Stood up by Blue Train

I enjoyed reading Dr. Wagenaar’s account of his journey on the Blue Train through South Africa (March ’04, pg. 99). One fact which may be of importance to ITN readers, however, is that the Blue Train apparently can cancel its train journeys at any time. This happened to my wife and me, who were scheduled to begin a Blue Train journey from Cape Town to Pretoria June 21, ’02.

That the entire train could be canceled at the last minute due to a shortage of other passengers had not been disclosed to us. (The shortage was caused when a major group canceled its booking.)

While our deposit was refunded, this still left us “high and dry” since all of our other deposits were, at this late time, nonrefundable. As such, we had to scramble not only to fill the time gap created by the cancellation but to arrange last-minute transport from Cape Town to Pretoria to continue our journey. Caveat emptor.

THOMAS C. STARRETT
Gardnerville, NV