My experience in recent years of customer service when dealing with product defects has been, at best, mediocre. The last memorable experience was in 2009 but I recently had cause to be delighted by another organisation, this time it was Kitchen Craft.
I phoned Kitchen Craft to ask if I could buy a small part for one of their products since it had come loose in the dishwasher and "disappeared". I was told that they had no items in stock at present but that they would send me the part when they had deliveries at the end of the month. So far, so good.
Two days later a package arrived with a part! Now it turned out to be the wrong part but I could see how my description had misled them as to the problem. I'm beginning to be pleased with them and when I phone them to explain that the part is not the one I wanted they reiterated that they would send me the part at the end of the month. A few weeks pass and I get a parcel delivery, it turns out to be a complete replacement product and a letter telling me that enclosed is the "replacement part"!
No fuss, no drama, just good customer service. You can be sure that I will look for their products in future.
My trip plans for 2011 were thrown into disarray due to the Arab Spring.
My original intent was to continue the Balkan trip by travelling across Turkey and then travel through Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Libya ending up in Tunisia and then returning to Europe via ferry to Malta.
While the situation in Tunisia and Egypt settled quite quickly the same could not be said for Libya and Syria.
The tentative plan was quickly abandoned, and I urgently needed to create a new one!
I briefly considered South East Asia but decided here was an opportunity to travel in India.
I decided to mix a trip with Dragoman with some time exploring alone.
I found a trip starting early September from New Delhi and ending in Kathmandu, Nepal. I couldn't decide whether to go into Nepal or leave the tour before the border and return to New Delhi solo or continue the tour all the way to Kathmandu and return home from there.
I decided to keep my options open which meant I needed a dual entry Indian Visa.
The Indian Visa process is in some respects a little simpler than when I applied for a business Visa in 2007. The online form completion was better but you can no longer get a visa on the day and the visa is effective from the day it is issued. I decided to get the application processed in person and after supplying all the details online I applied for an appointment, also online, and turned up at the Birmingham office only to be told that they couldn't process the form there and that I would have to go to London! Next day I spend travelling to London and after 5 minutes in the Indian visa centre I'm done. Most of the 5 minutes was paying the fee, which I had already paid online, this involved them refunding the amount and then charging it again! I was told I may not get the double entry visa. However, the rest of the process went smoothly with email and text message updates as the application proceeded and a few days later a dual entry visa arrived in the mail.
- :: New Delhi
Warm feelings about New Delhi were not forthcoming, my flight from London has a scheduled arrival time at New Delhi of 23:15IST. Finding reliable transport, particularly at this time of day, is reported to be tricky.
The Dragoman trip starts from Hotel Good Times so I decide to book a room there and get them to collect me from the airport.
The final stage of our trip through the Balkans is not straight forward, we cross borders three times during the 150km drive from Mostar to the isolated enclave of Croatia that includes our destination, the city of Dubrovnik.
This part of Croatia was once the Republic of Ragusa before being conquered by Napoleon Bonaparte and goes some way towards explaining its isolation but, like everything political in the Balkans, the history is very complex. We did not stay in the old town but a short bus ride away at the Lapad peninsula.
The Old Town, Stari Grad, is by far the most significant attraction of Dubrovinik. We set off after lunch for the short bus ride to the Old Town to take a look for ourselves. The Old Town is not very large, perhaps 10hectares, surrounded by ~2km of city walls. On this tour we have visited several UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Dubrovnik Old Town is another one. That said it is not surprising that the Old Town is an architectural gem and that the damage inflicted during the 1991 siege has been repaired. However, for all its architectural charm and extensive history I was glad to leave the place. Why?
(i) Too many people! I was told that Dubrovnik is the busiest cruise ship destination in the World, while this turns out to be an exageration it is in the top 10. The port authority now try to limit the number of passengers allowed to 8,000 each day but admit that sometimes it is up to 10,000. They are pretty much all in the Old Town and I cannot stand crowds.
(ii) There is no character in the place, every establishment seems to be geared to separating the tourists from the cruise ships from there money in the short time that they are there. As for the restaurants, bars, cafés… they were all pretty bland, not international chains but infected with the same attitude as the shops.
One afternoon in the Old Town was more than enough. It doesn't have to be like this, I really enjoyed our visit to Kotor, another walled town that even had a cruise ship visiting on the day that we were there. I am not the only one who feels this way about Dubrovnik, take a look at Dubrovnik Travel.
During the rest of our time in Dubrovnik we spent our time in Lapad, walking, swimming and generally lazing around and enjoying being in one place for a few days. Lapad is pretty much a tourist spot but unlike the Old Town it is not invaded by hordes from the cruise ships. The pace of life is slower and more relaxed. Lynn made the most of these days and swam every day while I wandered aimlessly enjoying the coastal paths with few people and no traffic. Map of the route .
For much of the journey we follow the River Tara (Drina) as it wends its way through the spectacular Tara River Gorge, the second longest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon. At the border crossing between Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina there is no official road. On maps you will see that the road stops short of the border in both countries. Nevertheless, our vehicle crosses the bridge which forms part of the non-existent road. We continue to follow the river for a while and then take highway 18 all the way to Sarajevo, the capital city.
We stay at Hotel Lion, a small hotel with small rooms but very conveniently located close to Bašcaršija square, the historic, cultural center of Sarajevo. We arrive early afternoon so spend some time exploring the locality and sampling the local food and drink.
On we take a couple of tours. In the morning we take a walking tour of the Old Town with a local guide. She was a native of Sarajevo and had been a child living in the city during the almost four year period of the Siege of Sarajevo (1992-04-05 to 1996-02-29). The tour covered the entire historical period of the Old Town but every part was also touched in some way by the siege. We visited Jewish, Christian and Muslim places of worship which were all in sight of each other. We saw lingering signs of the siege and also saw the site of an earlier episode for which Sarajevo is famous, the location where the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria took place in 1914. The tour cost 20KM and was well worth the price.
In the afternoon we take another tour, this time we visit some outlying points of interest which are mostly related to the Siege of Sarajevo. Our first point of interest is the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum, located on the south side of the airport. During the siege Sarajevo was completely encircled and supplies were hard to come by. During the second year of the siege a tunnel was built starting at the site of what is now the museum and ran for the best part of a kilometer under the airport. Only a short stretch of the tunnel remains but there is more to the museum than just the tunnel, it is well worth a visit.
We move on to Sniper Alley and the Jewish Cemetery on a hillside south of the city. From here we could look down on the city from the vantage point utilised by Serb snipers. The beseiged must have shot back since many of the tombstones in the cemetary were damaged by bullets. Our final port of call on this trip is the Sarajevo Citadel, one of the few high points held by Sarajevo. From this vantage point you can look down on the old town and the cemeteries full of white headstones. The tour cost 30KM, and once again is well worth the price considering that included transport.
We spent the late afternoon and evening revisiting some of the sites in the old town that we had seen on the morning tour and then ended the day with a very pleasant meal at Restoran Pod Lipom.
Next stop Mostar, we head southwest from Sarajevo along the E73 for about 50km until we reach Konjic and here we cross the Neretva River which we then follow to Mostar. We stayed at the very pleasant and well situated Hotel Kriva cuprija, just a short walk north, on either side of the river, to the old town and the Old Bridge (Stari Most). We cross the river via the nearby Lucki bridge and walk to the beach near the Old Bridge and take the opportunity to cool down with a paddle in the river. We recross the river via the Old Bridge and explore the area north of the bridge. We make time for a beer and a snack and partake in a little "people watching". There are a lot of tourists and plenty of shops aimed at separating them from their money.
Like Sarajevo, Mostar was subjected to a siege, this time of 18 months during 1992-1993. During the seige all the bridges were destroyed though they have now all been restored. The Old Bridge (Stari Most) is a UNESCO World Heritage site and was the subject of a careful reconstruction using the original technology and materials. Reconstruction took 3 years and was inaugurated on 23rd July 2004, eleven years after its destruction.
That's it for Bosnia and Herzegovina, now we head for Croatia. Map of the route.
Once we cross the border from Albania into Montenegro we head for the Adriatic coast and then follow it north along the scenic coast to Budva. We arrive at Hotel Kangaroo late afternoon and immediately set off for the bay and then walk along the coast to the Old Town.
The Old Town is Venetian in style and the buildings are in great condition since they were rebuilt after an earthquake in 1979. The Old Town sits on a peninsula, that was once an island, and has great views along the coast in both directions. There are four churches and a couple of museums as well as the shops and restaurants you would expect to find in this major tourist destination. One evening we ate an excellent meal at the tiny restaurant Knez Knoba.
On we take a bus to the nearby medieval walled town of Kotor, another UNESCO World Heritage site. From the bus station it is a short walk to the Old Town which we enter through the South Gate. We meander around for a while before arriving in the northeast of the old town and Church of St Maria which is where the start of the walk up along the old fortress begins. Lynn had sprained her ankle in Ohrid and wisely decided not to make the climb. The serpentine track includes stretches of steps, many of which are worn, leads past the Church of Our Lady of Remedy and eventually to St John's castle (San Giovanni castel). It took me 25 minutes to reach the top and that included stops to explore some of the fortifications and take in the view over Kotor and the bay. From bottom to top it is a vertical climb of ~225m.
Once I return to the Old Town I have a couple of hours to kill before I meet up with Lynn, the climb took much less time than I had been led to believe. I walked from the north gate along the north wall which borders the Skurda River and took advantage of the elevated view of the Old Town. I revisited a few areas before settling in to a small bar tucked away near the Church of St Luke.
After meeting Lynn we made our way slowly back through Kotor before catching a bus back to Budva. Lynn took the opportunity for one more visit to the sea before spending the evening back in the Old Town for dinner.
It is time to leave the coast and we head inland over the mountains and skirt the capital city of Podgorica and turning northwest through the Bjelopavlici plain towards Nikšic. Our destination is the Ostrog monastery. Our accommodation for the night is Hotel Koliba, Bogetici, a longish walk, or short ride to the monastery. The hotel is very pleasant with nice rooms, nice views and good food.
We are still in our private minibus so we opt to use it for the trip to the monastery. The bus breaks down and some of us decide to walk rather than wait for it to be fixed. As is turned out we were only about 15 minutes walk away so it had been a good decision. We start at the bottom with the Ostrog Monastery - lower church. We then start the climb to the upper church but after only a short distance we find another church, name unknown. You could walk a long gently inclined route along the road to the upper church, alternatively you can follow the much steeper, but shorter path. Lynn's ankle was still unreliable so she continued to explore the lower church while I took the path to the top. It was a hot day but much on the path in th shade of trees so not too much of a problem. The complex at the upper church is quite extensive and there was a long, slow moving queue of people waiting to enter the Ostrog Monastery. I have queuing and gave the opportunity to see inside a miss though I did look inside some of the other features. There were a lot of pilgrims visiting and a lot of them were camped out waiting for a miracle. After a while I realised that our guide was here and that she had arranged a replacement bus and everyone was now at the upper church. A few of us, including Lynn, arranged to meet back at the lower church before walking back down the path. I must have been intent on climbing up and didn't notice fellow walkers but on the way down I noticed a lot of what must have been pilgrims climbing barefoot.
That's it for Montenegro, now we head for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Map of the route.
