The Times - UK (2022-04-30)

the times Saturday April 30 2022

58 Travel

Don’t put

up with this

Insurers renege on

operation payment

My son Theo had a skiing accident

in Austria in January and dislocated

and fractured his shoulder. He needed

an operation but we had insurance

that included £2 million in medical

expenses from Europ Assistance via

the British Airways website, so we

thought we were OK. EA authorised

the necessary surgery by email,

Theo had the operation and then the

next day the company rang him to

say winter sports were excluded from

his winter sports cover. I had to pay

more than £9,000 before the hospital

would release him (which luckily I

was able to do). EA then decided that

winter sports were covered after all

but that cover was capped at £2,300.

Authorising surgery, then changing

your mind after the operation and

refusing to pay is just extraordinary.

I want my money back. Can you help?

Peter Reilly

This was truly shocking behaviour from

Europ Assistance but perhaps not

surprising: it has a pitiful score on

Trustpilot and many reviews highlight

appalling customer service. It did not

respond to my requests for comment

and so I turned to BA, which refunded

you in full (less the £30 excess) within

a few days. But BA should surely

reconsider retaining the company as its

official travel insurance provider if this

is how it treats its customers.

Q

I’d like to reduce my carbon

footprint and travel by train

or boat rather than fly. Can

you recommend any nice

resorts within relatively easy

reach? I speak French and Spanish

and would like to be by the sea — and

to do a bit of sightseeing.

Eleanor Bishop

A

You can reach Spain’s Catalan

coast in a day from London

via Paris. Get your cultural fix

in Barcelona and then take a

half-hour ride to Sitges, one of the

region’s smartest resorts, with a lovely

sandy beach, cobbled old town and

great restaurants. A night’s B&B at the

seafront Hotel Estela starts at £96 in

May (hotelestela.com).

Another option is to make your first

stop Figueres, Salvador Dalí’s home

town, where you could spend a day

exploring the Dalí Theatre-Museum,

then take the 90-minute ride to Blanes,

a relatively quiet resort on the Costa

Brava with a magnificent clifftop

botanical garden, Marimurtra, and a

superb beach, Cala Sant Francesc.

Hotel PI-Mar has rooms starting at £49

next month (hotelpimar.com). There’s

more trip inspiration in rail buff Tom

Chesshyre’s Slow Trains Around Spain:

A 3,000-Mile Adventure on 52 Rides, now

out in paperback (£9.99, Summersdale)

and Lonely Planet’s new Guide to Train

Travel in Europe (£19.99).

Q We’re planning to try to see polar

bears next year and aren’t sure

whether there’s more chance of

spotting them in Churchill in

Canada or Svalbard in Norway.

Also, when would be the best

month to see them?

Julia Dickinson

A Polar bear spotting in Norway

and Canada are two very different

experiences. From Svalbard it’s a

summertime cruise, ideally around

mid-June, when the pack ice begins to

melt and the 3,000 or so bears in the

archipelago and Barents Sea are usually

Travel doctor Solving your holiday dilemmas

Julia Brookes

Consumer expert

it was unable to help because I had

booked through an agent and I was

told to seek a refund from Opodo. I’m

at a loss as to where I go from here.

What can I do?

Nicky Smart

A None of the online giants has covered

itself in glory during the pandemic but

the delay in getting your refund was

mainly due to the fact that Vietnam

Airlines, like so many airlines, has been

very slow to reimburse its passengers.

Apparently, although Opodo submitted

your refund request in October 2020,

Vietnam Airlines only responded in

April 2021, rejecting the application

and asking for a new one with further

information. This was finally accepted in

January but the refund was denied

because PayPal doesn’t allow refunds

more than one year after the original

purchase. After I sent details of your case

Opodo speedily reimbursed you via bank

transfer. It said it had highlighted to you

that the refund could take some months

to be processed by the airline because of

the backlog of requests.

Contact us

If you have a gripe, suggestion or question

relating to your holidays, please email

[email protected]

more concentrated in the remaining icy

areas. You’re also very likely to spot

other polar wildlife including walrus,

arctic fox, whales and reindeer, and

constant daylight (the sun doesn’t set

from April 20 to August 22) will add to

the fun. Hurtigruten has five-night

cruises around Spitsbergen’s

northwestern corner on an

expedition ship from £1,395pp,

including a night in Longyearbyen

and transfers (hurtigruten.co.uk).

If you’re happy to splash out on

a small-ship expedition that can

get closer to the action, the

Kinfish carries between 12 and 16

passengers on its Arctic safaris and

has a huge bridge — open 24 hours

a day — which means there’s plenty

of room for everyone to bear-spot.

A ten-night trip next June starts at

£8,795pp, excluding flights

(naturalworldsafaris.com).

In Canada, the place to be in October

or November is the edge of the Hudson

Bay in Churchill, Manitoba. Bear

sightings are pretty much guaranteed,

the landscape is a flat tundra that

extends for miles and you’ll search for

them in a tundra buggy (think monster

truck), perhaps staying in a tundra

lodge, styled like a train with sleeper

cars (and bunk beds) that curious bears

might well decide to inspect. There’s

also a chance of seeing the northern

lights. A five-night trip starts at

£4,819pp next June, excluding flights

(mycanadatrips.co.uk).

Q Can I vape in the UAE? I have read

so many differing opinions on the

internet and want to make certain I

don’t run the risk of spending my

holiday in jail!

Peter Jenkins

A Given the harsh jail sentence (25

years reduced to ten) handed out to

British football coach Billy Hood for

possessing CBD vape oil, your concern

is understandable. E-cigarettes were

legalised in the UAE in 2019 and the

same laws for vaping apply to smoking,

so only vape outdoors and in designated

smoking areas. Carry the vaper in your

hand luggage and be certain that your

vaping juice doesn’t contain CBD.

Q I have been waiting 16 months for a

refund of the £1,419 I paid to Opodo

for Vietnam Airlines flights to

Vietnam and Cambodia. I have tried

a number of times to speak to Opodo

and have been told that, due to the

time that had elapsed, I was “high

priority”, but nothing has happened.

I’ve also contacted Vietnam Airlines

directly. While it responded promptly,

Sitges in Catalonia. Below,

polar bears in Churchill

GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY

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