Liz Cavell-Taylor has arranged four separate trips for my family and me: Morocco in 2013, Sicily and then Canada in 2015 and Poland in 2016. Each trip was unique and needed a special touch, insight and knowledge of the destination.
Vanessa and I travelled to Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains to celebrate my
50th , but the ulterior motive on my part was to propose marriage. Liz was in on the secret and found a romantic and small riad near to the beating heart of the city. It had perfect rose-petalled courtyard for my proposal! Transfers to and from the airport, a local university academic as a guide and restaurant bookings all worked like clockwork in a country where chaos reigns. Liz also arranged transport to the Atlas to the remote and atmospheric Kasbah du Toubkal where
we had our luggage delivered by mule and walked the last ½ mile to this mountain-top eerie. A final night at Richard Branson’s Kasbah Tamadot was a typical Liz flourish.
Next was Sicily: not an island that we had ever visited. Liz was able to recommend an itinerary which took in a good range of what this stunning place has to offer. A bullet-proof Mercedes met us at Palermo airport, we moseyed around the capital for two days before collecting our hire car and crossing to the south, via Etna. Liz particularly recommended the Valley of the Kings and booked us into a small hotel which had spectacular views of the illuminated Grecian ruins with the sea as a backdrop. For the final flourish, Liz booked us a private villa at the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort at an eye-popping discount.
Canada over Christmas was a very special trip: my youngest son’s first time skiing and a chance to hook up with one of my daughters who was studying in Montreal. Liz helped us find the right resort – which had to cope with a total beginner, Vanessa and me, and two experts in their twenties. After many trips to Europe to ski, Canada is different: no cosy chalets or family-run hotels. This is all big big big stuff. Liz recommended Blackcomb / Whistler as having enough snow, beauty and comfortable accommodation. She did not let us down and even arranged a stretch limo to whisk us from Vancouver. Flights, transfers back to Montreal and on home were arranged. Easy. This was not a package tour, but a bespoke family trip. Flights, ski-passes, tuition and accommodation are so much cheaper if booked well in advance and Liz prompted us, bullied discounts out of people and held our hands all the way.
Finally, an unusual commission: a 50th birthday trip to Auschwitz, Dresden and Colditz. We were two couples and two singles who wanted to see these places for ourselves. It is a big ask, putting together a trip which will include some significant emotional impact; nobody knows how they will react to the ghastly remains of the camps and the Krakow ghetto. Liz arranged flights to Krakow,
hotels, train tickets, minibus transfers and George. He was a fabulous Polish guide who went to remarkable lengths to show us what made Poland tick and how it has been transformed since the 1970s. George was kind, funny and truly knowledgeable. Auschwitz-Birkenau is not a place where you just turn up and wander about. The VIP guides are truly inspiring and ensure that visitors are
fully informed and given time to take in what is there to be seen and absorbed. Liz found us great places to stay in Krakow and Dresden (where a second guide on a bicycle showed us this very unusual city and took us to Colditz). After an overnight train to Berlin it was lunch in the iconic Kaefer Dachgarten restaurant in the Reichstag that was the rabbit Liz pulled out of the hat for the journey home.
There’s nothing more wasteful than spending precious time abroad swarming around what the herds of tourists who flock to the same places can see. We don’t want Holiday Inns and a chocolate on the pillow. We want local colour, taste and experience but with fluffy bath towels. We want to know where the locals go to enjoy themselves - a few secret places tucked away. We want to come away knowing rather more about a place than we did when we arrived. We want to
feel safe and looked after and yet not in a tourist bubble. Liz has the experience and contacts to make this come true: she listens to what you want, makes recommendations and with a smile, she may cajole you into trying something a bit off the wall or unusual. For each holiday, Liz put together a pack of literature, specially-written histories, sketches and maps. And luggage labels. It is all tailor made! Our particular favourite ‘Liz Twist’ was a guided walk in the Atlas in Morocco under a dazzlingly blue spring sky; we turned a corner to find a boy with a mule who had brought our picnic lunch up for us, laid it out on a carpet and was brewing mint tea on a little fire. Just for us. Liz booked this from the UK, knowing that this was going to happen and had left it as a surprise. Vanessa and I could not recommend her highly enough.
Testimonial from His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo