Name: Coleen Matovu
Workplace: Travel Counsellors
How long you been with them: `13 years so far
First ever job: Selling shoes in Barratts in Bloomfields Shopping Centre in Bangor
Best holiday: I love Majorca – nice short flight and a great spot !
Favourite city hotspot: Las Vegas … where else?!
City Break OR Sunshine: Sunshine
Window or aisle airplane seat: Short flight – window for a snooze. Long flight – aisle so I can stretch the legs !
Favourite airport: Heathrow Terminal 3 – I could sit there and people watch all day. Was also the last place I flew home from, 2 weeks before lockdown was imposed.
Dream / Ideal travel buddy: I love getting away with fellow Travel Counsellors – then no one is looking to me to be the tour guide ! (Which happens on ALL family holidays haha)
Somewhere you want to go that you haven’t been to: 100% Maldives. I was hoping to get there this year as had a ‘Big’ birthday to celebrate, but of course that is on hold for now.
Favourite holiday drink: Caipirinha
Favourite holiday food: Ok – so this isn’t a food that you get everywhere, but, the Asian Nachos from the Grand Luxe Café in USA are top notch ! Have recreated similar at home but not the real deal.
1 x travel tip: For the ladies – always pay to check in a bag. I hate travelling with hand luggage only and having to sort out all the make up bits etc to go through security.
Proudest moment in travel: This is a bit of a random one – last summer one of my clients was working at The Open in Portrush – in player liaisons. One of the Golfers had arrived from USA minus his luggage and clubs. No one could get an answer as to where they were.
My client, knowing my background obviously, asked could she get me involved in the hope I would know of anyone to speak to. I took the call at about 2:30pm on the Wednesday afternoon. I managed to locate the bags with the ground staff at DUB after multiple calls to the airlines USA based call centre, collected them, headed up North and met with the Player at about 9:30pm that night – 350 mile approx. round trip from home. Sadly he didn’t make the cut but was a special event for him and he had his whole family there – and without getting the clubs sorted that day he wouldn’t have got playing most likely. Travel related – in a way
Keep an eye out for some more profiles over the coming weeks!
