February-April 2020
Our once in a Lifetime holiday to New Zealand began in 2019, when our daughter and son-in-law said don’t keep talking about it ‘Go’. They had used Andrew for their Honeymoon to NZ in 2016 and recommended him. We were sceptical at first not to use a well known high street named Travel agent, but after seeing what their travel plans included compared to Andrews service there was no competition, and my word how did our choice to use Andrew reap its rewards many times over, not that we would know it then.
He listened to our ideas of places we wanted to visit, the accommodation we required, his knowledge and expertise meant he gave excellent suggestions and recommendations as too our travel route and some amazing hotels and B & B’s from scenic beach views, mountains, and even a tree house in a rain forest retreat, all planned to give us time to stop and look at places on the way. Most of the excursions were pre-booked and included in the price. The little ‘black book’ contained all we needed to make the itinerary, hotel bookings, a faultless experience and all personally explained at a one to one meeting.
Our holiday flowed like a dream until Covid 19, and we were faced with NZ level 4 Lockdown. Andrew and his location team were there for us 24/7 always contactable and keeping our family back in the UK in touch with what was happening and what he was doing in the unfolding unprecedented situation. Of course, it meant our holiday was curtailed and on his advice we headed for Christchurch where a motel room was booked for us which had our own cooking facilities. His agent in NZ knew everything including transport, Hotels, B & B’s restaurants, fast food outlets would all close down everything except essentials. His choice of Motel gave us access to Parks, supermarkets, and corner shops all within the walking distance allowed. This proved a total life-saver as NZ Lockdown was just that, and joining a ‘Brits stuck in NZ’ Facebook group we soon realised how fortunate we were to have an Agent we could contact, and to have that professional personal attention, when so many of them were stressed and abandoned.
I would not say we were stress free, but Andrew did all he could to keep it to a minimum, and as soon as Christchurch Airport had internal flights resumed to Auckland he arranged as suggested by the UK government a flight home. However the service did not stop there because Andrew pursued a refund both from the cancelled holiday bookings and the original flight home. All gratefully received and hopefully will assist our insurance claim.
All in all we cannot thank Andrew and his location team enough for the care and attention through extremely difficult days, and yes very disappointed to have lost so much of our much looked forward to destinations on South Island. All we did we could not fault and very much look forward to one day completing our New Zealand dream.
