Based In Essex

Claire Coombes

Available for new enquiries

It's Nice To Meet You

Hello, welcome and thank you for taking the time to visit my webpage.

I am Claire, your local Travel Counsellor based in Leigh on Sea, Essex. With 30 years' experience in the travel industry including Independent Agencies and many years with a well known High Street Agent, I have a wealth of knowledge to share with you.

Being completely Independent and untied to any Tour Operator I have 100's of suppliers at my disposal and can build any type of trip you need big or small. I will always offer unbiased and honest advice backed up with full ATOL cover and absolutely the best financial protection for your money that exists with 100% of your money protected guaranteed.

I have travelled by plane, train, automobile and ship to many amazing destinations including Australia, New Zealand, Far East, Iceland, Caribbean, Africa, Disney, USA, Turkey, Cruising, Cities and most of Europe. I am full of ideas and suggestions if you are unsure. I love Eco and Adventure travel just as much as I love Luxury hotels and Disney. Having worked as an
Au Pair in Spain and having had two children I know what makes perfect family holidays too!

I have many industry accolades to my name including being an Australian Tourist Authority approved Aussie and Queensland Specialist, Vegas Expert, South Africa Specialist and Dubai Expert. I have organised every type of trip you can imagine including Tours, Around the World, Adventure, Safaris, Rail holidays, Wellness breaks, Multi Stop Itineraries, Cruises, Sun and Ski Holidays, Packages, Cities, Disney, Sports trips, UK, Families, Adult only, Clubbing, Hiking, Road trips, River Cruises, Weddings & Honeymoons, Luxury, Private Islands, Villas, Large Multi Generation Family holidays, Solo holidays and more. My specialities are Tailormade & Multi Centre trips in both Europe and Far Away, Cruising and STRESS FREE Group Travel where I will do EVERYTHING for you, you don't need to worry about a thing. I have an interest in sustainable and off the beaten track holidays and also love a quick getaway especially from my local airport SOUTHEND!

I am great in a crisis and having dealt with everything from Covid and Ash Clouds to Earthquakes and Floods you can rest assured I will look after you before during and after your holiday. It will be me and only me that you deal with from start to finish no call centres no queuing. I am your own personal Travel Counsellor and I am here for you whenever you need me. If it is out of hours no matter where you are or how much you spend you will also have FREE access to our 24 hour Emergency Duty Office who can assist you no matter what time zone you are in.

Give me a call, email, text or message and whether you are a group looking for your first lads holiday, are looking to travel alone for the first time and need reassurance, would like a dog friendly weekend in the UK, need a private jet with carbon offsetting or anything else at all I will be more than happy to hear from you.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

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My customer stories

Sent by Tim Eastwell

Leigh-on-sea 08/09/2022

I initially booked a 3 week trip to Vietnam and Cambodia with Claire Coombes and Travel Counsellors in September 2019 to travel in July and August 2020. Due to Covid this trip was unfortunately cancelled twice and we didn't get to go until July and August of this year. Throughout the whole process Claire was absolutely superb and I can't recommend her highly enough! The initial planning stage and what we wanted from the trip was so well organised and Claire's advice and recommendations throughout were spot on! Despite of all the disruptions, due to the postponements, nothing was ever too much trouble for Claire to rebook and reorganise and this was extensive such as numerous changes to flights and the itinerary, some of which were because we changed our preferences. Claire was always accommodating with all of these and dealt with potential problems and concerns promptly and efficiently. Prior to our departure she constantly sent us travel updates and visa information from the countries we were travelling through and to. Of course the real test of Claire's organisation was how successful the trip and holiday was. It didn't disappoint! The whole holiday went without a single hiccup. The hotels we stayed in, recommended and booked by Claire, were all excellent. The 10 day tour we did was excellent too and again a Travel Counsellors' recommendation. We had a number of transfers throughout the trip and our guides and drivers were always there to meet us therefore avoiding any stress when arriving in strange surroundings. Claire arranged a superb bespoke holiday for us and I would certainly use her and Travel Counsellors' services again. Letting the professionals book and sort it for us avoided a lot of stress and ensured an extremely smooth and enjoyable trip of a life time! Thank you Claire.

Sent by N JONES

ROCHFORD 01/02/2019

Thanks again for arranging our 40th Birthday break in Rome. It was great! The hotel and location was brilliant. Everything went smoothly and the private transfer was perfect. We loved Rome and now cant wait until our next break. Thanks again

Sent by K EVERETT

WICKFORD 04/12/2018

Where to start…… you did an amazing job. The hotels were out of this world. A couple even acknowledged my birthday by leaving a bottle of bubbly in the room. Everything was so well organised and our designated drivers were always early for a pick up which was no problem to us as we were always ready and didn’t like to be late. Two weeks just wasn’t long enough to see such a fantastic country. We loved the people, the food, everything about South Africa. We met a lovely group of people along the way when we moving from hotel to hotel. The cooking lesson was fun. We were given some masala spice and a recipe book to take away with us, which was lovely, although our cases stunk of curry for the rest of the holiday! Looking forward to “working” with you again in the future

Sent by M ODYSSEAS

ASHINGDON 12/09/2018

Great hol, you did a fantastic job as always. Many thanks

Sent by T BAINES

BENFLEET 12/09/2018

Have been back from Mauritius for some time now and am sorry I haven't been in touch before. Would just like to say that we had a wonderful holiday and met some lovely people along the way. Thank you so much for organising it for us. Once again, many thanks - we made some lovely memories.

Sent by N SIEDZIUK

SOUTHEND ON SEA 12/09/2018

Hi Claire just getting over the jet lag but would like to say a big thanks to you for the wonderful organisation of our holiday in Java and Bali everything was great the hotels the experiences, the drivers picking us up etc could not of asked for better I will recommend your services to everyone I know. Thanks again

Sent by J GRIFFIN

LEIGH ON SEA 12/09/2018

Claire is always very helpful, and knows what sort of holidays and hotels we like. With Claire there is always the personal touch.

Sent by V GARVEY

SOUTHEND ON SEA 12/09/2018

Thank you Claire, no one could have done more to help us get the holiday we wanted. You are a star, thanks again

Sent by B CAREY

LONDON 12/09/2018

Very responsive, even when we had to ask for changes to the options we were looking at, and always offered options completely in line with what we were looking for. Very helpful on follow-ups too. 10/10

Sent by V GARVEY

SOUTHEND ON SEA 12/09/2018

Cannot rate highly enough 10/10

Sent by B TYLER

BENFLEET 12/09/2018

We're in Australia at the moment in the Lodge you recommended and we just wanted to let you know how much we're all enjoying it. We're sat on the balcony now in the sun with the hot tub! It's a really amazing place and we'd not have known about it if you hadn't recommended it to us so thank you.

Sent by D MEADOWS

LEIGH ON SEA 12/09/2018

Very helpful and professional

Sent by K SMITH

BENFLEET 12/09/2018

Fast, efficient and knowledgeble service

Sent by J GRIFFIN

LEIGH ON SEA 11/07/2018

Claire was very helpful, and found the holiday and flights that we wanted very quickly .

Sent by J FIELD

WESTCLIFF ON SEA 11/07/2018

Our service from Claire has always been outstanding with all our holidays .

Sent by A RICHARDSON

SOUTHEND 11/07/2018

Claire has organised my holidays for many years. She is an excellent Travel Counsellor - knowledgeable, reliable and very pleasant.

Sent by Anthony Spencer

Southend 11/07/2018

Very good, helpful, prompt advice and support. Claire responded very helpfully on this occasion to a request with a tight turnaround. Much appreciated!

Sent by H WOODHAM

SOUTHEND ON SEA 11/07/2018

Excellent customer service and support would always recommend. Claire always goes the 'extra mile'.

Sent by A Killingback

Southend 11/07/2018

Claire is fantastic at her job, really enjoy talking to her

Sent by M FRY

LEIGH ON SEA 11/07/2018

Claire provides a personal, professional and efficient service. I have already recommended her to others.

Sent by J STREET

BENFLEET 11/07/2018

Ben and I had the most incredible holiday in South Africa. It honestly completely exceeded all of our expectations and has quickly jumped into our second favourite holiday ever! We were blown away by every single hotel you helped us pick. We were also so glad we decided to self drive in the end as it was so easy and gave us the flexibility to do what we wanted, when we wanted. It's really easy to navigate and we were able to just stop to admire the stunning scenery and the odd penguin or two! The hotel was just so special. It opened our eyes completely to boutique hotels and completely exceeded all of our expectations. Overall, thanks again for helping make this a trip of a lifetime.

Sent by S FUTCHER

SOUTHEND ON SEA 11/07/2018

Now that we're back and sorted, we just wanted to take a minute to say a very big thank you to you for organising such a fabulous holiday for us. Everything ran seamlessly. Loved New York but the resort in Antigua surpassed our expectations - it really was paradise and we cannot fault the hotel. We just loved our room being right on the beach and effectively having our own private beach as there was rarely more than 15 people in view along the whole bay. Think you/we are going to struggle to better it in the future! Thanks again.

Sent by KERRY EVERETT

SOUTHEND 06/07/2018

This is the first time I have ever enlisted the help of a third party to plan my holiday and I wonder how I have managed in the past. Because South Africa is such a vast country, and this was going to be a trip of a lifetime, I didn't want to miss out anything. Claire was so helpful. She responded promptly to emails, rang me if I had any queries and didn't laugh at my silly questions as the whole experience of a travel planner is totally new to me. I kept making adjustments to the itinerary to suit our budget and timescale and Claire came up trumps every time. I will certainly be contacting Claire again in the future, and would have no hesitation in recommending her to friends and family. Everyone needs a Claire to organise their holiday!

Sent by Michelle Lewis

Leigh On Sea 09/05/2014

Claire was amazing from the word go. I loved the personal touches including hand delivered documents and a thank you for booking in the form of little chocolates. The knowledge she has is second to none and I felt under no pressure to take those extras like insurance or car parking (I took both as the prices were really competitive).

My Blog

I absolutely live and breathe travel and I love to write about my experiences! Please take a look through my posts - you might find your own holiday inspiration.

North Island to South

25 September 2018

People often ask which island in New Zealand is the best? Which did you prefer, North or South? My answer? Both! South Island is stunningly beautiful with adventure sports, wildlife, glaciers lakes and mountains We headed here after touring around the North Island. SOUTH ISLAND Due to a large earthquake and various roads being closed on the South Island (now open again and back to nor

There and back again- A Travel Counsellors Tale.. in North Island New Zealand

25 September 2018

New Zealand. What can I say? It has to be the most stunningly beautiful country I have ever been to. So much to see and do here and never enough time! Here is my blog on just some of the great places to visit. North Island Travelling in March which is end of Summer/start of Autumn, we arrived in Auckland from a great flight courtesy of Air New Zealand who have to be the best airline I have

Vegas - My top tips

25 September 2018

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas right? Well, OK that may be but here are some of my top tips to make the most of your trip. **TIP** If you are going to gamble – sign up for Totalrewards (All Caesars properties) and MLife rewards (all MGM properties) You can do this really quickly and easily at the desk in your hotel/casino. You will probably get some joining discounts/bonuses such as money

My Trip with South Africa Tourism- The Cape Town Chapter

09 July 2018

I have just returned from the most amazing group trip to South Africa hosted by South Africa Tourism in June. I was very excited and had no idea where I would be going as it was to be a mystery until I arrived at Heathrow airport! Here is my blog on the first part of my action-packed adventure. Surprise No 1 – Arrival After meeting all the other agents on the trip, we were informed that we

A Stop Over in Los Angeles

03 July 2017

I would 100% recommend a short stopover in LOS ANGELES on the way to Australia or New Zealand. I did this in March and had a fantastic time! Here are my top tips on what to do in a day or two in LA. DAY 1 After a good night's sleep don't be tempted to do too much on the first day! Get a car and head on down to Malibu for gorgeous beaches and gorgeous people watching. We relaxed on the sand w

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Contact Me

Whatever your holiday needs I'm here to help you, so simply give me a call or send me an email with your contact details on and I can get things started for you:

Send me an email 01702 668 330

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