Our guest today is my old friend and travel expert Rachel Whitely-Williams.  I can’t recommend her enough; she’s just booked the most amazing trip through Thailand for the Daughter and her friend with a real eye to detail and cost.

 

ES:  So, to start off, Rachel, tell us a bit about you, please.

RWW:  Travel is my passion and with 15 years of experience on the High Street and a nominee in “The National Customer Service Awards”, means I have a great knowledge of a variety of destinations from Bognor to Bermuda, Halifax to Havana!! If I haven’t been there you can bet I know someone that has and I also have the resources to find your perfect holiday.  As an independent travel advisor I work from home. This allows me to work around my young family. I don’t have any sales targets, so all of my time is dedicated to tailor-making holidays to suit individual needs. Everything I book for you comes with the extra assurance of being fully protected too.  My focus is ensuring that I deliver exceptional customer service. I am a real person and my customers have the confidence of knowing that when they book with me, it will be me they speak to every time. Fully flexible hours means I am even available evenings and weekends, and am always more than happy to visit people at home.  Being married to an Antiguan (ES:  I WAS AT THE WEDDING!!)  and having lived in Antigua for a number of years, means I have a good knowledge of the Caribbean. I have also lived in Greece and know a great deal about cruising, not to mention family holidays.

ES:  Tell us something else to convince us to book through you.

RWW: My customers love the fact that I provide them with complete documentation, a guide book on their chosen destination, I check them in online and even fill out their baggage labels for them. If they’re close by I even deliver their tickets, so all they need to worry about is getting themselves to the airport on time!!  I recently had a customer who didn’t receive their passports back, it was touch and go if they’d even make their holiday, I intervened and got the Minister of Immigration and local MP involved and thankfully they got their passports back a couple of days before departure!!

ES:  Well that’s great customer service, but I wouldn’t have expected anything less from you.  So, to my Hot Holidays! questions…  Where did you spend your most recent holiday and why did you chose to go there?

RWW: Calo Mondrago, Majorca. We went because it’s only a  two-hour flight; there’s a kids’ club; it’s family friendly, and I wanted a safer option after my baby was hospitalised in the Caribbean!!

ES: What’s your favourite type of holiday?

RWW:  For me nothing beats beautiful, tropical beach holidays.

ES:  And your least favourite?

RWW:  I would detest something like Eastern European City breaks; they hold no appeal for me at all.  Neither do Russian/Bulgarian Beach holidays.

ES: Where did you spend your best-ever holiday and what made it so memorable?

RWW:  Without a doubt it was in Kerala, India. I travelled through Southern India, and was blown away by the spectacular scenery, the fantastic people and the fact that it was such great value for money.  Not forgetting, of course, the yummy curries!!

ES: Have you had any holiday or travel disasters?

RWW:  Yes! Being stranded on the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal after our boat back to Chennai was apparently double booked.  I felt so helpless.

ES:  Tell us a place you long to visit and why.

RWW:  The Maldives and Bora Bora.  I always wanted my honeymoon in either of these places. In the Maldives the norm is to have a trap door in your water bungalow which means you can jump directly from your room into the turquoise sea.  And I’ve always fancied Bora Bora, because it would mean having my breakfast delivered by local canoe!!

ES:  Who is your favourite travelling companion?

RWW:  My old manageress at Thomas Cook, we had some great holidays together.

ES:  Have you ever had a holiday romance?  And if you have – details, please!

RWW:  I had a couple of romances; I went to Malia, Crete on a girly holiday when I was 20, and, well, the usual story!  I fell for a Greek guy and I ended up moving out there the following year and we were together for 4 years. And as you know, Elaine, I also went to Antigua to work for just a year, but met Deon at Jolly Beach Resort, stayed for 4 years, married him and have 2 beautiful boys Deion and Dexter.

ES: Excellent!  I remember what great times we had at JBR together.  How would you spend your dream 24 hours if you could travel to multiple, world-wide destinations with no travel or time restrictions?

RWW:  My itinerary would be as follows: London-Dubai-Maldives-Thailand-Australia-New Zealand-Bora Bora-Hawaii-Canadian Rockies-Mustique-Necker Island-Home

ES: And finally, what tips and/or advice would you give to holiday-makers and travellers?

RWW:  Always travel with hand sanitiser, antiseptic wipes, imodium and drink bottled water, no matter how safe they tell you the water is!! Never eat a curry with cockroach feelers poking out of the top!!

ES: Ha! Ha! Ha!  Thank you, Rachel.  So, Dear Reader, what are you waiting for? Bespoke holidays, exceptional customer service and competitive prices. Let Rachel make your holiday dreams come true!!