Zanzibar and Ceylon were two places that conjured up exotic and exciting images whenever I read or heard about them as a child. I never actually believed that one day I'd see either of them - the furthest I travelled as a kid was inside the UK.
Zanzibar was one of our honeymoon destinations and we loved every second of it.
We knew that we wanted to visit Sri Lanka and this year seemed like the perfect time to do so - outside of the euro zone, not US dollars - in light of our weakening pound, we've had our eyes on Asia or South Africa for our travels in 2009. We've planned to travel in March and November. I've been procrastinating over our March trip for months now. Once I started to research Sri Lanka it became apparent that this was a big island and with a lot to see and do. It seemed unrealistic to try to "do it all" in one trip and that's where the real research kicked in - where to go, where to stay, who to travel with... etc. etc. There are SEVEN Unesco World Heritage sites in Sri Lanka! I've planned that we'll get to see 5 (maybe 6) of them.
We finally decided on Red Dot Tours, a UK owned Colombo based agent. I also had quotes from Kuoni, but I have to say that the travel consultant there could not have seemed less interested about our trip if he tried! Prices were about the same for the itinerary we eventually decided on. Kuoni were trying to flog me a "standard" tour which on the face of it looked fine and was certainly great value. But when I phoned to ask about a private tour and particular hotels I was met with a grudging acceptance that yes, they could tailor make our trip. The guy tried to fob me off with "We don't do that hotel" for a couple of my choices, but when I pushed back on this he finally managed to come up with a new quote. Maybe I pushed him over the edge yesterday when asking for my tenth (and final) price for our tweaked itinerary. I just wanted to sense check the price that Red Dot had given....
So, here is the outline of our trip:
We fly Emirates out of Manchester on Friday 13th (yes, I know!) March. We arrive in Colombo at 8.30am the following day and will be picked up by our driver/guide and taken to:
http://www.reddottours.com/Accommodation/Hotel/hotel.php?code=CulturalTriangle-VilUyana
After four nights here we travel to Kandy, to stay overnight at:
http://www.thekandyhouse.com/
And then we move on to the Hill Country, to stay for three nights in:
http://www.teatrails.com/
This one looks special - it is our extravagance for the trip!
On to the coast, we're staying in two beach hotels - the first on the South Coast, for five nights:
http://www.thefortress.lk/
And then two nights further up the West Coast, and getting us a bit nearer to the airport (2 hours drive!):
http://www.samanvilla.com/
And then we fly home on 29th March. Arriving back at 7pm.....
The research to find the hotels was extensive! Tripadvisor, Fodors, Red Dot's website (which is very good), and various travel blogs that I stumbled across. Oh and the Rough Guide to Sri Lanka book.
https://www.reddottours.com
We've an outline for the things that we want to see - some of them are built in to the itinerary that Red Dot have put together. But next I need to finish my research and have a plan for the other things we can do whilst in Sri Lanka. If it were up to Roy we'd just go and take it all as it comes and decide what to do once there, but in my opinion, that isn't the best way to take a trip.....
