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Bula and vinaka vakalevu for thinking about reading my TR. It's been a long time since I ventured into the land of writing a TR, but with so many photos and memories of my recent trip, it would be remiss of me not to share my flights, accom, rookie mistakes and great photos.
Background
After my brother delivered the most surprising news in mid-February (that he was selling his part of our business, leaving the industry and also Australia after having a mid life epiphany), my remaining business partner and I quickly decided that going into significant additional debt at our ages wasn't palatable; so we have made the brave decision to split our business into three. This necessitated me taking a step back from AFF and throwing myself into setting up a new business (as I couldn't take the old company with me - a decision out of my control), deciding which clients to keep (or leave with my brother to sell) and then commit to all the rigmarole of business plans and a raft of other normal issues (CGT, funding, staffing etc). Given we had spent 9 months setting up our current business in 2006/07, I knew it wasn't going to be easy - months of working in the normal business during the day and working on the new business at night stretched before me.
So after months of arranging the initial items on my spreadsheet, my wife and I realised that if we didn't have a holiday in the next (Qld) school holidays, we weren't likely to get one until mid-2016 and we both need a break. So I shot off an email to my TA, Travel Guru on 17th August (nothing like a last minute decision):
This is one of the few times I knew I needed a TA as I just didn't have the time to co-ordinate everything. He knows my taste, so I trusted him to find me the type of accom that I wanted. True to form, he had everything organised and held that afternoon, with just one email for additional information and clarification.
The only change I made was to request an additional night at the beginning, as the flight costs were the same and the accom cost wasn't astronomical - but knowing that the most of a day on 29th September and 7th October would be spent travelling.
So onto the guts of the TR
Background
After my brother delivered the most surprising news in mid-February (that he was selling his part of our business, leaving the industry and also Australia after having a mid life epiphany), my remaining business partner and I quickly decided that going into significant additional debt at our ages wasn't palatable; so we have made the brave decision to split our business into three. This necessitated me taking a step back from AFF and throwing myself into setting up a new business (as I couldn't take the old company with me - a decision out of my control), deciding which clients to keep (or leave with my brother to sell) and then commit to all the rigmarole of business plans and a raft of other normal issues (CGT, funding, staffing etc). Given we had spent 9 months setting up our current business in 2006/07, I knew it wasn't going to be easy - months of working in the normal business during the day and working on the new business at night stretched before me.
So after months of arranging the initial items on my spreadsheet, my wife and I realised that if we didn't have a holiday in the next (Qld) school holidays, we weren't likely to get one until mid-2016 and we both need a break. So I shot off an email to my TA, Travel Guru on 17th August (nothing like a last minute decision):
This is one of the few times I knew I needed a TA as I just didn't have the time to co-ordinate everything. He knows my taste, so I trusted him to find me the type of accom that I wanted. True to form, he had everything organised and held that afternoon, with just one email for additional information and clarification.
The only change I made was to request an additional night at the beginning, as the flight costs were the same and the accom cost wasn't astronomical - but knowing that the most of a day on 29th September and 7th October would be spent travelling.
So onto the guts of the TR
