Mark Van Leeuwen

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Customer stories

It's Nice To Meet You

Hello! My name is Mark and I’m your Travel Counsellor based in Chester.

On this page you will find out more about me. Why I do what I do, what my core business values are and much more!

I grew up in The Netherlands and I have been very fortunate in that I have visited all 7 continents before turning 30. I have travelled in many different ways from more adventurous off the beaten track journeys, to taking it slow in gorgeous seaside resorts. I have met amazing people along the way (including my now wife!), seen the most beautiful and dramatic landscapes in New Zealand for example. I got stunned by how raw and real the wildlife is in Africa and Antarctica of course (really feels like you’re in a David Attenborough documentary)! And I’ve been blown away by how beautiful cultures can breathe through generations around Asia and South America, for the better..

In turn travel has made me want to inspire others to see the places they dream of. To experience travel in so many ways has given me the advantage to really identify what my clients are looking for when you describe what your wish-list looks like.

In Chile is where I started my career in the travel industry. I now have a vast experience in creating entire Round The World journeys, completely tailored holidays from start to finish, island retreats, Honeymoons, Safaris, active adventure holidays and more.

After 7 years of experience in the travel industry, creating bespoke experiences for an abundance of happy customers, I felt it was time to really start doing it my way. Working for a high street travel company I always felt a little held back in what I was able to do for my clients, now that is a thing of the past! As your Travel Counsellor, I am impartial to any supplier and I have all the means to always go the extra mile and do right by you. I promise you the best service from our first contact, until you come back and want to plan your next experience.

After all, life is about creating experiences, right?

Whether you have big plans or only a small idea, let me know. Get in touch and let me enrich your dreams, turn it into reality and keep it hassle free for you.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

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 07534072284

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My customer stories

Sent by Chris Barker

Chester 16/07/2024

Mark recently booked and managed our family holiday to Thailand. It was our first long haul holiday with the children (8 and 9-years old) so we were inevitably nervous. Mark’s help, guidance and support was fantastic. Mark provided several options for us to choose from. Once the holiday was booked he went that extra mile including hand-delivering our travel documentation, along with gifts for the children. His communication and organisation was fantastic. The mobile app was also very good, with all information and documentation in one place, making for an stress-free experience. We would highly recommend Mark and we will be using him again in the future.

Sent by Graham Forrester

Puddington 16/07/2024

I wanted to express my sincere thanks to Mark from Travel Counsellors for putting together an incredible three-destination trip to Croatia for us recently. From the very beginning, Mark impressed us with his responsiveness. At first, we had a few questions about balancing the itinerary across the different locations, and Mark was always quick to answer our texts, often with a phone call to address our concerns. The best part, however, was Mark's problem-solving skills. During our trip, we encountered a minor hiccup with one of our hotel reservations. We were told we only had one room not the two we required! We contacted Mark, and he went above and beyond to rectify the situation promptly communicating with the hotel, ensuring everything was resolved within a couple of hours. Thanks to Mark's meticulous planning and his ability to solve problems on the fly, our Croatian adventure was an absolute success. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend Mark to anyone looking for a personalised and stress-free travel experience.

Sent by Brittany Evans

Wirral 16/07/2024

This is a testimonial for Mark Briggs Van Leeuwen, who has given me the most stress-free holiday booking experience I have ever had. Typically, I am the ‘organizer’ in group settings and my friends and family often rely on me to sort out travel, accommodation, tickets – the lot. It felt unusual to leave the fate of my holiday in someone else’s hands. After meeting Mark and getting to know him more, I loved hearing about his travel and life experiences and found him intriguing due to my similar love for travel. He is definitely worthy of his title ‘Mr Worldwide’. I informed Mark what dates I could do for my summer holiday and the location I would like to book. Within a few minutes, he sent me a quote. Once I had my holidays approved at work we had a quick phone-call for Mark to talk through the booking, assist me with making payment and advised there was nothing else for me to do! I can honestly say that Mark provides a 5* service and I look forward to using him for all my holiday bookings from now on.

Sent by Gavin Williams

Chester 16/07/2024

Mark has been incredible, taking all the stress away from both my wife and I. We are visiting Euro Disney in Paris next year with our daughter and her friend, so plenty needed to be arranged. Mark has "handled" the full process with as much care and attention to detail as if it were his own holiday. Can't wait to get there now, and more positive feedback is sure to follow!

Sent by Dawn F.

Chester 16/04/2024

We have recently used Mark Briggs van Leeuwen – Travel Counsellors – services to plan our holiday to Croatia. Dear Mark Firstly, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for the exceptional service provided by you from our initial conversation to the numerous emails and texts. For the fabulous sightseeing suggestions and being able to create a three-destination self-catering holiday. For organizing the numerous taxi shuttles, we will need during out time in Dubrovnik and the hire car to enable us to explore Split. For suggesting the Game of Thrones Karaka Cruise and Walking Tour – allowing us to sail into the amazing world of the Game of Thrones TV series! The whole process has been seamless. The My Travel Counsellors app is easy to use and stores all the holiday documents and vouchers needed for our holiday. You have even offered to upload our boarding passes to the app when check in opens and to drop by our house to deliver our departure pack. Surely this is beyond anyone’s expectation. The Google Maps link which enables us to edit is a brilliant idea of yours, and you have packed it with great places to eat, more places of interest, the three places we are staying and excursion meeting points. Your service has been superb! However, there is one small problem…. We can’t wait to go and wish we could go today!