Tour Pricing

We want to make the tour price as fair as possible, and so the price will vary depending on how many people are taking the tour.

The reason for this is that the cost of all the coaching and the guides we hire is both an unusually high proportion of the total costs, and also is fixed, whether we have 12 or 36  people on the tour, so there is a huge difference in cost per person as between splitting the many tens of thousands of dollars in these costs 12 ways (our minimum group size for the group to operate) or 36 ways (assuming a 48 seater coach, this would be our maximum group size).

So we have set the pricing in a series of reducing levels, depending on the number of people who choose to attend.  The price you pay will be based on the actual number of people who participate, and you are welcome to make your decision to participate conditional upon the tour reaching a certain number of people – in other words, you might say ‘I’ll do the tour if the cost is $4000 but not if it is $5000’ (or whatever the case may be).

Tour Numbers So Far

We have had ten people express interest in the tour so far.  We need two more to get to the point that the tour becomes definitely confirmed.  So at this stage the tour seems very likely to proceed, and hopefully we’ll get way more than 12 people, too!

Pricing

Here is a table being costs per person, assuming a share twin basis, for the full tour and the three shorter options.

You will see that the full tour costs less than adding together the three shorter elements.  This is in part a ‘quantity discount’ but also recognizes that each of the three smaller parts have some overlaps – in total there are 20 days in the full tour, but 25 days in the three smaller parts.

The point here is that if you do two of the smaller parts, you’ll be saving on some of the overlap and so your price will reduce as shown in the columns for combined sections.

If you have any other variation on the tour that you’d like to consider instead, let us know and we’ll try to work out a way it can be done.

We can also look at upgrading your hotel rooms from ‘run of house’ to superior or deluxe if that is something you’d like.  Not all hotels have upgraded rooms, but we can arrange the best possible if desired.

Single supplement rates don’t vary with the number on the tour.  If you would like, we can try to match you up with someone else of the same gender traveling alone (we typically have many single travelers) so you can both save on the single supplement.  As one who often travels alone myself, I hate single supplements every bit as much as you, but the ugly math can’t be avoided – when hotel rooms cost as much for one as for two people, that inevitably means two people sharing one hotel room get to save.

NOTE :  This is currently (mid Jan 2013) preliminary pricing and may vary due to both changes in exchanges rates and actual exact costs as incurred.  

Deposit :  A $500 per person deposit is required to confirm your place on the tour.  This deposit is non-refundable, but may be reimbursable by travel insurance (which we recommend you obtain) depending on the circumstances of any possible cancellation.

Change Fees :  Once your tour has been deposited, any changes you might wish to make may or may not be possible, and, if possible, will attract a change fee of $25 per change.

Final Payment :  Final payment is due 90 days prior to departure, ie on or before Monday 11 March 2013.  If final payment is not received on time, you will be deemed to have cancelled your participation.

Tour Price Changes :  If the published tour prices as shown above increase by more than 10%, you will be given an opportunity to cancel and get a full refund of all monies paid.  (In the past, on previous tours, we have had prices stay the same or decrease, but never increase.  However, we’ve had to guess a lot for this tour and who knows what will happen to the Euro exchange rate, so no promises!)

Count of People Participating :  The price payable per person depends on the total people participating on the tour.  This count may get a bit complicated to calculate depending on the mix of people on the different segments, and the official count numbers for the purpose of establishing the rates payable will be that deemed by ourselves.

Credit Card Payments :  Tour prices are net/discounted prices for cash or check.  You may also pay by credit card, in which case a 3% adjustment would be made to cover our costs of accepting a credit card payment.