As has happened to many other travelers in 2020, Coronavirus recently canceled my vacation.
With the recent spread and global impact of the novel Coronavirus, our big South Africa trip for April was put on hold. We’d been looking forward to it since January so it was a huge bummer for us.
However, after getting over the initial disappointment it gave us a chance to reflect on the privileges that come with being world travelers. When things go wrong, it reminds you about all the things that had been, and are, going right.
THE PLAN
For our bigger international trip in 2020, my wife Sunshine and I planned on a two-week trip to South Africa and eSwatini (FKA Swaziland). We booked everything in January, since I can only go about a month without the next trip locked in. We had gotten back from a week in Costa Rica a month before, so it was time to book Africa!
Our trip, as we have often for recent trips, booked through Groupon Getaways. There was an awesome-looking 12-day itinerary with airfare included. After checking the prices for a round-trip flight to Johannesburg separately and seeing that it was more expensive than this package, we pulled the trigger.
The plan was to fly into Cape Town and make our way east. There were three separate daytrip safaris with a different animal theme for each one. The highlight was to be a day in the world-renowned Kruger National Park.
I had bought Sunshine a fancy (cough, expensive) attachable lens for her Sony a6000 camera for Christmas. The idea was for her to be able to get expansive shots of the landscapes and animal movements. I even threw a couple landscape photography books into the mix as an investment in more skillful execution. All this to say…pics were going to be SICK.
Outside of the natural elements of the trip, we looked forward to the cities and history of South Africa and eSwatini, too. Cape Town is a famously gorgeous city seated on the Atlantic coast of South Africa.
Johannesburg has a rich (and atrocity-filled) history, which we were to tour and learn about. We were going to end our trip in the Soweto district and visit Nelson Mandela’s former home and the famous Apartheid Museum.
We were jacked up and a month away from setting sail to the southern hemisphere. But then…
CORONAVIRUS HAPPENED
Last week (March 12th), our trip’s travel company sent us an email saying they suspended our trip due to the new Coronavirus outbreak. COVID-19 and its worldwide impact had affected people and industries across the globe. Something like this is inevitably hitting the tourism industry hard.
I had been tracking the Coronavirus case counts globally and holding onto hope for our trip to continue. Africa had a relatively low number of confirmed Coronavirus cases. The day we got the email, South Africa had 13 cases. That was the source of my wishful thinking around our vacation. Then I got the phone notification that squashed my hope.
The email:
THE REACTION
Needless to say, getting that email was a major bummer. An angering bummer. I got it when I was at work in the middle of a hectic day/week/month due to COVID-19 already.
In a 24-hour period I had lost NBA basketball, the March Madness tournament, the NHL season and an exciting personal vacation.
I work at a chemical company (that makes hand sanitizers), which means I had already been talking about COVID-19 all day for the past few weeks. Coronavirus had made me super busy at work and now had affected my biggest personal passion of international travel.
Getting this email right in the middle of a busy COVID-19 workday was sarcastic icing on an already-whiney cake.
I called my wife. She was understandably upset as well. We were mad, sad, and dejected.
We also understood the need for the decision. It’s been an all-around unfortunate situation with COVID-19 and it was bound to affect us sooner or later. After the initial emotional reaction, there was then the list of possible next steps to think through.
THE REFUND (?)
We haven’t decided if we’re going to take the refund minus cancellation fees or take the “store credit.” There are a lot of factors to this that make the decision complicated. The company booked flights for us, so we need to figure out the cancellation policies of each airline involved (they aren’t all the same).
We also need to factor in the fact that since it was a Groupon, we bought at a discount. Meaning, if we get the store credit of how much we spent already, it might not cover an equivalent trip at full price. They might honor this, but this is a source of uncertainty and worry.
It’s also unclear to us whether this same itinerary will be offered at different times in the year. We intentionally picked April for one major reason.
It was right at the end of South Africa’s rainy season. We hoped to miss crowds but still have nice weather. Rebooking for the northern hemisphere’s fall or winter could have implications on what we’d see and experience.
I did find this helpful site on the Coronavirus-specific cancellation policies of airlines. Hopefully, this helps you if you’re in the middle of this confusion as well. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really apply to our situation since the travel company bought the flights on our behalf.
APRIL 12TH UPDATE: THE REFUND (KIND OF)!
So it’s nearly a month later, and I’ve sorted out all the refund and credit business with Gate 1 Travel. Sharing an update here so you can all know what you could expect. Travel companies probably aren’t all handling the exact same, but I hope this helps illustrate a possible scenario.
I got an email from Gate 1 Travel a few days ago explaining my individual situation. There were two key elements to their information:
Store Credit for the “land” portion of our package
Interestingly, the travel company split out the cost of the tours versus the cost of air in what I had already paid. Usually this is all wrapped into one number, so this was unusual in my experience.
On my account on the Gate 1 Travel website, I have a travel credit of about 60% of what I paid. This credit applies to a future trip with them.
Good to know that over half of the cost of this package was for the airfare! Not entirely surprising, since MSP to Cape Town and back from Johannesburg is a long, expensive flight path.
Timing-wise, the credit must be used within 18 months of the date we were issued tickets. I emphasize used because it means another trip has to be booked, not taken. As long as I execute a purchase with the credit within 18 months, it could be further out than that.
This seemed unnecessarily complex, but I guess they had their reasons. And I won’t complain about having extra time to use the credit. The current plan is to try to go again in April 2021.
Air Credit for the air portion of our package
The remaining 40% of our “deposit” is entirely different. They deemed this portion our air expense. A lot of the way air is treated seemed to be the travel company stressing that the we were at the whims of the airline’s specific refund policy.
When we booked the package originally, Gate 1 booked flights on our behalf. Usually this is no big deal and I don’t think twice about it, as I am not super loyal to any one airline.
In this case, our round-trip flight to South Africa was through KLM Royal Airlines.
KLM’s cancellation policy related to Coronavirus is different than Gate 1’s. We have to complete travel within 12 months of the issuance of our ticket.
Note that this is stricter than Gate 1 on two fronts. First, we have to use the credit within a year of when we received our tickets, rather than 18 months.
Second, we have to complete travel. Not book or reserve, but rather be fully done traveling on the credit. Our tickets were issued in January, so this means we have to use our KLM credit for a trip in 2020.
This part is a bit of a bummer. I really hoped we’d get a full credit under Gate 1’s policy. On the other hand, I understand the pressure airlines are under. I understand it and it still annoyed me (theme of this post).
Guess we’ll just have to get cracking on planning another trip for 2020 to use our KLM credit! 😅
APRIL 14TH UPDATE: FULL CREDIT
So after the whole KLM/Gate 1 split of my credits, I want to go in and make sure of the details again a couple days later (meticulous me).
To my surprise, I now had just one credit for the full value of what we’d spent. There was no air credit split from land credit. The KLM name was nowhere to be seen.
I figured a mistake was made, so I called Gate 1. After fifteen minutes on hold (they’re pretty busy these days), I connected with one of their customer service agents.
He explained to me that KLM had just processed a full refund to them the day before. This was the final result. I had one credit for the full value, to be used before September 2021, eighteen months after I was issued tickets.
So, good news overall! There is a lot more flexibility with this change. I can now apply the credit to any trip through Gate 1, and they can now book me on any airline, not just KLM.
It was just bizarre to me that the credits changed in two days. Why would they send me an email over the weekend explaining the detail of the difference between land and air, only to consolidate two days later?
Guess I shouldn’t complain, given that I’m essentially getting a full refund. Shrug… should’ve been more patient.
THE REFLECTION, 24 HOURS AFTER CORONAVIRUS CANCELED MY VACATION
I set a goal to let the Coronavirus trip cancellation ruin only one day. That seemed like a reasonable amount of time for self-pity. So the next day I told myself to take a deep breath and get over it.
This slowdown and mental and emotional clarity led to a few personal realizations:
- People around the world are sick and dying due to COVID-19. This should go without saying, but that is more important than being stressed at work or unable to take a leisure vacation. I am fortunate for that.
- The people I care about and I are healthy and only inconvenienced by this. I am fortunate for that.
- I have a career and have created a life for myself where I make enough money and have enough time to travel purely for my own enjoyment. That is luxury in and of itself. I’m fortunate for that.
- I am able to do my job from home and am lucky to not have an interruption in hours or pay. I’m fortunate for that.
- I can go to South Africa once the COVID-19 threat diminishes, this wasn’t a one-shot opportunity. I’m fortunate for that. The hippos will still be there once we eventually visit.
- You can humble yourself with statistics around air travel. It’s a complex exercise. An air safety specialist who analyzed this info estimates that 6% of the world’s population flies each year. That puts a leisure traveler in pretty elite territory. I’m fortunate to be in that group.
I’m not ashamed at my initial reaction to the trip cancellation. I know myself, and making sure I have the next trip planned is what keeps me motivated day to day. Taking this trip off my docket had immediate emotional impact, but also will likely affect my mood for the next few weeks.
Even if that human response is reasonable, it’s important to take a step back and reflect on what makes travel possible for me and Sunshine. We are extremely fortunate to have the time, money and knowledge to see the world just for the fun of it.
COVID-19 isn’t threatening our livelihood or crippling our finances. We have our health and we have each other. We live in a country that is (usually) easy to travel to and from. I’ve seen 30+ countries on this planet, sharing half of those experiences with the love of my life. That’s already more to be grateful for than many will have in their entire lifetimes, and that should be acknowledged.
My lecture-y advice to those that have had inconveniences caused by the new Coronavirus is as follows. It’s okay to feel annoyed by an unexpected change in plans, that’s human. But it’s also human to take a deep breath and reflect on how many blessings have been given in our lives.
WRAP-UP: CORONAVIRUS CANCELED MY VACATION
So yes, it was a major bummer that Coronavirus canceled my vacation.
As a meticulous travel planner (aye!), I pride myself on putting rock-solid travel plans together. But you can’t plan for or around things like COVID-19.
It’s no fault of ours that this unique scenario is playing out on a global scale. We can’t control it. What we can control is how we recognize how lucky we are to have a global disease that only affect our vacation time.
Once the threat has diminished, you can bet we’ll be back on the travel planning train. Looks like it will have to be two big trips at the end of this year now!
Oh, and on one last note. Since I work at a chemical company and talk about hand sanitizers all day now I can’t help myself… If your hand sanitizer doesn’t have at least 60% alcohol it’s not effective against COVID-19. So get those hands drunk.
