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Everything worked like clockwork with clear itinerary and reservations
We were affected by the closure of Heathrow and were very grateful that Liam was able to keep us informed and find us an alternative flight.
Callum is utterly amazing. He is so on it with everything and so comfortable to talk to. We had the time of our lives on our recent holiday and I cannot wait to book with him again!
Would highly recommend this company and will definitely be using them again - everything was perfect. Thank you George Burke for organising such a great package.
All ran exactly as planned.
Excellent as always.
Eric and colleagues had everything sorted. Hassle free booking and lovely follow up communication. Just not worth me doing it myself.
Everything on this journey worked out fine.
All the staff are top-notch
We appreciated lots of help from Amelia Beecham
Great assistance from Helen and team.
Hotels website a little misleading on one or two things
We were delighted to have so much of the basic planning done for us. Everything had been arranged and we were given excellent information about flights, transport and accommodation. We thought the check in reminder service was a brilliant idea. We were new to this destination and appreciated the quality of the hotel and its location, and the recommended excursion you booked for us was superb.
Great service as always keeps a holiday stress free
Nearly all good. Time for transit in Madrid from Iberia to BA was not enough, too much walking with multiple security checks on hand baggage.
Next time persuade me to choose a better seat on a 10 hr flight.
Kept in touch with me in case I needed any help. Felt secure
We would not choose United Airlines again
I really appreciate your help and guidance. One of my flights was cancelled less than 24 hours before our trip and your help to sort out another option was brilliant.
Well oiled team at DialAFlight
Thank you so much for arranging a wonderful holiday, everything went incredibly smoothly, the guides we had were very knowledgeable and more than helpful and every transfer happened on time, fantastic service!
Thanks for a smooth journey
Marco and Joe helped us to arrange a two week personalised itinerary to Costa Rica. They were very helpful and accommodating with any queries we had and all the tours including car hire and hotels were a great success. Very friendly company.
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Excellent service
Great customer service as always - we feel very safe when you book our holidays
Great service, from booking to checking we had everything we needed prior to setting off (including an ESTA even though we were only transiting through the US). Would definitely recommend
Hotel was not on the beach which was disappointing but the swimming pool was amazing! Thank you for your support with our problems.
Great itinerary providing full coverage of Costa Rica. Swiss Travel local handling excellent and transfers between hotels super smooth and reliable
You provided someone to talk to and responded quickly.
When your two sons’ favourite TV programmes are Weird Creatures With Nick Baker and Austin Stevens: Most Dangerous! you have a choice: stick your fingers in your ears and pretend it isn’t happening or go with the flow.
So it was that I found myself crouched on the floor of a hotel room in Costa Rica at 2am, trying to catch a spider the size of a fried egg with a tumbler.
In my imaginary life, holidays are spent on a sun lounger. Back in the real world, I’d travelled to the depths of the Costa Rican rainforest with my sons, nine and six, to look at monkeys, caimans, frogs and, yes, spiders - although I hadn’t bargained on having to share a room with one.
Thanks to the country’s incredibly varied landscape, Costa Rica is one of the most bio-diverse countries on earth - it has rainforests, cloud forests, beaches, hot springs and volcanoes.
It’s anything but a Third World country. The streets of San Jose are clean, the people well-educated and the hotels fantastic. To get a proper sense of the place, you need to travel about, which means a lot of driving, although flying is quicker.
My sons had a wish list of animals they were dying to see. Top of the list were the monkeys and, cruising down the river in Tortuguero National Park, we watched fascinated as white-faced capuchin monkeys leapt from tree to tree over our heads.
Our first stop was the Pachira Lodge in a lagoon in the heart of Tortuguero National Park. It’s an eco lodge with its own dock, boats and guide, but there was no air conditioning or TV. Instead guests gravitated to the pool bar where there was a lovely breeze. It was very friendly and sociable.
The best time to see monkeys was early morning. We also spotted toucans, herons, caimans and even a wild otter.
Our next stop was Tabacon Resort and Spa in La Fortuna. Here you can see the active Arenal Volcano, experience hot springs, and visit Cano Negro Wildlife Park, which you do by boat. The animals were astonishing.
The hot springs are free to guests and you dip into a series of swimming pools with natural waterfalls.
On then to Manuel Antonio on the coast and the Arenas Del Mar Hotel. Here we had a hot tub overlooking a pretty cove, a super-comfortable bed and flat-screen TV. My eco conscience was clear as it is sustainable - even the shampoo is biodegradable.
The boys loved it because it was in the middle of a forest, which meant easy access to more wildlife. It is also useful for visiting the Manuel Antonio National Park where we saw more monkeys, lizards, crabs and very lazy sloths doing nothing but clinging to branches.
The highlight was when a wild deer stepped out of the forest and walked alongside my eldest son. He will never forget it. If you are going to the park at Manuel Antonio, take a swimsuit, because there is a lovely beach. It is sheltered, so ideal for children, and we had a great afternoon playing in the water and collecting hermit crabs.
Our final stop was the Paradisus Playa Conchal Hotel. The Paradisus is all-inclusive with jaw-dropping pool, bars and restaurants and lots of activities.
The best bit, as far as the boys were concerned, was the possibility of having a Playstation, X-Box or Wii installed in your room.
Still, on the flight home, I asked them what their favourite part of the holiday was.
I expected them to say the X-Box, but they didn't. The highlight for them was the Pachira Lodge, with the monkeys hopping about on the roofs. Seeing wildlife on TV is all very well, but when you see it for real, it beats the pants off any computer game.
First published in the Mail Online - February 2015
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