Well, we are currently in the middle of a once-in-a-lifetime worldwide coronavirus pandemic......and we finally got our summer trip cancellation notice today. After stressing over some of the details of this trip ever since we booked it back in November I can't say we're too disappointed.
I thought I would spend a blog post and document a few things we stressed over since booking this African Safari tour five months ago. Because the next time Jenesa-wants-to-book-an-expensive- international-trip-half-way-around-the-world I can point to this and say NO WAY!
- We enjoyed South Africa several years ago and always wanted to go back to Africa at some point for another safari adventure. The only reason we decided to go back now was because we watched Discovery Channel's documentary on the Serengeti and wanted another opportunity to see all of those animals. Oh...and our travel agency and tour operator were conveniently running a Black Friday discount on the trip. We would save $1200+....but there was a catch. We would have to pay the full balance of the entire trip in 2 days to take advantage of the discount. That was a major problem according to our checking account. After buying two new vehicles last year we were "cashed out". This is where I give credit to my wife. She was on the phone all weekend trying to negotiate a 12-month 0% interest rate with our credit cards. Discover Card to the rescue!
- We would need 2 travel visas for this trip. One visa to enter Kenya and another for our 4-night Tanzania extension. We waited a few months to start looking into obtaining these visas because they are only good for up to 3 months after receiving them. Upon doing our visa research we discovered we would both need to get a $300 Yellow Fever vaccine just to enter Tanzania. Then we realized we had an even bigger issue. Jenesa was not allowed to get the vaccine because of her other medications (per the doctor). Geesh! Now what? Luckily, we were able to cancel the 4-night Tanzania extension on the tour and get a full refund. Phew!
- Enter Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. Anything and everything travel related was being canceled. We contacted our travel agent to talk about our options. Did we even have any?
- At this point in mid-March the tour operator had not canceled the June tour yet.
- Our "cancel-for-any-reason" travel insurance did NOT cover pandemics. But we could wind up canceling for other reasons and receive 80% of our money back.
- The recommendation was "Wait a little longer and see...."
4. Early April. Tour operator offers us a "deal". The June tour still
was not canceled yet, but they were offering to reschedule our
tour for the following year (2021) and lock in the same rates we
paid this year. At this point we were getting a little weary on the
whole idea of travel no matter when it was. We didn't feel like
locking down another date in the future....and were hoping to
just recoup as much money as we could on this trip.
was not canceled yet, but they were offering to reschedule our
tour for the following year (2021) and lock in the same rates we
paid this year. At this point we were getting a little weary on the
whole idea of travel no matter when it was. We didn't feel like
locking down another date in the future....and were hoping to
just recoup as much money as we could on this trip.
5. Mid-April. Tour operator cancels the trip. We have the option of
getting a full refund on the tour (minus the cost of travel
insurance). I'm still holding my breath that we get all of our money
back.....but our travel agent says YES. Our agent also says we can
use our travel insurance for a different trip if used within a year.
She would simply transfer the insurance to new dates and we
wouldn't lose out on all that money. That just means we have to
plan/schedule another trip in the midst of this Covid mess for next
year. Yikes! Who knows what travel will be like next year?
getting a full refund on the tour (minus the cost of travel
insurance). I'm still holding my breath that we get all of our money
back.....but our travel agent says YES. Our agent also says we can
use our travel insurance for a different trip if used within a year.
She would simply transfer the insurance to new dates and we
wouldn't lose out on all that money. That just means we have to
plan/schedule another trip in the midst of this Covid mess for next
year. Yikes! Who knows what travel will be like next year?
