Postcard from JourneyingThroughLife

Nightmare scenario (or at least three at once!), as I needed to travel to Australia to validate my Australian visa, as I had an upcoming deadline to do so (toward mid 2025). I was about to arrange a flight to Australia & hotel to valid my visa to ensure this was within the time required…until my mum intervened & used guilt/ pressure to convince me that I should book a flight & cruise package (cruise departing Sydney), so she could travel with me (as she wanted to have a holiday herself too & wouldn’t be able to is I didn’t agree!), & despite my protestations (as I have no interest in cruising, & actually preferred to fly alone rather than risking having a family member on the same flight!). Situation went from bad to worse, as a number of issues with the sale by the cruise agent became apparent immediately after booking (including not providing required info about their being visa/ health requirements, & that they would have known were likely be impossible to meet in the short timeframe to departure…& even worse, advertising the package including destinations that they were aware were red-flagged by the FCDO due to civil unrest, without stating this!). Despite the code of conduct that they were signed up to requiring that they provide the appropriate info prior to sale, & also offer/ agree to cancellation where such FCDO travel advice exists, & where appropriate info wasn’t given about that & other required things, the company refused to provide refund in line with this…so this was followed by a battle/ delay to pursue refund for a number of weeks (& having to report the matter through the relevant authority), followed by waiting for a partial refund (& agreeing to dispute the remainder of the matter on my return)…& then having to search/ make alternative arrangements that had become more & more expensive the nearer to my required departure!Other elements of the cruise packages were for cancelled for each of us, but I had to keep my own flight & just cancel my mum’s to minimise the cost of cancelling (as the company were at that time refusing to refund cancellation charges for the flights if we cancelled them, despite the matter being their fault!)…& as I needed to enter Australia by the required deadline (& therefore couldn’t’ also risk then struggling to find another flight by this later stage). This meant I was now therefore limited to flying into Sydney (as they also refused to change the flight to another Australian city either, as they were also refusing to cover/ refund any flight change charges!), so I therefore had to find alternative accommodation in Sydney…again more expensive the closer it got to travel, due to the length of time it took to battle with them to agree any refund!I then managed to book alternative accommodation through a very well-known an online booking site, & as the accommodation was listed by a ‘private advertiser’ I contacted the booking site to obtain reassurance of the measures in place if there was an issue with the accommodation – & was assured that if there were any issues, the booking site would provide me with alternative accommodation with the same or better amenities & standard etc. When I landed in Sydney (after a long flight from the UK), I had initial problems with my mobile phone not being able to make/ receive calls (despite having roaming calls included in my UK package, & having called the UK provider to notify them before my trip & to confirm that my roaming service was switched on!), & I tried to resolve these in the hours I had to wait after my early morning arrival, before I could check in. It seemed that the only thing that was working was texts & data/ internet access. Fortunately I had my previous Australian SIM with me (with PAYG credit still on it, so I could then make calls to try to check in to my accommodation). However, when I was finally able to try to contact my accommodation, the accommodation were completely unresponsive!Despite still having some phone issues (& only PAYG credit for calls on my Australian phone), I managed to contact the booking company & they unsuccessfully also tried to contact the accommodation – after some calls with the booking company back forth, the booking company asked me if I wanted to cancel my accommodation (to which I said ‘absolutely no’, & told them ‘I wanted them to do as they had promised/ assured would happen if there were issues’) – instead though, the booking company informed me they could not honour this & refused to do so, & simply told me they had instead cancelled my accommodation anyway, despite me telling them I did not want them to do so! I was simply left in Sydney airport after a long flight from the UK, with absolutely no accommodation (despite me telling them that this was the case & that I was sitting in the airport after a long flight with no accommodation), & still struggling with issues with my mobile phone & therefore struggling (being unable to contact anyone in the UK that might be able to help & them being unable to contact me either!). I was left having to sit in the airport for the entire day with all of my luggage, spending my entire time trying to sort out the issues & trying to search for last minute accommodation options that I could travel to (which was difficult with only a small mobile phone & without space to use a laptop), & I was forced to frantically search for & book accommodation for that night which I could travel to. Fortunately I had ensured that I had installed & set up Uber sometime beforehand (although hadn’t ever used it at that point) but after finding accommodation for 1 night later that day I was successfully able to make my way to the accommodation for that night.Due to some accommodation being fully booked for certain nights, I was forced to spend the next 5 or 6 days hopping between hotels using Uber, having to spend each evening after being able to check-in searching for accommodation for the following night using my laptop, & then having to check out early the following morning with all of my luggage (& then having only a mobile phone to continue searching). After the first 5 or 6 days I was able to book one hotel that I could travel to for the remaining 10 nights of my stay! Despite having travel insurance, the insurance company also refused to help with sorting the issues & recovering any of the additional costs etc. afterwards (which I presume was as the accommodation had been fully refunded despite me not agreeing to it simply being cancelled/ refunded!). There were a few other fairly substantial issues along the way too (but those ended up seeming like nothing in the scheme of things!). The issues took many months to finally conclude after returning…needless to say, despite absolutely needing the holiday by the time I went on it (& then needing a further holiday to get over the things during it), my experiences left me feeling a bit nervous about the risks…especially as this holiday was the first trip I’d decided to take without my partner (although I imagine he was relieved he wasn’t on it!). However nerve-wracking, I’m still determined that I won’t let the experience stop me considering a trip alone in the future…although hopefully subsequent trips will be minus the drama! It would be so useful to know about other people’s experiences when it comes to experiencing issues (& to perhaps have useful guides on what to do, where to look, who to approach, advice for avoiding/ mitigating problems…as even though I tend to be someone who is obsessive about research, preparation & planning for even the most unexpected things etc., there can always be situations which can cause problems despite the best efforts to anticipate, avoid, plan for & mitigate them!).