Great communication. Love the app. Great choice of itinerary. Thanks.
Great holiday experience.
Other than Emirates I also flew with Star and they must be the worst airline flying. I never wish to use them again.
Only bad point was the Emerald hotel didn't have an adult pool. It was geared up for young children which spoilt it a bit.
Everything working like clockwork
Everything as discussed and delivered
Liam has been amazing. Trip was everything we asked for and more. Great communication and I would highly recommend to anyone who asks!
Very fuss and stress free. Had a courtesy call a week before to ensure I had all the information I required.
Great and simple service
Niall was superb from initial enquiries through to the actual holiday, even dealing with potential issues which were sorted straight away. App is also very good and as a package DialAFlight was 5*!
Ben's service is outstanding
We had the best time! The Zeavola Resort was divine! We will definitely be asking you about future holidays
It was well organised thanks to Harvey
Howard and team were fantastic as usual
Sebastian once again was a complete star. So impressed with your professionalism. Look forward to booking our next trip very soon!
Always use your company for my flights and recommend anyone looking to book flights to try you first.
Everything went very smoothly. Thank you very much for organising the holiday and making it so easy. We really appreciate the excellent customer service - nothing was too much trouble and the two weeks were problem free.
Great people
The first two hotels were excellent but the third hotel was not the standard we usually get from DialAFlight. However, all flights and transfers were perfect. Qatar Airways lost one of our staircases for 36 hours but this was not the fault of DialAFlight.
Very well planned trip. Everything was perfect
Steven was absolutely fantastic - cannot fault in any way - he really delivered a quite hard and specific holiday package. Will highly recommend him to anyone looking and also Sarah Woods for all the help and contact info.
We have been booking holidays with you for years. You have always provided an excellent service. It is reassuring to know that you are there for us should we have any problems while we are away..
Fantastic holiday in Thailand arranged by Manni. Everything ran smoothly. Hotels were in the best possible locations for access to everything we needed. Would definitely recommend and use again.
Love Philippa.
Once again the service was impeccable
Brilliant communication and gave us what we wanted at a great price
Seamless from start to finish! Special thank you to Marie Mckeown and her hard work
I will always use DialAFlight - never had a problem
Excellent service as ever. I have been using DialAFlight for 9 years for long haul destinations. Adam could not be more helpful. What I most love is their flexibility and honesty - they will help you get the trip you want for the budget you have.
Very good service and tailor made for us
You all know Roger Moore, 007? If you are too young to know what he looks like, he looks like me,' said our small, squat, spectacularly un-debonair Thai tour guide, Captain Alex, with a deadpan face.
While not exactly shaken with laughter at his wry quips, everyone was stirred by the stunning scenery at Ko Khao Phing Kan, or James Bond Island, as this place is more famously known. It became a must-see site due to its double-O heaven setting in The Man With The Golden Gun, when Moore's Bond goes in search of Scaramanga, played with relish by Christopher Lee.
This was all heady stuff for a first-time visitor to Thailand, an exotic land that has also inspired on the big screen the sublime (The Beach) and the ridiculous (The Hangover, Part II).
Many writers, from Somerset Maugham to Graham Greene, have fallen for Thailand's bars, silk, curry and hospitality. Its ancient history, temples, islands and beaches, as well as the gentle people of unrivalled grace, have made it endlessly enchanting.
A small bit of detective work led me to deduce that John le Carré found his original inspiration for The Night Manager - his thriller televised this year - in Thailand after staying at The Mandarin Oriental hotel in Bangkok, on the banks of the Chao Phraya river.
I discovered his fascination for the legendary hotelier Kurt Wachtveitl, famed for decades for arranging everything with charm and discretion, just as we saw Tom Hiddleston's character do in the BBC series. More later about le Carré, a drunken night on champagne, and his eternal gratitude to the night manager.
But first back to James Bond Island. This speck in Phang Nga Bay is firmly on the tourist track as boatloads arrive to get their fix of the legendary spy.
Indeed, everyone else on our boat seemed to think they were wannabe secret agents, as the men stripped down to Daniel Craig-style swimming shorts and the women wore Bond-girl bikinis. They also donned their best Bond-villain shades for selfies in front of the limestone outcrops.
Captain Alex's tour included kayaking into sea caves, shopping for silk and a lunch of fresh grilled fish, before driving back to the Banyan Tree Hotel in Phuket, a tranquil base where smiling courtesy is second nature to its staff.
Phuket became a favourite destination of backpackers in the 1960s and 1970s thanks to its sleepy beauty and sensational beaches, and luxury hotel chains soon discovered its appeal.
Many of the villas in the Banyan have a private pool, and you can have spa treatments in your garden overlooking the lagoon. Bicycles make it easy to get to and from the main lobby and its zen-like spa.
The starting point for my trip before heading to Phuket was Bangkok and the splendid Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Leave so much as half an apple in your room and it will be replaced within the hour. As well as supreme service, there is nothing the staff haven't seen, from Billy Idol smashing up his suite to Somerset Maugham fighting off a bout of malaria.
Some simple sleuthing persuaded me that le Carré first came across his inspiration for The Night Manager here. The clues were staring me in the face in the le Carré suite on the tenth floor.
A typed letter from the author is framed on the wall. He thanks the hotel manager for the incredible care and hospitality, having arrived 'tired, dusty and unannounced' after a 'swing through divided Laos' while researching his novel, The Honourable Schoolboy.
He recounts how he met up with a friend in the hotel and drank copious amounts of champagne, which annoyed a journalist from 'a lofty London paper' who was also staying there. 'I fear we may not have seemed as funny to him as we did to one another.' A year later, when The Honourable Schoolboy finally appeared, the same correspondent took time off from his political musing to give it a perfectly dreadful review.
The fact that le Carré bothered to send such a letter to the manager indicates his fascination at how Kurt Wachtveitl looked after him and the dozens of others guests, all seemingly effortlessly.
Incidentally, the room opposite le Carré's is the Barbara Cartland suite, for those who are more inclined to soft romance than spy thriller.
Just outside the hotel, Bangkok shows all its buzz and brashness, with street food, shopping (incredible silver), mai tai cocktails at sunset at bars both grand and grubby.
There has always a sense of being about to enter the land of all possibilities, be it The Beach, Bridge On The River Kwai, or Bond. Just remember not to turn it into The Hangover…
First published in the Mail on Sunday - October 2016 More articles below...
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