us with all our trips reaching max capacity, and our current SA adventures going better than we could have ever hope for mainly due to fantastic leaders and most importantly a fantastic group.

From a development point of view we are continuing to grow in a way that concentrates itself about the recruitment of exceptional TTRide staff to manage key areas of Ticket to Ride and recruit the right the kind of people to join us on the kind of adventures that make a monday all alone in TTRide HQ a little easier to manage.

W

Day 9 on Ticket to Ride "Worldwide Surfing Adventures"

I am pleased to say that we here in summertime South Africa are 2 hours ahead of you there in 'fresh' Britain and i think we are 7 hours ahead of the US. This gives me time in the morning to get something up on the site.

As you will have noticed from all my previous blog entries, the Cape Town leg of our South African surf adventure is 110% action. The group's 12 day intro to Ticket to Ride is all about seeing and doing everything, finding their feet and then as we continue around the coast settling into their own style of Ticket to Ride.

One of the fundamental roles we instill upon ourselves is to guide our Riders through what is for many their first travelling experience. We hope that everyone who 'graduates' from our course leaves not just as a surfer, but also as a well rounded traveller that has been somewhere, experienced a different culture and lived a unique lifestyle.

This for me is the essence of taking on a travelling experience, taking everything in and returning home with lasting memories and experiences to refer back to as I continue through life.

(Please excuse my temptation to go off on tangents, I have deliberately put lots of different sections in making it easy to skip sections where I repeat myself or take you on an unnecessary journey to nowhere as you take time out of your day to read this)

There are 11 official languages spoken in South Africa and for the those not sure what kind of language I am (grammatically) writing in I should mention that we here at Ticket to Ride are evolving our own....

Things to report on yesterday's activities would be the morning's wine tour of Klein Constantia (one of South Africa's most historical vineyards). Adam (head wine maker) always shows us around because our man Tim did a season on the vineyard before joining Ticket to Ride. We are hugely grateful to Adam for taking time out to show us how it all works.

Something I find particularly interesting when talking to Adam is that if you gave two accomplished wine makers the same grapes and the same manufacturing tools, the wine that each maker will produce will most probably be different due to their respective styles of making wine.

These guys are so passionate about what they do, and it is great for our guys to get this kind of personalised treatment on what for many is their first wine tasting experience.

With the wine tour in the morning and the largely ignored calls from trip leaders Sam and Chris to 'swig and spit,' we were back with the Kahuna surfing academy in the afternoon. Dene's experience as South Africa's most qualified surf coach is really showing through with everyone surprising themselves about their own improvement over the last 9 days.

Steve Pike's wave and weather prediction course is something that the guys will use for the rest of their surfing life, whether it be out here in South Africa, back home or perhaps on their next surfing adventure. Everyone received a signed copy of his latest edition of Surfing South Africa. This will be a great tool for scoping out South Africa's endless surfing opportunities not to mention act as a great souvenir of the trip.

After all this, all eyes were on Max as we celebrated his birthday at Cape to Cuba.

As days goes, yesterday had it all.

Today starts off with a surf lesson, with a plan to scale table mountain in the afternoon. Those of you that have been to Cape Town will understand what I mean by saying that there is presently a table cloth on the mountain. Blue blue sky with a medium SE wind today, not a cloud in the sky except the one neatly lying over table mountain. Fingers cross that it lifts, because when it does the views are spectacular.

I feel that i should also mention that without exception everyone on this trip continues to be an absolute pleasure to travel around with. Everyone seems to be happy and relaxing nicely in the Cape Town routine which for us is great because this is 'what it's all about.'

Its off to Plett for trip 1 on Sunday meaning new place different routine. Leslie and Mirjam (their hosts in Plett) are looking forward thier arrival. Surf is looking pretty good for next week aswell. How can we tell?? Because we were listening last night......

Day 2 on Ticket to Ride

Day 2 has been the first opportunity for everyone to settle into the TTRide lifestyle.

Having welcomed our the group to South Africa with a traditional Braii, everyone was ready for some sleep at last, in preparation for the day ahead.

Our first surf lesson of the trip is what we call ‘the leveller.’ Everyone gets on beginner boards for 2 hours of fun in the warmer (Indian Ocean) waters found at Muizenberg.

I am excited to say that the standard of this group is right up there, and here I am not just talking about ability, I am mainly excited about the over all attitude of this group that is already clear to see. Super keen, really smiley and just generally excited about what lies ahead.

Trip 1 leaders Chris and Sam have got a fantastic group and they are the perfect two guys to toke their surfing to the next level, not just because of their own proven surfing ability but also because of the professional approach that blends perfectly with their promotion of the TTRide lifestyle.

Lucinda (the group’s cape town mum) has cooked up a storm for the Riders and they are now kicking back in front of a movie ready for an early start tomorrow.

The plan is, another Surf lesson in the morning, followed by an optional TTRide session and then beach football with the local township kids and finally assuming the guys and girls still have some energy left, a few well deserved cold bear/glass of South African wine at the local bar.

See you tomorrow

W

Zero to TTRide Hero 2008 has landed!!

This morning has been all about airport pick ups from Cape Town International. Flying over Cape Town is awesome, especially on a day like today when there is not a cloud in the sky. Hopefully the guys and girls were able to spot table mountain, as they rounded it on their way in.

Everyone looked pretty tired, it seems that no one slept. However, now that they have all had some food and some of them have already tapped into their first beer they are already looking relaxed and happy to be out here in beautiful South Africa.

We have recommended that they chill out this afternoon, whilst we set up the welcome braii.

We've got boerewors (SA sausages) lamb chops, steaks, some line fish, salad baguettes, cold beers, locals wines and lots to talk about. This has to be my favorite meal of the year.

First surf lesson is tomorrow 9.30am