Easter would not be Easter without a quick diving trip. Last year the Beetle went to the Red Sea on a live aboard, and this year, the Beetle was at a loss to work out where to go. A Muslim country seemed like a good idea because there would be fewer tourists going home to celebrate Easter, but it had to be somewhere with good diving.

Oman came to mind as being an unusual destination with hopefully some good diving opportunities. The Beetle contacted Trailfinders in the City, in London, to enquire about availability, cost and timings of flights to Oman. It seemed that there was quite a bit of availability, and the price was not too bad, considering it was Easter. The next step was to find a dive operation and a hotel.

A quick trawl on the net found a promising looking dive school that also had accommodation, so the Beetle went back to Trailfinders to say that she’d already be told of an Alitalia flight and read out the day and time. The puzzled operative said, no, there are no Alitalia flights going to Oman and quite honestly, it is all looking very busy, I can’t see the flight you are referring to and I’m not sure we can get you there now.

The Beetle has been using Trailfinders for over 10 years and thought this a little odd. Hang on a minute, just let me check something, the operative said. He came back triumphant. Yes, we’ve got you going on a flight to Amman, in Jordan! If the Beetle had booked the first time on enquiring, she would have ended up in Amman and not Oman – a very sobering thought!

The moral of the story is: no matter how experienced you think your travel agent is, they are not mind readers, always state the name of the country, even if you think it is obvious, like Paris, Texas, or Paris France, others may not know!