Tara always goes above and beyond. Thank you
Great service
Always a pleasure booking our trips though you. Super simple - say when and where we need to go and leave the rest to you all. I tell everyone about your company and the lack of stress.
I want to say a MASSIVE thank you to your team! Especially Aidan who has absolutely blown us away with his customer service and for going above and beyond to ensure we landed safely during this difficult time. Last week my partner and I were stuck in Dubai with my Granddad, Dad and Auntie all in hospital extremely ill with Covid. I couldn’t get a flight back to the UK however Aidan managed to sort it for us with absolutely no stress at all! This level of customer care during this extremely stressful time has meant the absolute world to us, and we cannot thank you enough. I have recommended you guys to multiple family / friends/ clients and I will continue to do so!
Abbie is an absolute star
I cannot believe the level of service you offer. From the initial booking to the issues due to Covid you have been outstanding. From dealing with Rudy, Mark or Marco I literally couldn’t fault you or thank you enough. I’ll be coming back for any future trips as well as any business trips.
Amazing service - polite, friendly and helpful
On the ball with everything. Very competitive prices and kept us informed with frequent updates.
Another fantastic trip. Had to make a few amendments due to family reasons but Ryan was on the case and sorted at the drop of a hat.
Annabelle is simply fab!
Best holiday ever!
Excellent service from Zac as usual
Helen very helpful as always - there to help and advise. Would recommend highly
Great one-to-one holiday planning
Really good service and pleasant staff
Thank you to all the staff at DialAFlight for making our family holiday even better than we could have expected.
Outstanding service and I will certainly recommend
From booking and throughout the whole process we found your representatives to be positive, friendly, supportive and knowledgeable. We will never hesitate to use you again and indeed to recommend DialAFlight to friends and family. Thank you so much
Kylie is brilliant. Always there to help and nothing is too much trouble for her. Big thanks!
Very good, very helpful
Only hitch was diversion of return flight to Munich which was hardly your fault! Reminders very useful.
Jenson and Otis very pleasant and helpful
Once again Simon and his team came up trumps. During a very unsettled time, Simon kept us updated and was in touch regularly to make sure we knew about any changes re covid. His recommendations for both flights and hotel were spot on. We wouldn't go anywhere else to book a holiday especially at the moment!!
Another amazing holiday, thank you
First class personal service and always very helpful
Sarah was amazing. So, so helpful right up to departure.
Joe is the best agent I have ever come across. Travelling during a pandemic was not easy and he guided and supported me every step of the way and put my mind at ease.
Orlando is amazing and has been our travel agent for many years now. Can not imagine booking holidays or flights anywhere else.
Tommy, who arranged the trip, was 1st Class,
From the initial contact to during the holiday when we wanted to make changes someone was always available, helpful, professional and went the extra mile. Would thoroughly recommend.
What you have to under-stand,' a fellow guest says to me, 'is that Oman is the Scotland of the Middle East.'
We are on the Jabal Akhdar with vultures circling around us. The view below is a vast canyon of steep precipices and gorges mixed in with tiny villages clinging to the cliff side, surrounded by terraces cut into the rock.
With a cloudless sky, the air is desert-dry. We are at nearly 7,000-ft above sea level. The scenery is breathtaking and every bit as dramatic as the Scottish Highlands. For those who want to holiday in a quiet part of the Middle East without being overwhelmed by bling, Oman offers a serene (and safe) option.
In 1986, Charles and Diana flew by helicopter to this spot to spend the day in glorious isolation. Did it remind the royal pair of Balmoral? Thirty years on, there's a luxury hotel here and the view has been accessorised with a palatial spa, fountains and gardens, cocktails and gourmet food.
The Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar hotel is owned by the Oman army's pension fund and featured in the BBC series Best Hotels In The World.
The guests include Western ex-pats from the UAE, as well as Middle Eastern families, in search of temperate temperatures.
High altitude, cool climate
The royal picnic spot has become a terrace with a glass balcony, sofas and a fire-pit, while a cocktail trolley is wheeled out for sunset when the mountains turn a rosy pink.
The hotel has also thoughtfully provided blankets – temperatures can veer towards the Scottish and it's always about 15 degrees lower than in the capital, Muscat, two hours away. A combination of sunglasses and down jackets is the sartorial norm.
The scenery is dramatic but the atmosphere is calm. Oman's citizens - all 4.6million of them - belong to the gentle Ibadi practice of Islam. Oman has oil, but it has always been one of the most understated parts of the Middle East.
The Anantara is very luxurious, with 82 rooms that face the cliff, full of power showers and kingsize beds. Oman is famous for its marble and there's plenty of it on display. There are also 33 spacious villas, some of which have private pools.
An enjoyable blend of glamour and lycra-based activity, this is a hotel with its own via ferrata - an abseiling and zip-lining route that sees adventurous guests popping out by the infinity swimming pool after a couple of hours.
There's also a two-hour walk between a series of deserted villages, involving rock scrambles and balancing along narrow waterways. But it's worth it. We walk in the middle of steep terraces used by farmers to cultivate roses which have an intensity of scent that's famous.
We also see walnut and pomegranate trees, a reed-fringed spring and, as we inch around a rock with a sheer fall below, a tiny waterfall, fed by the short period of rain that usually comes in February or March.
In the 1950s, the children who lived here faced a three-hour climb to get to school. But only a handful of people live in the villages these days. Most have built new homes in the hills above the hotel, but come back to farm the land.
The ancient houses are still there, with mud walls and beams made from juniper wood.
Centuries-old irrigation
Jabal Akhdar translates as Green Mountain, but the terraces are looking a bit parched, despite an ingenious water canal irrigation system called falaj that the farmers use and which has been developed over centuries. A desalination plant is being built to help the farmers.
Back at the hotel, on Diana Point, as it is known, I fall into conversation with Andrew Bickerdike, who lived in Oman in the 1990s when he served with the Sultan's armed forces and was back on Jabal Akhdar for the first time since then. He says: 'Getting up here on the small local tracks took the best part of a day back then.'
On our last morning, there's a misty start to the day and clouds gather. Finally, a few drops of rain turn into a downpour.
Instantly, you can tell who is Omani and who comes from the real Scotland. Out on Diana Point, whole families are huddled under umbrellas, in a state between gratitude and amusement.
'We've never seen rain in Oman before,' say a young Omani couple as they pull the hoods up on their puffer jackets.
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