Planning an 80-day trip to Australia can be quite an adventure. But to make sure that there would be little or no interruption to service for Handy-Office customers, John's planning began 5 months earlier.

The Technology Challenge  
In June 2022, we finally plucked up courage to replace a creaking old Windows computer with a brand new MacBook Pro. This improved speed, strorage and security immensely, but also proved to be a big learning curve for someone who had pledged never to switch to Apple!

A big thank you to Gavin at www.corecw.com for his massive dedication and patience in pre-planning, implementation and aftercare.

The Information Challenge  
Armed with a new computer, we then braved the second challenge of creating a brand new website. We never anticipated a site as comprehensive and interactive as this one, but again with inspiration, encouragement and training from Gavin at www.corecw.com this site came together and was launched in November 2022, only weeks before the trip down under. We hope you like it, and would love to hear your comments.

The Manpower Challenge  
The biggest problem of taking a holiday thousands of miles from home for nearly 3 months is - well, you simply aren't in the office or the workshop! I was able to train my son Richard to use some of the main printing and finishing equipment at our workshop in North Wales, and again Gavin came to the rescue by giving the creaking old Windows computer a new brain (well, a hard drive actually).

The Keeping in Touch Challenge  
We had a great time touring round much of the east and south-east coastline of Australia from November 2022 to February 2023, much of it in a camper van. By choosing campsites with good WiFi, we were able to keep in touch with customers and suppliers via email, design and format files and send with detailed instructions for printing and finishing back to Richard in the workshop, and return home without a backlog of work!

A big thank you to all those who made the trip possible and kept the business running. Watch this space as we plan our next international adventure later this year!