This was our first experience of using Travel Counsellors and it did not disappoint. Katrina Smith did a fantastic job. Katrina's brief was to create a "holiday of a lifetime" for our family of 5! We wanted to give our three teenage daughters an experience that they will never forget. We wanted to take them on safari ( like we had done on our honeymoon 20 years prior) and then a few days of R&R.
The issue we had was that we are a family with severe allergies, and we needed to ensure that wherever we stayed, we would be confident that they were able to cater to our needs. Our allergies consisted of 'Dairy', 'Nuts', 'Sesame', & 'Egg'.
Katrina put me at ease from the first phone call. She wanted to get us to the Welgevonden Game Reserve - Mhondoro Safari Lodge and Villa, and then to the Constance Ephelia Resort in the Seychelles and told me that they are both excellent places where they are confident in understanding allergies and dietary requirements.
My husband and I looked up reviews, specifically checking for any mentions of allergies, and they all came back positive.
We gave Katrina the go-ahead, and each place was booked with our allergies noted for each person at each place we stayed, as well as each airline.
Katrina always took our points on board and seemed genuinely excited to book this for us. She even made adjustments when we lost a morning safari to accommodate our flight to the Seychelles. This allowed us to avoid losing the safari by leaving a day earlier for our trip and then staying at a little boutique hotel near Johannesburg airport, The Peach Hotel, in between leaving Mhondoro and flying to the Seychelles.
We had never used a travel expert company to plan our holidays, and we're glad we did, as it took the stress out of the holiday for us. Even the little things such as transfers to the airport and to the accommodation, not having to think ahead and organise it. It was done and noted on our itinerary. It was perfect!
Thank you, Katrina, for all your hard work and recommendations. You certainly stuck to our brief - "holiday of a lifetime"- and we would most definitely use you again; we can't wait for when that will be!
