By chief reporter Juliet Dennis
There's nothing quite like a few drinks and a several hundred carnations to get a party going.
At least, that's all it took on a VIP travel agents trip to Rodos Palace, Ixia, Rhodes, hosted by bed bank Youtravel.com.
During a special dinner at the hotel with Greek dancing, agents and their partners were told it was tradition to throw flowers at the dancers on stage as they performed.
But just think how much more fun you can have throwing flowers at fellow diners on the table next to you. After all, it's not often you get to pelt senior figures in the travel trade with a sodden carnation, now is it?
So in typical British style, what started out as a sober evening turned into something more akin to a food fight in a school canteen.
Managing directors and their wives reverted to being ten year olds for an hour, as waiters kindly provided trays upon trays of flowers to flick, chuck, and hurl at anyone in the room.
Triton Rooms operations director Andrew Claridge pelted flowers with scary accuracy at the neighbouring table, while Youtravel.com group managing director Graham Nichols and wife Jo ensured no-one missed out on a flower shower. Head-to-head battles ensued.
"I stopped short of throwing carnations that had fallen in my wine," said Travel Trust Association Steve Clark's wife Emma proudly.
But it was Youtravel.com's sales and marketing director, nicknamed Paul "stand up" Riches on the trip for being on the short side, who felt the real brunt of the action as he was surrounded and had trays of flowers dutifully poured over his head.
The following day and a few sore heads later, it was time to recover in Rhodes old town. And what better than a midday beer and a few naff Greek wigs to create a few laughs?
Of course when TTA director Steve Clark asked for a large beer he had no idea he would be presented with a glass boot - the size of a garden wellie - filled with lager. Four pints of it, to be precise.
Nick, of Freedom Direct, didn't need any lager to get into the holiday spirit. Donning a mullet perm wig and baseball cap that would make any Greek man proud (or cry into his beer with embarrassment), it wasn't long before Travelmole's Graham MacKenzie had bought wigs for everyone else to wear too.
Clearly, travel folk are easily amused.
Who needs expensive food and fine wine, when a few credit-crunch beers, un-politically correct wigs and carnations will do the trick?
More photos from Youtravel.com's Rhodes trip on our flickr account.
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