Kathy D.
Yelp
I used Gadabout Travel to book a Globus tour to Spain in December, 2021. I booked the trip 1 year in advance. Unfortunately, they did not inform me of passport requirements until 2 months prior to my trip (for Spain, passports needed to be valid 3 months after return to the US). Therefore, I had to pay over $600 to expedite my passport renewal. This was totally unacceptable since I booked the trip 1 year in advance and I would have had more than enough time to renew my passport had I been informed. My expectation when I use a travel agent is that they ensure you are informed about any actions that need to be completed prior to traveling. I asked the travel agent to help pay for the cost to expedite and they refused to do anything for me.
Here is some additional context. Two months prior to the trip, Gadabout called me and told me that Globus contacted them and told them that my passport needed to renewed, since it was expiring less than 3 months prior to the return from our trip. I was shocked that Globus needed to inform Gadabout (since they are a travel agent). Then Gadabout called me back and said not to worry, my passport would be fine, since it would expire greater than 3 months after the trip originated (trip originated on 12/4 and my passport expired 3/8). Thank goodness I no longer trusted Gadabout Travel, or I would have assumed my passport was fine and would have been turned away at the airport when I tried to depart for my trip. I instead looked up the international passport requirements on the government website and found out that for Spain, the passport needed to be valid 3 months after the return to the US. I then needed to expedite my passport renewal which cost greater than $600.
I truly believe Gadabout Trave was negligent in their duties, since they never reviewed or informed me of passport requirements for international travel.