What a trip! "VAT A TRIP"

Friends, who live in Switzerland, treated themselves to tickets FOR THE WEEKEND to the Sacred Musical Festival in Morocco.

The trouble was there was no direct flight to Morocco from Zurich that was reasonably priced. They found a flight from Basil, Sw. to London with one trick; they had to get up at 4:00 a. m. and drive an hour plus to catch it. Not so bad.

So off they went driving through the dawn and arrived within plenty of time to catch their 7:00 a. m. flight! They parked the car, dragged their bags to check in and there it was on the screen. Flight delayed until 11:20 a. m. What chance would they have of meeting the flight in London to connect to Morocco? Almost impossible!

Well of course they wanted to scotch the trip and go home except for one thing! Everything was pre paid. So they proceeded in the 4 hour waiting time to make endless calls to get their pre-paid money back. The airline said, "not me, it is the other air line that was late," the hotel in Morocco said "sorry" and of course we know ticket master would not even think of crediting monies, oh not them! There was no chance what so ever of getting their money back. So they decided that they might as well go! Maybe they would actually make the flight, take a chance they said, why go home defeated? So they did!

Yup they missed the flight !

So..there they were in London. It would now cost them an additional $900.00 to continue on. So do you completely loose the $2000.00 already invested or do you spend another $900.00 and fulfill the Sacred Music Festival Concert dream? They could not even use the return portion of the ticket because the airline immediately bounces you if you missed the front portion . A whole new ticket from London had to be bought. "Take the money, they screamed, just take it and get me to Morocco."
Finally, they were on their way arriving at 1:00 A. M. (almost now 22 hours) for what could have been a 21/2 hr. flight from Zurich if they did not try to save money flying from Basil.

They had booked a superb room, but because of late arrival they gave away their $200.00 pre booked room. They were put in a room without any windows or air looking over a courtyard of an enclosed restaurant. They could not breathe or sleep and woke up exhausted. So a fight was in store with the management the next morning until they won their room back and yes, it was a good one. Alah!

The concert was great, but between you and I, they might have slept through it. .
The weekend past, they enjoyed the winding streets of Fez with all of the goodies, and became mesmerized with the carpets of Morocco, and ended up buying one worth thousands, but here in Morocco it only cost $350.00... You guessed it! it simply does not look the way they had imagined in their apartment. In fact it looks terrible!

The day came to go back to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Suddenly someone asked them "What time is it?" When they told them the time, the passerby said, "that is funny someone told me it was an hour later."

Yup. They forgot to go on Morocco time and the flight would be leaving and they would miss it again. They grabbed a cab and went through endless amounts of traffic and chaos, literally running through the airport and with the gate closing they.... MADE IT.
They would have a 6 hour delay in London waiting for their connection so they rented one of the Japanese little sleep a thons where one could rest between flights, good idea except they were closed into a closet the size of a bathroom with once again no windows or air.

Funny enough, anytime I rent a room, one of my questions is,"Does it have a window THAT OPENS" Sometimes I get laughed at but who cares. You would be surprised at how many rooms do not have windows or seal their windows. Me, I need air.

$3.500.00 later, Switzerland never looked so good!

The irony is that there is no help out there. Oh yes, wait till you hear this one. They had flight insurance but they would not pay because it was a weather related delay... Is this all too much?

Looks like Uncle Sam will foot the bill next IRS day. Only in America, Only in America!
Carol Sue Gershman