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New Rides in 2008
US$ devaluation
Travel Points
War with Iraq
Travel to Zimbabwe
Safe in Middle East ?
VIP Membership
US$ exchange
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We have updated our website to indicate the cost
of the trips not only in US$ but also to show on what rates the US$
prices are based on in the local currency. When we take final payment for your trip, it may be
necessary to adjust the US$ rate. We will do our best to hold the rates as
long as possible, but if the trend of the US$ devaluation continues, we will have no other
choice. We do hope that you understand that we cannot offer these trips
to you at a loss since we have to pay our partners in their local
currencies for the trips. All this may not be necessary if the dollar
stabilizes vs the EURO, the Australian and New Zealand $ as well as
against the British Pound.
Earn Travel Points:
Starting April 10th, 2007 you automatically earn Travel Points when
you book your holiday with Hidden Trails.
As long as you have an up to date VIP status, you can redeem your travel points
for any trip with Hidden Trails. How to earn points:
Travel Points are awarded on each holiday booked with Hidden Trails with a
minimum of 5 nights. Ten Travel Points are awarded for each $1 spent.
In addition certain trips carry bonus Travel Points, see the Specials section
for details. Travel Points are awarded to the person making the reservation and
are not transferable.
Travel Points have no expiry date but Hidden Trails reserves the right to change
the terms and conditions at any time without notice.
How to redeem points:
Travel Points can be redeemed against any future Hidden Trails holiday.
1000 Travel Points give you $1 off your holiday. You can only redeem your points
if you are an active VIP member and have enough points
for at least 50% of the trip value.
Travel to Zimbabwe
Recent press coverage regarding the political tensions in
Zimbabwe has led to many of
our clients expressing concern about traveling to
Zimbabwe.
Over the last 7 yrs safety has been less of an issue in
Victoria Falls than in
Johannesburg or
Cape Town to put it in
perspective! The majority of the political
activity takes place around the main central cities in
Zimbabwe.
Victoria Falls continues to attract many tourists each year and the
lodges and hotels in the town continue to provide a high level quality service
to their guests. We will continue to market
Victoria Falls until the town proves to be an
unsafe destination which has not been the case thus far.
Victoria Falls continues to be a safe place for our clients, whilst we
understand that some clients have a moral dilemma, the counter argument is that
their tourism dollar helps relieve some of the difficulties of daily living for
the 40,000 +/- people employed directly and downstream through tourism.
The benefits of
staying in
Victoria Falls Town,
Zimbabwe:
Zimbabwe boasts 70% of the viewing
area around the
Victoria Falls
The centre of town is just a 10 minute walk from the entrance to the Falls
Not as crowded as the Zambian side of the Falls
Increased availability
Zambezi National Park (20 min drive) and
Hwange National Park (2.5 hrs drive) are both bursting with wildlife
War with Iraq
We all hope that the troops will be able to return safely soon.
Our hopes and prayers are with
them and all
people involved.
Is Middle Eastern travel safe?
The media don’t think so, but travelers disagree
Editorial
by Patrick Totty
Some
important media have been pounding on the theme of how despised abroad
Americans are, and how formerly friendly nations and people have soured
on us. Expect a chilly reception when you go abroad seems to be the
implicit tone of many such stories.
The only
problem is that very, very few Americans are reporting encountering any
hostility in foreign lands. About the worst they run into are
condemnations of the U.S. government, followed by quick assurances that
the speakers like Americans personally.
We all know
that bad news sells, which is why most of us take what we read or hear
in the media with a grain of salt. The only people who still believe the
media are objective are the people in it.
In weighing
what the media say about foreigners’ attitudes toward Americans vs. what
our friends and acquaintances tell us, we think it’s better to believe
the latter. Here’s a test that will help you make your own decision
regarding who to believe:
Think back
to any time in your life that you’ve read a newspaper article or watched
a TV report on something you knew personally about – an event, a person,
a body of knowledge. Remember how wrong they got it? Remember how many
other people who were close to the same subject said things like, "How
could they get it so wrong?"
Perhaps the
sternest test of what we’re saying is how people in Arab and Muslim
countries are treating Yanks. Three people whom we trust, two of them
tour operators who currently live in North Africa, and the third our own
Calendar Editor, who just returned from three weeks in Greece and
Turkey, recently reported their experiences regarding Americans
traveling in the region.
One
American friend, who is the director of an Arab language school in Fez,
reports no overt hostility toward westerners in general, or Americans in
particular. He has been in Morocco for eight years and feels safer there
that he did living in Chicago. He lives in the old medina and a large
percentage of his students stay there as well. The students report being
well received by everyone. You could say that Morocco’s location in the
furthest western reaches of the Arab-Islamic world, as well as its
traditional relative openness to western culture, makes it a less likely
place to find anti-American sentiment. Apparently his prospective
students agree as enrollment is up over 70% from last year, to more than
200 foreign students.
A better
test would be in Egypt, the country with the world’s largest Arab
population. Our tour host contact there says that American travelers
simply are not encountering hostility among average Egyptians that’s
directed at their nationality. A recent e-mail she received from a
client newly returned from a trip encourages Americans not to delay a
journey to one Middle Eastern country because of problems in another. He
points out that the Middle East is one and one-half times the size of
the U.S. and that distances there are much vaster than most Americans
realize. Why cancel a trip to one destination just because there is a
problem 2,000 miles away? Of course that doesn’t mean that Americans
aren’t running into the occasional surly merchant or angry shopkeeper,
but those outbursts derive from personality clashes, not politics. Also
desperation due to a major decline in tourism may make merchants a bit
more aggressive in encouraging sales. But that's to be expected
anywhere.
Of course
tour operators don’t eat if they can’t get people to go on tours, so
it’s fair to take what they say with a grain of salt. But our Calendar
Editor, Flo Heckenbach, a seasoned traveler who doesn’t depend on
selling packages for her survival, reports back from a three-week trip
to Turkey and Greece that she had a high old time.
Greece
especially is a very anti-American place. Its government and many of its
citizens make no bones about not liking the U.S. But Flo says everybody
there treated her kindly. Again, people made the distinction between a
country’s foreign policies and the fellow humanity of one of its
citizens.
Flo’s
Turkish leg coincided with President Bush’s NATO meetings. Being a
seasoned and conscious traveler she felt it prudent to avoid the modern
downtown where the meeting was held and stayed instead in the a lovely
renovated historic hotel in the "Old Town." Even wandering the streets
in the evening for dinner she encountered no hassles. The worst problem
she had was in heading for the spice bazaar -- she wandered in circles
for two hours because every helpful Turk she asked for assistance sent
her in a different direction!
We know
that what we say here is anecdotal. But in the end, all memories of
travel for pleasure are anecdotal. We all come home from a trip or
vacation with personal stories, not pre-written themes or canned
narratives that we bought off a rack somewhere.
Keep your
own experiences with the media in mind the next time you read reports
about how disliked we are overseas.
VIP Membership
Our valued repeat clients have earned a bonus.
As a VIP member you can take advantage of
 - Earn travel points on every trip you take with us (some
restrictions apply)
- Pay for your travel with
the Hidden Trails Travel Points
- Special rates for “Exploratory Rides”
- VIP members are put on top of any waiting list when trips are sold out
- No last minute booking fees
- Short term special offers with up to 20% discounts
- 5% Travel Rebate for qualifying guest ranch vacations
Eligible for a VIP membership are all customers that have traveled with
Hidden Trails at least twice in the last 3 years (at least on 2 trips of more than 5
nights).
Send us an e-mail if you have traveled with us twice in the
last three years, and we will enroll you right away.
info@hiddentrails.com |
