Upcoming tours may well sound like an odd title for a blog post, given the current situation, but here’s All Points East’s thinking on the subject – for what it’s worth.
There is, of course, a vast range of opinions in the travel business, (and we do chat regularly with both colleagues and competitors), covering everything from; ‘we definitely should be running tours again by the summer’ to ‘nobody will be flying for at least 18 months’. All of which, at the end of the day, are completely unsubstantiated since we don’t think anybody has any idea how the situation will pan out, either short, medium or long term.
Our thinking has absolutely no more validity than anyone else’s but we will for now, rightly or wrongly, dismiss both the most pessimistic and optimistic opinions and try and position ourselves on some, hopefully realistic, middle ground. (Those who know us may also recognise some typical glass-half-full thinking here and time may prove us equally optimistic but…)
Our homepage upcoming tours section then includes scheduled trips that have confirmed bookings on them and that – conditions permitting – we hope to be able to run. Several of these are rescheduled tours from cancelled departures in April and May so we’d like to thank those who agreed to postpone rather than cancel – obviously a great help in current times – as well as some optimistic recent bookings for which we’re equally grateful.
Please note our earlier stated policy change to introduce a flexible, transferable reservation system so for any scheduled tour that can’t go ahead you can either transfer your deposit to an alternative date or receive a full refund.
As things stand then we have: Laos and Thailand, The Golden Triangle (21st Oct), Laos and Cambodia, Mekong Adventure, (26th Oct), Cambodia, Beyond Angkor (22nd Nov), Laos and Vietnam, Unexplored, the Far North 16th Nov), Hidden Thailand (21st Nov) and a Malaysia, Borneo Adventure (21st Nov).
Optimistic, pessimistic or realistic – who knows – we’re not making any claims, merely clarifying the situation as it stands. Things can change very rapidly and the bottom line is that whatever our thinking, we are ultimately, legally bound (for insurance reasons) by the UK government’s Foreign Office advice anyway so whatever All Points East, Lao/Thai/Khmer immigration or Airline X thinks is secondary.
Cheers, stay safe and hopefully, this may give our more optimistic readers something to look forward to?
Hidden Thailand Tour 
