Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
Everything went to plan. Had a wonderful time with my family and seeing my grandson graduate from university.
For the many, many years I have dealt with DAF and Ewan and his team, they have never let us down, and our recent trip was perfect as well. Thanks DAF for being just a 100% perfect company to deal with.
Disappointed not to have adjacent seats from Sacramento to Dallas. Suffice it say we will never fly BA again. Got our lost baggage back last night.
Peter looked after my trip from beginning to end, thank you
Everything went like clockwork - very nice resort
Excellent contact and communication. Clear information on flights and good choice of hotel. Probably need to inform customers about hotel tax!
Very polite and efficient service
Have dealt with Christian for many a year and would not organise a trip through anyone else. Superb as always.
Everything was perfect thanks. Great seats on the plane. Great car. Excellent connections. Thanks.
Mason has always helped us with travel plans superbly and the app from DialAflight is really helpful.
As always perfect in every way, great holiday, fantastic hotel recommendation, caring communication - pre hols and post hols checkin.
The car hire arrangement was just what I wanted - thank you
Gino gave great service and even booked us upgraded seats for the best price - a nice touch and much appreciated
A bit more clarification re US time zones would be good.
All good thank you
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Philippa was great throughout the whole process - thank you for your help!
Would highly recommend. Thank you Steven Merralls and team.
Always a pleasure to book with DialAflight. Very professional and efficient. I look forward to the courtesy call 24 hours before I travel . Professionalalism at its best.
We had a problem with our hotel room. One phone call and all sorted! Thank you
Shelley has been fantastic and I’ve already asked her to start looking at options for NZ next year
Gary always does a great job … I don’t go anywhere else for travel
Ashley and his colleagues very helpful and found them very competitive.
Always a good service.
You booked me return flights with BA but they became AA flights, not such a good airline. The Miami transition was a nightmare. Don’t use that airport unless you have to. Only just made the flight, and wouldn’t have managed but I had to jump the line several times. Lots of muttering and savage looks, but I did it.
Plane was diverted to JFK. Navigation down. Put on another plane.
Everything perfect, service outstanding above and beyond, would not use anyone else
Thanks to Connie for sorting the last minute changes so swiftly
Well organised thanks. Everything went smoothly and as described on phone
Thanks Jessie. It all worked out really well. See you again next time
The dodo's image is everywhere you look in Mauritius, from the moment you arrive at the airport to the cover of restaurant menus. It seems a strange emblem to use to promote the island, considering it was the very place they were hunted into extinction in the 17th century.
The 3ft-tall, flightless birds were killed by dogs, cats, rats, pigs and, of course, humans who ate them, despite the unpleasant taste, until they became extinct in the 1660s while the island was under Dutch rule. But it's the national bird of Mauritius. And, like the dodo, the island has a complicated history. Replacing the Dutch, the French invaded in 1710 and ruled Mauritius for 100 years.
The population speaks French today despite the British colonisation beginning in the early 19th century (Mauritius became an independent nation in 1968). The majority of the population is of Indian descent, with residents also hailing from Africa, Fiji, China and, of course, Europe.
Mauritius is surprisingly verdant, full of rich green hills, woods and lush farmland. And another big surprise was its incredibly well-maintained road network.
Mauritius is a wealthy island with its sugar, rum and cut-flower exports. I travelled north up the east coast to Shangri-La's Le Touessrok Resort, which reopened at the end of last year after a major refurbishment (previously owned by the One&Only group).
No matter what time you arrive, your breath will be taken away by the entrance to the hotel with its huge mangrove tree filled with fairy lights - and then by the local art and huge, blown-glass light fittings in the foyer.
The resort sprawls across the bay with low-level beachfront villas connected by a path which you can use to pop to one of the three private beaches.
Depending on which way the wind's blowing, you will always find a tranquil suntrap; well, mostly tranquil - sometimes you'll get a party boat whizzing by with rum-soaked guests dancing on deck. As well as the beaches, the Mauritius hotel has two beautiful, and very quiet, swimming pools surrounded by tropical plants and trees. Lying in the shade and taking the occasional dip to cool off, the days could not have been more perfect. The hotel also has regular motorboat shuttles to its two private islands.
One is the venue for watersports such as parasailing and kite-surfing, while the other has an 18-hole golf course and a huge stretch of totally unspoilt beach, where we were serenaded by a guitarist who played Light My Fire ('Have you heard of The Doors?' he asked).
You might not want to, but there are plenty of opportunities to leave the resort. You can canoe among the mangrove trees, visit a local rum distillery, cycle along the coast or have a speedboat tour along the coast.
Our driver Charles was no stranger to full throttle, and we charged along with music blaring, leaving boats of Japanese tourists bobbing in our wake. We anchored at the Blue Bay Marine Park where we dived from the boat to snorkel among beautiful fish. Back in the boat, we were taken to a waterfall where we saw monkeys eating mangos from the trees on the bank, then to Fouquets Island, which houses an old lighthouse built by slaves, and to an ocean sandbank for a great view of the island.
The only view that's better is through the plane window as you leave, but you'll be too sad it's all over to appreciate that one.
First published in the Mail on Sunday - November 2016
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