So it has been an eventful travel day…pretty much 24 hours total from departure at LAX to arrival at Agadir. My pre-travel was really great, all packed, a few hours at CHOC, no traffic to LAX, checked my bag…they even took it at 53 pounds & met Gayle my friend at the international terminal. Our LAX to Paris flight was delayed 2 ½ hours but we had almost a 4 hour layover in Paris so we still anticipated making our next flight to Casablanca….UNTIL about two hours into our flight they overhead requested a physician to the back of the plane. Gayle was in the window seat so I got up to let her go, along with a few others & I went with. An older gentleman seemed to be having a stroke – I have no skill set for adults & there were several competent healthcare providers so I went back to my seat . He seemed to improve as if it was a TIA which he has had before but then a few hours later they came on saying the airline on ground physician did not recommend this passenger travel across the ocean to Europe (which does make sense)so we ended up stopping at what I think is the easternmost part of Canada in Newfoundland. It was about a 2 hour process….he actually walked off the plane, but then we refueled, had to get clearance to take off…. I actually anticipated that we would miss our connection so I contacted the travel agent while we were on the ground in Newfoundland. It was of course the middle of the night & he “on call agent” said she moved us to a later flight with a “held seat” but not a reservation. Long story short we arrived in Paris at 1:07 pm & our flight to Casablanca had departed at noon.
Several passengers were in the same situation with missed connections, so we got in line to get our new flights which was a bit of an ordeal as they needed actual ticket #’s not just airline confirmation numbers. I again made some calls to the after hours travel agency and it took about 90 minutes to get our flights organized. We received reservations but not boarding passes & had to take the train to a different terminal & work with Air Maroc to get boarding passes. It was not for the faint of heart. They also had us go to “baggage retrieval” but since our bags were checked all the way to Agadir they said to confirm at our gate they were “redirected”. We got to our Paris to Casablanca gate & the gate attendant told us they would get our bags….CLEARLY that did not happen as when we arrived at MN in Agadir my bag & Gayles 2 bags were no where to be found…
They tracked Gayles bags to Paris
but couldn’t track mine which is a bit concerning. They also said the bags
would have to take the same itinerary we took tonight so we would not get them
until midnight tomorrow???? Which makes no sense since they are tagged for a
noon flight today – why don’t they at least send them at noon tomorrow???
Bottom line I have no luggage, no clothes, no toiletries but I do have all of
my electronics that I had to carry on.
The hotel is actually near the
ocean which is good & bad… from the lobby you can see the ocean but from
our room you just see dirt & there is no AC. The only wifi is in the main
lobby so I guess to blog I will write in my room & upload in the lobby.
Reminds me of my earlier missions when I spent time in lobby’s in order to “be
connected to home”
Ambra is the Program Coordinator & she is
wonderful - we were WhatsApp messaging all thr he travel chaos. & she will help
us sort out the lost luggage tomorrow. Normally I feel like I would have been
really stressed, frustrated & perhaps even mad at all of the unfortunate travel
events but I really felt calm thru is all….until the lost luggage then I go a
little stressed with all the “what ifs”. What if my luggage doesn’t ever come,
I have no scrubs, no clothes nothing aside from the sweats I wore on the plan.
But I cant do anything about it & I just need to have FAITH that they will
locate my luggage & it will get to me soon. So since it’s 1:20 am I am
going to bed. Please send prayers & positive thoughts that I get my luggage
tomorrow! Good Night from Agadir XOXO Nancy
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