Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
Thank you so much Helen for taking such good care of us.
Would just like to say that our holiday manager Hannah Kennedy was excellent, very helpful, very informative and always available to answer any questions. Will certainly be back to book more holidays.
Charles was great. He went the extra mile.
Jonathan Greaves dealt with everything - 5 star service every time
Service was personal and exceptional especially the out of hours service. Thank you to all who played their part.
Love Helen, she is fab and the next holiday is booked thru her as well
Damian Paterson was fantastic as always. Very professional and genuinely fantastic customer service.
Everything was excellent however the hotel in Verona had been given a request for twin beds in the room. I'm not sure how this happened but they resolved the problem the next day.
Thank you Natasha for your help and great customer service as usual. Looking forward to my next trip!
Brilliant service throughout by Tristan. Thanks for a fabulous trip
As usual, first class
Hotel in Barcelona was great and staff excellent but it was next door to what appears to be a large industrial complex - steam coming out of towers, all sorts of vents blasting out hot air - not sure I would want to stay there again!
As always Philip Bardsley was super efficient and extremely helpful
It is very reassuring to be able to contact a travel manager at any time of the night or day if we run into any issues. We have had to do so on previous trips, but thankfully not this one. I make sure to tell my friends and family the service you provide
Jed Fairchild was excellent
All expectations filled, as usual. Thanks.
Excellent service and personnel. 10/10
In your itinerary you told us we were flying Jet 2 from T1 at MCR and in fact Jet 2 flights are now going from T2. This was only a slight problem with the Fast Track booking.
Thank you, all good.
Organisation of the trip by Emily and the team was exceptional
Superb service from DialAFlight and Nick Beattie and the flights worked out well ... even in the manic hub of Schiphol!
Not impressed with the hotel and I had to demand an immediate change of room. However, everything arranged by DialAFlight worked like clockwork. I would not dream of using a different agency to plan my travel as Rebecca and her team are endlessly helpful.
Theo in your Shirley office is fantastic. Professional, helpful and always keen to accommodate.
Wonderful time. All ran smoothly. Hotels and private transfers were spot on
Thank you Sam, everything was just wonderful
Well organised, as usual, no hassles and it is good to know if anything goes wrong you are there to help. Thank you.
Thank you Glen for yet another fab holiday! We had an amazing time in Lisbon exploring everything this beautiful city has to offer!
Very pleased with your service, as always. But very displeased with BA's delays and rescheduling..
We always get exceptional service, help and support from Connie
Our second time of booking a holiday with Gavin at DialAFlight, and it will most definitely not be our last! Perfect communication and extremely efficient service that totally removes all the stress
Having just re-read Victoria Hislop's novel The Island, my mind was full of images of olive groves and small fishing villages hugging rocky coastlines, with friendly locals offering food and drink to die for - and in Crete my literary-inspired imaginings came true.
If you take an early flight from the UK you can be eating Greek salad on the beach by lunchtime - and of course I'm used to being up well before the crack of dawn to host ITV's Good Morning Britain.
Enticed by the promise of exclusive elegance, we stayed at the Daios Cove Luxury Resort and Villas, less than an hour from Heraklion airport - from where we were whisked in an air-conditioned limo.
At Daios Cove, the first thing that hits you is the glorious view across the Aegean Sea. The resort is laid out beneath you - four different levels cut into the cliff-face, as well as an infinity pool and a private beach.
The resort was the vision of owner Dimitris Daios. His aim was to create 'luxury a different way', and certainly every detail has been thought through.
Each of the 39 villas has a private heated pool and they are set along one side of the cove, all with unspoilt views and privacy.
To get to our villa we were whizzed off in a golf buggy, which gave us the distinctive feel of being in James Bond's Moonraker. Our two-storey villa was so spacious we could have had a floor each. It had a pillow menu and even a choice of fragrance to have pumped into the air-conditioning system.
Delicious local food
Greek salads, grilled fish, seafood and souvlaki are my favourite holiday foods, and all were in abundance at Daios Cove.
The buffet restaurant, The Pangea, has a large selection of regional and international dishes, and several are cooked in front of you. There's also a formal Mediterranean restaurant, as well as Greek specialities at the Taverna Restaurant. However, my favourite meal was a private candlelit dinner served in the courtyard of our villa.
To help work off calories, there are plenty of watersports, including kayaking and paddle-boarding. You can also zip around the bay on an inflatable doughnut.
On land there's tennis, yoga and Pilates - but even that seemed too energetic as I was making the most of having a week of complete relaxation. The extent of my exertions was reading a book while floating on a lilo.
My excuse was that getting around the resort keeps you fit - being built over four levels means there are hundreds of steps, and we walked everywhere. If you don't fancy being so energetic, you can summon a golf buggy or use the funicular.
There's plenty to keep guests entertained in the evening. We went to a sparkling comedy show from the Feta Queen, Katerina Vrana, who poked fun at both the Greek and the British.
To help with the total relaxation process, there's a huge spa. I chose a bliss-fully relaxing massage as well as a facial.
Visiting the islands
We made it to Spinalonga, the former leper colony featured in The Island, on our final morning. The colony is a short hop across the sea from the village of Plaka. For anyone who has read the novel, it's a hugely evocative trip - you can imagine those who faced that journey for real as they were banished to the island and forced to leave their families behind.
Even for those who haven't read the book, you get a real sense of how those confined there for years had to create a community until a cure for leprosy was found in the 1950s. It feels even more eerie now that it's deserted, apart from tourists meandering around.
Back in Plaka there are quaint streets and buildings that haven't changed for years. Not to be missed is Giovanni's Taverna, where we received a delightfully warm welcome from the owner, Yanni.
The taverna is everything you would hope for, with a truly authentic feel. The marinated anchovies are delicious, and Yanni's tomato and olive oil dip made to his grandmother's recipe is exquisite.
I was delighted my experience of Crete lived up to expectations from reading The Island - and if you go, don't forget to pack it as a must-read holiday book.
First published in the Mail on Sunday - July 2019
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