Stand setup at the Orange Convention Centre, Orlando, Florida

We completed our setup on the 24th making the finishing touches to the booth. Bill Bookout, chairman of the National Animal Supplements Council( NASC), dropped by after setting up his booth just three down from us. The NASC is a American organisation that we belong to and they have been enormously helpful us to comply with government organizations, such as the FDA (Food & Drugs Association), who we deal with when importing our products into the USA. Later on in this trip we will be attending the annual NASC conference which this year is located in New Orleans - it's a tough life, but someone has to do it! More of this in later blogs.

Our booth at the Globa Pet Expo

Tony took some great shots of the booth (stand) to show that we really did spend two days setting up! The first day of the show has been excellent with lots of interest shown by buyers, distributors, and individual boutique pet shops, from places as far flung as Estonia and Columbia! A company based in WA (Washington State) but we thought it meant Western Australia - no I'm joking - this is the US state located just south of the Canadian border on the west coast of the US) that spoke to us at length last year came back to say that they were still interested in distributing our products, so fingers crossed this connection may turn into a solid development.

Scoot Jnr

‘Scoot' (see photo) my trusty mobility scooter came in handy not only for me but also for Tony to go off to the far end of the conference area to collect badges etc for us - please note that ‘Scoot' has a handy cup holder for coffee and, if necessary, alcoholic beverages later in the day!

You MUST buy this!

Heather, back in the UK, asked us to find a novelty or unusual product item to put onto the Blog. Tony found a new product being exhibited at the show which seemed to consist of a sort of ‘high chair' for dogs which could be attached to your dining table so that your pets could sit up at the table for dinner. In addition the image shows that the pets seem to be involved in a game of Scrabble. These dogs must be smart because our dobermann, Yogi, couldn't even spell his own name let alone aim for a triple word score, especially whilst eating his dinner.

A doggy dinner!

Let's hope the next two days turn out well for Hilton Herbs in Orlando.

Hilary and Tony

Well here we are in St Mary's, Georgia, safely installed in the Big Wheel RV park, just down the road from a big US submarine base - which not surprisingly doesn't figure on the sat nav!  This is our second day on the road since we picked up the trailer from the RV outlet in Ringgold, South Virginia, where John, Larry, and JB, made sure that our fifth-wheel ‘toy hauler' was in perfect working order. The ‘talk round' took a while as there was so much to explain about all the facilities on board and I know it will be some time while before we fully understand our new ‘toy' but it will be lots of fun getting to know it.  Spent the first night at Paradise Lake camp ground, in Keeling South Virginia, just 20 miles from Ringgold, just to make sure we tested everything and were still within shouting distance of the guys at RV Outlet!  Tony did a great job of getting into the site, gaining praise from the owner for his driving skills and the nice ‘rig'.

What is this on the bonnet of the truck??
(yes, its a moth, but which moth!!)

We drove down into the Carolinas through cotton fields which were flanked by these beautiful trees covered in soft white blossom, We tried, without any luck, to find out the name of the trees, so if any of our US website visitors can help us out that would be great!

What are these trees??

The second night was spent at Dillon, South Carolina, at the Big Bass Lake RV park, which turned out to be run by a couple of Brits from just north of Birmingham. Guy and his wife, (sorry I can't remember her name!) and their dog Henry, made us really welcome and we plan to stay there again on the way back from Orlando, after the Global Pet Show.

I have just cooked a quick mushroom omelette, with tomato and onion salad, for dinner (oh how I miss those Downclose free range organic eggs from our happy hens! Hoping to get to Whole Foods, in Orlando, to stock up with nice food for our stay.

A woman's work is never done!

Rustled up a chilli ready for dinner tomorrow night, when we will be parked in the car park at the Orlando Orange County Convention Centre, ready to load in and start setting up the stand on Tuesday.

Loving every minute of this trip so far.

Hilary & Tony

Our bosses, Hilary & Tony Self, set off for the States last Tuesday for their second trip this year, which will last six weeks and take in three shows and the NASC conference in New Orleans.  Hilary has said she will send us regular news items, a sort of blog-within-a blog!

Here is Hilary Herb's first blog.

March 16th /17th

Hi folks thought I would try and do a bit each day while were on the road.  Arrived safely and travelled down to Warminster so didn't feel too far from home, except this was Warminster Pennsylvania, not Wilts!  Next day drove to Doylestown where we were due to collect the truck from the dealers. All fine so far!

As usual things didn't go quite according to plan and everything took a lot longer than expected. We were due to be leaving Doylestown by about 2pm to start our journey down to South Virginia, where we are picking up the fifth wheel 'toy hauler' (this is a trailer that has accommodation and a 'garage' area that will carry all our stock for doing the shows - pics to come).  However 10 pm we were still in Doylestown, having spent most of the day trying to find an adaptor for the tow hitch on the truck, we needed this to be able to hitch up the U-Haul trailer we need to take all the show equipment down to put in the toy hauler when we pick it up. However the day was saved for Tony when I told him I had overheard a couple of guys in the U-Haul shop talking about our truck which was parked outside, saying that his Ford 550 Dually Pick Up was (and I quote) "one bad- assed Truck"!

The 'bad-assed' truck!

Finished the day in Costco, a sort of mega US cash-and-carry, which was like an Aladdin's cave. Could have spent hours there, of course this was no pleasure for me (!!!)  we were just getting the essentials for the RV so that Heather has sheets and pillows to sleep on when she comes out to join us in April, to help run our stand at the Rolex 3 Day Event in Lexington, Kentucky.  Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Anyway must get on the road there are a whole lot of adventures still to come I'm sure!

truck and 'toy hauler'

Driving south

So, here we are again, another year has gone by and its that Crufts time again!  Pedigree Petfoods has been replaced by DFS Sofas and attendance, so far doesn't seem to have been affected by the BBC's bullying stance in withdrawing television coverage of Crufts.

Wednesday was spent setting up and all that went off without a hitch, compared to 2009 when we came out of the hotel on the Wednesday morning to discover that the van battery was flat and so wasted half a day sorting that out.  By the end of the afternoon the stand was ready - see below!

Hilary, our herbalist, deep in thought!

Our first day was very busy with lots of new customers and plenty of satisfied existing customers - which is always pleasing.  Many visitors to Crufts bring their dogs with them as proof positive that our products work.

Today (Friday) seems to be the day for foreign visitors with lots of Belgians, Americans, and Dutch people coming on the stand.  Fortunately we're able to help them with their problems and then, more importantly, ensure they are able to carry on getting our products by putting them in touch with a local supplier.

The days at Crufts are long as most stands open for 8am (some classes start at 7.30am) and often stay open until the last visitors have gone.  We tend to call it a day at around 6.30 which is about when you run out of something original to say!!

Tonight we are going out to our favourite Indian restaurant near Solihull to give us some energy for the weekend

Stage 1 of the Great American roadshow started on January 24th when the bosses took themselves off to Heathrow to fly to Philadelphia.  This is one of several trips this year and the aim is to consolidate the work that's been done in the American market over the last few years and one of the most effective way of doing this is to attend trade show.  Our market share has been stimulated enormously by our association with distributors such as Bradley Calwell, The Healing Barn, and Smartpak, but there is plenty more work to be done!

First stop was the Hilton Herbs warehouse in Souderton, Pennsylvania, to collect stock for the first show which was the AETA (American Equestrian Trade Association) held at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Centre in Oaks, PA.  The show started on January 23rd and ran for three days but unfortunately, possibly due to the economic climate in the States was quite quiet with orders down on 2009, but some useful trade contacts were made with potential re-sellers.

From AETA they went down to south Virginia to look at pickup trucks and RVs (recreational vehicules) - the aim being to buy a pickup and gooseneck trailer to help cut down on hotel, restaurant, and shipping costs on their regular American trips.  The visit resulted in the purchase of a 'fifth wheeler' or 'toy hauler' as these pickups called on the pickup internet forums - yes, seriously!

The "Beast"

Some of the trailers are more luxurious than most people's houses but the bosses restrained themselves and bought one that only sleeps six!

The trailer!

From Virginia it was back to to Hershey (where the chocolate comes from) for another trade show.  This one is organised by Bradley Caldwell Inc. one of our distributors in the US and a major pet wholesaler on the east coast of America.  By this time the predicted snow storms had hit and the journey to Hershey, in a hire car without snow tyres, was distinctly dodgy.  There was 22 inches of snow overnight brought in by one of the worse snow storms in American history!

The Hershey show was very positive with plenty of orders, despite worries that the snow would lower attendance as all tv and radio stations were telling people to stay at home!

From Hershey it was back to Souderton and the warehouse for a stock-take.  Another major snow storm had hit the east coast in in the interim an overnight stop in Quakertown, PA became a day-stop because the snow made travelling too hazardous!  The Holiday Inn had no restaurant and all the restaurants in Quakertown ere closed so the only food outlet was at the local Wa Wa fuel station, down the road from the hotel!  As someone commentated on our Facebook page "yuck"!

Now they are safely back in the UK and preparing for the next trip which starts next Tuesday 16th March - check the Blog for udpates!