Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
Ray Taylor was always very helpful and responsive to any questions. We had an amazing trip!
This was a fantastic holiday and adventure experience of a lifetime as well as a relaxing holiday.
The Lacto OVO vegetarian meal on Thai is not vegan. We eventually found a vegan option for the return flight to UK by ordering something like the European Vegan option.
Efficient team especially Joe Orton.
Jeff provided an excellent service. All transfers went smoothly and we were pleased with the price. We were let down by one hotel which was under construction on arrival and did not offer the services advertised. This was disclosed less than 24 hrs prior to arrival.
Molly was a fab agent to deal with. Very helpful pre and during the trip. Abbie also was helpful in helping me sort out flight delays and chauffeur contacts
Lauren, who dealt with our flights was fabulous. Nothing was too much trouble. The only downside we had was being told by one of Lauren's colleagues that we needed to pick up our bags in Bangkok. This was incorrect
While not everything went to plan, you managed to resolve these issues quickly and without fuss
Matthew was recommended to me. I would have no hesitation in recommending him to others
Assistance organised by DialAFlight was perfect
Brilliant service, would definitely recommend and use again.
Charlie and his team could not have done any more - can not recommend them enough. A big thank you
Absolutely stunning 3 weeks away, beautiful accommodations and everything ran to schedule. Couldn't have asked for better. Well done to Libby Mcgarry
Absolutely fantastic from start to finish (apart from delayed return flight). Many thanks to Elizabeth for her vast amount of help and support!
Thank you Leo Thompson-Persaud for going above and beyond to organise an amazing trip for us!
Not all flights were satisfactory and seat choice was not available on online check in so a bit disappointing
Everything went to plan, well organised.
Very good service from young Fraser as always
Matthew as always was great, thanks for your help
Everything went to plan - no fuss or worry. Excellent.
All went very well, thank you
Received regular emails throughout. Everything went like clockwork. Brilliant flight but did pay more for extra leg room which wasn’t cheap.
Saf Patel was outstanding. Service went above and beyond to help us.
Vinny does all my bookings - he’s always very helpfu looking at all my flight options and he always gives me a courtesy call the day before my flight
Rosie was with us every step of the way planning our trip. We had several hotels and six flights, so it was quite complicated. Her knowledge, advice and professionalism was very reassuring. I had never organised a trip with so many bookings involved and Rosie was brilliant. The trip was brilliant, the hotels were super and the flights all pieced together perfectly.
Excellent service. Many thanks
My trip went as planned thanks to DialAFlight.
Keep up your good work. I would like to thank you again for organising my last trip back from Bangkok and wish you all the best for the future.
We had a fantastic holiday in Vietnam. Marshall Finnimore arranged everything and it all went like clockwork. We did not need to worry about anything other than enjoying our holiday. We will definitely be using DialAFlight again in the future.
Keep up the good work - you never fail me
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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