1Good morning.
2My name's Erica Matthews,
3and I'm the owner of Matthews Island Holidays,
4a company set up by my parents.
5Thank you for coming to this presentation,
6in which I hope to interest you in what we have to offer.
7We're a small, family-run company,
8and we believe in the importance of the personal touch,
9so we don't aim to compete with other companies on the number of customers.
10What we do is build on our many years' experience -
11more than almost any other rail holiday company -
12to ensure we provide perfect holidays in a small number of destinations,
13which we've got to know extremely well.
14I'll start with our six-day Isle of Man holiday.
15This is a fascinating island in the Irish Sea,
16with Wales to the south, England to the east,
17Scotland to the north and Northern Ireland to the west.
18Our holiday starts in Heysham,
19where your tour manager will meet you,
20then you'll travel by ferry to the Isle of Man.
21Some people prefer to fly from Luton instead,
22and another popular option is to go by train to Liverpool and take a ferry from there.
23You have five nights in the hotel,
24and the price covers five breakfasts and dinners,
25and lunch on the three days when there are organised trips:
26day four is free,
27and most people have lunch in a café or restaurant in Douglas.
28The price of the holiday includes the ferry to the Isle of Man,
29all travel on the island, the hotel, and the meals I've mentioned.
30Incidentally, we try to make booking our holidays as simple and fair as possible,
31so unlike with many companies,
32the price is the same whether you book six months in advance
33or at the last minute,
34and there's no supplement for single rooms in hotels.
35If you make a booking then need to change the start date,
36for example because of illness,
37you're welcome to change to an alternative date or a different tour,
38for a small administrative fee.
39OK, so what does the holiday consist of?
40Well, on day one
41you'll arrive in time for a short introduction by your tour manager,
42followed by dinner in the hotel.
43The dining room looks out at the river,
44close to where it flows into the harbour,
45and there's usually plenty of activity going on.
46On day two you'll take the coach to the small town of Peel,
47on the way calling in at the Tynwald Exhibition.
48The Isle of Man isn't part of the United Kingdom,
49and it has its own parliament, called Tynwald.
50It's claimed that this is the world's oldest parliament that's still functioning,
51and that it dates back to 979.
52However, the earliest surviving reference to it is from 1422,
53so perhaps it isn't quite as old as it claims!
54Day three we have a trip to the mountain Snaefell.
55This begins with a leisurely ride along the promenade in Douglas in a horse-drawn tram.
56Then you board an electric train which takes you to the fishing village of Laxey.
57From there it's an eight-kilometre ride in the Snaefell Mountain Railway to the top.
58Lunch will be in the café, giving you spectacular views of the island.
59Day four is free for you to explore, using the pass which we'll give you.
60So you won't have to pay for travel on local transport,
61or for entrance to the island's heritage sites.
62Or you might just want to take it easy in Douglas and perhaps do a little light shopping.
63The last full day, day five, is for some people the highlight of the holiday,
64with a ride on the steam railway, from Douglas to Port Erin.
65After some time to explore,
66a coach will take you to the headland that overlooks the Calf of Man,
67a small island just off the coast.
68From there you continue to Castletown,
69which used to be the capital of the Isle of Man, and its mediaeval castle.
70And on day six it's back to the ferry -
71or the airport, if you flew to the island - and time to go home.
72Now I'd like to tell you...