Holiday Information
How to Book
To book your holiday or to discuss your requirements, please phone us on 020 7263
3000. We can usually confirm availability immediately. In some cases we may need
to check with a supplier first.
Payment
You can pay for the deposit or balance of your holiday by cheque, credit card or
debit card. We accept personal Visa and Mastercard credit cards, subject to a handling
charge of 2%. There is no charge for debit card payments. We are unable to accept
cash.
What’s included in the price
Prices are based on two persons sharing a room and include all flights, transfers
and accommodation.
Where applicable, entrance fees, taxes and charges are included in our prices at
the rates advised to us at the time of preparation. An adjustment will be made to
your price if any of these change before your holiday.
We do not include departure taxes on flights within and leaving Latin America, which
must be paid in cash at the airport. Currently, these are: Peru, US$30 international
flights, US$6 domestic flights; Ecuador, US$41 international flights; Argentina,
US$18 international flights, US$10 domestic flights; Costa Rica US$26.
Passports and Visas
Visas are not required in advance for British citizens for any Llama Travel destination.
For British passports endorsed in any way and all other passports, please ask the
appropriate consulate: Peru (Tel: 020 7838 9223); Ecuador (020 7451 0040); Argentina
(020 7318 1340); Chile (020 7580 1023); Brazil (020 7659 1550); Costa Rica (020
7706 8844). You should have a full 10 year passport valid for 6 months after your
return to the UK. If you are flying via the US, you need to comply with US immigration
requirements. Ask us for details.
There is an immigration entry fee to Chile for citizens of the US (US$100), Australia
(US$30) and some other countries. Please check with the Chilean consulate.
To visit Brazil (even Iguazu Falls from Argentina), citizens of the US, Australia
and some other countries must obtain a Brazilian visa before travel.
To issue some tickets, we require passport details and ages when you book. If you
subsequently change your passport, please let us know as soon as possible.
Hotel grading
Official hotel ratings vary from country to country. Our standard hotels are tourist
class hotels. Superior hotels usually offer better facilities and more comfort.
Hotel rooms
If you have a preference for a twin or a double room, please let us know. However,
we cannot guarantee this as hotels do not allocate rooms until the day of arrival.
Despite costing more per person, single rooms do not always offer the same level
of comfort as doubles. Some hotel bathrooms have showers instead of baths. If you
prefer a bath, please ask. If you arrive at a hotel before check-in time, your room
may not be ready. You will be able to use the hotel facilities until your room is
ready.
Tickets and vouchers
You will receive your tickets approximately 10 days before departure, along with
detailed information on transfers, accommodation and excursions. Our agents in Latin
America will give you your hotel and excursion vouchers when you arrive. Please
check your airline tickets carefully in case timings have changed after we issued
your confirmation.
Excursions and Extensions
Excursions are operated together with other holidaymakers. These will usually be
in English, although groups are sometimes a mix of English and Spanish or Portuguese
speaking. A minimum of 2 people is required for some excursions. On some occasions,
the order of excursions may vary.
Insurance
Adequate travel insurance is essential. The insurance market is very competitive
and a wide range of policies are on offer. As customer requirements vary, we do
not sell or recommend any specific policy. A list of insurance companies that our
customers have found suitable is available from us. Please advise your insurer of
any pre-existing medical conditions and, if you are booking a holiday involving
high-altitude trekking, such as the Inca Trail, make sure that you are covered for
this. If you are booking the Glacier Trekking excursion, make sure that you are
covered for ice trekking. If you are planning on carrying out any other activities,
please ensure your insurance policy will cover you for these. Note that cancellation
cover is often only available if insurance is purchased within two weeks of booking
your holiday.
Age and fitness limitations
For most of our holidays, age is not a concern. However, a reasonable level of fitness
is required, as most holidays require some walking, sometimes on uneven ground.
Even relatively mild activities can be strenuous at altitude. High altitude trekking
is more strenuous than an equivalent length walk in the UK.
Health and vaccinations
Please consult your GP or a travel clinic about health and vaccination requirements.
Advice for travellers is available at www.nhs.uk/livewell/travelhealth. Yellow fever and malaria
precautions are necessary for visiting the jungle, Iguazu Falls and some other parts
of Costa Rica and South America. To enter Brazil, a Yellow Fever vaccination certificate
is required in some cases. Please check at: www.brazil.org.uk/tourism/visasvaccinations.html. Children
under 6 also require proof of vaccination against polio to enter Brazil. Some GPs
do not recommend yellow fever vaccinations for travellers over 60 years old. Please
seek medical advice before you travel.
Parts of South America are at high altitude. Most visitors do not suffer major problems.
However, shortness of breath is common and we advise you to take things calmly during
your first day at altitude. If you suffer from a heart or lung condition, or think
that you may suffer due to the altitude, please consult your GP.
When travelling, stomach illnesses are not uncommon due to changes in diet. We suggest
you only drink bottled water and avoid ice in drinks. If you are unsure if salads
and fruit have been washed in purified water, it is best to avoid them.
If you suffer from any disability or condition and are concerned whether this will
affect the enjoyment of a holiday, please call us. We will do our best to help.
We recommend that you bring any medicines you require from the UK.
Outside of major cities, medical facilities can be basic, meaning a lengthy transfer
if hospital attention is required.
Your safety and security
Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Costa Rica are relatively safe countries
to visit, and most people experience no problems. However, as is the case anywhere
in the world, crime can be a problem, especially in Rio and other large cities.
Tourists can appear attractive targets to criminals. To minimise the risk, use common
sense. Do not display signs of wealth, such as expensive looking jewellery or cameras.
Avoid empty streets, especially on your own. Take a taxi after dark. By taking sensible
precautions, you should have a trouble-free holiday.
Each country has its own standards for health and safety, but these are often not
as good as in the UK. We take this into account when selecting hotels and request
that they comply with all local regulations, but cannot guarantee that these are
equivalent to British standards. Please take reasonable precautions to protect yourselves
whilst on holiday, e.g. by locating fire exit routes.
Please also check the Foreign Office travel advice for the countries you are visiting www.fco.gov.uk
Booking Conditions
1. Your contract
Your contract is with Llama Travel Limited, registered in England and Wales, number
4370517. The following conditions will apply to your booking and form part of your
contract. They cannot be varied and should be read carefully. A contract will exist
when we accept your booking and issue our confirmation invoice. The contract and
all matters arising from it shall be governed by English law and be subject to the
exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts. All correspondence will be sent to
the lead passenger of the booking unless otherwise advised. You must be over 18
to book a Llama Travel holiday. Llama Travel holidays are not for resale.
2. Deposits and final payments
A deposit of £150 per person is required (£300 for Galapagos holidays, £500 for
Cape Horn Cruise). When this is received, we will issue a confirmation invoice.
The balance of the payment must be paid 90 days before departure. If the booking
is made less than 90 days before departure, full payment must be made when booking.
On some occasions, a higher deposit or earlier balance payment may be required to
secure flight seats or other services: we will advise you at the time of booking
if this is necessary. Some suppliers in Latin America are very strict with late
bookings. In order to secure your holiday arrangements in these cases, for requests
made less than 90 days before departure, we may ask for a payment in advance before
we can reserve the appropriate services. This payment is not refundable if you subsequently
decide not to procede with the booking.
3. Our prices
Brochure prices are based on the latest known information at the time of preparation
– 17 Nov 2009 (£1 = US$1.681, Brent Crude oil $78 per barrel) but can go up or down.
Before making a booking, please call us to check the correct up to date price of
your chosen holiday.
Once you have made a booking and we have issued our confirmation invoice, your holiday
price can only be varied due to a significant increase in our costs or an increase
in charges, fees, taxes or similar items as a result of governmental action.
The following taxes, entrance fees and charges are included in our prices. An adjustment
will be made to the price of your holiday if any of these changes before your holiday:
UK air passenger duty (APD): £50 (flights to Quito, Rio and San Jose), £55 (flights
to Lima, Buenos Aires and Santiago). From November 2010 APD rates increase to £75
and £85 respectively. For business class, APD rates are double the above rates.
Entrance fees: Galapagos National Park $110; Machu Picchu $40; Inca Trail and Short
Inca Trail $80; Cusco Tourist Ticket $40; Perito Moreno US$24; Iguazu Falls (Brazil)
US$22; Iguazu Falls (Argentina) US$26; Torres del Paine US$33. We have been advised
that the Galapagos National Park entrance fee may increase to US$210, but this has
not been confirmed.
The VAT rate for holidays outside the EU is zero.
Except for increases in entrance fees or tax increases, such as in APD or VAT, we
will absorb any increase up to 2% of your holiday cost. If there is a surcharge
of more than 10% of your holiday cost, you will be entitled to cancel within 7 days
of being notified of the surcharge and obtain a full refund. No surcharge will be
made less than 30 days before the start of your holiday.
4. Alterations or cancellations by you
If you wish to alter your holiday arrangements before departure, we will do our
best to help. An administration fee of £25 per passenger will be charged, together
with any additional costs incurred as a result of the change. If you make any alterations
within 60 days of departure, we may treat this as a cancellation, and apply cancellation
fees. Scheduled airlines treat name changes as a cancellation and rebooking; any
alteration is likely to incur a 100% cancellation charge. Please make sure that
all names you give us are spelled exactly as they appear in passports.
It is not normally possible to make alterations after commencement of travel. If
you do wish to make alterations during your holiday, cancellation fees for services
booked may apply. Refunds cannot be made for any unused accommodation, services
or transport.
If you wish to cancel your holiday, you must let us know in writing. The following
cancellation charges apply:
|
Days before departure when you notify us |
Penalty |
|
90 days or more |
Loss of deposit |
|
60 to 89 days |
25% of holiday cost, or deposit if higher |
|
30 to 59 days |
60% of holiday cost, or deposit if higher |
|
Less than 30 days |
100% of holiday cost |
If the balance payment is required earlier than 90 days before departure, this will
normally be non-refundable in the event of cancellation.
In addition, where one person in a party cancels and others still wish to travel,
single room supplements will be payable if this results in single rooms being used.
We recommend that you take out full travel insurance with cover against cancellation
penalties, including in the event of force majeure; see section 6 below.
5. Alterations or cancellations by us
We make careful arrangements with airlines, hotels and service operators to ensure
that we are able to provide you with the holiday as described. However, in exceptional
cases, it may be necessary to make changes to your holiday arrangements (including
airlines, flights, accommodation, transport or services) due to circumstances beyond
our control. Flight times are given only as indications, and finalised times will
be shown on your tickets.
When minor changes are necessary, we will do our best to ensure that they do not
affect your holiday. If a major change is necessary (defined as a change of itinerary
so that you are no longer able to visit a designated overnight destination or an
appropriate alternative destination, a change of accommodation to a lower standard
or category affecting a significant part of your holiday, or a change of flight
time of more than 12 hours to your flights to or from Latin America) or if we have
to cancel your holiday, we will contact you and offer you the choice of:
1.Accepting the changes to your holiday; 2.Purchasing another available Llama Travel
holiday; 3.Cancelling your holiday with a full refund.
If we have to cancel or make major changes to your holiday less than 60 days before
departure, other than in the event of force majeure (see section 6 below), you will
also be entitled to compensation at the following levels:
|
When notified
|
Compensation per person
|
|
43 – 60 days before departure
|
£10
|
|
29 - 42 days before departure
|
£20
|
|
15 - 28 days before departure
|
£30
|
|
0 - 14 days before departure
|
£40
|
6. Alterations or cancellations by you or us in the event of force majeure
If we have to make alterations to, or cancel, your holiday in the event of force
majeure, we will contact you and offer you the above choices. However, compensation
will not be paid.
If, in the event of force majeure, we are still able to operate your holiday but
you wish to cancel, please contact us to discuss the options. We will endeavour
to recover from suppliers, and refund to you, monies paid for your holiday, but
where we are unable to do so, you may be able to claim for irrecoverable costs from
your travel insurance.
Force majeure events include war, threat of war, civil unrest or strife, decisions
by governments or governing authorities, epidemic, natural disasters, fire, bad
weather, terrorist activity, nuclear disaster, industrial disputes, technical or
maintenance problems with transport, changes of timetables of airlines, or other
causes beyond our control.
7. Our responsibilities to you
Llama Travel is dedicated to ensuring that your holiday is as described. If a part
of your holiday is not provided as promised, and this affects the reasonable enjoyment
of your holiday, we will pay compensation appropriate to the circumstances, limited
to a maximum of twice the price of the service concerned.
Llama Travel accepts responsibility for illness, personal injury or death caused
as a direct result of the direct acts and / or omissions of our employees, agents,
suppliers or sub-contractors while acting in the course of their employment to provide
services or arrangements for your holiday that you have booked with us in the UK.
We do not accept responsibility for illness, personal injury or death where there
has been no fault of our employees, agents, suppliers or sub-contractors, or as
a result of taking part in any activity which does not form part of the holiday
booked through us in the UK. Where illness, personal injury or death arises in the
course of air travel, rail travel, sea travel or hotel accommodation, the amount
of compensation you may receive is limited in accordance with the provisions of
any International Convention. If illness, personal injury or death is suffered as
a result of taking part in an activity where a third party is involved, we shall,
at our discretion, offer advice and assistance to aid in the resolution of the issue,
provided you inform us within 90 days of the occurrence. Our costs in respect of
the above on behalf of you and your party shall not exceed £5,000 in total. If you
are able to make recovery of these costs whether from the third party or from a
policy of insurance, you may be asked to refund our outlay.
8. Your responsibilities
Clients are responsible for ensuring that all immigration and health requirements
are fulfilled, for obtaining travel documents, including passports, visas and vaccination
certificates, and for ensuring that these are all in order, including for any intermediate
stops on international flights. If the name on your airline ticket does not match
that on your passport, you must inform us as soon as you receive the ticket.
We require your passport details to issue some tickets. If these change after you
have given them to us, you must inform us.
It is your responsibility to behave in a responsible, restrained and sober manner
when dealing with local authorities, fellow travellers and our representatives.
By taking a Llama Travel holiday, you agree to accept the authority and decisions
of our employees and representatives. If, in the opinion of such people, your behaviour
or health before the departure of a tour is likely to threaten the safety, comfort
or progress of that tour, then you may be excluded from the tour without refund
or compensation. It is your responsibility to obey local laws, otherwise you may
be excluded from the holiday and we will cease to have any responsibility for you.
Please bear in mind that travel in Latin America is not the same as travel in the
UK, and minor inconveniences and delays may arise due to weather conditions, strikes,
demonstrations, the poor state of roads or for other reasons. By travelling with
Llama Travel, you are implicitly accepting this part of the Latin American way of
life.
9. Flights
We have no control over international or national air carriers, and therefore schedules
may change due to no fault of our own. We will do all we can to ensure the smooth
flow of all your transport connections, but it is your responsibility to check exact
times of flights and reconfirm these. This is particularly important for internal
flights within Latin America, which can be rearranged at short notice. Llama Travel
accepts no responsibility for the consequences of flights missed due to the client’s
failure to reconfirm.
When you travel with an airline, the Conditions of Carriage of that airline apply,
some of which will limit or exclude liability. These conditions are the subject
of International Agreements between countries.
Flying to Latin America involves long flights and may require changes in other airports.
It is your responsibility to arrive at the departure airport at the appropriate
time and to check in for your international flight, and to change aeroplanes if
necessary at intermediate airports. If you wish to sit in a specific seat or section
of the plane, or wish to sit with other people on the flight, it is recommended
that you check in early or check in online. It is sometimes possible to reserve
seats directly with the airline by telephone or online prior to travel.
Airlines do not allow more than one booking per passenger on a flight and may cancel
seats if they are held by more than one operator. Clients are responsible for ensuring
they are not holding flights with another operator.
10. Baggage allowance
Most scheduled airlines have a baggage allowance of 20kg per passenger. Please bear
this in mind when packing, as carrying excess baggage will normally incur an expensive
additional cost payable at check in. Additionally, certain excursions have a limited
baggage allowance. Where this is the case, you will usually be able to leave the
rest of you luggage in storage. Llama Travel accepts no responsibility for the delay,
loss or damage of luggage.
11. Insurance
You must have adequate insurance provision to cover the cost of assistance, including
emergency repatriation, in the event of illness or other problems occurring during
your holiday.
12. Complaints
If you have any complaints about your holiday arrangements when you are abroad,
please bring these to the attention of our local representatives who will do all
they can to ensure a swift and satisfactory resolution. Problems can usually be
sorted out by talking to the supplier concerned (e.g. hotel) and our local representatives
or by informing us directly. If this is not done, Llama Travel accepts no responsibility
for the situation, as we will not have been given the opportunity to rectify the
problem. If you do not inform us, your consumer rights to compensation may be affected.
If you have tried and failed to rectify the situation whilst abroad, please send
us your complaint in writing within 28 days of returning to the UK. We will then
follow up your complaint. Communication with Latin America is often slow, so we
may not be able to resolve the situation as quickly as you would like.
13. Financial protection
The holidays in this brochure are ATOL protected, since we hold an Air Travel Organiser’s
Licence granted by the Civil Aviation Authority, number ATOL 5804. In the unlikely
event of our insolvency, the CAA will ensure that you are not stranded abroad and
will arrange to refund any money you have paid to us for an advance booking. For
further information, visit the ATOL website at
www.atol.org.uk.
14. Brochure and website information
The information in our brochures and on our website is, to the best of our knowledge,
correct at the time of going to press. However, details of flights or hotels may
vary during the lifetime of a brochure. These changes will be reflected on our website
where possible.
The copyright on all material in our brochures and on our website, including text,
photographs, maps and layouts is held by Llama Travel Limited. No part of these
publications may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any way without the prior
written permission of Llama Travel.
15. Data Protection
The information we ask you to provide, including personal information about you
and members of your party, is necessary for us to arrange and operate your holiday.
By booking a holiday with us, you agree to our processing this information, including,
where appropriate, its transfer outside of the EU.