Distinguished Clients

Mr Herb Kelleher

Picture above: from Left to Right, Mr Dave Ridley, Senior VP of Marketing and Revenue Management, Southwest Airlines Co. Mrs Mary-Flo Ridley, Mr Herb Kelleher, Co-founder, and former chairman and CEO of Southwest Airlines and Michael Phillips, MD, Perception Travel Co. Ltd, enjoying a light hearted moment at the Longues sur Mer gun battery, Normandy. September, 2008.

Our tour of the D-Day Normandy battlefields and cemeteries with you and Sally as our delightful, enjoyable, knowledgeable, and insightful guides and companions was a moving and enriching experience that I will never forget.

Thank you for a most thorough, informative, enlightening and memorable time.
 
Gratefully,
Herb Kelleher
Former Chairman and CEO of Southwest Airlines

Mr. George F. Will

I recently had the pleasure and privilege to conduct a tour for the renowned journalist, Mr George F. Will.

» Click here to read his column in the Washington Post
which he wrote after the tour.

"Michael’s great asset as a D-Day guide is his ability to communicate with you in his first language, English. Whilst others can give you the bald facts, Michael is able to add entertainment, including some humor, and a "wow" factor to his presentation which you are unlikely to find elsewhere. He is clear and concise; you will not be left without a true appreciation of what happened on June 6th 1944."

Carol Kizis, Joe Gardella, Claire and Joseph

What are the qualifications required to enter the realm of Perception Travel's list of "Distinguished Clients"? Parameters of fame as defined by the keynotes of wealth or success are the usual yardstick, but sometimes rarer qualities appear that are more precious and subtle which enter the arena and change the settings.

Carol Kizis is a woman who carries more responsibility than most. By necessity she believes in planning the family vacation well in advance, certainly many months ahead. In early 2009 when we first spoke, her concerns were not primarily for herself or her husband, Joe Gardella, but for the well-being their disabled 18 year old daughter, Claire. Both their children, Claire and Joseph were born in Korea and were adopted by Carol and Joe. Joseph, despite being only 15 years old is already a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and an up and coming war historian. For my part I gave practical advice on access at French railway stations and hotels that have disabled facilities and there it remained until Carol later confirmed a three day tour in August.

When we met at the Churchill Hotel, Bayeux I was faced with the challenge of accommodating Claire and her wheelchair in my vehicle, but unfortunately after many trials it became clear that there was not room for both. We had to use two vehicles and Carol and Joe took turns on the first day with Claire to drive their rental car in convoy with my own vehicle adding time to our already late departure.

Upon arriving to collect them the following day, Joe and Carol had individually concluded that it was too disruptive for Claire to be disembarked from the car at each site so they had decided to take turns to stay behind and look after her in Bayeux. Carol on the first day and Joe the next. It seemed a harsh decision to the detriment of their vacation, but Carol patiently explained that that was how their family always had to do things – by genuine and honest self sacrifice in the interest of their daughter.

Tour guides, frankly, like to run tours like clockwork and are generally reluctant to alter timings or schedules to accommodate special needs of any description. However, sometimes, just sometimes a bolt strikes as a reminder that guides are not always at the epicentre of the day. Love and care shined from Joe and Carol’s eyes and it was so humbling to take a step back from the rush of the day to realise that there are more important things to life than timetables and economics.

The qualities of love and kindness as shown by Joe and Carol are seldom seen in the hurly burly of life and I, for one, consider it a privilege to have had an encounter with these wonderful people and it has humbled me more than I can ever say.

Denny Thompson

For the 55th Anniversary commemorations in 1999 and 60th Anniversary in 2004, I had the pleasure of escorting a highly decorated veteran Pilot/Bombardier Denny Thompson, his family and some friends around the D-Day beaches. Denny flew and served in the 8th Air Force as a 1st Lt. Pilot-Bombardier for 30 lead missions in B-24 and B-17 four engined bombers. He was part of 487th Heavy Bomber Group of the 839th Squadron based at Lavenham, England where he was stationed from April 12th, 1944 to December 4th 1944. He flew his 6th mission on D Day, June 1944 when he bombed a German headquarters at Liseux.

During the 55th commemoration ceremony at the American Cemetery where he had presented a wreath, Denny met, by chance, a civilian who was a child in Liseux at the time and who clearly remembered that night. Denny seen here wearing his original uniform [right & above], was awarded 13 medals:

• 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses
• 2 Purple Hearts
• 4 Air Medals
• 4 Bronze Stars
• 1 French Freedom Medal

Denny with Perception Travel Director, Michael Phillips

Presenting the wreath at the American Cemetery June 1999

It was indeed a privilege to conduct this tour.

Michael Phillips,
Proprietor, Perception Travel Ltd.

Sea Change

"History is the geology of human experience, a study, as it were, of tragedy and comedy laid down in the strata of past lives. In death there are no winners or losers, merely people who once lived but can never live again. What they thought, what they believed, what they hoped, is largely lost. That which remains is history."

© Robert Goddard. Extracted from Sea Change by Robert Goddard, published by Bantam Press, a division of Transworld Publishers. All rights reserved.