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Post by purvis on Mar 12, 2020 16:19:07 GMT
Are any of the folks on this forum still going ahead with their trips to Europe or Far East countries and if not are they getting their deposits back.?
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Pauline
Full Member
Normandy, Brittany & the Loire Valley, WW1 Battlefields and Northern Spain in Sep 2023 with Insight
Posts: 210
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Post by Pauline on Mar 13, 2020 6:38:47 GMT
Are any of the folks on this forum still going ahead with their trips to Europe or Far East countries and if not are they getting their deposits back.? Purvis, my trip is not until September, so at this stage, for me, it's wait and see how things develop. |
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Post by Oz-T on Mar 25, 2020 6:55:45 GMT
Well, I continued with my trip overseas, just before the last three weeks where things went completely nuts. I was on one of the last flights out but got home ok without any problems or cutting the holiday short. And it was a fantastic trip, too. But I am in mandatory home isolation at the moment and bored as hell.  |
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Post by solaria on Mar 25, 2020 18:26:50 GMT
You will now have time to write your tour tale. Then we can relieve our boredom by reading and 'travelling' the journey with you. I need distraction as no Premier League to watch and I go for my 2nd chemo treatment this morning. Book, Kindle(that one of my daughters bought me) & my earphones to listen to my music. ☺
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Post by Tulips on Mar 26, 2020 0:19:38 GMT
I had to pull the plug on my Egypt and Jordan trip on March 13. This was 6 days prior to when I was due to leave. I cancelled when Jordan banned entry to anyone who had been in Egypt in the last 14 days. Later the same day, Canada put up an avoid all non essential travel advisory. I was doing Egypt with one company and they offered a credit or full refund. I took the refund. Jordan was with another company and they offered a credit only of 110% of the tour cost to be used in the next two years. Air Canada offered a credit to be used within 12 months. I’m still waiting on Royal Jordanian and Egyptair to get back to me. I want refunds on those. If not, I may have to make an insurance claim. I bought mine well ahead of this crisis , so I think it would be covered.
I have another trip booked for the end of August. I’m only into that for the deposit and I’m prepared to lose it. If the situation has not improved by the time the balance is due, I won’t pay or book airfare as I don’t want to tie more money up in credits.
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Post by Oz-T on Mar 26, 2020 0:58:57 GMT
Wished I had the time to write some travel tales, Solaria. Unfortunately I came back to a frantic work scenario where I've been working from home and putting in more hours than I usuly do in my usual day job. As part of the company management I don't get much choice, despite still being on holiday leave. That's life I guess and I'll take swap days off down the track. As Mrs Oz works in the health profession she qualifies for Covid19 testing so she can get back to work asap, So I get to piggyback off that to get tested too.  We both have mild symptoms of a cold which might be the virus. Or maybe not. Not a worry to us really as we don't mind if it's the real thing as we would get immunity thereafter. As long as it stays mild of course. They estimate that two thirds of the population will get the virus before a vaccine is available. So maybe a travel tale later when I can dedicate some time ... |
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Post by chech on Mar 26, 2020 1:29:13 GMT
My return trip on 29 March to the Galapagos was cancelled. I got 110% credit for two years and will get almost a full refund from the airline.
Funny thing was that I was going to do the 13 March tour. That would mean I would have been down there by 10 March. Apparently, there are still Canadians stuck on the islands but their insurance is covering the costs and they're happy for the extended vacation (only one case on the islands that I heard last)
My storm chasing tour is another story. I accidentally insured it for less than the full amount by looking at the USD and not the CDN. And forgot to add the deposit. That's what I get for insuring both trips on the one phone call. It was a constant back and forth between them.
So, I have to wait until they cancel to get a full refund. Right now, they're in denial. They think it'll "blow over" before June.
I'm a good customer so I expect they won't leave me hanging too long. And a little birdie told me they were leaning heavily towards cancelling.
Now I'm just hoping we have a good year for icebergs. We'll have them all to ourselves!
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Post by chech on Mar 26, 2020 1:30:08 GMT
Well, I continued with my trip overseas, just before the last three weeks where things went completely nuts. I was on one of the last flights out but got home ok without any problems or cutting the holiday short. And it was a fantastic trip, too. But I am in mandatory home isolation at the moment and bored as hell.
Where did you go?
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Post by Oz-T on Mar 26, 2020 2:00:27 GMT
India golden triangle like you did. Plus Darjeeling in West Bengal for a look at the Himalayas.  |
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Post by chech on Mar 26, 2020 11:17:04 GMT
Oh cool. What did you think of India?  |
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Post by Oz-T on Mar 28, 2020 1:00:20 GMT
India was fantastic! I will have to post a tale soon because there's not much else to talk about here with travel plans, many of which have gone bad.
I read your views regarding the best way to see the Taj for the first time. The circumstances were entirely different re location but I sure got the surprise element! More details later.
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Post by Oz-T on Mar 29, 2020 9:09:51 GMT
Update re Covid-19 status
As people returning to the country from overseas, Mrs Oz and I were required to undergo mandatory isolation for two weeks. This involves staying at home and not venturing out for any reason apart from essential medical appointments under special precautions. This has been frustrating, but understandable in the circumstances. We must do whatever is necessary to limit or slow the spread of this virus to allow health services to better prepare for the problem. This is especially so, given that a person we know who was overseas when we were no contact with us) has tested positive and is now in hospital with presumably enough severity to require oxygen etc. Scary stuff.
Isolation has been a bit boring although I've been kept busy with work matters as a work-from-home arrangement. Colleagues from my office are also working from home, although they can at least leave to buy food etc. We cannot even do that, but did have enough food in the freezer and pantry to get by and we've been fortunate to have family and neighbours drop small items at our doorstep. So we're getting by, apart from Mrs Oz having to endure too much of me for extended periods of time! Only kidding (I think); but I did hide the kitchen knives, just in case.
We did get swab-tested the other day and we received the results this afternoon. We are negative to Covid-19. This means that we still need to serve out the remaining four days of our isolation period and if no symptoms develop before then, we will be able to leave our property. Of course, this will be limited to shopping for food resupply and then to get some decent exercise via long walks like we are used to. We are sure looking forward to that.
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Post by purvis on Mar 29, 2020 14:58:27 GMT
OZ: What has our world come to when we are looking forward to being able to go grocery shopping and going for a walk after 4 more days of isolation. Oh well it could be worse we could be like so many young families isolated with small children who don't fully understand what's going on or teenagers who miss school and their friends. Everyone stay safe and mentally well during these trying times and at the end we will appreciate what we previously took for granted. Stay in touch with your family and friends and we will all get through this. Purvis
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Post by Oz-T on Mar 30, 2020 0:16:14 GMT
Thanks Purvis. And you stay safe! |
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Post by skippynz on Apr 4, 2020 2:21:09 GMT
Hi,
We had booked flights to OZ back in December to see our daughter and granddaughters in June 2020, We were flying from Auckland to Brisbane, then to Adelaide then Melbourne and home end of July. We received an email from Qantas that we would be able to cancel our flights and receive a credit valid until Dec 2021. Will make plans later this year to work out when we will go.
We are in lock down for 4 weeks, day 10 today. Have sorted out the online grocery shopping, it is working well, had our 1st delivery yesterday. Able to get out for a walk each day around the neighbourhood. Only to use vehicle for doctors visits and essential shopping at supermarket. It is pretty eerie with no traffic around and no one working nearby.
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Post by tassiedevil on Apr 30, 2020 7:08:41 GMT
I canceled my trip to New Zealand (leaving at the end of September) last month and have received credits for everything except flights. Also had to cancel my week long trip Melbourne over Easter.
Work has been very different. Schools (in general) have remained open, however our students have remained home apart from a handful of students who's parents are healthcare workers and other essential essential workers. It's strange being at school with so few students around, and the ones that are at school are split over 2 rooms and doing online learning like they would be doing if they were at home.
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We both have mild symptoms of a cold which might be the virus. Or maybe not. Not a worry to us really as we don't mind if it's the real thing as we would get immunity thereafter. As long as it stays mild of course. They estimate that two thirds of the population will get the virus before a vaccine is available.
