‘It has been a roller coaster of a ride, but I’m not sure I’ll ever want to get off’

McComb’s Coach Travel is first and foremost a family business, with family values and loyalty to both customers and our team.

My husband and I have been running McComb’s for over two decades, and have managed to raise two daughters along the way who we couldn’t be more proud of.

After witnessing their mum and dad working seven days a week, unsurprisingly neither of them want to join the business. Our eldest daughter Katelyn is currently in her second year of a Journalism degree at Ulster University, and Ellen is in Upper Sixth working towards A-levels which will hopefully lead her to Ulster too to a Graphic Design degree. We are incredibly lucky however that Rodney’s son Christopher plays a critical role at McComb’s in the day to day running of the business.

Rodney started the business back in the 90’s when he was a taxi driver in Belfast. After a couple of hairy experiences during the troubles, he decided there had to be a better way to earn a living, and decided to press on and work hard and try to offer the limited amount of visitors to Belfast something to do.

He was the first person in Belfast to offer tours of Belfast, and then Giant’s Causeway – the same tour we are still running today. He worked hard, and invested what he could and really laid the foundations for what our business would become.

I started working at 13 in a local hotel waitressing the Christmas party nights. I absolutely loved the work, the people, and even more so loved earning my own money. I left school at 17, and moved from Portadown to Portrush where I attended the Northern Ireland Hotel & Catering College, studying Travel & Tourism. I continued working two jobs throughout my studies, because all I wanted to do was work in tourism.

In 2004 I was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship, to visit Australia and New Zealand to research Youth Tourism, and what lessons we can take from their success back to Northern Ireland to help develop the Tourism Industry here. It was a pivotal moment for us.

Rodney’s brother and his family live in Sydney – having left Belfast during the troubles, and seeing the life they had, we had to choose whether to emigrate with our young family to be closer to them or stay here and throw everything but the kitchen sink at McComb’s and make it the absolute best business we could.

Neither of us had excelled academically, but we’re really hard workers, clever in a logical practical way, and neither of us will ever let an opportunity pass.

We don’t often have the time to look back, but when we do we are amazed by some of the things that we had both the guts and the audacity to do or try! Things like starting our Game of Thrones Tour when no one here had ever even heard of it. 10 years on it is still a huge success and we can proudly say we created the first ever Game of Thrones Experience in Northern Ireland.

Then there’s things like wrapping the Official Northern Ireland Football Team coach – right before Northern Ireland qualified for the Euros. Or agreeing to be part of a fly on the wall documentary, made by the now incredibly famous and successful Declan Lawn.

It has been a roller coaster of a ride, but I’m not sure I’ll ever want to get off. Five years ago I joined the board of Bus & Coach NI, later becoming Chair, and this year I have also joined the board of the Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance.

I recently found my old school Record of Achievement – when my daughters read my GSCE results they asked how on earth I did well with such awful results! But it was full of ambition of working in tourism, and proof that if you are prepared to work harder and longer than anyone else you will achieve anything you want.

More than anything I’m just so proud as the mum of daughters, they have seen that even working in such a male dominated transport sector, if you work hard and prove yourself, not letting anyone or anything stand in your way you can achieve anything you put your mind to.

For now, we keep on working with the most incredible team, including Christopher and our fabulous operations manager, Tanya, who is now like a member of the family! It’s onwards and upwards for us, investing more each year in our fleet of coaches and chauffeur vehicles, developing new experiences for both locals and visitors, and working with other local companies who share the same values as us.

It’s great to know that after two decades...we are still keeping Northern Ireland’s tourism legacy on the right road, one journey at a time!