FAQs

There are advantages to booking now. We are seeing very good prices for international flights and these usually come with very flexible conditions for date changes and refunds. Our favorite small lodges and hotels that are often booked up way in advance, now have availability.

We take a 15% deposit to secure your vacation. Your money is 100% protected through our ATOL licence if your trip includes a flight booked through us, or through our ABTOT bond if it does not. Either way, this protection provides a cast iron financial guarantee and helps you book with complete peace of mind. Because the contract between us exists here in the UK, you get this protection regardless of where you live.

As an additional benefit, the balance payment for your vacation is due four weeks before you depart, rather than the standard eight weeks. This gives you more time to assess the situation and more flexibility to change plans if you need to.

So if you want something to look forward to later in 2021 or 2022, it is a good time to confirm those plans now. Once booked, we are offer flexible terms and options should you need to change your plans.

In the event of another lockdown we will apply the same flexibility as previous lockdowns; a full refund or defer to new dates. All date changes are free of charge and we will hold the original price where possible - which is the vast majority of cases. Where travel falls within the dates of the lockdown, we will offer this immediately e.g. lockdown is announced for, say, September to December we refund or defer all travellers within that window at or around the time of the announcement.

If FCDO advises against travel to any of our destinations we will offer a full refund, an alternative destination or defer to new dates. We define imminent travel as a month prior to departure so any refunds are paid out 3-4 weeks prior to your planned departure date.

We view quarantines as a travel restriction on a par with lockdown or FCDO advice, and we will offer the same flexibility; a full refund or defer to new dates.

We will always make you aware if the destination country requires proof of vaccine or a negative Covid-19 test as a condition of entry and we offer advice on Covid-19 testing. If we anticipate you might be refused entry to the destination country, we will discuss the options and offer as much flexibility as we can. Ultimately this has to be treated on a case-by-case basis - due to the regularly changing situation relating to individual destinations, different government policies, and your specific needs.

We expect this would usually occur within the final 4 weeks prior to departure and such an event is now covered as standard by most insurance policies. In other cases - such as no insurance in place, we will offer deferral. Certain types of trip, specifically Antarctic or Galápagos cruises, may be less flexible in which case clients will be made aware at time of booking.

Given that the vast majority of our clients book their own international travel, if a flight is cancelled, you might be in the position of having a vacation but no means of getting there. Fear not, we have never shirked our responsibility on this front.

If the flights have been cancelled due to FCDO (or equivalent) advice, then you have the right to defer, change destination or a full refund as outlined above.

If the flights have been cancelled due to schedule changes or route cancellations then first stop is to look at alternative gateways, or carriers. If there is no reasonable means of your getting to your vacation, we consider it our responsibility to defer your vacation without charge.

If we can safely deliver your vacation and there are no restrictions in place preventing you from travelling, this will be treated as a cancellation and our usual terms and conditions apply. However, please do call us to discuss your situation as we always try to be flexible and we will see what options we can offer. In most cases we should be able to defer to new dates, but certain types of trip, specifically Antarctic or Galápagos cruises, may be less flexible in which case clients will be made aware at time of booking.