Rachael Scott - Travel Professional

I believe that you are never more alive than when you are travelling.

I caught the travel bug as an 8 year old going to Disneyland with my family and have never stopped! I’ve now spent 22 years in the travel industry and still love every minute of it.

I’ve been employed in many positions, my most recent organising and escorting corporate and incentive travel groups to destinations worldwide. I have looked after groups from as small as 15 people to over 300 at a time. I helped people realise their dreams of travelling to amazing destinations.

Organising groups is very specialised. It includes not only booking travel for each person, but also managing very large budgets, producing teasers and other support collateral. I also source and provide unique travel experiences, and finally execute it so everything runs to plan.

My other great passion is doing voluntary work. I have worked in elephant and other animal sanctuaries in Thailand, as well as orphanages in Vietnam. If you want to have a holiday that allows you to get immersed in another culture, plus do something good in the world, then I have some great options for you.

My most favourite places and experiences I’ve had are:
Sitting on top of Machu Picchu in Peru, swinging in the canopies of the Amazon jungle, (see review here) doing a safari in Botswana and Namibia, watching Madonna perform at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the great nightlife of Madrid, sailing in Croatia, sipping cocktails while the waves are lapping on my legs in most of the Pacific Islands, sunrise at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the people of Vietnam...and the list goes on.

If you have a passion for travel, let me help you realise your dreams!

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Testimonials

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Dear Mr. Collins,

I am writing to let you know that I had a wonderful experience with one of your employees!  Her name is Rachael Scott. 

My family and I had a ski trip planned to Japan this coming week for our daughter's spring break.  We had to cancel our trip due to the situation there and needed to find a place to go on very short notice.  I luckily was connected with Rachael Scott thru an email inquiry that I did online.  Rachael was very helpful in trying to find somewhere we could go on such short notice.  I know she spent lots of time checking on different options and I really appreciate all her efforts!  She was able to find us a great location and didn't even mind adding my Mom to the list to go along at the last minute! 

I realize she was just doing her job by helping us find somewhere to go at a great price, but she was so pleasant and helpful that I felt that I wanted to send you a note.  We did get to chat on the phone yesterday and I could tell that she is a kind, caring, genuine person who was VERY PLEASANT to deal with!  I would use your company again for sure and ask to deal with Rachael! 

I look forward to working with your company in the future for our family vacations!

Very Sincerely,

Trish

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Hi Rachel!

How sweet of you to send an email!  Our Club Med Bintan vacation was FANTASTIC!  We were blown away!  My husband and I are both former Airline employees, (he had 26 years, me 22 years), so we have done a lot of traveling and been on many wonderful trips.  I really mean it when I say it was one of the best vacations we have been on!

The people that work there are just wonderful, there were so many things to do and always so much FUN going on ~ it was fabulous! I checked a few things off my bucket list while we were there...............riding an elephant, sailing on the ocean and flying on the trapeze!!!!!

We even had two of the GO's over for dinner this past Tuesday night at our house.  We all ended up staying till Monday!  The one GO's was leaving Bintan to be transferred to another Club Med and the other one was leaving Club Med to start a personal training business here in Singapore!  We had such a nice time with them here as well.  Our 15 year old daughter was actually crying when it was time to say good bye and get on the bus!

I am a firm believer that everything is meant to be and we are so grateful for all you did at such short notice for us to find somewhere to go on vacation.  I am happy my Mom got to go with us.  She had never been on an all inclusive vacation and she really had a great time.

You were right................the food was great ~ I think I gained 5 pounds so I'm off to the pool to swim some laps to work them back off!!  :o)

I will definitely be in touch for our next get away and share you information with our friends!

Thanks again,
Trish :o)

P.S.  If you haven't been to Bintan in awhile, they just opened a new Spa that is hard to describe with words.  It is right on the ocean and all the rooms overlook the ocean with balconies, ourdoor private baths, hamocks, etc...........It was the nicest Spa I have ever been to ~ they even have their own private little beach that you can spend the day at after your massage if you want to! 

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Hi Rachael,

We had a great relaxing holiday, everything ran very smoothly and the service at the Pacific Resort Aitutaki was great. There were a couple of things that for the price were a little disappointing - they used plastic glasses in there bars for cocktails, beer etc which you wouldnt expect at a 5 star resort.

Also, most mornings for breakfast I just felt like muesli and fruit which was on the menu but each time I ordered it they didnt have muesli. Otherwise, there breakfast menu was great and a la carte which you dont often see.

We did a lagoon cruise which was really good, it was a day trip on a great boat which was nice and big so plenty  of room, they took us to a few islands and snorkelling out near the reef and cooked us fresh tuna on the BBQ for lunch along with traditional salads etc. I think it was only about $85 each which we thought was good value. They played there instruments and sang songs most of the way and on the way home showed as how to shell a coconut and tie sarongs.

We also hired a scooter, which was only $30 for 24 hours, we spend a morning cruising around the island which was good fun, the locals are all really friendly and the place has a really nice welcoming feel to it.

At Pacific Resort, although the rooms are all on the beach front they are also tucked into the gardens so are very private and the room we got just to the right of the pool area, was perfect, thank you.

Julian the GM made a point of coming around to the bar and restaurant each night to talk the guests individually to see what they got up to for the day and check everything was going ok which was a nice touch, he also greeting us on arrival and saw us off with a small gift when we left, this was a nice personal touch.

The whole place is just stunning and we would happily go back one day and thoroughly recommend it.

The flight time back to Auckland was a bit nasty but we went to the Rarotongan and had a few drinks and a snack an then got to the airport around 11.30pm, check was 12 and then we went to the koru lounge so it wasnt too bad, there are lockers at the airport for baggage.

Thanks for organising everything for us, we wont be having a holiday for a while now but I will hold onto your details for future.

Kind regards
Justine    

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Hi Rachael

This has been the best travel booking experience I've ever had in terms of service and smoothness and I'll ask Kerry to let Malcolm know that.

I'm a PA and do lots of travel bookings for work as well as our own annual vacations so I can make that comment with total sincerity!

Thanks again for your assistance.
Kind regards
Morvven

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Hi Rachael

Just a quick note to say we had a fantastic time away!!

Thanks so much on your picks for the hotels they were perfect. The Mela in NY was great and just so handy to everything along with Boston and Washington.

We had amazing weather for the whole trip and meet some interesting people along the way. Shopping was great .... I thought Glasgow was great for shopping!!

We must try and do a catchup either before the baby arrives or after. Let us know what suits.

Thanks again Rachael you did an amazing job for us.

Take care

Fiona and Henry

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Hi Rachael

Sinaeli was amazing!!!! We only stayed in the garden fale for one night, we up graded to a beachfront Fale and wow, it was amazing. BS1 is the fale to have!

They only charged us $500 for the upgrade.

Food was sensational, service was great. They do make it their business to know each guest staying there, and was very personal - what a nice change from being just a number and rush through service like in Fiji.....although we will be taking the kids to Fiji next year.

Beer was cheap, cocktails not to bad, wine though was expensive, lucky I took my own Moet, they were charging 180 tala for Duetz and 110 tala for Lindauer. Oyster Bay wines were about 115 tala a bottle.

We are definitely going back.

I have also given your details to some people to book their future travel with, they had issues with their booking and felt the service at their travel agency was s..t, I said yours was fantastic and all our future holidays will be booked with you.

The flight back via Sydney was long - 6 hours then  2.45 hrs from their to here. But wasn't to bad, was just very very tired when we got home.

I have up-loaded pics to my face-book page if you want to have a look.

Thanks again for everything

Will be booking again soon

Ivy

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Hi Rachel,

We had an absolutely magnificent time in Samoa.  On the way home we talked about when we would return… which I think is the real measure of any holiday.  Here are my comments

Staff – Great!  Really lovely and down to earth people.  Most of them had been to NZ at some point and already had some affinity with Kiwi’s.  We bonded with a couple of the staff and this really made a difference to our stay.  They work 7 days and manage to keep smiling.  It was heart-warming to watch how they playfully and secretly teased each other while they worked.

Service – We had no issues with any of the service.  I was a little worried that we would hit issues with “island time” but all of our meals were served in what I would call acceptable timeframes and the staff were very attentive.

Accommodation – Rooms were clean and pretty well appointed.  We had an issue with the shower/bath mixer which meant that water came out of both the bath tap and the shower head at the same time.  The sink was also not deep enough to allow us to fill the jug so we had to fill from the bath tub and you can guess what that was like when the shower was also inadvertently going at the same time.

Food – Pleasantly surprised.  There are 4 restaurants plus the breakfast buffet.  All 4 restaurants were above what I was expecting for the adults.  The kids menus were fine and keep them feed.

Pool – Great.  The kids lived in it.  It was large enough to satisfy a fully accommodated resort.

Cost – Drinks are pretty expensive and so hiring a car.  I wasn’t shocked at the cost of food or the entire holiday price tag.  When the kids hit 13 and we have to pay full price for their food and accommodation, it will be a different story.

Outside of Resort – We hired a car and toured around Samoa for a day.  There is a real lack of road signage making finding your way around a little difficult.  My GPS didn’t work either but we found all of the tourist spots we wanted to find in the end.  Driving through Samoan it struck me what a different place it is from Fiji.  The villages in Samoan are very clean and the people that live there seem to take a pride in how they present their homes.  Even though some of the housing is tacked together with scrapes of tin and wood, they still take pride in their gardens and road frontage

Weather – Lovely.  We had about 2 days that included a few showers.  Other than that it was hot and dry.

Thanks for all of your help Rachel.  We will definitely talk to you first for our next holiday! - Ben