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The Topdeck story so far...
Earls Court or “Kangaroo Valley” as it was known in the 70s, was the London home of Top Deck Travel for many years. Side by side with many other tour operators vying for the youth tourist business to Europe, Top Deck, ever the trend setter, took a different tack, and introduced travel (with accommodation and living all in one) on a series of individually named red London double decker buses.
How did this come about? Well... a young Australian Vet, Graham (Skroo) Turner, working in the countryside of Northern England, saw an old double decker bus in a used coach lot. He decided to buy it to drive to Morocco with a couple of friends. Originally called ‘Argus Persicus Travel’ (it’s a type of Australian cattle tick) the first tour of Morocco was advertised in an Earls Court pub and quickly filled. And the rest, as they say is history...Top Deck (more aptly renamed) was born!
At the same time, across the other side of the world, James Nathan and Lloyd Clark, both Tasmanians who had worked 'on the road' in Europe, started up a similar type of travel experience called 'The Camping Connection'. Lloyd was eventually replaced by Christopher Nathan (the younger brother of James) and together over the next 20+ years they built a successful Australia and New Zealand youth touring product which was later re-branded 'Connections Adventures.'
Back in Europe, demand was hard to contain and within a few years the newly named Top Deck Travel was operating a fleet of 25 buses and coaches on European tours. In the same year the company amazed both the coach and adventure tours industry by successfully running an “impossible” tour overland, from London to Kathmandu by double decker bus...they even tried a couple to Australia!
Ownership of Top Deck changed several times throughout the 1987-2003 period until September 2003 when Graham “Skroo” together with James Nathan ('Connections Adventures' was sold in 2000) and some other well-known industry figures bought the company. The subsequent investment in marketing, equipment, and product development, along with the opening of the much needed distribution channels has placed “Topdeck” in an exciting position heading into the future. To complete the full circle, Connections Adventures was purchased by the Topdeck Board and in April 2010 began operation as 'Topdeck Australia & New Zealand'.
Topdeck has many loyal supporters and an enthusiastic team working world-wide - it has a successful and colourful history and now has a great future.
The spirit of Topdeck is alive and well!
