Expect the unexpected – always arrive at least a day ahead for a tour.Credit:Getty Images
Eventually,she was bussed to a hotel,where she spent another two days before boarding her onward flight to Spain. She finally reached Madrid three days late,trying to work out how to catch up with her guided tour which had already departed. The lesson to be derived from this is the importance of an early arrival.
If you have a tour booking,a cruise,an event to get to,don’t time your arrival for the day it begins. Flight delays are common,baggage can get delayed and a day or two in hand gives you the flexibility to cope with these situations.
Tour operators are not always helpful,however. Dr Joseph Ting,of Brisbane,planned to arrive in Kyrgyzstan’s Bishkek a day before his epic 22-day Stans tour began. Since he was flying in from Delhi,and to a relatively remote location,this seemed a prudent move,but his UK-based adventure tour operator wouldn’t play ball. His request for a transfer from the airport to the hotel where his group would be staying was met with a blank refusal.
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“They claimed it would be greener to have 10-16 pax transferred together in the same vehicle. My day-before-tour arrival was deemed eco-unfriendly as it involved a single passenger. I would have to arrange transfers from an unfamiliar airport out of my own pocket.”
The cost of a taxi between airport and city hotels is about $10. Using the fig leaf of eco consciousness as an excuse for failing to provide a meet-and-greet transfer from Bishkek’s Manas Airport is mean-spirited and uncaring,especially when it involves a traveller arriving alone in an unfamiliar city.
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