How disappointing. And how awful for CT. One of my D’s did a semester at the U of CT and had an incredible experience. And, I was fortunately enough to visit. It’s a very special place. I hope the Chile program works out for your D and hope CT/South Africa figure something out…
So sorry to hear the trip was cancelled, OP. And can’t even imagine how bad it is going to be for the Cape Town residents.
Travel insurance isn’t kicking in?
@coralbrook Apparently, in order to get your full fare back through the ins, there are only certain reason they accept. Jury duty, medical issue, home uninhabitable, death of family member are the ones I remember reading.
There may be a couple more.
The airline will “allow” us to change destination with a $275 per ticket charge. This may be our only option.
Plan a day trip to Mont Saint Michel from Paris.
@SweetTea We have to cancel the trip. We were doing it in conjunction with D16’s study abroad to Cape Town trip. The trip was cancelled by the school due to the major water drought there. Now, she may go to Santiago, Chile. The flight doesn’t go through Europe.
Awful. Had you already bought the European tickets that can’t be refunded? Or just your Ds?
You could do a family trip to Mexico City and some of the historic cities such as Oaxaca and Puebla before she moves on to Santiago. These cities have no travel warnings.
Can’t you just go to Paris without your daughter?
IME the $275 change fee for your daughter’s ticket from CT to Santiago would be reimbursed by the university. Is this a private university?
I doubt the university will reimburse for the flight. Flights are usually the student’s responsibility and the drought is outside the control of the study abroad program organizers.
I didn’t mean reimbursement for the flight, just the change fee.
Sorry not to read the whole thread, @cardinal2020mom, but I figure you will read it all! so, apologies if any of these have already been posted:
- A nice version of hop-on / hop-off in Paris is the Batobus, which just goes up and down the Seine (w/ no commentary). You get to see the riverview of Paris (which is worthwhile, and it stops at/near many of the place you will want to be going: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Musée d'Orsay, Louvre, Champs Elysée (kinda/sorta- it's a bit of a walk). The guide that you get with your ticket has handy info on each stop (food options, but also things like ATMs). Highly recommend.
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Speaking of ATMs, tell your bank that you will be heading over. If your bank card has a pin code life is very easy; you will also find apple pay more places than you expect.
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Strongly recommend staying in some sort of VROB / Air BnB place- having a kitchen, a space to hang out, etc. is really great. If you stay in one near a year-round market (ie, Rue de Levis, Rue Cler, etc), you will find lots of food options either ready to eat, to re-heat or to cook at home. If you want to know who we use, PM me- I’m pretty sure that posting it would advertising & not allowed on CC!
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Consider having everybody be in charge of one day- organize it from food, to activity, to info, etc.
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If you go to Versailles (easy day trip), spring for a good tour (even a ‘personal’ one): it really makes a difference. Strongly second the votes for Normandy. It is a trek, but it is a profound experience. You can also nip up to see the Bayeaux tapestry before it heads over to the UK!
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Random things: segway tour, geocaching, the THATLOU treasure hunt (Louvre),
Yup, me too. But worth asking I guess. OP has tickets for herself and other daughter, too, unfortunately.
@great lakes mom, @MaterS @doschicos. Yes, we already bought the tickets, all 4 of them. We wanted to take a family vacation since S18 will be going to college in the fall. We have never gone to Europe and thought it to be a perfect time. Technically, the 3 of us can still go to Paris but it obviously would not be the same.
The study abroad organizers did state in the email they would try and help the students who already paid for their flight. D16 has a meeting with them on Monday. I do think the school will reimburse D16’s change fee and the $100 we paid for her travel ins. $375 is better than nothing.
As of the 3 of us. DH did file a claim with the insurance company, but we are not holding our breaths. Therefore, I think we need to chalk it up to and additional $800 to our flights. Where ever it may take us. We have a year to use the tickets.
My hope is that S18 gets into Michigan or Northwestern. That way, we have a reason to take advantage of the flights soon. Or we may go visit her in California.
Lesson here is buyer beware. Read those travel insurance coverage reasons for trip cancellation before you spend the money unnecessarily.
@cardinal2020mom If your daughter does wind up studying abroad in Chile, try to get down there to visit her. Great, beautiful country. Worth the visit and not very expensive once there. Glad that it looks like you’ll have some reimbursements for your daughter’s portion.
@cardinal2020mom - the perils of posting before not reading the whole thread! I’m so sorry your trip is cancelled. I second @doschicos advice on Chile though 
Oh gee, sorry, I thought I had read the whole thread. For some reason only the first page came up. Disregard my post!
And once you’re in Chile, consider taking a flight to Buenos Aires – fares as low as $200 round trip – Buenos Aires is very Paris-like!
I hope you can still find another time to go to Paris together, maybe in summer or fall, or next year? Just don’t go in August when all the locals are away.
OP- check the protections offered by the CC you used to buy the tickets, perhaps there is a more generous trip insurance there?
@somemom thanks. Will do.