What 368 DialAFlight clients thought of The Maldives

Eric could not have been more helpful every step of the way - we WILL be using DialAFlight again

Glen was amazing!

Jim Camahin was exceptionally polite, professional, friendly and helpful. He made the experience very seamless and stress free - couldn’t ask for more.

Danny Sharma was amazing in all respects. Thank you

Please tell other visitors to Maldives they need to fill out immigration info online before leaving UK as very stressful doing it in airport after queuing for an hour only to be sent away .. staff member Nicole is a diamond

Roy gets it right every time

Excellent service as always from Stacey Rayner. Great holiday and some wonderful memories. A*

Thank you Bradley! Incredible holiday. It was flawless

Jim is an excellent and professional member of your team - second time we have booked with him and he's been amazing.

Lloyd was excellent. Really felt looked after. Thank you

Excellent arrangements. Darren Is amazing as always. Definitely recommend to friends and colleagues.

Excellent as always

Excellent customer service

Very helpful and great service

Would not recommend a stop in Abu Dhabi if layover is 4 plus hours as facilities are poor.

Not only excellent service from staff but also very competitive price for holiday

Gary and Tammy were very helpful and ensured that best flights were booked despite the airline constantly changing them.

Excellent. Richard is been amazing. Nothing is too much trouble.

Toby was excellent, easy to get hold of and delivered as per request. We will use him again for future holidays for sure.

Glen Blackburn really understood what my wife and I required from our holiday. He provided us with all the relevant details that really made it easy for us to make a decision. He understood exactly what we wanted, keeping in line with our budget and provided a first class service.

Marie was amazing throughout the whole process.

Thank you to Seymour who organised this long awaited break. We are both front line NHS staff and we really needed this. So thank you for not turning me away as many other companies I contacted who would not help or reply or consider looking for deals! Thank you. We will definitely recommend to our friends and family.

Very efficient service.

As ever, another smooth holiday just finished. Excellent service. We always book through DialAFlight with Clark Maroof and his colleagues!

I would like to thank Ben for sorting out a lovely holiday for us both - we had a fantastic time and we would recommend you to all our friends and family

The trip was excellent and all went to plan. Good communication from Des during the whole process. Will def use again.

Totally fantastic service, recommendations and flight times - will definitely be booking again.

Holiday destination was fantastic. Everything ran extremely well and DialAFlight did a amazing job for us. All bookings and changes we were kept informed of and all ran smoothly. I would have no hesitation in recommending them.

Always willing to assist and help with even the silliest of questions. Thank you for everything.

Stafford was brilliant, and kept us in the loop. He was really friendly and helpful, made our holiday process so easy and made sure we were happy with everything. Would definitely recommend DialAFlight.

Saluting the sun in paradise

Tristan Davies visits one of the most blissful spots on Earth. But then signs up for yoga at the crack of dawn and believed he had ruined his Maldives dream - but had he?

I know people who do yoga, of course, but I view them with deep suspicion. I have a sister who's a yoga instructor and of the opinion I would be a healthier, happier person if I saluted the sun every morning.

However, when presented with the prospect of a week in the Maldives, with a little light yoga thrown in, I readily agreed.

Not because it would make me a better person, but because I've been to the Maldives before. Turquoise sea, multi-coloured cocktails - that's what I call balm for the troubled mind.

A little downward dog seemed a small price to pay for all this.

Hotel Baros: an idyllic boutique retreat with peaceful overwater villas

THE PATH TO SERENITY
Baros is among 100 tiny-island resorts rising out of this glistening stretch of Indian Ocean.

It's a 20-minute speedboat ride from Male, the islands' capital - and it looked gorgeous the moment it hove into view, with dusty-white beaches. Once we've disembarked, there's a cocktail waiting for us (and a rolled damp flannel, obviously) in an open-air bar beneath a canopy of palm trees.

Camouflaged behind beautiful bougainvillea lie the 45 beach villas, each with a sea view and its own stretch of beach.

The island is tiny - 380 yards long and 331 yards wide - with sandy foot-printed paths winding from one end to the other.

The resort's over-water villas offer a refined style of luxury

WHAT TO EXPECT
We've booked one of the 30 'overwater' thatched villas on stilts at the far tip. As we tread the boards of our deck, our attention is drawn to shadows in the shallows - and we catch sight of a trio of 3ft-long reef sharks swimming lazily beneath our feet.

Baros has its own coral reef, and a private ocean teeming with stunning sea-life easily accessible a few feet from your sunbed.

The villa was big and luxurious. And beyond the infinity plunge pool lies your own private Indian Ocean. Unbelievably, 600 yards away, there was a couple standing in the middle of it. Or so it seemed.

We discovered we could lower ourselves from the ladder at the end of our deck and walk, the water no more than thigh-high, to a small sandbank where we could enjoy the view of the island from out-at-sea level.

As we enjoyed this idyllic experience, an unwelcome thought crept in. I had signed up for yoga every morning. At 7am.

A beautiful setting for a romantic meal for two at The Lighthouse

DINING OUT
But before that there's dinner - posh nosh at the Lighthouse restaurant or the simpler but equally delicious menu at Lime. (There's a third restaurant, Cayenne, for pizzas and light lunches.)

And also a massage. The Baros masseuses pummel like Olympians and I waft down to dinner in a blissful daze.
The food's fantastic and I float back to our room. How much more relaxed can a man get? I was about to find out.

AN EARLY START
At 6.30am we are padding down to meet Kumar, our yogi for the week. I dislike him on sight. He is small and lithe, glowing with good health, and looks like the kind of man who can flip himself forward and balance on the palm of his hand.

I do a downward dog, in a mongrel fashion. I salute the sun and I balance on one foot, cross over my elbows and bend and stretch and breathe.

And, to my astonishment, I love every moment of it.

Kumar is the kindest, most patient teacher I've ever met. He made each hour melt into mere minutes.

At dawn each day, I was rolling out of bed with something approaching enthusiasm. By day three I was volunteering for evening meditation.

Did yoga teach me to relax? I should say so. I've never slept better, though the snorkelling off Baros's coral reef - teeming with every colour of tropical fish, and, on one occasion, a giant sea turtle - would calm anyone.

Spoil yourself and surprise your partner onboard the motorised yacht Serenity

THE FINAL CONCLUSION
Did it make me a nicer person? Well, I did plant some coral as part of the Baros conservation programme.

My time on this tiny tropical island involved eating, drinking, swimming, snorkelling and sleeping - and, obviously, meditating and yogitating.

There are no water sports here (hurrah!), and no underwater nightclubs.
What they do, they do brilliantly, simply, without fuss. Blissed-out bliss at its most blissful.

Om, as we yoga converts like to say. Shanti, shanti, shanti.

First published in the Mail Online - February 2018

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