Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
Another fantastic trip organised by Kieran Greenfield at DialAFlight. Already planning the next one
Les is brilliant, very customer-focused and helpful...
First class attention. Very pleased with the support and information given by Emma. Very impressed
Matthew and the team are first class in every respect
Thanks Nicole and Theo for your excellent service and making it a smooth trip
We’ve relied on DialAFlight for decades now and wouldn’t go anywhere else
Great communication. Whole process was very smooth.
I tell all my friends about DialAFlight - for longhaul they are the best and Dennis takes the time to follow up on all bookings with a personal touch. No long waits for the phone to be picked up, always better rates than websites can offer and I can’t recommend them highly enough!
Excellent service and would recommend to anyone. Thank you Billy
Jerry always does a brilliant job for me
Great service
Sam was excellent and we would definitely return to book flights with him
As always, 5 stars
The connecting flight time was too short as BA was 45 mins delayed on take off ! Collecting suitcase at Joburg took 40 mins leaving a very tight time scale to go through security and check in so had to push in front of queue to get to flight before gate closed. Although this wasn’t your problem it was still a stressful 30 mins to get to plane on time through no fault of yours or mine
Thank you. 5 stars
We appreciated your help, however we will do everything to avoid flying with BA ever again. Their cost relative to performance is expensive in comparison with other airlines. In addition their service is also poor.
So much more than I could have asked for. So pleased I worked with DialAFlight
Excellent service from Shane and all at DialAFlight. I only ever use them as they are highly reliable, efficient, kind, go over and beyond to assist in all your travels
Leah Jessop, thanks for finding me a break despite my goalposts changing! All the help appreciated, definitely continue to use the agency, love the app, keeping in touch and knowing if things get delayed, you are on it.
BA outbound flight was on old aircraft - no centre toilets, door broken, no headphones plug broken, no blankets. Not your fault but a different experience coming back on a newer aircraft with more room
Sadie is so helpful - every mistake I make she comes to the rescue. Brilliant
Thank you so much for a very enjoyable experience. I was impressed with the professionalism and care by the staff. I would highly recommend DialAFlight.
Tommy is great, although I didn’t get a chance to call him back when he left a voicemail checking I was all sorted and ready to go. I always recommend DialAFlight to everyone I know. Staff are always so helpful and friendly.
Thank you very much indeed for a hugely successful holiday. All DialAFlight arrangements were brilliantly executed. We are very grateful.
Johannesburg airport shambolic but not your fault
Overall very pleased with your offering. Nice to talk to a real person and know that what was agreed will be dealt with promptly
Very well organised holiday.
Harriet Hall is very professional and highly knowledgeable. She pays close attention to her customers and makes them feel valued. She is friendly and welcoming and responds immediately to emails.
DialAFlight's professionalism and service inspires us to continue using its services. Many thanks!
Excellent service from Bruce!
Sri Lanka is a destination of glorious, shimmering sandy beaches, enthralling wildlife and relics of ancient civilisations.
Serendip is the island's ancient name, so it can claim to be the spiritual home of serendipity - lucky discoveries by accident - and this is the feeling you get all the time here.
Hoteliers and the rest of the tourist industry on this beautiful teardrop-shaped island are keenly looking forward to welcoming holidaymakers back following the relaxation of Foreign Office warnings about travel to Sri Lanka after the tragic terror attacks at Easter.
On one of my early starts for an excursion, serendipity was seeing dozens of candles flickering in the dense dark outside a Buddhist temple. Then a schoolgirl in brilliant white uniform striding through the dawn mists along a levee between paddy fields, while an equally white egret paced daintily in the water.
Or an old lady, knee-deep in a swamp picking blue water lilies, the national flower. And everywhere, games of impromptu cricket, with a stick for a bat and a plastic drum for a wicket, on bare mud patches, in gardens, on roads.
The island’s unique subspecies of elephants are a vestige of ancient Sri Lanka. You can’t miss them.
My most memorable jumbo encounter was at the Uda Walawe nature reserve.
We watched in awe as an extended family ambled across our track. One juvenile pushed over a tree, just for fun, it seemed. Last across was a harassed young mother, sheltering a three-week-old baby.
You might see 200 elephants at the lake in Minneriya National Park, while the distinguished star in Yala National Park is the ‘prince of the night’ – the leopard.
The nearest thing to cool in Sri Lanka is its green and hilly heart, where tea plantations are a fascinating sight. Kandy, where the British beat the last king of Ceylon in 1815, still feels like a charming, antique outpost of empire.
It is dotted with guesthouses that recall Tunbridge Wells. The colonial throwbacks include a bus station clock that chimes like Big Ben. There are red King George V post boxes and immaculate old Morris Minors, Hillman Minxes and Ford Anglias.
I stayed at the Queen’s Hotel, all echoing wooden corridors and polished staircases. In the Botanical Gardens I found the tree that Queen Elizabeth planted.
In the serenity of the Temple of the Tooth, what is said to be the Buddha’s tooth is kept safe within the innermost of seven caskets.
Sigiriya is a quarter the size of Ayers Rock, topped with the 1,500-year-old fortress of the playboy King Kasyapa. He killed his father and surrounded himself with a crocodile-filled moat to exclude his vengeful brother.
I decided against the one-hour, 900ft climb to the top for the ancient frescoes and spicy graffiti.
Instead I strolled into the jungle that smothers the massive defensive stones at the rock’s base.
Huge, golden-green butterflies fluttered past. A strange symphony of birds burbled out of the trees – Sri Lanka has many wonderful avian species.
In a gap in the canopy I caught a flash of orange at the top of the rock. It was a Buddhist monk in his vivid garb. Yet more serendipity.
Most visitors stay on the west and south coasts where there's a growing choice of chic boutique hotels. You can book trips by coach or car (with your own private driver) to most parts of Sri Lanka. For short distances the ubiquitous motorised tuk-tuks are fun.
My advice is not to even consider hiring a car. Roads are an all-day adrenaline rush. You need an expert at the wheel to dodge the massive Ashok Leyland Tusker lorries painted with idealised landscapes, jam-packed buses and wobbling bikes with impossible loads.
The little station on the Colombo to Galle line close by my hotel felt like a slumbering country halt from 1950s Britain. Behind the ticket office’s narrow arched window, a clerk consulted his tomes and solemnly outlined my choices – I opted for a 90-minute trip in second class for about 50p.
On the platform I joined goats and men there just for a chat. We lurched off down the beautiful coast to Galle. Another epic rail journey is Colombo to Trincomalee, a city on the east coast.
First published in the Mail on Sunday - August 2019
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