Man who doesn't understand geography cancels $80K safari honeymoon, sues travel agent
It's never polite to make assumptions about people you don't know, but we're gonna guess that Matthew Goldstein didn't win his high school's geography bee. The New York man canceled his $80,000 African safari honeymoon because he was terrified that he and his new bride would contract Ebola, even though their destination was thousands of miles from the affected countries.
Matthew Goldstein had planned to visit Mozambique and South Africa last summer, but after reading those seemingly endless ALL-CAPS headlines about Ebola in Western Africa, he cancelled the trip. Yes, he and the newly appointed Mrs. Goldstein were going to be more than 3,000 miles from the affected countries, but he seemed to think, "why take that chance?" Goldstein didn't take out travel insurance so now he's suing the travel agent, Manhattan's Bond Street Travel, Inc. for not reminding him that he should've (we assume he'll be using that money to go to that zoo hotel in Australia, is which an ocean away from Ebola).
Can we take a minute to just talk for a sec about what's included in an $80,000 safari? For that much money, we fully expect every animal on the savannah to expertly recreate the opening scene from The Lion King. And you better nail that choreography, zebras.
According to Goldstein's lawsuit, Bond Street Travel CEO Richard Nigosian
knowingly and intentionally chose not to inform [Goldstein] of the availability of such insurance at a time when it would have been possible for [Goldstein] to purchase it.
Goldstein booked the trip in March of last year but didn't ask Nigosian about buying travel insurance until July; he alleges that Nigosian told him that it was too late to take out the $4,000 policy. Goldstein says that he asked Nigosian why he hadn't suggested insurance at the time, but the agent quipped that it would've been "bad karma" to offer it to a honeymooning couple — which, to be fair, is almost as ridiculous as this lawsuit itself.
Goldstein, somewhat shockingly, managed to get a refund from British Airways but is still seeking $30,000 from the travel agent and an additional $50,000 in punitive damages. Great, that'll give him enough cash to buy a couple of maps.