Category: New Zealand, Winter 2020

We never got through on the phone to United Airlines, but I found Saver Award tickets for March 24th, so those are booked to head home.  As info, each time I have tried to call United I was told via their automated message it would be a 2 hour wait.  Crazy!

I’ve spent the last few days trying to cancel stuff in Australia, and while most companies have been pretty understanding, there are a couple notable ones who are not.

Journey Beyond in Australia is one of those!  They claim to be oh so thoughtful of my safety and sorry that I had to cancel my trip with them, but can’t offer me a refund, only a credit that has to be used in the next couple of years.  We spent a lot of money for a train trip and associated trips with them, to the tune of about $10,000.  Do I want a $10,000 “credit” hanging out there??  When I quoted part of their website that said I could get a refund, they went as far as to change the travel info on their website!!!  I kept a screenshot of the old info (thanks to Kim), and will likely have to deal with the credit card company to get our money back, but they have soured me on their company and we won’t be using them when we do make it to Australia.  Trust me, if a company acts like this during a crisis, they should be avoided!

Bridgeclimb in Sydney is another one, and the language on their website is so similar to what Journey Beyond just changed theirs to, it makes me think they must be under the same parent company.  Another adventure we will be avoiding when we return, unless they step it up here pretty quick!

Most every other company, save the airlines, have been cool about waiving any fees and refunding our entire deposits, as should be expected.

So we are very disappointed, depressed, and angry.   Despite all of that, we are going to spend another week in New Zealand, and have already made our way to Paihia, 3 hours north of Auckland, in the Bay of Islands region.  More posts are to come, but I’ve been too busy cancelling stuff and fighting with the above 2 mentioned companies (particularly the devious bastards Journey Beyond) to have time to say anything thoughtful about what we have been doing.

Interesting to note, everything in New Zealand seems normal.  We just came back from dinner, and the place was completely packed.  People are out and about, shaking hands, rubbing noses (it’s a Maori thing), and we have seen no sign at all of any concern.  There is even plenty of toilet paper at the super market!  Shocking!

Last night NZ decided to close all ports for cruise ships effective tonight (Sunday) at midnight.  Not too long thereafter, we received an email from Silversea that our cruise, scheduled to depart Auckland on March 17 (two days from now) was cancelled.  Major bummer!

This morning, on our ferry ride from the south island to the north island, I booked a flight to Melbourne, Australia on March 17, since we have 6 weeks of planned activities in Australia starting on March 31.  Today, Australia announced that anybody flying into the country after midnight tonight would have to spend 14 days in self isolation.  What exactly does that mean???  Do we need a hotel room in the middle of nowhere for 14 days that supplies food, water and toilet paper?  Nobody is making it clear what they mean by “self islolation”, particuarly for tourists.  How can we travel there with so many unknowns?

I have booked many places in Australia that don’t allow for cancellation.  We will see how far they push that with the recent Corona virus bullshit, but we are ready to come home.  Australia is stating they may make things more restrictive in the near future, and we can’t take that chance.

I just finished being on hold with United for 2 hours to try to change our return flight on May 13 from Sydney to something in the next week from Auckland, and they couldn’t hear me on the phone, and then hung up.  Now I’m on hold for at least another hour and a half, hoping I don’t get hung up on again!

All of this because China didn’t want to lose face about letting a virus get loose in their country and kept it under wraps for a month!  I will never visit China!  F&%* those lying assholes!