We have just completed a 16 day trip with Ran taking in the ancient cities of Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Pollonoruwa and Dambula. We then went into the hill country making our way on to Tissa ,Galle and finally Bentota. We also took in 3 game parks.
It has been a truly wonderful experience. We were a little anxious about the political situation in the country but in practice this didnt significantly affect us.
Ran is extremely experienced and knowledgeable. He has many contacts around the country which helped our trip go smoothly.
He is a careful driver and takes great care to keep his SUV clean. There is also Wi-Fi in his vehicle which we found very useful.
I have been on trips where guides are constantly taking you to shops, predumably because it is in their interests. Ran did not do that once which we greatly appreciated. We knew he would take us somewhere if we asked but had confidence he would make sure we werent taken advantage of.
The hotels Ran took us too were generally good particularly if you are on a budget. I did book some of the hotels before we came to Sri Lanka which was fine by Ran. He was very accomodating throughout. We are completing our trip with a few days in a relatively expensive hotel but despite flashing out at the end our holiday has been very good value. I would strongly recommend Ran to you and this type of trip. Ive done lots of organised tours with large companies in the past and this has compared very well with them all. Do come to Sri Lanka. Its a wonderful country and the people need tourists!