Saturday Guardian Travel & Sunday Observer Escape

Using press and magazine advertising, brochures, mailings - old hat or still cost-effective?
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

That is shocking to us grown-ups. But in their defence, as a child I would have probably gouged a few fossils myself. Isn't that how young Darwin got interested in the whole 'where do we come from' thing? I hope they were young children and not teenagers though!
Paolo
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alexia s.
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Post by alexia s. »

Alan,
Yes.
Paolo,
I quite agree - it was the acquiesence of the adults that shocks me.
Best,
Alexia.
A-two
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Post by A-two »

Our children live in a world of mixed messages unfortunately. A local storekeeper told me recently that she was having trouble earning a living selling her hand crafted pottery, but she could do better if she started selling shells, which are in much greater demand. Of course many of those shells would be imported from places where preserving homes for hermit crabs is not a priority for people who are homeless themselves.

It dismays me that in 2005, society still condones tourist shops selling bucket loads of dried out living creatures from the ocean - star fish, seahorses. Those same stores sell conch shells and well....... fossils. Consequently, you can hardly blame a child who has been in one of those stores, then trying to hack a fossil out of a rock or take a large shell off the beach or pull a star fish out of the water and place it in the hot sun to dry out.

I blame the parents for not dealing with this situation appropriately, but criticising their parenting skills as you wave them off is hardly conducive to getting a repeat booking, neither is it your job.

Even so, I would follow up with these people in a subtle way. If you can donate these items to a "collection" of some sort, then it would be great and you could write a long, excited, follow up letter to the parents, telling them all about it - definitely not criticising them or their children in any way, but leaving them with the distinct impression that you went to a lot of trouble to right a wrong, and to preserve these items, because even though they and their children may think fossils are trash, you give them value.

Then, unless they have absolutely no respect for you at all, they will start to think about instilling some decent values in their children and teaching them to respect not only other people's property, but the community in which they live, including the natural surroundings they find themselves in as visitors.

I'm surprised - celebrities are usually on top of this kind of thing - folks who don't know how to show respect rarely get to be celebrities because nobody can stand them.

Just my 2 cents.

Joanna
Waves from America
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

folks who don't know how to show respect rarely get to be celebrities because nobody can stand them.
Oh, I wish that were always true! Some celebs and their families are genuinely wonderful people. Others, not so much. My mother has loads of celebrity tales, and with some of them it's clear that they've let it go to their heads and have no respect for others -- likewise for their children.

Too bad -- much as they don't like it, their fame does mean they have a certain responsibility to set a positive example.
Brooke
alexia s.
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Post by alexia s. »

Joanna,
Thank you for that idea: it is the best solution.
Best,
Alexia.
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