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World wide rescue mission for stranded teddy bear

World wide rescue mission for stranded teddy bear A seven-year-old girl has been reunited with her teddy bear after a worldwide rescue operation.

Darlington-based Travel Counsellor, Kim Hughes received a call from her clients, Dan and Deb Armstrong, after they returned from their holiday on the Costa Brava. The family had left behind a treasured possession at the airport – a 50-year-old teddy bear called ‘Orange Ted’ that was the pride and joy of their seven-year-old daughter, Jaimee.

Jaimee was so distraught she was not even able to sleep without her trusty friend, so her parents appealed to Kim for her help in retrieving the treasured teddy as they were told by the airport that someone would have to collect him in person. Kim used the Travel Counsellors’ Intranet message board to post a plea for help to her 900 fellow Travel Counsellors around the globe, and was quickly met with a host of replies from colleagues trying to help.

The company’s head office in Bolton even picked up the post and quickly checked if any of the company’s passengers were flying to Girona, where the teddy was stranded. Fellow agent, Louise Cussans was the first Travel Counsellor to respond with a solution as she had a client flying back through the airport. Unfortunately his flight was delayed, so he was unable to pick the teddy up.

Undeterred, Kim and the team at Travel Counsellors put another appeal out and this time it was Travel Counsellor, Laura Dawson who came to the rescue. Laura, who is based in France, had a business client flying through the airport, travelling through Barcelona for a flight to Seville. Orange Ted spent a few nights with the client before Laura herself picked it up from the offices in Blagnac.

Laura’s parents, who live in Chorley, were visiting Laura and gave the teddy a lift back home on their flight to Leeds Bradford Airport. The company’s headquarters in Bolton, who had stayed in touch with Kim and Laura throughout the teddy’s adventures, received the teddy from Laura’s parents and promptly returned it to Jaimee, who was thrilled to have her treasured teddy back safe and sound. All in all, the teddy had travelled over 1,500 miles!

Travel Counsellor, Kim commented: “I always believe in going that extra mile for my customers and this was no exception. Although I never imagined the journey the teddy bear would end up going on! When I put the message on the bulletin board, before long there were 280 hits.

"The man who picked it up for us from the airport was one of our business clients, so he carried the bear around for seven days while he was on the business trip.

"It was a really happy ending and it was lovely that the family sent me a huge box with some flowers and also a teddy bear of my own. Although they advised me not to take it with me when I go on holiday!"


Travel Counsellors News posted on 25 June 2008

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