1. To make a booking please follow the procedure shown on our website or ask for an offline application form. The relevant application form needs to be completed by each person travelling. Where you are under 18 at the time of booking, the application form also needs to be signed by your parent or guardian or initialled online during the booking process. The completed booking form must then be sent to us together with the payments referred to in paragraph 2 below.

Where we have already confirmed the availability of your chosen arrangements and you book within any applicable time limit for doing so, your booking will be treated as firm and a contract between us will come into existence as soon as we receive your completed application form and your deposit. We will then send you a receipt for all payments made and our invoice. Where we have not confirmed availability, your booking will be treated as firm and a contract between us will come into existence when we despatch our invoice to you. Where you book through our website without prior confirmation of availability, any electronic acknowledgement of your booking is not a confirmation of it. Please check your invoice carefully as soon as you receive it. Contact us immediately if any information which appears on the invoice or any other document appears to be incorrect or incomplete.

2.  We also offer and encourage an instalment plan with 50% of the trip payment made by a minimum of 3 months prior to departure. In any case the full balance must be received by us by six weeks prior to departure. Bookings made within five weeks require immediate full payment.

If, for any reason, the balance (including any surcharge where applicable) is not received by the due date, we reserve the right to treat the booking as cancelled by you. If we do not cancel straight away because you have promised to make payment, you must pay the cancellation charges shown in paragraph 7 depending on the date we reasonably treat your booking as cancelled.

3. The price quoted for any trip covers the cost of the planning, the organisation and carrying out of the trip, including group equipment, supplies, accommodation, administration and staff, except for the following, for which the you must be responsible: vaccination fees, travel insurance, cost of travel to and from the start / return point of your trip including your international flights, cost of passport and visas, personal equipment and personal expenses while on the trip and any other expenses specifically excluded on the trip description and/or invoice.

We reserve the right to make changes to and correct errors in quoted prices at any time before your trip is confirmed. We will advise you of any error of which we are aware and of the then applicable price at the time of booking.

Once the price of your chosen trip has been confirmed at the time of booking, then subject to the correction of errors, we will only increase or decrease the price in the event of any change in our transportation costs or in dues, taxes or fees or in the exchange rates which have been used to calculate the cost of your trip.

Where applicable, you have 14 days from the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice to tell us if you want to choose option (2) or (3) as set out in paragraph 12 below. If you do not tell us that you wish to choose either of these options within this period of time, we are entitled to assume that you do not wish to do so and will pay the surcharge. Any surcharge must be paid with the balance of the cost of the trip or within 14 days of the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice, whichever is the later. A refund will only be payable if the decrease in our costs exceeds 2% of the total cost of your trip as set out above. Where a refund is due, we will pay you the full amount of the decrease in our costs. We promise not to levy a surcharge within 30 days of departure and no refund will be payable during this period either.

4. Travel insurance:  It is your responsibility to ensure that the insurance cover you purchase is suitable and adequate for your particular needs.

5. Health: Except as disclosed in your medical questionnaire, you are taken to confirm at the time of booking that you are in good health, physically capable of undertaking all aspects of the trip, and unaware of any reason why you may be unsuited to taking part or may be likely to suffer illness or injury during the trip, taking into account its challenges and purposes. If you are unable to give for this confirmation for any reason or have any medical condition or disability which may affect your trip, you must contact us before you submit your application form so that we can assist you in considering the suitability of the trip for you.

If any information given in the application form or medical questionnaire is shown to be materially incorrect or incomplete, we reserve the right to cancel your booking or terminate your participation in the trip, depending on when we become aware of the true position. In this situation, cancellation charges as set out in paragraph 7 will apply and we will not be responsible for any costs or expenses incurred as a result.

6. Special requests: Please advise us of any special requests prior to making your booking. Where possible, we will endeavour to meet or arrange for our suppliers to meet any such request. Confirmation that a special request has been noted or passed on to the supplier or the inclusion of the special request on your invoice or any other documentation is not confirmation that the request will be met. Unless and until specifically confirmed, all special requests are subject to availability. For your own protection, you should obtain confirmation in writing that a special request will be complied (where it is possible to give this) where it is important to you.

Cancellations and changes 

7. Cancellation of bookings must be notified to us by letter or email by the party leader as soon as possible. Your notice of cancellation will only be effective when it is received in writing by us. Except as set out in paragraph 8 below, the following cancellation charges will be payable.

8. Depending on the reason for cancellation, you may be able to reclaim these cancellation charges (less any applicable excess) under the terms of your insurance policy. Claims must be made directly to the insurance company concerned. Where a part cancellation of a booking affects the basis on which the price was calculated, we will recalculate and re-invoice you accordingly.

9. You may transfer your place to someone else (introduced by you) if you are prevented from travelling, providing we are notified not less than 2 weeks before departure and subject to practicality of changing certain bookings made in your name. All costs and charges incurred by us and/or incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers as a result must be paid before the transfer can be effected. Any overdue balance payment must also be received.

10. Changes to your confirmed trip can be considered depending on practicalities and availabilities, but there might be a cost associated with these changes. We do not charge an amendment fee for doing so and will only pass on any extra costs involved in providing additional or alternative services which are incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers. A change of holiday dates will normally be treated as a cancellation of the original booking and rebooking in which case cancellation charges will apply. Changes may result in the recalculation of the holiday price where, for example, the basis on which the price of the original holiday was calculated has changed.

11. The itinerary is a guide to which we will attempt to adhere, but it may be necessary to alter this at short notice as a result of circumstances or events outside our control such as adverse weather or road conditions or any of those amounting to force majeure (see paragraph 13), or due to the operating conditions imposed by owners and operators of accommodation, facilities and transport. Your itinerary will, however, be the same in content as far as is reasonably possible, unless circumstances beyond our control make this impossible. Should weather conditions involve you in extra costs such as accommodation, transportation and meals, these will be borne by mutual agreement between us.

12. Changes and cancellation by us: As referred to above, we may have to make changes to and correct errors in advertised and confirmed details and also cancel confirmed bookings which we must reserve the right to do. Please note, our trips may require a minimum number of participants to enable us to operate them. If the minimum number of bookings required for a particular trip has not been received, we are entitled to cancel it. We will notify you of cancellation for this reason no less than 28 days prior to departure.

 Most changes are minor. Occasionally, we have to make a “significant change”. A significant change is a change made before departure which we can reasonably be expected to have a major effect on your trip. If we have to make a significant change or cancel, we will tell you as soon as possible. If there is time to do so before departure, we will offer you the choice of the following options:-

1. (for significant changes) accepting the changed arrangements; or
2. purchasing an alternative trip from us, of a similar standard to that originally booked if available. We will offer you at least one alternative trip of equivalent or higher standard for which you will not be asked to pay any more than the price of the original trip. If this trip is in fact cheaper than the original one, we will refund the price difference. If you do not wish to accept the trip we specifically offer you, you may choose any of our other then available trips but you must pay the applicable price of any such trip. This will mean you paying more if it is more expensive or receiving a refund if it is cheaper;

1. (for significant changes) accepting the changed arrangements; or
2. purchasing an alternative trip from us, of a similar standard to that originally booked if available. We will offer you at least one alternative trip of equivalent or higher standard for which you will not be asked to pay any more than the price of the original trip. If this trip is in fact cheaper than the original one, we will refund the price difference. If you do not wish to accept the trip we specifically offer you, you may choose any of our other then available trips but you must pay the applicable price of any such trip. This will mean you paying more if it is more expensive or receiving a refund if it is cheaper;

Please note, the above options are not available where any change made is a minor one.

If we have to make a significant change or cancel we will, where appropriate, pay you the reasonable compensation depending on the circumstances and when the significant change or cancellation is notified to you subject to the following exceptions. Compensation will not be payable and no liability beyond offering the above mentioned choices can be accepted where:

1. we are forced to make a change or cancel as a result of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control such as force majeure, the consequences of which we could not have avoided even with all due care; or
2. where applicable, we have to cancel because the minimum number of bookings necessary for us to operate your trip has not been reached (see above).

No compensation will be payable and the above options will not be available if we cancel as a result of your failure to comply with any requirement of these booking conditions entitling us to cancel (such as paying on time) or where a change is a minor one.

Very rarely, we may be forced by “force majeure” (see paragraph 13) to change or terminate your trip after departure but before the scheduled end of your time away. If this situation does occur, we regret we will be unable to make any refunds (unless we obtain any refunds from our suppliers), pay you any compensation or meet any costs or expenses you incur as a result.

13. In these booking conditions, “force majeure” means any event which we or the supplier of the service(s) in question could not, even with all due care, foresee or avoid. Such events may include, whether actual or threatened, war, riot, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, significant risks to human health such as the outbreak of serious disease at the travel destination, adverse weather conditions, fire and all similar events outside our control. Except where otherwise expressly stated in these booking conditions, we regret we cannot accept liability or pay any compensation where the performance or prompt performance of our obligations under our contract with you is prevented or affected by or you otherwise suffer any damage, loss or expense of any nature as a result of “force majeure”.