Your calls always answered within 5 rings.
Ash Pankhania was excellent - he guided me through my options and worked quickly and efficiently to get me booked and on my flights. Communication following my reservation was also excellent and I will certainly book through you again
Everything went beautifully. Thank you.
Great service and a fantastic trip Lovely to have personal service and attention from Robert .
Thank you for a very smooth trip
The only problem we had was at Sao Paulo on the outward leg where we had great trouble getting boarding cards via Gol Airlines. I failed to do it on my phone and a girl at the desk took some time to achieve it too.
Had an issue with a flight from Salta to Buenos Aires being cancelled and moved so we would arrive at the estancia around midnight. But Rosie managed to get it changed to a morning flight which made the experience better as we would have had only a full day there otherwise
Manny and his team couldn't have been more helpful - including rescheduling a missed flight. I've used DialAFlight for many years, and friends I've recommended have also been delighted to find they offer prompt and friendly service. You can actually talk to one of the team 24/7, they are unfailingly helpful, efficient and nice.
Thank goodness for the 24/7 helpline. On a bank holiday Monday we had to reschedule our flights home. Out of ten other people doing the same our new flights were sorted in the hour. Others could not even get to speak to their agents! Imagine the stress when this situation occurs.
Everything went like clockwork. PERFECT.
Luke helpful as usual
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Mollie was excellent. She did exactly what we asked, kept in touch and helped us with any queries we had.
I was going through a different agent who messed me around. I spent the weekend trying to arrange something with them having been told it was confirmed and then they told me they couldn’t secure the seat and I’d have to pay a different price. I called Bradley at DialAFlight on the Monday and within 15 minutes he managed to resolve my issue. The price I was given was 2nd to none and I was very impressed with his conduct and his after service. Thank you so much DialAFlight
Will be back if and when I fly again!
Thank you Gavin. Professional and honest advice and service every time.
Smooth process from start to finish - great work again and DAF remain my go-to travel agents.
Great service, thank you.
We were really impressed with every aspect of our experience and highly recommend Ethan.
Everything worked out perfectly
Edward Scudder is an asset to your company. Not only did he alleviate any worries I had. But his overall professionalism was fantastic. I’m advising friends and family to use DialAFlight
Very efficient!
Been with DialAFlight for a few years and always receive the best service. They are very helpful and responsible.
Tommy was fantastic - the whole trip ran smoothly and would definitely reccomend
Harvey and Abbie were brilliant... please tell them!
Keep up the good work and looking forward to my next travel with you!
Excellent support
Excellent, attentive, personal service
I wouldn't use anyone else to book our holiday/flights. From luxury holidays to daughter's gap year flights. Joe Orton sorted everything. He found us an upgrade to First Class and the BA service to Santiago was very impressive and was definitely worth doing as it's a 15 hour flight. But we flew back from Buenos Aires and the BA business class was very disappointing, as was the food. Very poor.
Marshall a superstar as always
Everything went well
They look like wind-up toys. Marching one after another, with clockwork regularity, a stream of baby turtles, miniature flippers whirring into life, emerge from their sandy nest.
Nothing draws the crowds quite like these hatchlings. Word spreads quickly among the dinner guests at Sandals Barbados resort, and soon a sizeable gathering is crouched on the beach.
Sadly, it doesn’t quite play out like Planet Earth. As more and more turtles try to escape into the moonless night many lose their bearings and veer towards the hotel lights. There is a lot of cooing among the frocks and the golf shoes, as we all trip over ourselves in the dark trying not to tread on them.
Sandals staff wisely usher the crowds from the beach as the survivors are packed into boxes, ready to be released when the sea is quieter. Ninety-two, someone counted. 'We always know when the babies have hatched,' I was told. 'It’s the only time the buffet is ever empty.'
Escaping to Barbados for a week or two is the stuff of dreams, so excitement levels are understandably high. The attentive all-inclusive service, fabulous food and comprehensive luxury is enough to keep many within the hotel grounds for their entire stay.
The soft sand of the adjoining Dover Beach is a wonderful place to relax and there are innumerable activities to burn off the calories, from yoga at sunrise to lessons with tennis pros.
COASTAL CRUISE
For those looking to explore the island's platinum west coast, a catamaran is a must.
The boat is crewed by larger-than-life characters such as Brian ‘deAction Man’ Talma, who serve up a sumptuous spread of jerk chicken, flying fish and exquisite rum cake, while doubling up as ocean guides. We stop for a spot of snorkelling with hawksbills and green leatherbacks – fully-grown relatives of the babies I saw hatching at the hotel, and dive down to submerged wrecks moored to the sea bed.
The shoreline is fanned by palms guarding the palatial villas of the rich and famous.
There is little rising beyond the tree line: the island is effectively a large slab of coral dangling from the south-eastern tip of the Antiles. The flat topography makes it ideal for agriculture, sugar production in particular, which was especially appealing to the British who colonised Barbados in 1627 and didn’t let it go until independence more than 300 years later.
Getting around is relatively straightforward – even strapped into the back of a jeep on one of the island’s eccentric safari tours. The mood is certainly buoyant – there’s something about bouncing around uncontrollably that makes people inexplicably happy.
The tour highlight is Bathsheba on the east coast. Atlantic-facing, the turbulent waters favoured by local surfers have churned up huge coral boulders, which sit shrouded in sea mist like guardians to an ancient kingdom. It is a world away from the raked sands of the west coast villas and offers the luxury of isolation and a landscape of breathtaking beauty.
FRIDAY FISH FRY
Friday night and nearby Oistin’s fish market is heaving. The resort runs a free shuttle bus to this island institution, where row upon row of food outlets serve everything from ‘dolphin’ (not the porpoise but a fish called mahi-mahi) to lobster, all grilled or fried in delicious spices.
Hundreds turn out to eat and dance to the carnivalesque soca music, performed live in the centre of the market.
Barbados is fertile ground for musicians: they crop up here like sugar cane, moving with effortless rhythm, emanating sounds as sweet as molasses. After a rum punch or two I’m soon swaying along awkwardly to the upbeat vocals of raw Rhianna hopefuls.
Next morning, with a sore head, I find myself in the capital Bridgetown, listening to a stout, elderly gentleman and gazing longingly at the shade afforded by his wide-brimmed fedora.
You are standing, says Maurice Greenidge – eminent local historian and my guide to the city – on sacred ground; 1652 is the year, and on this spot rum was born. Barbados loves rum.
I scan the colourful facades of the old harbour market. Carlisle bay sweeps away to the former British garrison. Bright colours blur with the sound of car horns; music is beating underneath it all, and the heat settling down from above.
It is easy to while away the time here at a luxury all-inclusive resort. But venture beyond and you will quickly realise that life in Barbados offers so much more, paradise included.
First published in the Mail Online - May 2017
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