A few words from customers who came on our Stop Smoking Breaks.

Thanks for the email asking us to write a few words about our trip over last month. What can I say? The weather alone was worth the trip! But on a more serious note, as you know, we arranged our own flights with EasyJet out of Luton, (not bad - £59 return) and we stayed in Fuengirola at the Yaramar hotel, right on the beach as you recommended.

Our flight arrived on time on the Friday at 11.20 a.m. We took a cab from Malaga Airport (€32) to the hotel. The weather was great and the hotel excellent, considering the very reasonable price. We had a sea view and, as I have already said, the weather for February was incredible.

After checking in and unpacking we phoned you as arranged just to confirm our appointments for the next day, I was booked in for 10.30 in the morning and Sandy, my wife, for 12.30. We then went for a stroll along the sea front, ate some amazing fish and drank a bottle of even more amazing white wine, had a nap and then did something similar in the evening.

On Saturday I left Sandy in the hotel restaurant having breakfast while I walked along the sea front to the Elite Clinic. It was how I imagined it would be, smart, modern and very efficient. The treatment was maybe a little different to how I thought it was going to be but in a positive way.

The session lasted about two hours and when I walked out to the waiting room Sandy was there, waiting to go in. She said she felt a little nervous, but only for a few minutes. We both had a chat about it on the way back to the hotel and felt strange in a funny way but we never fancied a cigarette.

On Saturday evening we followed the advice of a friend and went to Puerto Banus for dinner (well recommended) and arrived back at the hotel in the early hours of Sunday morning; it was a good night.

We were both booked in for our second session at the clinic on the Sunday, which went well, after which Martin, you will recall, you took us to a really nice bar in the Church Square (more white wine). We were leaving early on the Monday morning for our return flight to Luton so we had a last meal and were tucked up in bed by midnight.

We know it has only been six weeks but so far we feel great; Sandy is particularly happy, as she has not put on any weight, which was her main fear. I feel that we will never smoke again.

I cannot say if the treatment was better than any other, as I have nothing to compare it with, I would however say that coming away for a long weekend, being relaxed and enjoying the sunshine certainly put us in the right frame of mind. As you know, three of our friends have been over since and they have all stopped smoking, I do and will continue to recommend it to everyone.

Philip and Sandy Estelle, Milton Keynes - Buckinghamshire.

Hi Martin & Marion,

It was great to meet you both - we really enjoyed our visits to your clinic. You asked us to put together a few paragraphs when we got back home again, just to describe our experience and to let other people know exactly how the Elite stop smoking breaks work. I hope the words below are of use to you.

I used to smoke 30 cigarettes per day, and having smoked for nearly 30 years, I was really desperate to quit. Although I had tried various methods to stop over the years, it never seemed to do the trick with me and I always ended up getting sucked back into smoking again. After suffering from a particularly bad cold and persistent cough this winter, I had decided that this was going to be the year for me to finally get rid of the awful habit, and what better time could there be than on my birthday, the 5th March?

I had read that stopping smoking with Hypnotherapy has a high success rate: a good friend of ours used this method to quit a couple of years ago, and he swears by it, so I made up my mind to seek out a suitable Hypnotherapist. My very patient wife, Sue, who has never smoked, was overjoyed at my decision, and decided to treat me to the sessions for my birthday.

Anyway, we were both looking forward to getting away and having a short break somewhere warmer than Middlesbrough - the winter over here seems to be dragging on this year - so when I came across your web site offering stop smoking breaks on the Costa del Sol, Sue came up with the brilliant idea of "killing two birds with one stone!"

So we booked our flights straight away - there's a really convenient bmibaby flight now out of Teesside (or should I say Durham Tees Valley now, to be strictly correct!). Finding a hotel was easy too - there are plenty to choose from. We decided on Las Palmeras because it's right in the centre of town and within walking distance to all the shops, restaurants and the clinic too.

My appointment at the clinic was booked for the Friday afternoon. I was actually looking forward to it, as it meant that I was going to be celebrating my first birthday as a non-smoker since the age of 15! Sue came with me and then spent her time enjoying the sun while I was having my session.

I found the experience very enlightening and interesting - the three plus hours just flew by - and at the end of it I just knew instinctively that I had rid myself of smoking for good. I felt so positive about the whole thing and I was pleased that I had booked to do it in just one session, rather than the two, as you had suggested.

My birthday on the Saturday was a memorable occasion, and Sue said she thoroughly enjoyed kissing a non-smoker at long last!

Thanks again for all your help - we both had a fantastic weekend, and I really believe that the fact that I was in a sunny, relaxing environment, away from the pressures of work etc had a lot to do with my being successful after all these years.

Dave & Sue Birch, Middlesbrough.

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