Had a fantastic holiday and would definitely use again. Excellent service from Olivia Holt from the initial booking to the call before we started our holiday
The service was top notch help when need. Prompted about things that needed to be done. Out of hours service is a help in a pinch. Start to finish A1 service
Once again Sally excelled in helping us make the right choice. She is one in a million, thank you.
Specify exactly if there is shuttle to the airport and the baggage allowance
Too many times airlines change flight times which happened twice to us. More pressure should be put on airlines to financially compensate for this. I can't fault DialAFlight.
Aidan was amazing, as always! Helped out a lot especially as we had to cancel due to covid twice and transfer credit but we just got back from our honeymoon trip in Mauritius and it was the BEST holiday of our lives! We enjoyed it sooooo much and cannot wait to go back!
My only negative is the return transfer was booked way too late and we would have missed our flight had we had to wait in the normal check in. Fortunately one of the transfer team at the airport moved us to priority check in to push us through quicker. Everything else was perfect
Excellent holiday - resort was excellent but we had a 24 hour delay at Gatwick with British Arways and had to find last minute hotel accommodation. Not a good start.
Everything was sorted and worked like clockwork. We had the best honeymoon and didn’t have to arrange a thing.
John and his team were super helpful finding the right flights for us working with our budget.Timely updates and friendly reminders before travel so no issues and will gladly contact them again for our next family holiday
Doug was extremely helpful in rearranging the flights when Qatar Airways significantly altered the timings of my flights.
Orlando was a star as always. From the original enquiry to just before we departed he kept in contact and made us feel that we were always in his mind. Great service from a very helpful employee
Fabulous holiday with room we wanted. Thanks as ever, Kylie. We had a great time. Not being a whizz on the computer, we found the Maldivian health online form a bit of a challenge. It worked much better on our phone, in the end.
Mark was very professional and gave us all the information that we needed for a successful and stress free trip
Our flight to Mauritius was great, however the return flight was really disappointing. We asked for the baby bassinet and we were informed that our baby was too big, although he went in it on the way. So it seems pointless having those seats, as you need to hold the baby throughout the flight. We also asked for the baby meal, which was included in the ticket, and told he needs to be 2 years old to get it.
Jordan's knowledge of the hotel definitely helped to improve our stay. Got us upgraded to better rooms and booked into the happy hour. Perfect!
Very good service all round but it would have been really beneficial to have had our passenger ticket numbers earlier than the day of departure. This would have enabled us to check in online 24 hours before departure rather than on the day itself
Great personal service, answering all our questions and keeping us informed at all times, and providing all documentation early on in the booking.
Service was brilliant. Always updated when needed and contact with Niall was always quick and easy if we had any queries. Would definitely recommend and we will be using again to book our holidays
Amelia is excellent, always willing to help!
We had an amazing holiday in Mauritius. Thanks to Karl for his recommendations and sorting it out for us. We will definitely be using DialAFlight in future
Had a great holiday, thank you for an amazing time
Not overly impressed with BA Premium Economy.
Ryan always very helpful
No problems at all - went really ell.
Excellent customer service from knowledgeable and professional agents
Great customer service
Bradley always provides a smooth, faultless service and this was no different. Quick to respond to any queries and full of helpful advice. Had a brilliant time. Could never use anyone else!
Arthur is the dream maker of DialAFlight
Yet another well organised holiday. Over 15 trips with DialAFlight and they never fail to deliver .
A BIT OF HISTORY
In his 1891 book Palms And Pearls: Or Scenes In Ceylon, Alan Walters highlights a 14th century Icelandic work which names Paradise as an island off India 'studded with flowers', which he believes to be Ceylon, renamed Sri Lanka in 1972.
And French author Hugo Victor is believed to be referring to Sri Lanka when he writes: 'Paradise is a spot in the Orient productive of all kinds of woods and pomiferous trees: it contains the Tree of Life; there is neither cold nor heat but perpetual equable temperature.'
Arrival in Sri Lanka, with the chaos of Colombo airport and the surrounding roads, seemed some way from that early notion of Paradise.
But once you reach the areas of natural beauty, you'll see why the Paradise description is so apt. There are 26 national parks in Sri Lanka, each one teeming with wildlife. I stayed at the Uga Escapes resort of Chena Huts, in Yala National Park.
Cape Weligama beach sunset
A PLACE TO RELAX
The hotel is intimate, with just 14 luxury suites, and they're spread out to ensure maximum privacy.
A sign on the path to the hotel declared that an elephant had last been sighted here just three days before.
One lunchtime, we were enjoying a watermelon martini at the bar when four monkeys sat down just yards away. And on another occasion, we wandered down to the sandbanks below the resort and heard a huge crash. Turning around slowly, we came face to face with an elephant. He was unfazed, but we were overcome with emotion. It was one of the best moments of my life.
You might think that the staff would become blasé about living so close to wildlife, but they delighted in showing us photos of leopards, crocodiles, wild boars and elephants which had all meandered into the hotel grounds. The private suites at Chena Huts are similar to safari lodges: vintage camping lamps, a freestanding bath, a huge bed, colonial style rugs and - a safari essential - Nespresso machine.
There's a plunge pool in the garden of each suite, too - as well as an enormous, lagoon-like pool moments away.
Meals and alcohol are inclusive and you can turn up to eat at any time. And once you've tasted the Sri Lankan fish curry, you'll want to sign up for the cookery classes offered by the head chef.
At 6.30am every day you can set off on a safari tour of the park (or at 3.30pm, though morning gives you a better chance of leopard sightings). Driving through the park, you'll suddenly come to a clearing which looks as if you've been transported to Africa, with huge lakes covered with water hyacinths, and mountains looming in the background.
We saw toucans, elephants, leopards, monkeys and water buffalo - a fabulous experience.
Following our stay at Chena, we set off on a three-hour drive to Weligama, a popular surfing beach on the south coast. Here we stayed at Cape Weligama resort, perched on a clifftop.
The resort has an activities centre where you can take out surfboards, snorkels and paddleboards. There are also scuba-diving courses. I was happier sitting by the Moon Pool - an infinity pool fringed with palm trees where you can watch the surfers bobbing like buoys, waiting for the next big wave.
Rent a bike and start your day with some cycling at Cape Weligama
A VISIT TO GALLE
The nearby town of Galle is one of the most distinctive on the island. It features a 16th century fort built by the Portuguese. We had tea at the Galle Fort Hotel, the most chic destination on the coast.
Back in Colombo,Residence, another Uga Escapes hotel, is the
perfect sanctuary. It's a ten-minute walk from the Town Hall and near the
Gangaramaya Temple, so ideal for sightseeing. We sat by the hotel pool sipping
a gin and tonic and plotted how to return to Paradise as soon as
possible.
First published in the Mail Online - September 2018
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