Places: Bhutan

I researched a lot before going to Bhutan (it was my first trip to such an exotic destination, so I was tense!) and ended up deciding to travel with cazenove+loyd, an English agency specialising in making well-personalised itineraries in different destinations. What fascinated me was that we had very close contact with the agent, and she seemed to know EVERYTHING about Bhutan and to love the country. This made us feel safer and more excited! Well, the choice could not have been better: the trip was perfect, nothing went wrong and the guides were amazing.

One of your earliest remarks I remember was, “Any holiday in Bhutan is only as good as the guide you have.” And in Jigme you have a complete star, there can be none better than he. Apart from his boundless knowledge, he has a good sense of humour and well-tuned antennae to judge our culture bar, and is unusually clever at knowing when to talk and when to shut up.

You arranged the perfect trip for us in Bhutan. I mean it – the first few days were surreal, utterly beautiful and got us in the spiritual space. We were perfectly content with spartan, out of season conditions, but then the scales were pulled back from our eyes and my God we entered pampered comfort like I have never known. It was all a dream come true. The total stars were our guides Jigme and Sige. We hung on their every word.