Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
The transfer taxi had seen better days. In fact it was a wreck and had no seat belts in the back.
Holiday was excellent and everything was seamless. Hotels were excellent - one slight disappointment was the hotel in Krabi. While it was an excellent hotel it was a bit remote and we like to walk to restaurants and shops and had to use taxis.
Jamie was always available to speak with when necessary. We had a slight blip with our original hotel booking but this was thankfully sorted before we went away on a great trip to Thailand
Jerry is fantastic and wonderful - also so is Tristan who I spoke on the phone with yesterday
Mia is amazing - so easy to deal with and friendly. Lee also helped me out with a situation which was nothing to do with DialAFlight. Great company and looking to book already for next year.
All good - be booking another soon.
Best travel agent to book with. Always book through this company. Also family friends.
Everything went very smoothly and the flights were perfect. Thanks for all your efforts
Another amazing experience with DialAFlight
Thanks again for all the help you gave us. Big thanks to Hannah
Aidan did a brilliant job for us - everything went smoothly - will definitely be using him again
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Totally dependable first class service as always
Everything was very good. Anantara hotel in Koh Samui has amazing staff and location!
Only problem was delayed in Manchester and missed my flight to Manila
It was a great holiday
The service was absolutely first class from start to finish - we will definitely be using DialAFlight for our next trip
All good with JAL. Excellent flights and food on both and excellent time between!
As ever, Tammy delivered a bespoke holiday package - absolutely perfect and a big thanks from us
Excellent service as usual. Ashley was spot on all the way through the process
Would recommend again and have several times, thanks again
We had a great holiday arranged for us by Tristan Chatburn. Five flights, a boat return transfer, two excursions and five hotels were involved and everything worked seamlessly. Destination Asia were amazing with all local arrangements, as was Tristan for putting it all together.
Thank you again DialAFlight. Everything exceeded expectations and we had the exact accommodation we requested.
Always 1st class service from your lovely team.
Thanks again to Matthew and his team. We had the most perfect holiday and got engaged! Have passed your number to my aunt as she has some holidays she’d like to book and we wouldn’t use anyone else!
We always tell others we meet on our travels about the excellent service Tristan offers. I need to give a mention to Destination Asia your representatives in Bangkok who give a first class service
As efficient and knowledgeable as ever. Great to know you always get excellent support from DialAFlight staff.
Great as usual
Great service. I have and would recommend DialAFlight to anyone. Keep up the good work
Smooth as silk
The first time I saw the blazing lights and towers of Hong Kong island it seemed the most exotic place in the world. As a fiercely acquisitive 24-year-old, I hurled myself into bargain shopping like a child given a week of Christmases.
Today, the prospect of bargain shopping is long gone. Prices can be above even London's, and vanished too are the Union Flag and Governor's Rolls-Royce. Indeed, the former colony becomes undeniably ever more Chinese in character, coldly clasped in Beijing's embrace.
MY BEST TRIP YET
Yet in a week-long family visit, I had a better time as a Hong Kong tourist than in 20 previous trips. The weather was perfect. And I had forgotten that hiking is a local passion, with a surprising number of wild routes.
Climb or take a taxi to the Peak, then the tram down. Scale the steps to the Big Buddha on Lantau island. Take the ferry from Stanley to the traditional fishing village of Po Toi and eat at one of its seafood restaurants.
Stroll through the Bird and Flower Markets and, of course, take the Star Ferry back and forth between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
If you should visit between December and April, go strawberry picking at the Rainbow organic farm at Fan Ling in the New Territories.
Enjoy Stanley street market, though I'll eat my socks if you see any object a self-respecting British citizen would want in their own living-room.
If you seek an unusual hotel experience, stay in the old Tai O police station on Lantau island.
For the MTR underground railway, buy an Octopus card on arrival, then for a hairy shopping experience, ride to the end of the line towards Shenzhen, the vast new metropolis just over the border in mainland China.
Shenzhen is a global capital of fakes – Gucci bags, Valentino shoes and a cornucopia of other stuff including customised art copying. Some of it is rubbish, but some is nevertheless wonderfully seductive.
EATING OUT
The peak of my culinary experience was dinner at Hutong, looking down from a 20th floor window on the night panorama of Hong Kong harbour amid the best Chinese food I have ever eaten. And don't expect such a meal to be a bargain either - although I suppose it could come into that category if you put a high value on such a memorable experience.
But we did drink hot rice wine, which I love, rather than French vintages at stratospheric prices.
It is possible to eat more cheaply, but if you have bought tickets across the world it seems silly to opt for bargain-basement dining.
MORE MUST SEES
I have a few more suggestions for quirky outings. Jason Wordie's guided historical walks are raved about by everyone who has signed up for one. And my daughter, who lives in Hong Kong, highly recommends the fabric and ribbon market in Sham Shui Po, and a stroll in the Botanical Gardens.
And, of course, no visit to Hong Kong would be the same without experiencing the Symphony of Lights- one of the world’s most spectacular light shows that has set the harbour ablaze every night since 2004.
Although there is so much to see, a first-timer to the city can do a great deal in a four-day visit, which can be a suitable duration for an introduction. And this is not particularly a child-friendly city.
Most Chinese today display no great sentimentality towards the British, the former colonial tenants, and why should they? Hong Kong's residents of all nationalities have had only one purpose for the past two centuries: to make money – and that continues today.
The old colony is utterly different from when I first saw it in 1970. But how could it not be, when empire is long gone? What's more, plenty has changed for the better and it is fascinating seeing this evolution take place.
First published in the Mail Online - May 2018
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