BEFORE YOU BOOK YOUR SOLO TRAVEL TOUR

You’ve narrowed it down and decided (or close to deciding) your next, or first solo traveller trip.

There’s a few important points to know, and we’ve listed them below. And always remember, we are just a phone call or email away to answer any queries.  

IMPORTANT

Booking terms are important. Our terms spell out the agreement between you and us. We make all best efforts to keep it in regular, day to day to English, without complex jargon. But, if you’re uncertain about anything, please check with us before you pay your deposit. They are lengthy, but this is because we aim to be transparent and hopefully, leave nothing uncovered.

When you book online, you are completing a form that states you accept our booking terms. Also, with quotes we include our terms and highlight the cancellation terms and penalties. Our terms of booking are also on our website.

Please – don’t miss the step of reading our terms. The terms are binding once you’ve completed your booking with us by paying a deposit.

THE PAPERWORK

Booking Form
When you book, we'll send you an email with our Booking Form.

The first section of the form is about providing us with your personal details, relating to your travels with us.

Please return the Booking Form to us when you pay your deposit. It's a self-complete form including the Fit To Travel section, but in some cases travellers may need also have their doctor complete a Fit To Travel form; this varies from trip to trip. 

We want you to enjoy your holiday, so it's important that you choose a trip that matches your fitness. Visit our Travel Fitness page. It details how we grade the pace of our holidays, based on their physical demands.

Your Passport
It’s essential that you provide your name to us, exactly as it appears on your passport. We could be issuing flight, cruise or train tickets or similar on your behalf. Failure to have the correct name on such tickets can mean reissue tickets fees or at worst, you can be refused boarding if the error is not picked up before you travel.

• A general rule of thumb is to have a passport with at least six months of validity from your return date of travel?

TIP: Check your passport for damage; water damage or any kind of damage can result in refused entry at the border or visa applications being rejected.

SHARING OR YOUR OWN ROOM?

Most of our travellers take their own room but we also know for some travellers, sharing a room is a valued option.

We provide you with the choice to share a room, with another traveller of the same sex, on almost of all our trips. This means you can ‘Share & Save’. If you share, there’s two people sharing the cost of a hotel room or ship’s cabin so we can pass on the saving to you.

If you can’t decide and would like some guidance, take a look at our Roommate Match Option information.

EXTRA NIGHTS BEFORE OR AFTER YOUR TOUR?

For a long trip, some travellers like to build in an extra day before the tour to relax and adjust to the new time zone before you meet your group and start your travels. Tacking on an extra day or so at the end of your tour is also a great way to make time for your independent discoveries.

- ask your travel consultant about your options.

AIRPORT TRANSFERS

When you arrive to your destination you’ll need to know your arrangements for travelling to your hotel. Likewise when you finish your trip.

On most of our international ‘Solos Only’ tours, when you book the nominated tour airfare with us these airport to hotel transfers are included as part of the package.  This will be listed with the package inclusions. 

If you’re not sure, remember to check with us for the peace of mind that we’ve taken care of this for you. 

TRAVEL INSURANCE

We’ve got an ‘across the board’ policy when it comes to travel insurance, and this is, that it’s mandatory when you book with us to take our travel insurance, unless your trip is valued under $1000. You’ll find more information our travel insurance page, along with the option to book online and instantly save 20% on your policy.

SPECIAL DIETS

We’ve created a standard when it comes to special diet requests. This means we’ve set the minimum expectation for all our operators, such as hotels and other third party providers. However, there will be tours where we can extend the special diet requests beyond the standard.

TIP: If you’ve diet needs outside of our standard, please chat with our travel team before you make your booking. Asking after booking, may be too late – if you decide to cancel because of any diet limitations that don’t match your special diet needs, cancellation penalties still apply.

It’s also too late to announce your special diets once your holiday has started.

As a standard, Encounter Travel limit special dietary requests to Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Lactose Intolerant and Diabetic. Additional intolerances to those fore-mentioned, are the responsibility of the traveller. For any additional special diet requests you must seek our advice and consultation.

• We make special dietary requests on behalf of our travellers to our ground operators, cruise operators, and/or any third party that operate components of The Holiday where meals or snacks are provided as part of The Holiday inclusions. We cannot guarantee that all or any of the third parties will meet the request in part or full.
• We can offer guidance on each of The Holidays as to the suitability of The Holiday for you in relation to your special diet request.
• Requests made after booking your holiday that cannot be met will not entitle you to any refund of monies paid. Any lacking or failure from any of our operators to cater for your special diet does not give claim to any compensation whatsoever.
• Other notes about special dietary requirements:
• Please also be mindful that many hotels, restaurants and cruise ships may not provide gluten free cereal, bread, pasta, pizza, cake and/or dessert.
• Special diet requests may limit the number of choices or variety for meals.
• For airlines, please seek further advice at the time of booking. Please take note that a request for a vegetarian meal on a flight is provided as a vegan meal.
• We recommend travellers with special dietary requirements consider their options to supplement meals and snacks in their holiday destination before deciding to travel. In some countries it is not uncommon that restaurants and food outlets pay less or no attention to special dietary requirements in comparison to what we may be accustomed to in Australia or other home countries.

Helpful Websites for Special Diet Translation cards:

http://www.celiactravel.com/cards/
https://www.brokerfish.com/food-allergy-translation-cards
https://www.selectwisely.com/