Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Gracy, Travel With Guns

A week ago, because of an upcoming trip to AFRICA for a friend and me, I wrote to Gracy Travel about their services. Up until then, I had heard nothing but good about their services. Now, a week after contacting two different members on their staff contact list, I still have not heard SHXXT from them. This really pisses me off. If they are too busy, tell me when they will reply, if they don't want my business, tell me. I'll go somewhere else. Being ignored really irks me. Can you tell? I mean, this is AFRICA ! This isn't flying to Texas or somewhere else in the 50 states. Come on Gracy. Get with it and either live up to your name or get out of the business.
Whew, that rant makes me feel a whole lot better. Can anybody get Gracy on the stick?

I think the problem is you wrote to them.

This is the 21st century. Most such communications are done via calling them on the phone. That way you can interact with them and get the best discussion going.

Also, that ensures the person you "wrote" to is still there, or that another handles your request.

Telephone or email...otherwise book passage on an ocean liner.

Gracy or Travel with Guns? Two different companies.

Steve Turner was my Go-To guy at Gracy. He left and spun off Travel With Guns as a division of Total Travel.

Have you contacted him yet?

http://www.travelwithguns.com/about-us.html

Rolly

Call Gracy travel and ask to speak to Christy, she is there firearms specialist.

I had the same problem. I emailed them quite some time back. Never heard from them. Now I am wheels up July 19th and not sure how it's going to go.

I used Steve at Travel with Guns for my upcoming trip. Everything went well, hopefully the actual travel will be the same.

Call on phone with specifics. Writing is like tire kicking.

Agreed on the writing, yet he should still have some kind of response. If the OP is P.O.ed at Gracy, theres lots of other good ones out there�


( Though Ive always used Gracy and am a loyal fan)

I am a novice traveler and Steve Turner TWG makes things easy. Always returns calls and email. The travel packet he sends gives step by step instructions from your front door and back again. Gun permits layovers what ever is planned out to the second. It has always seemed his services are a bargain.

Rolly

I am not sure about your issues that you are having with Gracy travel. Your posting leaves many important information out in trying to assist you.

Who did you book your airline ticket through, or did you book your self or use another travel company? How will you be letting the airlines know you will be traveling with gun's? That is one reason you book your airline travel with a pro gun travel agency. They do both airline booking and gun permits if they are able to.

Zimbabwe - Tanzania - Mozambique - Zambia - Namibia all require different gun permits. Plus if you stay in one country and then fly the next day to another country you will need multiple country gun permits.

Gracy will need some information from you. The best way to work with them is a phone call and then follow up by e mail.

They would need from you notarized copy's' of your 4457 and your passport information pages. At the very minimum to begin the permit process. They also will need your letter of invite and airline flight information. To see what countries you will need gun permits for.

Your posting does not indicate the route you are taking to Africa or the country you will be going through or to. Will you be flying through any European countries as you will need gun permits for those countries also.

All gun permit takes time to process early, however for some countries you have do the paper work yourself at customs your self. I always go with a filled out firearms copy for the countries that i will be traveling through, located in my carry on, just in case of airline issues or flight delays. Having gun permits pre filled out in triplicate, has made my gun permitting flow easy. Other countries require copies of your passport photo for your gun permit, again i carry about 6 copies along with me at all times.

I have used Gracy 3 times and they have been exceptional in handling airline reservations, gun permits, motel reservations and meet and greet. The only thing i had to do was provide my information in a set period of time. If issues came up They called me or e-mailed me and any issues were taken care of at that time.

However using Gracy travel in South Africa will not help you in Zimbabwe as you will need to do you gun permit in person.

Debbie's e mail is debbiegracytravel.com and her Phone number is 800-299-8558 or 210-698-2611

If Debbie is not in ask to speak to Shawn Kennedy or Christy.

Seems like all travel agencies are hit or miss. Gracey set up my first safari and they were great. Emailed them (multiple times) for my next 2 safaris and never heard back from them. I don't bother with them anymore.

Steve Turner has done great work for us. One trip he helped us plan was a fairly complex family (five of us) trip to Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. We started the detailed discussions over lunch together, he, my wife and I, FTF in Leon Springs. All went exceedingly well. Call him and have a great trip.

I contacted Gracy via their web page contact list using the e-mail, not snail mail. I am going to SA but do not have specific dates yet. I was planing on using Gracy for the travel direct to SA from the USA but was waiting to hear from them about advice. But......since I haven't heard from either of the two I wrote to ( one had a last name of Gracy, by the way). I am going to go another route.

Ive tried to patronize Gracy twice, but just couldn't get the accommodation that i wanted. I did all the arrangements myself and saved big bucks and got the schedule that i wanted. Many have had great service with Gracy, but I didn't. It is possible to DIY and get great schedules and accommodations.

358winner,

This is slightly off-topic. While it is possible to do the arrangements yourself and have fine trip, the greatest value of a travel agent is when something goes wrong, such as a delayed flight.

Have seen that more than once, and when you're in a foreign country trying to rearrange airline schedules or even just get through gun registration. Some trips go as planned, but when something goes wrong a good travel agent can fix stuff, even in another country.

Yep. Steve at Gracy fixed stuff for us�repeatedly�.

You are totally right. That's why I have friends at Air 2000.

Have also seen and heard of Gracy solve other problems more serious than ours.

A few years ago some friends were hunting in Tanzania, and upon landing in Arusha were watching the baggage carts heading for the terminal while waiting to get off their 747. They didn't see their gun cases on the cart, and the plane was scheduled to head onward to Dar Es Salaam, which would screw up their safari. They'd paid for international service on their cell phones, so called Gracy. The local Gracy rep was in the airport, ready to greet them, and greased everything, delaying the plane until their gun cases were unloaded. That's not supposed to be possible, but it happened, and they are firm believers.