Any recommendations on a good, weapon friendly travel agent/agency?

Gracey in Dallas. Ask for Shawn.

Trapper1

I use and always recommend Shawn Kennedy with Gracy Travel 800-299-8558. Shawn and company are the experts on safari travel and gun issues.

Mark

I've used Gracy and/or Steve Turner at Travel with Guns for all of my trips. You can't go wrong with either.

I have not used Gracy but have heard good things.

I have used TWG for many years and they have always gone above and beyond. Great info, planning and service.

Nothing can beat TWG.

I've used both Shawn at Gracy(for many, many years) and then Steve Turner at Travel With Guns (TWG) (for the last 10 years or so). Both are very good. I currently prefer TWG.

On my first trip I called Gracy. They acted like they(she) was put out talking to me.

I then tried Travel with Guns. Steve Turner was amazing and helped a great deal. I decided to extend my stay and called Steve. He answered the phone “is everything okay Jason”. I was surprised he had my number saved. He changed my flights and came through.

I have no I’ll will towards Gracy and it was possibly a misunderstanding on my part. However, given the great service with Steve, that’s who I would choose again.

quote:

Originally posted by Jason P:
On my first trip I called Gracy. They acted like they(she) was put out talking to me.

I then tried Travel with Guns. Steve Turner was amazing and helped a great deal. I decided to extend my stay and called Steve. He answered the phone “is everything okay Jason”. I was surprised he had my number saved. He changed my flights and came through.

I have no I’ll will towards Gracy and it was possibly a misunderstanding on my part. However, given the great service with Steve, that’s who I would choose again.

my exact experience as well. +1 for TWG

The above is why I only recommend using Shawn at Gracy.

Mark

Ive used Kathy Klimes at Wild Travel with great success

Travel Express for me. I have used them multiple times.

Unfortunately, owner Lori passed this year at a very young age. Her daughter in-law who was working with her took over completely and is doing a great job.

The last time I travelled with a rifle was 2002 and I used Gracey. Things went to shit and I quit using anyone. Now I use camp rifles and make my own arrangements. 19 years later, no complaints.

With the mobil phones that we have available to us being connected is easy to do. If you are ahead of the curve it is a small matter to make sure you have mobile access anywhere you travel these days.

That and a good travel agent, I have used a few different travel agents while traveling to Africa, however Debbie Gracy with Gracy Travel has provided me a great experience each time I have used her. Again, everyone experience is different. I have contact number and e mail addressed stored in my phone and as soon as I land in a country, I make sure I am connected in case something happens that I am not expecting.

Some (not all) travel agents do not appear to listen to you, I like pecific areas for seating on long flights, also looking at flight times and allowed times for connections. At times you are flying on an airplane that does not have business class seats, so we need to look at what I consider a priority in my opinion. Plus, if you do not book your flights far enough advance business class seats are taken. So you are flying in premium economy (if available) or economy seating. What ever you decide leave your self at least 2 hours between flights for domestic connections and 4 hours for international connections.

As always I try to book my flights at least 6 months or more in advance of departure. The down side of booking early is flights are canceled and you need to book another flight. At that point you take what is available or go a day early and stay an extra day in a motel. Actually it has not been a problem staying an extra day.

Then on the other hand I have friends who book all their flights, and obtain all the permits needed for flying with firearms. One friend flys with a revolver and rifle, so it is doable to do everything on your own.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
The above is why I only recommend using Shawn at Gracy.

Mark

I can say that I had the same experience. Overall it went fine, especially for my first trip, and she got me good seats and listened to my preferences but next time I'll either use Shawn or a different agency. She sent me snarky email responses to simple questions in the beginning, more or less telling me to leave her alone just because she was trying to get other hunters set up for their trip. She also got rude over the phone a couple times because we were talking over each other, which will happen when you're using whatever horrible phone setup with a delay that she always used. I also had to set her straight after a little argument about the new restrictions for Namibia that popped up in August. She was a little nicer after that. I wonder if she is just overworked, but that isn't mine or anyone else's fault.

I heard good things about Gracy but didn't realize until after starting the process that I should have asked for Shawn. Live and learn.

Shawn Kennedy at Gracy Travel is fantastic. She has saved me major headaches several times. Lots of people happily use Kathi Klimes and Travel with Guns, but Shawn has been so good for me I’ve never considered using anyone else.

On my current hunt (I’m writing this from camp in Mlele) Shawn turned around my gun authorization from Qatar Airways in 1 day, even though I’d booked my airfare myself since I was using frequent flyer miles.

Dan,

110% Shawn has saved my client's bacon a number times. Having employees on the ground in RSA to assist is worth much more than Gracy's fee.

Mark

I will never again use Steve Turner’s TWG.

We gave Steve Turner of TWG the entire trip booking over one month in advance and over two and a half weeks to get the required Emirate’s “Approval for Carriage of Firearms “. Steve Turner left on vacation in the middle of completing our booking and said his staff would handle everything. Two days before our departure we still did not have our Emirate Airlines “Approval for Carriage of Firearms “ permits even though we made daily phone calls to TWG’s staff over a one week period , Patrick and Fred “TWG” had over a one week period to get the paperwork from Emirates but the TWG staff waited until the last minute . Two days before our departure we still didn’t have our required Emirate’s paperwork. I called TWG two nights before our departure and was told I was making a imposition on them since they did not want to work and call Emirates during Emirates Dubai’s business hours since it didn’t coordinate with TWG’s normal business hours and time zone difference including TWG’s sleeping schedule. The staff at TWG had zero sense of urgency. I tried calling and emailing Steve Turner over a 72 hour period. Steve Turner was MIA never returning emails or phone calls.

I had to personally takeover with Emirates staff in Dubai . The staff at Emirates were very professional and accommodating. I had in 24 hours all the needed paperwork from Emirates in which TWG failed to provide in 7 days. I never heard back from Steve Turner.

My experience with Emirates on all aspects was great and they will be my airline of choice for future African hunts.
Turner’s TWG was worthless and added a lot of unneeded stress that didn’t need to happen and never even a follow up apology let alone a refund from the owner Turner.

4WD

4WD sorry to hear about Travel with Gun. I was booted off a flight for having the wrong COVID test. My flights were cancelled by the airline four days before my flight to Cameroon. I had multiple changes on my return back. I think I changed flights more than my underwear. Steve was extremely responsive to all the changes.

I have used TWG for several trips and all has gone well. I felt like they provided a good service.

Kathi has done all our past arrangements from the US.

She is the one I would use if travelling from the US.

She has proven to us how valuable she is.

And I think she is the one who will route you through the best airline, rather than what airline pays more commission!

We have used Shawn at Gracey four times and will not look elsewhere. Having their own people on the ground in Johannesburg really saved our bacon on one trip.

Thanks guys! Appreciate all the info...