Booking Terms & Conditions

Wonderlust Express is a travel planning service operated by Doug Heatherly, an independent travel advisor of Fora Travel, based in Ohio. Fora Travel is our host agency, through which many of our reservations are placed, and it holds the seller of travel registrations shown at the end of these terms.

We research and plan your trip and, once you approve them, make reservations on your behalf with hotels, railways, airlines and other providers, directly or through Fora Travel. We act as your agent in making those reservations. We do not own or operate any hotel, train, airline, restaurant or tour, and each provider remains responsible for its own services under its own terms and conditions, which form part of your contract with that provider.

We do not charge a fee to plan your trip unless we have agreed one with you in writing before any work begins. We are paid through the commissions that many hotels and other providers pay to Fora Travel when a booking is made. A commission comes from the provider's side and is never added to your price.

Any charge for a particular service, such as issuing airline tickets, is shown to you before you approve the booking it applies to.

• We send you our recommendations and an itinerary for your review. Nothing is booked until you approve it in writing, and an email is enough.
• Before you approve a reservation, we tell you its price, what it includes, its deposit and payment dates, and its cancellation terms, as the provider gives them to us.
• Prices and availability are set by the providers and can change until a reservation is confirmed.

Payments for your reservations are made to the providers, on the dates each provider sets. Wonderlust Express does not hold your payments for providers. Some rates must be paid in full when booked and cannot be refunded; we point these out before you approve them.

Please give us each traveler's name exactly as it appears on the passport that will be used, and check every confirmation as soon as you receive it. A name that does not match can mean a ticket that cannot be used.

You are responsible for holding a valid passport, any visa or electronic travel authorization, and for meeting the health and entry requirements of every country on your trip. Requirements change, and some countries now ask for an electronic authorization before arrival; the U.S. Department of State's travel website is the place to check them.

We do not give visa, legal, medical or insurance-suitability advice. Where you need it, we will point you to someone who does.

We strongly recommend comprehensive travel insurance, bought when you first book, covering cancellation, medical treatment and emergency evacuation. We are not an insurer and do not advise on which policy suits you.

If you wish to change or cancel a reservation, please tell us in writing and we will arrange it with the provider. Each provider's own terms decide what can be changed, what is refunded and what it charges, and those charges are yours. We add no charge of our own for making changes unless we have agreed one with you in writing beforehand.

Providers sometimes change or cancel what they have confirmed: a timetable changes, a hotel closes for repairs, a flight is canceled. When that happens we tell you as soon as we know, help you choose an alternative, and pursue any refund or compensation the provider owes you under its terms and the law. Refunds are paid by the provider. Our Air Carrier Liability page describes the rights that apply to flights.

If anything is not as it should be, please tell the provider at once and let us know, so that it can be put right on the spot. If a problem remains, write to us within 30 days of your return and we will take it up with the provider on your behalf.

Guests traveling with us are given a direct number for emergencies, at any hour.

Please tell us of any mobility, dietary or medical needs, or anything else that matters to your comfort, before we book. We pass every request to the providers concerned, but a request is only guaranteed once the provider has confirmed it in writing.

We are responsible for planning your trip with reasonable care and skill, and for making the reservations you approve accurately.

We are not responsible for the acts or omissions of the providers of your travel, including hotels, railways, airlines, restaurants, guides and transport services; for closures, overbookings or changes in quality after your itinerary is delivered; for delays, cancellations or missed connections; for illness, injury or loss of property during travel; or for events outside our control, such as changes in local conditions, political events, natural disasters and public health emergencies.

To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability to you in connection with a trip is limited to the amount of any fee you have paid to Wonderlust Express for that trip or, where you have paid none, the commission we received for the booking concerned. Nothing in these terms limits any liability that the law does not allow to be limited.

Neither of us is in breach of these terms if something outside reasonable control, such as a natural disaster, government action, a pandemic or war, prevents performance. If that happens, we will both act in good faith to reach a fair resolution, and we will help you recover what the providers owe you.

Providers may refuse service, without refund, to a traveler whose behavior puts others at risk or disrupts their services. We are not responsible for any cost that results.

The itinerary we prepare for you is yours to use for your own travel. The research, guides and methods behind it remain the property of Wonderlust Express.

We treat everything you share with us as confidential and use it only as our Privacy Policy describes.

Doug Heatherly is an independent travel advisor of Fora Travel. Fora is registered with the State of Florida as a Seller of Travel Registration No. ST43973. California Seller of Travel Registration No. 2151995-50 · Washington UBI 605329242.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Ohio.

We may update these terms from time to time. The version shown here on the day you approve a booking applies to that booking.

Questions about these terms may be sent to doug@wonderlustexpress.com.