Where trips actually break
The Join
A trip almost never fails in the middle of a contract. It fails between two of them, at a join that belongs to nobody, and there are exactly three joins worth worrying about. This page is those three.
The first join: arrival against check in
Your flight lands at 6 am. Your room is ready at 3 pm. Nobody is contractually wrong and you have nine hours with luggage.
- What we do
- Ask the hotel for an early check in before you book, in writing, and price a guaranteed early arrival if the answer is no
- What it costs
- Usually nothing, sometimes one extra night at half rate, occasionally a day room, which costs less than travelers expect
- Whose problem it is otherwise
- Yours, entirely. Neither company has failed and neither owes you anything
- Where it appears
- Every trip from two companies upward, which is eleven of the fourteen on this sheet
The second join: the connection that cannot be missed
A flight into a departure port on sailing day. A regional hop that has to land before an internal one takes off. A train that has to arrive before a hotel desk closes.
- What we do
- Refuse the tight ones. A same day arrival to a sailing is not booked by this office at any price, and a spare half day goes either side of every internal flight on a four company trip
- What it costs
- A night, sometimes two. It makes the trip more expensive on purpose, and it is the only place on this site where we deliberately raise your figure
- Whose problem it is otherwise
- Yours. Miss a sailing and nothing comes back; catching the ship at its next stop runs to real money and often cannot be done at all
- Where it appears
- Cruises, internal air, and every trip with a border in the middle
The third join: the thing bought months ago for a fixed date
A timed museum entry. A rail pass that must exist before you leave the country. A permit at a site that caps numbers.
- What we do
- Hold the ones that genuinely sell out, months ahead, and identify the ones you can simply turn up for. Plenty of stated deadlines are not real ones, and you will be told which fall into that category
- What it costs
- Nothing extra from this office, and the entry price is usually small. The cost of getting it wrong is the day
- Whose problem it is otherwise
- Yours, and it is unrecoverable rather than expensive
- Where it appears
- Named on every trip page that has one, in bold
The sequence, once you ask
| Step | What happens | What exists on the record |
|---|---|---|
| You write | One or two lines is enough. A month, roughly who, roughly what | Nothing. No file, no reference, no obligation |
| We ask back | Usually two questions: how firm the dates are, and a figure you would rather not pass | A written question |
| We price | Two or three trips, usually in different tiers, each with the case against it | A written figure, live for as long as it says |
| You decide | Or you do not. Both are ordinary endings and neither costs anything | Nothing binding either way |
| We place it | With each company in turn, in the order that makes the joins work | A booking, once each company confirms, and not before |
| You pay them | Each company, on its own schedule, with its name on your statement | A payment schedule that belongs to them |
| You get one document | Every address, every time, every reference, in day order, with the joins marked | The deliverable |
Who takes the money
You pay the supplier, never this desk. Each operating company takes its own payment directly, on its own schedule, with its own name on your statement. On a four company trip that is four payees and four schedules.
What this office charges
Nothing, on any trip, in any tier. It is paid a commission out of the companies' own margin, after you travel and only if you do.
The obvious objection is that margins differ, so why not steer you to the fattest. Because steering shows: a traveler sent somewhere that did not suit them does not come back, and a small office in Charleston runs on people coming back.