Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Spain Morgan Sports Car Club 40th Anniversary

The title says it, but not all!

This year 2024 the Spanish Morgan Sports Car Club celebrates its 40th anniversary.

A nice event is prepared, and all Morgan owners and enthusiasts are invited!

I paste you the link to the event webpage. Anyone interested in coming to Spain 17th to 24th of October, please don’t hesitate to book now and/or contact the Club (all contacts information in the webpage!).

https://sites.google.com/view/2024morganinternationalmeeting/english?authuser=0

Best regards to everyone!

I think that we will be there for at least the first 3 days.
The plan at the moment, still to be decided, would be ferry from Genoa to Barcelona then progress to the start. Return via southern France.
We are stll thinking about the additional 4 nights. We have visited Cantabria several times and really like the area.

The seafood is great too! 😋

We are planning to go. Plan is to drive down there in 3 to 4 days (NL to Spain). Then do the 3 + 4 days, and then return trip back to NL. Looks well organized and is a part of Spain we always wanted to explore.

I will be coming from UK for the 3 + 4 days.

Planning to take the Portsmouth to Bilbao ferry both ways.

I look forward to meeting you all there.

Whoever wants help with lodging , guided tours , routes advice , etc. - but the days of the event, obviously - feel free to contact the Speedy Marmots!! Send me a PM if you want to!

We run a bespoke travel agency, and being Morgan owners too, we offer the best possible combination for a successful outstanding trip in Spain and Portugal with your Morgan!

We will join from Switzerland for the full program.

Plan to spend two or three nights in France on both ways.

On these tours can’t help but compare them to the self booking costs - if I have the numbers right - tour cost £650 per night per couple (three nights) excluding ferry. Quick look on booking.com for one of the hotels including breakfast, lunch and dinner £210 per couple.

Guess you just have to accept there is an organisational/corporate premium.

Indeed... but...

The Spanish Morgan Sports Car Club delegated this task to a travel agency, and obviously they charge a fee for organizing and managing the event.

The reason was simple: most of the club members don’t have the knowledge, the time, or just the will, to do such a demanding task.

A task that sometimes can be frustrating, if something goes wrong, or just because a comment from any of the attendants.

And in this world, some are greedier than others. The very best example is the tour offered by the MMC in La Rioja…

Ana Maria and I own a bespoke travel agency, so we know pretty well how this works.

So, in defense of the company who organized it (it’s not us, don’t worry!), I have to say that they did the job of selecting the routes, and the lodging, and looked for places to visit, and restaurants to enjoy meals, etc. When you compare the price of the lodging with what’s offered in Booking, you forget about all this part of the job… This is a complicated puzzle, not easy to assemble in the right way.

This is not a negative critic of what you just said, but I think it’s fair to explain that it’s unfair to compare just looking at Booking prices. It’s easy to declare “it’s cheaper on Booking” when you have the hotels pre-selected by others… and not just pre-selected at random, but after hours or days of studying the whole.

When we find ourselves in front of such an offer, these are the questions I ask myself:
• Is it a good hotel? Good rooms? Good breakfast? Good general services?
• Does the hotel have room for all the attendants?
• Does the hotel have a proper parking to leave the Morgans secured at night?
• Is the hotel in a strategical location to start and finish the routes planned?
• What are the routes planned? And the visits? And Restaurants?
• Where’s the closest petrol station to refill the cars everyday?
• Did I plan all that or did it someone else?
And many other similar questions may arise, that must be put in the balance…

And then, after answering all these questions, is when I check the daily price – but not just the hotel in Booking, which I do too – and then decide if the trip is worth the price or not.

These are just my thoughts. My analytic philosophy. And with the advantage (or disadvantage) of working now in our own bespoke travel agency, which means we may be much more demanding…

Javier: Well said Sir.

My wife and I will be attending. We live in the Boston area but will ship the car from Baltimore to the UK and take the Portsmouth/Bilbao ferry 13 Oct. After the meet plans are very loose, possibly continuing to Valencia, barcelona, Rome with return to UK and home mid-Nov. Am intertested in connecting with other participants.