Anybody booked a trip recently?
I haven’t been on a vacation since well before COVID shut down the world.
I know the world of travel has changed a lot but was recently reminded of how much.
If you are frequent flyers none of this will be a shock to you, but I was really surprised.
This was my recent experience.
Do you remember the carefree days of waltzing into a travel agency with a dream destination in mind and collecting all sorts of colourful, exotic, informative brochures? Remember maps?
Yeah, they don’t have those anymore.
They might have a few pamphlets for local destinations but apparently none for international travel. You have to Google them. That is zero on the fun scale!
Oh, and you need to make an appointment to see a travel advisor even just to ask questions.
Another appointment to book something.
My solitary travel agent was swamped and booking three weeks in advance.
Using a travel agent was my choice. I have not had good luck with booking hotels online. Sometimes, it works fine. Other times there is no reservation when you arrive.
With so many scams, I didn’t want the responsibility of booking a vacation on my own.
I also figured a travel professional, whose job it is to book trips, would have like a ‘bat phone” to use to get snappy service and deals from various airlines and hotels.
Nope!
I swear to you the advisor was still on hold two hours after we had signed all our documents and left the office.
She was just like us little people on hold, passed from department to department with no answers at all.
How does an airline not know the different prices for seats in various categories? Wouldn’t you think there would be a price guide right in front of their phone?
Isn’t everyone’s first question “how much?”
Don’t even get me started on hotel websites.
The weeks we wanted were completely full. With the trip several months away that seemed a bit odd.
Thankfully, I had friends at my destination, who called and found vacancies for the time we needed.
So, you try to research openings and prices and admissions all you want but everything is subject to change.
If booking a trip, be prepared to pay big time for insurance. There is absolutely no way I would take any chances, in this day and age, without having health and cancellation insurance.
Even with it, once you read through what they actually will cover, you are basically screwed.
My brain was swimming with all the “wheretofore” and “whereas” legal language.
Bottom line if they lose your luggage, you get sick, you need to cancel — you lose money. You might get a percentage of your costs back but you’ll be fighting for it.
Pretty sure even if I croak I would still need to present a death certificate at the ticket counter.
The rules and regulations?
Every airline is apparently a bit different.
- How many suitcases can I have?
- How much can they weigh before the overweight charges kick in?
- How big can they be?
- What about liquids? What is allowed and not?
- Is a nail file a weapon?
- Are we done with masks or not?
There is just a lot to try to remember. I did not find the booking process to be carefree. I just felt scared of making the wrong decisions.
If the plane gets off the ground on time and if your luggage goes to the same destination as you do, you will have won the trip lottery. Seems a bit of a crapshoot.
I’m sure when the time comes and the adventure begins it will all be worth it.
But, to get to the friendly skies expect some turbulence.
