I'm officially out of reflection pictures now, and won't be taking any new ones for the foreseeable future -- time to go through old folders and see what's there.
My trip to the Caucasus and Qatar next month was just officially cancelled, and the announcement about the July trip to Oxford is going to be made this week. I know it will be cancelled as well, but I'm pretending I still have a trip to look forward to until the last possible minute.
One nasty surprise in all of this is that none of the airline cancellations are covered by travel insurance. I'll get the money back for the actual tours, but even though I bought insurance for every single flight, I won't get any refunds because apparently a pandemic is a “foreseeable event.” (Raise your hand if you saw this coming.)
I'm not kidding -- here's one of the disclaimers: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus (COVID-19) a pandemic. Therefore, any losses for trip cancellation, trip interruption and/or trip delay caused by or resulting from quarantine due to COVID-19 is not considered “Unforeseen” and will not be covered under the terms and conditions of this insurance policy.
If I actually had COVID-19, they would cover me. But if I've had to cancel my trip because the entire planet is locked down and my tours have been cancelled and some of the countries I was planning to visit are not allowing any non-citizens to enter, I'm out of luck.
Some airlines will give you a credit good for a year for the cost of your flight. Other airlines (I'm looking at you, American) just say, Oops too bad! I haven't cancelled all of my flights yet, so I don't know exactly how much money I've lost, but it's considerable. It's a comparatively minor complaint in a world reeling with tragedy and as long as I'm safe and healthy I'm not going to fret about it, but it's very annoying.
I'm not kidding -- here's one of the disclaimers: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus (COVID-19) a pandemic. Therefore, any losses for trip cancellation, trip interruption and/or trip delay caused by or resulting from quarantine due to COVID-19 is not considered “Unforeseen” and will not be covered under the terms and conditions of this insurance policy.
If I actually had COVID-19, they would cover me. But if I've had to cancel my trip because the entire planet is locked down and my tours have been cancelled and some of the countries I was planning to visit are not allowing any non-citizens to enter, I'm out of luck.
Some airlines will give you a credit good for a year for the cost of your flight. Other airlines (I'm looking at you, American) just say, Oops too bad! I haven't cancelled all of my flights yet, so I don't know exactly how much money I've lost, but it's considerable. It's a comparatively minor complaint in a world reeling with tragedy and as long as I'm safe and healthy I'm not going to fret about it, but it's very annoying.
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