What 15707 DialAFlight clients thought of USA

Oli de Bernier and team have organised our holidays before and their planning has been superb! Great communication and service.

Everything very good

Service was fantastic from start to finish. My only criticism and disappointment was the size of the room for 4 adults and 1 child making some facilities unusable

Keep up the good work - we will be back

Everything was great. Being able to contact DialAFlight while on the trip to make adjustments was perfect.

Mike was truly fantastic. I fully recommend your services to all my family and friends.

Thanks for your help with our recent trips to the USA. You have always been really helpful - phoning us to update us on the protests on the M25 on the morning of our flight was really appreciated.

Very pleasant to talk to and answered all my questions right away

Excellent help again from Jordan

Always first class customer service. Wouldn’t go anywhere else.

I’ll be honest I had never heard of DAF before this holiday but stumbled on them on Google and never been happier. Constant contact from booking to departure and even though I didn’t need any help while on holiday I’m sure and confident that they would have provided help if needed.

Everything worked out perfectly. Thank you DialAFlight.

Thank you to Marshall. I always keep coming back to you because of his service.

I very much appreciate having a named person dealing with my bookings and will always come back to you in future.

Wheelchair assistance at Heathrow was terrible. One hour and twenty minutes to get from plane to security.

As usual, excellent 5 star service and support from Wayne and the Team at DialAFlight.

Brilliant service, prompt in dealing with questions and advice

I was greatly pleased with the travel arrangements

As usual a great personable service.

The Hilton Boston Downtown booked by Lucas was excellent. Highly recommend for location, service and food. Boston is a great city to visit for a long weekend.

The level of customer service was excellent throughout the rebooking of my NYC trip during the pandemic. My only additional feedback is to make yourselves aware that the breakfast provided at the hotel was very poor and after the first morning we ate elsewhere.

Made life easier for us, thank you

The airports and airlines are a complete disaster. I’m glad I had DialAFlight to rely on when things went awry.

Great customer service, thank you Bobby! The phone is answered quickly and follow up is first class. We were recommended DialAFlight by friends and will do the same.

Everything went to plan. Thank you for all the assistance you gave us

Thanks yet again to Tyler

Marshall could not have made our holiday any better. Everything he suggested and recommended was top notch. A true professional

Extremely great service (again) from DialAFlight. Connie provided excellent service. She found flights for me and my two daughters and made several checks that we had covered Esta forms etc

Found the perfect solutions to complicated plans, all worked like clockwork

Always at the end of the phone and always respond to emails

California dreaming

The sunsets and the gold rush history grab Alice Beer's attention - but for her twins, nothing beats star-spotting

It's not so much that 12-year-old girls know what they want to do when they hit California, it's that they know what they don't want to do - and that includes any form of sightseeing.

This meant planning our month-long road trip was a challenge. I love adventure, my husband Paul loves luxury, and our daughters Phoebe and Dora love access to wi-fi.

Our first stop was San Francisco, where we stayed at the Fairmont - lots of luxury to relax in after the flight. Our three days in the city were busy as we checked things off our must-do list: bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and ferry back via Alcatraz; window-shopping in the arty Mission District and queuing with locals for a wonderful lunch at Tartine.

Cycle over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito

As we eventually left San Francisco in our monster truck, I directed Paul to the infamous bends of Lombard Street. The girls whooped almost as much as he whinged.

Next stop was Napa Valley, where we had booked the Carneros Inn - which turned out to be one of the finds of the trip. Detached cottages are positioned around an organic farm. Cool restaurants, hilltop swimming pools, and outdoor bar areas with night-time fire pits are the only places where you notice that you are not the only guests.

NAPA VALLEY

We dipped in and out of Napa's famous vineyards, before heading 120 miles east to Nevada County and Grass Valley, where in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada you find the richest gold mines in California.

I find California's gold pros-pecting history fascinating, and as we traced the path down Highway 49, I tried to imagine the emotions of those tens of thousands who came to seek their fortune.

My commentary from the passenger seat was sporadically interrupted by Phoebe or Dora demanding that we stop to take photos at stunning vantage points, or capture the signs for improbably named towns such as Rough And Ready.

Our trip to Yosemite National Park was magnificent. Yosemite is definitely at its best when seen in a swimming costume at 7am from the middle of a glacial lake.

Heading west, we spent two days fascinated by the geek chic of the city of Palo Alto, where our girls worshipped at the altars of technology giants such as Apple. But before they got too used to the wi-fi forcefield that surrounded them, it was time to move to the coast.

The mesmerising coastline of Big Sur is a must-see

SANTA BARBARA

We took a leisurely drive south to Carmel, where we had magical sunset picnics on the beach and watched whales off Point Lobos. Then it was on through the beautiful, rugged coastline of Big Sur to the El Capitan campsite near Santa Barbara. Paul was chuffed I had taken an executive decision and booked a luxury cabin.

We had a barbecue on our private terrace before witnessing the most magnificent sunset cloak the sky like a night-time rainbow - a truly special moment.

Alice Beer and her family enjoying the magnificent sunset at Santa Barbara

HOLLY WOOD

From the moment we turned on to Highway 1 the car was filled with cheers from the back every time we passed a sign counting down the distance to Hollywood. Twelve, it seems, is the age where the magic of the movie industry hits hard. My girls lap up everything Tinseltown. They loved the fact we were hanging out in the same town as Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence, or that any nailbar could be full of Kardashians, or any juice bar packed with Beckhams.

We pandered to them, searching the internet to see where the stars dined, and then booked a table at the same spots.

The anticipation made for fun dinners, and rubbing shoulders with Hollywood royalty such as Di Caprio, Clooney and even a Baldwin led us to compile a list of DVDs we must see upon our return.

We stayed in full glamour at the London hotel in West Hollywood, where a sneaky afternoon cocktail by the rooftop pool became my little luxury. And of course we had to photograph the sign in the hills, visit the Chinese Theatre and sit on the Friends sofa on a Warner Bros tour, before heading back to the coast.

Sunny views from a room at The Viceroy

Our last five days were based at the ever-so-cool Viceroy in Santa Monica. There was much to do - trapeze school on Santa Monica Pier, a morning bike ride to Venice Beach, an evening trip to a basketball match and a surf lesson in Malibu.

We had been exactly a month in California - and both girls are determined to return as soon as possible to continue exploring.

First published in the Mail on Sunday - May 2017

More articles below...

For more inspiration, read what travel writers have to say...

Bowled over by the Big Apple

England cricket captain Alastair Cook can't get enough of New York's bright lights