What your journey includes, what it doesn't, how anything extra is priced, and when you actually pay. Written down so nobody has to ask twice — and so you always know what a number on your invoice is for.
Everything the journey is made of: your lodging for the nights of the tour, the guiding, the transport between the places we go together, the experiences on the itinerary, and the meals named in it. If it appears on your day-by-day, it is paid for.
What is not included is what happens either side of us — your flights, and anything you ask us to arrange around the edges of the journey. Those become add-ons.
Anything we secure for you that sits outside the journey itself: a train to bring you in or take you home, a hotel room the night before your flight, a transfer, an extra experience.
Some are offered to the whole party, some only to you. You are never obliged to take one — and if you would rather book it yourself, say so and we will release what we were holding without the slightest awkwardness.
At what it costs us, plus a handling charge — twenty per cent, or a small minimum on the little things, rounded to the nearest five dollars. That is the whole formula, and it does not change from guest to guest or trip to trip.
What you are paying for beyond the ticket is the arranging: the seats held together rather than scattered, the confirmation kept somewhere you can reach it, and someone who already knows what to do when a train is rescheduled.
Because fares move, and yours was bought on a different day. European rail and airport hotels are priced by availability: the earlier a seat is confirmed, the less it costs, and the price climbs steadily as the date approaches.
So answering quickly genuinely saves you money. It also lets us book the party together, which is usually cheaper again — and is the only way to be certain you are seated with the people you came with.
Everything is quoted and invoiced to you in US dollars, so the number you agree to is the number you pay. No surprises at the bottom of a statement.
Much of what we buy on your behalf is priced in euros. We convert at the rate on the day we book, and the small spread between that and what a card would charge is carried inside the price rather than added afterwards.
Your meals are covered, and so is the wine we choose to go with them. Part of why you came is that somebody else is reading the list: Desta and your guide order for the table, and that is the curation, not a restriction.
But these are serious cellars, and sometimes a bottle on that list will call to you. Say so. We will not hesitate, and we will help you choose well — it is the most fun part of the evening.
What happens then is simply how formal service works, and it is worth knowing before you are sitting in front of a wine list. The restaurant opens a separate check for anything beyond what we have ordered, and you settle that check directly with them that evening — it does not come to us and it does not appear on your invoice.
The gratuity for the sommelier belongs on that check, from you. In France service is already included in the price, so this is not the American habit of a percentage on everything — it is a specific thank-you to the person who found the bottle, opened it properly, decanted it and watched your glass all night. On a bottle of that order, something in the region of five to ten per cent, or a rounded sum that feels right, is what a well-travelled guest leaves.
We tell you this plainly because knowing how to be in these rooms is part of what the journey is for. Nobody should learn it by guessing at the table.
Nothing about an add-on is due when you say yes. Everything we arrange is gathered onto your final invoice, itemised — every line named, so you can see exactly what it is and what it cost.
Your journey itself is paid in the way you arranged at booking: a deposit to hold your place, then the balance before departure, or across an agreed plan. Add-ons ride on that final payment.
When we hold a room or a seat, we hold it for seventy-two hours and tell you the day it lapses. A yes or a no are equally welcome — what costs everyone money is silence, because the thing is released and re-bought later at a higher price.
Tell us as early as you can and we will do whatever the supplier allows. Some tickets refund freely, some not at all — rail fares in particular are often final once ticketed. We will always tell you which you are looking at before you commit, never after.
Where it is offered on something we book for you — rail tickets especially — we take it, and it is included in the price you are quoted rather than added on top.
That is not the same as insuring your journey. For trip cancellation, medical cover and baggage, arrange your own policy; we will happily tell you what to look for.
The first time, we email you a link that signs you straight in — no password to invent, nothing to remember. Once you are inside, go to your Traveler Profile and set a password of your own.
Do that once and the portal is yours for good: your itinerary, your travel details, your confirmations, on any device, whenever you like. If a link has gone stale and you have not set a password yet, just ask — we will send a fresh one straight away.
On your own itinerary, on the day they belong to — the service, the carriage, your seat, and the confirmation. Anything we arrange for you appears there rather than living in an email you have to go and find at a station.
Still wondering? Ask Sebastian anywhere on pasperdu.com,
or write to desta@pasperdu.com.
Questions about location, privacy and safety are answered on
Questions of safety.