Sliding into Peru and out again!!!!

Trip Start Oct 23, 2010

Trip End Nov 02, 2010

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Flag of United States Davenport, Florida
Thursday, October 21, 2010

Still in Davenport... So after two weeks of back and forth with LatinAmerica4less just trying to get information they told us Monday October 18th that they were trying to get the e-tickets from Continental and that our rep had called them 4 times on Monday and still had no response... I thought this was a little shifty. Usually big corporations are fully automated and I was surprised that they would be having that type of issue.

In a panic we decided to call Continental ourselves. We navigated through the phone tree with the questions of what is your ticket number? I don't know. What day do you fly out? October 23rd. What time do you fly out? I don't know. Approximate time? 10 am? Until finally they found a res for us. So it was in there. We were able to pull it up on Continentals website.

All day on Tuesday I kept trying to call LatinAmerica4less. On monday when I called and put in Romina, our agents, extension it would go to her voice mail. On Tuesday suddenly it went to a generic voice mail saying all of our representitives are busy please leave a message. This was looking from bad to worse.

We knew we had plane tickets but the hotels and transportation in Peru were another matter so we started e-mailing all of the hotels that were listed in our tour to see if we had any reservations and if they were paid for. When you can't get the information from your travel agent you take matters into your own hands.

So as anxiety built I started hitting the forums looking for others with the same problem. That is when I found a posting on Frommers from someone that was booked with LatinAmerica4less to go on Friday to Panama. He was saying that he got a call from a rep from LatinAmerica4less stating that they were canceling all of their tours due to lack of funds. They suggested disputing charges with his credit card. I.E. you may or may not get your money back.

Shocked and slightly angry I e-mailed and called LatinAmerica4less again stating what I had seen from a poster on Frommers and asking if it was true. No Answer. At 8 pm I still had no answer. When the phone rang a little after 8 I knew what was coming. It was bad news. Our travel agency was going out of business and we no longer had a trip. Poor lady sounded like she was going to cry so I told her I hoped that her day got better since it probably had been a pretty crappy one.

After all of the stress leading up to conclusion I guess I can almost say I am relieved. Within 30 minutes of the call I was online booking a 4 day Disney Cruise leaving out of Orlando. It leaves on the 24th so our vacation isn't totally a bust. I have also filed disputes with my credit card company on the charges for the lost Peruvian adventure. Disappointed? Yes but I am thankful that I work for a company that is still in business. I still have a job and the employees of LatinAmerica4less do not. I am thankful that I have seen so much of the world that losing a vacation like this is not crushing. I am thankful that I can afford vacations and that it is so easy for me to pick up and go.

So that is the Peru trip that was booked for 2 years and never happened. Lets hope that some time in the future I can find another great deal to Machu Picchu and Nazca lines. We will go eventually!