Terms and Conditions

Read carefully. This is a legally binding agreement.

In consideration of being permitted to participate in a ‘Pie Aerts Photography’ expedition (referred to herein as “expedition”), I hereby acknowledge, and agree to the following terms and conditions:

All bookings are made with Pie Aerts Photography. By booking a trip with us, paying a deposit or signing this agreement, you accept all of the terms in this agreement on your own behalf and on behalf of all persons listed on your booking, and direct us to perform services for each and every Traveler. The terms and conditions set forth in this agreement constitute the entire understanding and agreement between you the Traveler (“you” or “your”) and Pie Aerts Photography with respect to any and all bookings, reservations, trips, or transactions made with Pie Aerts Photography.

Reservation & Payment

The payment schedule is clearly indicated on the expedition website and varies per expedition. Payment can be made using any of the following methods: International bank transfer, Wise or Credit Card through PayPal. Please note that any of the above methods charges fees for receiving funds outside of The Netherlands. These banking fees should be covered by you and will be added to the amount payable. The height of the banking fees differs per country and per method of payment. The banking details will be mentioned on the invoice you will receive after making the booking.

As soon as the deposit payment has been received, your seat is reserved. This deposit payment is non-refundable unless we are able to replace your seat on the expedition by someone else. In that case you will get a full refund. Full payment is due 120 days prior to departure date of your trip. If you book an expedition seat less than 120 days prior to departure, full 100% payment is required.

It is possible that different travelers on the same expedition have been charged different prices. Your best option if you like the price you see is to book at that time. Any reduced pricing or discounts that may become available after you have paid your deposit will not apply. If you do not pay the balance of your trip 120 days or more before the departure date, your booking will be treated as canceled by you, resulting in the loss of your entire deposit and all money collected from you.

Trips are quoted in USD. All tour fees are inclusive of taxes. Payment to us can be made in Euros or USD (based on the actual exchange rate of the day the invoice was made). Trips are offered based on sharing a twin or double room. A single room (when available) comes at an extra cost. On some expeditions there are triple rooms. In case you want to share a room but we cannot find a roommate for you, a single room will be booked for you and a single supplement will need to be charged.

Insurance requirements

It is mandatory that any Expedition participant traveling with Pie Aerts Photography provides proof of current travel insurance before the trip begins. Travel insurance must cover personal injury, medical treatment, repatriation, and evacuation expenses, including helicopter rescue and air ambulance internationally. It is recommended that travel insurance also address personal property and trip cancellation coverage. Trip cancellation insurance may be the only means of receiving reimbursement for flights and other non-refundable expenses should a Pie Aerts Photography Expedition be canceled, postponed, interrupted, rescheduled, for any reason, whether voluntarily by you or as a result of Pie Aerts Photography actions. Possible examples of voluntarily cancellations could be a broken leg, the death of a family member or severe illness while traveling. Having cancellation insurance will then avoid you having a financial loss. Please also note, than Pie Aerts Photography is not responsible for cancellations as a result of rejected or failed visa procedures. It is every participant’s own responsibility to apply on time for the right visa.

You are responsible for understanding the specifics of your travel insurance policy, ensuring that your policy covers all optional and included activities listed in the expedition itinerary, and ensuring that there are no exclusion clauses (e.g., air delays due to mechanical issues) that would limit the coverage that you might reasonably need. If you have current health insurance coverage, check your insurance policy to see if it provides the coverage described above while traveling outside your country. It is your responsibility to verify your insurance policy details with your insurance provider to ensure Pie Aerts Photography requirements are satisfied.

You agree to assume all costs of medical care and transportation that is provided to you during the trip. Please note that most companies offering travel insurance require the policy to be purchased within 14 days of the initial trip deposit or payment to any service provider in order to cover pre-existing conditions or to provide for “cancel for any reason” coverage.

Cancellations & Refund

Any cancellations by you will result in the loss of your deposit which is non-refundable. We cannot make any exceptions to this refund policy. For this reason, we strongly recommend you have comprehensive travel insurance for every traveler within your group that includes trip cancellation/interruption coverage to help protect your financial investment in the trip. However, if you provide a replacement candidate for your cancelled seat, there will be a full refund.

The most urgent reasons for not being able to travel are usually covered by cancellation insurance (in case you lose your job, if a health-related issue prevents you from traveling, or if something happens to one of your loved ones). Should you need to cancel this expedition, it is very likely your cancellation insurance will cover all payments made by you. Therefore, we can not stress enough how much trouble this insurance saves you, should you need to cancel. This is the reason we urgently stress all participants to organize cancellation insurance.

In case the expedition has to be cancelled due to a sudden spread of a potential new global pandemic, it’s very likely that everything has been already paid in full, but we still can’t travel. In that case it is our policy to postpone instead of cancel the trip. Together we will look at a new date and negotiate these new dates with all travel partners involved. You will receive a travel credit that can be used on that future expedition, minus potential non-refundable costs made by ground operators. In case the expedition can’t be postponed, you can use the credit for any other expedition in our portfolio.

There will be no refund for unused services, early departures, late arrivals, or missed days of your itinerary for any reason. There will be no refund once the expedition has commenced. Your decision not to participate in the expedition due to governmental warnings or advisories, fear of travel, or the like will be deemed a cancellation. No refunds will be provided to you for any unused portion of your expedition, including but not limited to if you are quarantined, a government refuses exit/reentry, or a supplier refuses services if you exhibit symptoms of or test positive for infectious disease. Further, we will not have any liability to you, owe you a refund, or owe you any compensation for loss, damage or injury or anything else if you are infected with an illness, disease or sickness during your tour, or if a third party refuses services (e.g., lodging or transport) if you show symptoms of or test positive for infectious disease. For example, we will not be liable to you if are infected with a virus such as coronavirus at a hotel that we book for you, if you are refused service at a hotel if you show symptoms of a communicable illness such as a cough or fever, if you are unable to board a plane to your destination or return home from your destination because you show symptoms of an illness, you are required to self-quarantine, and so on. No refunds will be provided for any unused portion of an expedition once the trip begins, including but not limited to if you leave a trip for any reason, miss the expedition’s departure date or an activity, or have to be removed from an expedition. There are no exceptions to this cancellation and refund policy, including for reasons related to weather, civil strife, personal, family or medical emergencies or any other circumstances beyond our control. For this reason, we highly recommend that you purchase trip cancellation and interruption insurance.

Liabilities

Pie Aerts Photography cannot be held accountable for occurrences that are beyond its control, such as strikes, wars, acts of government, acts of terrorism, epidemics, pandemics, or any other cause whatsoever, beyond its control, that may make operation of the expedition impossible, illegal or inadvisable. If there are pressing reasons for Pie Aerts Photography to cancel a tour, all tour payments received will be promptly refunded, and this refund will be the limit of Pie Aerts Photography’s liability.

Pie Aerts Photography is not responsible for any expenses incurred by participants in preparing for the tour, including non-refundable or penalty carrying airline tickets, special clothing, visa or passport fees, or other tour-related expenses. We therefore, advise you to wait with buying airfare until the minimum number of guests is reached and Pie Aerts Photography is confirming that the expedition is taking place.

We reserve the right to cancel, alter or modify any trip without prior notice for any reason, including but not limited to for the safety and/or comfort of clients and for circumstances of Force Majeure, which is defined in this agreement below. This includes the right to replace or substitute guides and accommodations in the trip materials, modify the order in which places are to be visited, reschedule, postpone or delay your trip, and make other changes to the itinerary. You acknowledge that the amenities, accommodations, transportation, route, schedule, and itinerary may change without prior notice due to local circumstances or events, which may include mechanical breakdown, flight cancellations, illness, strikes, political disputes, weather, border crossing problems, and other unforeseeable factors. If, prior to departure, we make a significant change because of a problem with a supplier (e.g., bankruptcy), we will, as soon as reasonably possible, notify you of available alternatives.

Pie Aerts Photography will not be deemed in breach of this agreement or otherwise liable to you, by reason of delay in performance or non-performance of any of its obligations under this agreement to the extent that any such delay or non-performance is due to any Force Majeure. “Force Majeure” means any circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including without limitation acts of God, terrorist activities, insurrection, explosion, flood, tempest, forceful wind, typhoon, fire or accident, war or threat of war declared or undeclared, sabotage, civil disturbance, labor strikes, requisition, sickness, quarantine, pandemic, epidemic, diseases and viruses that are known, unknown or novel such as coronavirus/Covid-19 (including any spread thereof), foodborne, airborne, and communicable illnesses and disease, government intervention of any kind that affect domestic and/or international travel, government restrictions or warnings, diplomatic or health organization (e.g., World Health Organization) warnings, border closings, weather conditions, and unforeseen circumstances.

In the uncommon situation where Force Majeure prevents, significantly hinders, or makes it impossible for us or our suppliers to provide the services including but not limited to your tour, we and/or our suppliers shall be entitled to, in our sole and absolute discretion, take one or more of the following steps: cancel, alter, modify, postpone, or reschedule any tour itinerary or arrangement, including tour dates and the entire tour itself. You understand and agree that we will not be able to pay you any compensation, costs, or expenses you incur as a result of Force Majeure. We regret that no refunds will be provided if we take any of the preceding actions due to Force Majeure, unless and to the extent we are able to obtain any refunds from our suppliers.

Pie Aerts Photography reserves the right to replace the expedition leader on an expedition, in case of unforeseen events, such as serious illness of (one of) the tourleader(s) or (one of) their loved ones, or pregnancy. Pie Aerts Photography will do its utmost to replace a tourleader by someone with the same set of skills, but no guarantee can be given. Replacement of a tour leader is under no circumstances sufficient grounds for a refund on payments already made for a tour, nor is it accepted as a reason for you to cancel the trip.

Pie Aerts Photography reserves the right to cancel a tour up to 12 weeks prior to departure if the minimum group size is not reached. You can find the minimum group size on the expedition website.

We assume no responsibility whatsoever caused for injury, loss or damage to person or property in connection with any service resulting directly from: acts of God, detention, annoyance, delays, expenses arising from quarantine, strikes, thefts, pilferage, failure of any means of conveyance to arrive or depart as scheduled, civil disturbances, terrorism, government restrictions or regulations and discrepancies or changes in transit or hotel services over which it has no control. Reasonable changes in the itinerary may be made where deemed advisable for the comfort and well being of the participants. In case of a medical problem arising during the expedition, which results in costs for evacuation, use of aircraft or repatriation, the responsibility for payment of these costs belongs solely to the participant. We strongly advise that participants ensure that such eventualities are covered by travel insurance. If not covered by travel insurance the responsibility still remains with the participant and Pie Aerts Photography specifically declines any responsibility whatsoever.

Passports and Visas

You are responsible for ensuring that all necessary travel documents are valid and effective and in your possession for the entire trip. Valid passports are required for travel to most destinations. Please check with the appropriate consulate or embassy for the latest entry requirements. You assume complete and full responsibility for, and hereby release Pie Aerts Photography from any duty of, checking and verifying any and all passport, visa, vaccination, or other entry requirements of each destination, and all safety or security conditions at such destinations. Any information provided to you is merely provided as a courtesy and it is your sole responsibility to ensure you have met all travel requirements for each destination in your itinerary.

Pie Aerts Photography is not responsible for delays, changes, or cancellation costs due to incorrect, incomplete or expired traveler documents. In the event that you must cancel, delay or reschedule your trip due to expired or missing travel documentation, you are responsible for all associated costs to rectify the situation. If you are unable to join your trip, you will not be reimbursed or refunded any amounts as per the cancellation terms listed in this document.

Upon arrival, on day 1 of the expedition, each participant will have to sign an indemnity waiver that describes all of the above.

Payment of deposit invoice confirms that participant agrees to the Terms & Conditions.