Get a Map!

Once again we are in the process of making plane reservations with our booking agent. I can not bring myself to refer to him as a travel agent anymore. The ridiculous things that this guy does makes me want to find his office and slap him a few times with a wet rotten fish. If it were not for Mr. Man I would have stopped using his booking (in)abilities long ago.

You would think after 8 years and hundreds of bookings by Mr. Man and his office he would have the ability to keep the proper spelling of our names. He just types in whatever he is capable of, which isn't much I've seen his other spelling errors (I should be a professional writer compared to his dribble) but our names should be on a database with proper spellings. Considering during our last trip I let him book and confirm all of our tickets and than pointed out the spelling errors. Oh he was livid but after 8 years I could give a hoot man, some lessons are learned the hard way. He called Mr. Man and complained about me and not telling him about the spelling before he issued the tickets but he didn't get any compassion for this is the same man he left stranded in Morocco with no confirmed flights when he was a business trip with clients.

But no I looked at his last emails and he hasn't learned. My name he includes with no last name at all, yea good luck with me getting into the US with no last name. Jihad is Jehad, Hannah is Hana, Leyna is Lina, Umar is Omar and Mariam is the only one he got right. He had my father's name so messed up when we had him book his flights it wasn't even close.

Another annoying thing is anytime he sends out an email about deals, the last one was cheap flights (under 1000 USD to St. Louis) it never is what he claims. When you book flights suddenly your working on double the cost and you ask "What about the deal" he than says "ohh yea about that". Suddenly it is a certain day, in a certain class, in a certain isle, with certain connections and blah blah blah. And his target client list includes a long list of Westerners. He should include a note "Never as advertised I just send these emails so I can get you all set up for a trip you'll never book with me".

Now Mr. Man is taking full control because not only am I sick of dealing with him (the emails I send to him are always an enjoyment for Mr. Man to read) but he was going to be totally confused from the start. Since we are driving to St. Louis and not flying from our visit in New Jersey we have to leave from a different point where we landed. And that is too much for him to understand with me. So Mr. Man says "Don't worry I'll take care of it." And I'm watching the emails go back and forth.

First email he had us flying into Detroit and than back tracking to Philly with a 2 hour stop in Amsterdam. 2 hours isn't long enough for me to gather up my five kids and get off the plane and out of the nearest bathroom in one piece. But the worst of it would been the 1 1/2 hour stop in Detroit before I moved on to Philly. Oh I can just see that now considering I have to go through customs, get my bags, than recheck them!! And that was at a price of nearly 7000 SR for an adult ticket and 5800 SR for a child.

Next up a flight to London with a 5 1/2 hour stop and than straight on into Philly. With a whopping ticket of 8950 SR for an adult and 1290 SR per child. {{{cough}}} Not to mention a nice 1 hour 20 minute stop on the way back through London which would include me leaving something of importance on the plane as I make a mad dash trying to get back to Bahrain. My luck it would be a kid I left behind. And I've already found out security isn't friendly when you leave something behind in their airport. My goodness I had an interrogation over a toy car Jihad left at a security check imagined if I left a kid!


3rd try is a charm right? Dude has us flying into Orlando and than into Philly with an hour stop in London on the return flight. So I have to totally fly out of my way to Orlando with a close to 3 hour wait to fly back to Philly. Again I have to go through customs, get my luggage and than recheck them. Make sense when I'm alone with five kids?? Someone buy this guy a flippen MAP! Hello, hasn't he heard of Google maps? Maybe I should send him a link

Philly up here
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Orlando down here


My sanity level? HA long depleted people I would be a walking mush brain and at customs when they ask "Whats your name" I wouldn't be able to utter one syllable.

But one thing I'll mention for the 3rd try is that the price is now down to 5943 SR per adult and 4839 SR per child. But I'd pay the highest price not to make two stops and retain some sense of mental capacity where I'm able to function enough to a. not forget a child on board b. not forget a child in the bathroom (or my passports) c. speak in a sentence and appear coherent.

Now do you see why I want to slap him with a wet rotten fish?