Overlanding

From November any departure marked with a ‘G’ on Dragomans website will be guaranteed to run from the day the first person books on!

Dragoman have just launched their 2010 / 2011 brochure with trips in Africa, Asia and South America. For the first time they are heading into South East Asia, all the way to Bangkok and have exploratory trips to Bhutan and Bangladesh. However like many other overland companies they have diversified with many non truck trips!

Dragoman will be running South East Asia tours in 2010. It will be the only overland operator to do as far as we are aware. Their new trips will link Xi’an to Bangkok taking in Southern China, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand.

Looks like if you book on the intrepid website you are in fact booking an Dragoman trip.

http://www.intrepidtravel.com/tripnotes/GOI/2009-01-01

Dragoman will begin to run tours into Iran after a 7 year absence. The first trips will begin to run from the 25th March. This has been forced upon them due to instability in the Caucasus which has meant re routing tours to avoid Georgia and Azerbaijan.

We are not sure what to make of this innovative offer but Dragoman are apparently offering a 10 per cent discount if you can prove you have been made redundant as reported in the UK Telegraph! If you are lucky enough to have a redundancy package this is one way to spent it!

Let us know your experience when booking so far we have had fuel surcharges and exchange rate fluctuation.

This is sound advise from the community.

“PS Do please make sure you only travel with a fully bonded overland company otherwise you could stand to loose all your money. It’s a legal requirement for all travel companies to be properly bonded and to provide a 100% financial guarantee, so please check before you buy.” overland advice.

Unfortunately 2009 may be a year where the potential for tour operators to go bust is high. If your operator has an ATOL bond, you’ll be flown home if it goes bust, but you won’t get a refund. ABTA bonding means that in most cases your holiday will be protected, but this is not the case for all members. Tour operators that are members of AITO offer 100% financial protection.

If you book with a credit card you will normally be refunded in the event of a bankruptcy, but the credit card company will not get you back home.

Please check with your operator and clarify with them if you have any doubts on their level of protection.

What else has cropped up we would love to hear your experiences.

Up to 25% have been knocked of the price of many overlanding trips by Tucan and Dragoman at the moment. Maybe the credit crunch is having an affect on passenger numbers, however if you have the money it could be a good time to snap up a deal. Overlanding Discounts. Other companies are also running discounts on new brochures, such as GAP offering 10% of new trips.

Whilst generously African Trails have offered to our readership an extra £50 off any trip cost if you mention Overlanding Community when you enquire for a 15th December trip this also includes the current Specials. ( Please check with AfricanTrails for Terms and Conditions)

Well it looks like Dragoman is diversifying into other areas as it will soon provide non-truck based small group adventures to places such as Thailand, Vietnam and Costa Rica. Scheduled for their new brochure out in September which will also include shorter Adventure trips between 2-3 weeks.

Dragoman and Wanderlust have joined forces to offer a 3 day camping ’safari’ in one of the Drago trucks in East Anglia UK from the 29th to the 31st August. Primarily designed as a taster for an overland tour it seams in principle a good idea if you are unsure of what overlanding offers (bear in mind you wont be travelling many hours in the truck). On the saturday the camp will relocate to the Maverick Festival for an added bonus.

Although the price seems a little steep for what is essentially a camping weekend at £255, or £205 for Wanderlust subscribers, you will be able to reclaim this amount against any Dragoman trip booked before the end of the year so the carrot has been provided.