What are your tips for a trip to Barbados on the cheap?
Simon Calder answers your questions on budget getaways, Australian borders and holiday refunds
Q We are off to Barbados for our 30th wedding anniversary next August. It’s a budget trip, and we want to go room-only and do self-catering. Any particularly nice areas? We need affordable shops and restaurants nearby.
Chris S
A Congratulations on your 30th anniversary, and how lovely that you have a special trip planned. To be honest, Barbados in August would be far from my first choice. It’s the height of the hurricane season; you could choose from a thousand nearer, cheaper and equally delightful locations; and budget travel to Barbados is tricky at any time of the year.
But conversely, you can see visiting the island in August as a positive, with no crowds: the cruise ships are busy in Europe and return to the Caribbean only with the arrival of the dry season in late November/early December. So there will be no daily influx of thousands of daytrippers.
The south coast of the island, around St Lawrence Gap between the capital Bridgetown and the airport, is the area to aim for. I like staying at the friendly and good-value Crystal Waters guest house. In terms of eating and drinking: Bridgetown (accessible by cheap, frequent local buses) is the best place to pick up supplies for picnics etc. In the evenings, the fish-frying shacks at nearby Oistins are excellent value. For a special night out, try the well-regarded Pisces restaurant in St Lawrence Gap.
You can explore the island by bus; no need to rent a car or take taxis.
Remember the Barbadian currency is locked to America’s (at B$2 = US$1), so costs are likely to be challenging. The pound has lost 15 per cent of its value against the US dollar so far this year, and many economists say it has further to go.
Q I was due to fly to Sydney to see my daughter on 26 March 2020. Australia closed its borders so I would not have been able to board the plane in London. The flight was not cancelled – it apparently flew to Sydney and brought back passengers. They wouldn’t refund it and issued a voucher for the £3,800 return in business class. I am now trying to use the voucher early next year, some time from February to April. But the business class return is now more than £6,000 even if I’m flexible. So I would like my money back. How do I set about it?
Name supplied
A What a frustrating and potentially expensive position to be in. Thirty months ago, borders across the world were closing as the coronavirus pandemic spread. Australia effectively sealed itself off from the world from 20 March 2020. Initially, the government in Canberra warned that the ban on arrivals who were not citizens or residents might last for six months; it actually continued for almost two years.
As neither a citizen nor resident, you could not board that flight. But the question of whether it carried passengers, such as Australians returning home, is material. Were it actually empty, going out purely as a rescue mission for British travellers, then the flight can fairly be deemed to be cancelled – at which point you should automatically qualify for a full refund (within a week, not two-and-a-half years, incidentally).
If, though, it carried paying passengers, then the airline can claim it operated – at which point some legal uncertainty begins. The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) is on your side; early on in the pandemic, the organisation gave its view on contracts that were “frustrated” – ie, through no fault of the supplier or the buyer, something happened after the contract was entered into which meant it can no longer be performed. The CMA said consumers “will generally be entitled to obtain a refund” if “lockdown laws in the UK or abroad have made it illegal to receive or use the goods or services”.
Armed with this advice, you can go back to the airline and ask for a refund. But be warned that the CMA also says this is not a “definitive interpretation of the law” and a test case will need to run its course before the matter is settled. You might choose to be that legal guinea pig.
Q I wondered if you know anything about when the Netherlands and Luxembourg will lift the travel ban for unvaccinated travellers from the UK. I have been trying to get information on this from the Dutch government but their only response has been that any changes will be communicated on their website.
Yonathan B
A It is now 30 months since the coronavirus pandemic triggered border closures around the world – and while frontiers clattered shut very swiftly, they are taking an age to loosen. We have seen no coherent global or even regional agreement on how international travel can proceed with an endemic virus that continues to pose significant public health risks.
At present, as you know, there is a deep divide in the travel possibilities open to those who are vaccinated and those who are not. In the European Union, each nation is sovereign and therefore makes its own decisions on who to admit. In principle EU citizens are generally allowed in regardless of vaccination status, while third-country nationals such as the British must produce evidence of jabs: an initial course, plus a booster if the first round was more than 270 days ago. Countries such as the Netherlands and Luxembourg are currently excluding people who through choice or medical necessity have not been vaccinated.
My prediction is that we could settle for a jab-or-test regime as practised by the UK’s favourite foreign nation, Spain, and many others. The world would need to agree on what constitutes vaccination – the US and Australia are simply content to tick the box of having had initial jabs, while Europe wants a booster – and the type and timing of a test.
As we head into the northern winter, with all the potential for increased infections and hospitalisations, I sense no readiness to ease rules in the short term; indeed, Luxembourg has this week decided to extend its effective ban on unvaccinated visitors from outside the EU. It may be that either or both nation concludes that the economic harm of keeping out some business visitors and weekenders outweighs the perceived health benefits, but they are likely to place caution above cash for some time to come.
Q It might seem an awful thing to ask given the national mourning, but I was planning to travel to London on Saturday and stay overnight for the last night of the Proms. Now that it has been cancelled, what rights do I have for a refund of my advance train tickets and hotel booking?
Name supplied
A Tens of thousands of people, including football fans who have seen the weekend’s Premier League fixtures cancelled as a mark of respect to the Queen, are asking similar questions.
Advance rail tickets are normally not refundable, but some operators may offer more flexibility. LNER (which runs trains on the East Coast main line) is saying: “If you want to change any previous plans or no longer travel, you can change or refund your ticket.”
Otherwise, you can change the date free of charge up to 6pm the day before travel. You will need to select a day for a replacement trip. Any difference in fare is payable.
Next, the hotel. If you have taken advantage of a lower room rate in return for a non-refundable booking – as many of us do – then clearly you are in a difficult position. Call the hotel and discuss options. A cash refund is extremely unlikely, but if you are booked with a chain it may be that you can take a credit note to be used at some time in the future. An independent hotel may allow you to postpone to a later date. In any case, you may be asked to prove that you had tickets for a now-cancelled event.
The only hotel group with a published policy so far that I know of is Travelodge. The company tells me: “Anyone who has a current booking in one of our London hotels and needs to change it, we can change it to a different date or offer a credit note for a future booking. We will do the same for bookings made outside of London for an event or gathering that has been cancelled due to respect for the Queen during the mourning period and till the funeral.”
Email your question to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder
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