With a certain Wedding and The King’s Speech billed for yet more success at the 83rd Oscars this weekend, there’s no disputing that the Royals are back with a capital B. With ‘Kate and Wills’ the words on everyone’s lips and commemorative china cropping up like it’s going out of fashion, 2011 is shaping up to be the year of the Royals.

There was a ripple (or rather tidal wave) of excitement in the office when news landed that we'd been shortlisted for a highly prestigious Travolution Award. Not only did this mean we would get to attend the awards ceremony to be held at the trendy Boiler House at the iconic Battersea Power Station, but with the exception of a few coach industry awards, we were mainstream travel award virgins. We were up for Best Tickets/Attractions/Excursions Website and would be sharing a room with the heavyweights of the travel industry – the cream of the travel crop – including the likes of Kuoni, Thomas Cook, TripAdvisor and Virgin Atlantic.