Each week at 101 Holidays we interview one of the people behind the UK’s finest travel companies. This week we meet Ala Osmond, director of Exeter International, which specialises in tours of Russia and Eastern Europe.
Ala established the London office of Exeter International in 2004 after living in St Petersburg for three years and falling in love with Russia. Before that, she spent 17 years working in the hotel industry. She developed a taste for the exotic after growing up in Cairo, Baghdad, Kampala and Khartoum. She is married to Mario, a former fireman who now works in hotel health and safety. They live in west London with their cat, Socks.
• Where are you planning to go on holiday this year, and why?
I have just returned from Tobago – we stayed in a wonderful fishing village for 10 days and cooked fish bought from the beach almost daily. If there were 6 people on the beach it was crowded. We hadn’t had a beach holiday since 2004 – all travels since establishing Exeter International in the UK have been in our area of speciality: Russia, Crimea, Armenia, Croatia, Romania, Slovenia and city visits to Prague and Budapest, to name a few.
The Middle East is another region I love. I spent a year in Cairo and have heard that a great intimate hotel – the Villa Belle Epoque, a converted 1920’s townhouse – has just opened in the residential area, Maadi, where I used to live. Cairo is full of huge hotels that simply don’t capture the essence and magic of the place, so it would be great to fit in a three-night stay there later in the year.
• What is your favourite bolthole in the UK, and why?
Babington House. Nick Jones has created a great brand with (in my experience) service that is perfectly pitched in attitude and delivery.
• If you could spend a long weekend in any city abroad, which would you pick, and why?
St Petersburg. Because it’s our second home with many friends, and there is always something new to see and experience.
• Please tell us three items that are always found in your luggage.
A fan (indispensable in overheated museums and theatres), shortwave radio (there is nothing like the BBC World Service) and several books.
• What one thing would most improve people’s overall holiday experience?
Go everywhere with an open mind and take the time to appreciate – look up, enjoy the moment, forget the photo.
• What has been your worst holiday experience?
Being stranded at Heathrow during the BA strike in 2003. We were flying from St Petersburg to Madrid, via London. It was our first holiday in over a year. I have always used a wonderful travel agent to book all my flights – we were out in a day and much luckier than the majority as the travel agent was able to book alternative flights for us instantly. You can’t put a price on service. BA paid all our expenses, so a reasonably happy ending.
• Tell us your favourite hotel: in the UK; in mainland Europe; in the rest of the world.
Babington House, Four Seasons Gresham Palace in Budapest (pictured above), Dutch House in Galle, Sri Lanka.
• What is the most exciting project your company is working on right now?
Here in London we are working on a selection of train-based itineraries within Eastern Europe. Train travel is sustainable, romantic and faster than you think – you can be in Moscow from London in 24 hours.
Our US office is putting the finishing touches on their new headquarters in Tampa, Florida, which will be on the cutting edge of sustainability in design, impact on the environment and efficiency.
• Thank you, Ala.
Visit the Exeter International website.
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Tags: Exeter International