Frequently asked questions
Check our knowledge base for answers
Booking
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Q: When does the sign-up start and can I save a place by email? The trips of our ESN and Student Union partners will open for sale at an agreed time, you can ask your ESN section or Student Union for more details. Our mixed departures will be available soon. You can currently place a booking only on our web page using our booking system. We want to give everyone a fair chance to get a spot, and for that reason we are not able to take any reservations before the sale starts. You can, however, sign up for the waiting list and you will get notified by email as soon as the trip is open for sale.
Q: The trip is already sold out! Will there be more places? Some of our trips are super popular and can sell out in less than an hour. We will constantly check with the destination whether we can open up more sports. We recommend that you sign up for the waiting list. Once there are more places available or someone cancels their trip, we will notify everyone in the list, giving everyone a fair chance to grab a spot. Also, check the website from time to time. We might not always manage to send out an e-mail before the spot is taken!
Q: How can I book extra activities? Can you add these and those for me? If you have not booked any activities or still wish to add more activities to your trip, you are more than welcome to do so! And we can assure you that your trip will be even more fun with the added activities. You can pay for the extra activities directly online (credit card or paypal) or receive a new invoice to your email (payment by bank transfer). Notice! Extra activities can only be booked online up to 2 days before the departure. 1. Navigate to your destination page: Saariselkä, Vasatokka, Levi Q: I want to cancel my reservation, how can I do it? If you have not paid for your reservation yet, we can cancel your trip/extra activities without charges. If you have paid for your booking/extra activities already, please read the Terms of Cancellation to check if cancellation fees might be charged. You can find them here: Terms and conditions. If you want to cancel extra activities, a cancellation fee of 20€ occurs per cancellation. If you got sick prior to the departure, it is better stay home and not spread it to others. The long overnight bus trip and temperature changes during the journey usually makes sickness to get worse. In case of sickness contact immediately us by email: customerservice@timetravels.fi or by phone: +358104218990. Outside of office ours you can also send a text message to +358509121372. We will confirm the cancellation and contact guides, transportation company and local staff. Later on, visit the doctor and get an official statement. With this statement you should CONTACT YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY IN ORDER TO GET A REFUND FOR THE CANCELLED TRIP.
Q: I booked the wrong trip, what should I do? All of my friends go on a different trip! Oh no! Send us a quick message explaining the situation. We will get back to you and try our best to sort out this situation! Sometimes, there might not be any possibility to make a switch if the trips are already fully booked. We understand that traveling with your friends is important to have a fun trip so therefore we will try to find all possible solutions for you! While we are looking through the information and checking the possibilities, take a look at this relaxing video of Northern Lights in Lapland.
Q: I want to share the cabin/room with… We will send an email with a cabin sign-up document to everyone who has signed up for the trip about a week prior to the departure. There you can choose in which cabin you would like to stay in and with whom you would like to share it with. If you don’t receive this email, please check your spam folder or contact our Customer Service Team.
Q: I have never received your emails. Is everything alright with my reservation? If you haven’t receive any email, not even the confirmation email for your booking, please log into your customer account. From there you can check the status of your reservation. If your reservation is confirmed, please contact us, there might be a typo in your email address. If you have received the confirmation email but nothing else until a week before departure, please check your spam folder, our emails sometimes end up there. If you can’t find our emails there either you can send a ticket to our Help Desk. If you can’t access that either, send us a message and we will sort out where cyberspace sent them. Most frequent reasons why the emails might get lost:
Q: My friend (non-student) from my home country would like to join me, is it ok? How can we book the trip for him/her? Your friend is more than welcome to join this trip as well! As long as the trips isn’t sold out, of course. You can make the reservation for him/her through our booking system online. If your friend has a valid student or ESN card (doesn’t need to be a Finnish one), you can make the reservation with student price. Otherwise choose the non-student “Adult” option. The more the merrier!
Q: When will I receive all the information about the trip? We will get in touch with you at least 10 days before the departure and send you the final message 2-3 days before the adventure starts to make sure that you are ready! We will send you information for everything you need to know about the trip program, accommodation, transportation and destination (and maybe some nice small surprises!). If you don’t receive these emails, please check your spam folder or contact us so that we can send you this information again straight to you!
Q: Will I get any form of ticket that I need to show for the trip? We don’t hand out physical tickets for our trips. We have all the information needed from you. We will have a name list that we check before departure. As long as your trip is Confirmed in your customer account, the only thing you need to do is pack your stuff, remember your passport and other important documents (especially for trips to Russia) and tag along! Q: What if the flight company cancels my connecting flight prior to departure? If you have booked your flight tickets via Timetravels and the flight is cancelled or rescheduled so, that the delay with the replacing flight would be more than 5 hours, we are responsible to: 1. Refund the cost of the flight ticket +the trip if you would like to cancel your reservation. If you have booked the flight ticket on your own, Timetravels is not responsible for refunding costs for cancelled flight, a missed package tour or covering costs for postponing, rescheduling or any other possible costs. Please note! On our normal student tours we do not offer the service to book the flights for you! |
Payment
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Q: How can I change the payment method in my reservation in my profile? Currently, it is not possible for you to change the payment method in your booking by yourself. You will need some help from us. Send us a quick message and let us know what you need to have changed. We are happy to help you with this! Please notice, that the only way to change the payment method to paypal or credit card is by cancelling your current reservation and then making a new one! A quick tip! You can easily reorder your reservation by logging in to your Customer Account. Your previous bookings and customer information is already saved there.
Q: I want to pay by credit card, can I inform you the necessary details now and you’ll do it for me? We don’t feel that it is safe to take any card information via phone or email. We are always thinking of your safety! All card payments should be made in a secured connection of a credit card association. You can either pay by card directly online or if you happen to be in the Helsinki or Tampere area, why not pay us a visit in one of our offices to pay for a reservation. We are always happy to help and also greet our Timetravelers personally!
In Finland it should be possible for you to do a bank transfer by cash in any bank close to you with the invoice sent to your email. Just print out the invoice and bring the required amount in cash to the bank closest to you. Even if you don’t have an account in the bank, they should be able to make the transfer for a small fee. If you can’t find the invoice in your email, check your spam folder or request a new one from us. Q: I made a reservation with Credit card/Paypal, but it ended up as pending or cancelled. What happened, do I have a reservation now? Seems like something went wrong here and you unfortunately don’t have a valid reservation. This problem could be caused by: 1.) Exiting the payment page too early. Notice! When choosing the Credit card and Paypal payment option, you would be required to make the payment immediately! So make sure that you have everything you need close to you while booking. 2.) The credit card payment didn’t go through. The cause of this is often due to a weekly/monthly limit or a limit for payments abroad or you might get a access code to a phone number that you don’t use at the moment. Please check with your card issuer if there are any problems with the card. If your booking is cancelled, just try to book again through your Customer account where you details are saved already. If your reservation is pending, please contact us so that we can cancel your pending booking for you to try again OR change the payment method to Bank Transfer. Hope you will succeed on your next attempt!
Before cancelling, please check our Terms and conditions for possible cancellation fees. If you still want to cancel your reservation, please contact our Customer Service about your wish and let them know your reservation number. If you have not paid for your reservation yet, there will be no cancellation fees and we can just cancel your reservation and open the spot to another lucky traveller.
All our trips offered for the ESN and Student Organization members are discounted as agreed with the organizations. Students get the best prices for all our destinations in Lapland and Russia. The special ESN card discount is already included if you purchase the trip from your local ESN section. If you have any further questions about the ESN card, please, check with the ESN section in your city. You are always welcome to check the rest of our products on www.timetravels.fi to discover other discounted trips! |
Lapland
Q: WE ARE A GROUP OF FRIENDS? HOW CAN WE ENSURE TO STAY TOGETHER IN THE SAME ROOM/APARTMENT? DO WE NEED TO BOOK THE TRIP TOGETHER?A: There's no need to book the trip together, as we provide a possibility to chose your roommates before the departure. Latest by one week before departure, you will receive an email containing information about the trip-specific accommodation arrangements and the possibility to choose with whom you want to share your apartment/room with. If you don’t receive this email, check your spam folder, ask your friends to share it with you or contact our Customer Service Team. Please note that if you have one booking including several people, only the person who made the booking will receive the email! Q: IS WI-FI AVAILABLE IN THE APARTMENTS AND COTTAGES?Wifi is available in most of the cottages, but this cannot always be guaranteed. Q: DO I NEED TO BRING ANYTHING WITH ME?A: You should bring the following at least:
Q: WHAT IF THERE'S NO SNOW?A: The reason we use North Lapland as the location of our main destinations is that according to long-term statistics, there is enough snow starting from mid-November in order to organise all the winter activities. Unfortunately, global warming may cause weather anomalies also in the North, especially by delaying the beginning of winter. In the unlikely event that the snow is not deep enough for certain activities, we will offer an alternative activity or refund for the activity, which was not able to be conducted. During January-March it is highly unlikely, that there wouldn't be any snow. Q: SHOULD I GO TO LAPLAND IN FALL OR SPRING SEMESTER?A: We recommend you travel to Lapland in February, March or early April for two reasons - during springtime, there are more sunlight and more snow. During the fall semester, there may be less snow, especially in November and early December. Additionally, the shorter periods of daylight impose certain restrictions on the schedule such as having to get up early in the morning. Other information you might be looking for:1. All mobile phones work normally in Lapland Timetravels reserve the right to modify the program and adjust prices accordingly at any time. The itineraries given on our website are provisional. The final itinerary is sent to passengers a few days before departure, as some activities are dependent on prevailing weather conditions. |
Russia
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Q: I have to renew my passport. Can I still book the trip if I get my new passport a few days before the trip? How can I book the trip without its number? For our Visa-free trip to St.Petersburg you can make a booking by just filling in zeros at the passport number and expiry date, so that we know that you have a new passport on the way. Make sure to send us your new, correct passport number and expiry date latest one week before the trip, so that we can put in the new and correct passport information when sending it to the ferry company.
Before going to Russia we highly recommend you to check your passport. According to the rules, established by the Russian Federation, everyone traveling to Russia needs to have a passport which is valid at least 6 months after the trip. If your passport doesn't meet this criteria, we would advice you to renew it. This way you will have the best possibilities for a trouble free border crossing. Please contact your closest embassy or consulate for more information on how to renew a passport. Also, almost all non EU/EEA citizens must have a residence permit card to be able to enter Russia. We have had cases, when a EU-citizen has been able to cross the border with a passport which has been valid at least 3 months after the trip. However these cases are always decided individually by the Russian border officers and there is no way a travel agency can affect their decision. However we need to inform you about the risk that there is the possibility that the Russian officials might not grant you entry into Russia. If the Russian border officials deny you entry into the country, neither Timetravels Ltd. or the ferry company can offer any refund and you will unfortunately be responsible for your own return home. We wouldn't like to see this happening to any of our travelers, so therefore we hope that you would follow our recommendations. Now, remember to take your valid passport (and your residence permit card) with you and see you in St. Petersburg! Q: What do I need to bring with me?
Q: Is there a risk that I don't get a visa to Russia? What is the procedure? GETTING THE RUSSIAN VISA We gaurantee you full refund if you don't get a visa! Getting the Russian visa is easy via Timetravels! We’ll guide you through the process and take care of the majority of the paperwork. We will give you full refund for the booked trip if your visa application gets rejected after you have provided all the required documents to us in time!
VISA FREEDOM FOR CERTAIN NATIONALITIES If you are a holder of a passport of one of the following countries, you can travel to Russia without visa! ARGENTINA, ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN, BELARUS, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, BRAZIL, CHILE, COLOMBIA, CUBA, HONG KONG, ISRAEL, MACEDONIA, MOLDOVA, MONTENEGRO, NICARAGUA, PERU, RUSSIA, SERBIA, THAILAND, UKRAINE, VENEZUELA HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? Average price for the visa procedure is 80 € (incl. our service fee 10 €). Consular fees vary by nationalities according to what kind of agreement the country has with the Russian Federation. You can check the price for your country by clicking the “Book this trip" button and choosing your country from the list under VISA SERVICE. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE? The visa procedure takes about 9-15 days before the trip date. Make sure you have possibility to hand over your documents for the entire time of the visa processing. We will return the passport with visa back to you at the start of the trip. WHAT DOCUMENTS DO I NEED TO APPLY FOR THE RUSSIAN VISA? For EU CITIZENS!
For CITIZENS OF CANADA, US, UK, IRELAND, SINGAPORE, SWITZERLAND, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, CHINA, MEXICO and JAPAN + DENMARK Documents for EU citizens + A COPY OF THE STUDENT CERTIFICATE from your host school in an EU country. You can get this document for free from university registree's or international office. If you don’t see your country in the list of options, please, contact our customer service - we will assist with the booking. SO HOW DO I GET THE VISA WITH TIMETRAVELS?
6. Come to the trip departure place and get your passport with a brand new Russian Visa! Q: Should I change some cash now?
We recommend that you change about 20-25€ for the first day in Russia. That should be an sufficient amount to get by for one day.You might need some cash to buy lunch since cards are not always accepted. When in Russia you can change the rest of your euros as the rate is usually better there. Our Tour Leaders will provide the best info on exchange rates and best places to do so. Looking for a currency converter? Here is one with up to date information and even some tips when traveling. |