We are all very much aware of the current situation and its impact on the life of many people. But how does it impact a person living abroad for just a certain period of time. Here is what happened to my plans and with my life and some tips for those in the same situation at the end.
For those of you who followed my blog for a while, you know that I am originally from Austria and currently live in Arizona. This past few weeks have been stressful to say the least. My parents and my hostparents all work in the health care system, so I had a very different view from the very beginning.
Upcoming Reunion Trip
The first time it felt real and it actually had an impact, was when the 30-day-Europe-Travelban was put in place and the upcoming reunion with my parents on the east coast (Washington DC, Philadelphia, NYC) had to be cancelled. We all were devastated, but understood the reasons (although there was nothing going on back at home yet). From here I had to make a whole lot of phone calls and here is how it went:
For my parents flight I was unable to actually reach the airline (too many hours to wait), so I ended up canceling the trip online, which was no problem in itself as flights to Europe weren’t going to happen by the time my parents would fly. But the we could only get a voucher instead of refund, but I was told on the phone, that if we don’t use the voucher by the end of the year, we will get a refund (we shall see how that goes…). Also the vouchers can only be used for the person who’s name was on the ticket originally.
I ended up doing the same thing for our flights from NYC to Phoenix. I canceled them online and got a e-credit number that can be used for future travels. (of course it was a different airline, so here we go with 2 credits…).
Luckily hotels were the easiest to get canceled, because we booked every single one of them with free cancellation and so we ended up not loosing our money on these either. I guess thank god for this option and that we actually used it.
I cancelled my own flight to Washington DC online as well, which once again was super easy and ended up with e-credit for this airline. But once again its a different airline than the other two flights, so here we go with credit #3…
We also had bus tickets from DC to Philadelphia, but I haven’t been able to get ahold of someone at company yet, to even request a refund. I’ll update this, if I end up getting some response.
But on another note I was actually able to cancel and get a refund for tickets for the attractions we had already booked in NYC:
The Top of the Rock was the easiest of them all. They had a refund form online and all you had to do was fill in the information and the money got back into my account just a day after I filled out the form. Even more a reason, that on my next trip to NYC I will be going to Top of the Rock as my first choice for the observatory decks.
The 9/11-Memorial has an e-mail address (reservations@911memorial.org) on their website for refund requests, but I am still waiting for an answer 2 weeks after my e-mail. We shall see how this will go.
We also had tickets to visit the Statue of Liberty and the State Cruise have an online refund form as well, which was easy to fill out, but once again I haven’t heard anything from them yet so we will see.
Sudden return back home
So I after all that was taking care of thinks took a quick turn… Things back at home went downhill quickly and while I was very torn, I had decided to stay in the USA, since flights back home were still possible and there was no big threat here. Well just a day later I was talking to my Au Pair Agency about getting a flight back home for the following weekend, which they would book for me and everything. (I did book a flight myself as a backup, but more about that later…)
While I started packing my stuff at home, I was devastated, crying and just done with the world. It was the hardest thing ever to tell my hostkids that I have to leave and won’t be able to stay with them. But once again things changed in a matter of days…
By the time the weekend was over, the Austrian government announced the closure of the airport and I wouldn’t be able to return to Austria as planned the following weekend. So here I was kind of relieved that I didn’t have to make that decision anymore, but it was made for me.
My family at home on the other side was worried, that something would happen to me here or I won’t be able to return anytime soon. I have been registered online at the Austrian government for a while already, that I am out of country and where exactly I would be. So the next step was, that I signed up for the flights organized by the government to return back to Austria.
In the meantime I had called the airline to cancel my flight for the upcoming weekend, which I knew wasn’t going to happen as the airport would be closed by then. I had called the German speaking division of the hotline and had only a 2 hour wait and got yet another e-credit. But I found a refund request form online and actually got a refund a few days later. (Yay, one less credit to worry about…)
Refund request sides: United Airlines
Just a few days later a flight leaving from Washington DC was announced and after many many calls to the embassy (which was super understanding – although it was Sunday at 7am), the Austrian Foreign Ministry and with my family I had decided to not take this offer. Because I was only able to get flights with at least 1-2 stops to DC and there was talk about an upcoming domestic travel ban in the USA and I didn’t want to be stuck at some airport.
So here I am still in Arizona, with one suitcase packed and another one sitting in the closet waiting to be packed as well. I have only the essentials left out and am ready to leave at any given time if necessary.
The decision was never an easy one to make, I was torn between the options and it was the hardest thing ever to tell my parents I feel safer here than at home and that I won’t be coming home asap. But rather wait until its a little bit safer to travel, I am not saying that I won’t get on a plane tomorrow, because right now things change by the hour.
During all this time and with all these decisions I have felt super supported by the Austrian government, their embassies here in the USA and my family in Austria and in Arizona.
I guess we shall see, where this is going but I won’t be traveling anytime soon (at least not for fun).
Thanks for reading all of this
Kathi
Tips for those of you in the same situation:
- Register at the embassy of your home country, so they know you are here and how to help you if necessary.
Reiseregistrierung for Austrians on vacation - If you are abroad with an agency contact them and see what your options are with them.
- Need to cancel a flight?
- Try to do it online
- Call the hotline up to 72 hours prior to your Flight
- If you speak another language call the number for this language (might cut down your wait time a lot)
- Apply for a refund even if you don’t think you will get one, you might get lucky
- Check if your attraction tickets might be refundable as well now
- Make sure to cancel all your accommodations as well, so you won’t end up paying for them
- But above all follow local news were you are at, follow the guidelines and stay safe.
Kathi's Travel Adventure 