Gaza bound
Posted in Posts on 07/16/2010 09:31 am by Laila El-HaddadWell, by now I should have been writing this message from Gaza-or at the very least from Egypt. However not surprisingly my plans have been postponed yet again, this time due to an “IT malfunction” in the computer system of the British Consulate in NY, who require I go through a ridiculously cumbersome procedure to obtain a transit visa so I can fly through Heathrow Airport. Don’t ask.
That said, my passport was set to arrive one day later than my flight, and we were faced with the prospect of canceling our entire trip. Instead, we decided to send our kids along with their grandparents to wait for me in Egypt (they are now in Arish by the border) as the airlines suggested it would be easier to find a single seat than 3 seats when re-booking.
And off they went. I spent an ulcer-inducing day of uncertainty-being told I couldn’t get my ticket refunded, re-booked, or even rerouted and that there were simply no seats on the Cairo flights from Heathrow on BA. Good ‘ol BA, gotta love ‘em (incidentally, since my post several years ago “I complain, therefore I am” they have now added “Palestinian Occupied Territory” to their drop-down menu of “countries”).
Finally, through some small miracle and lots of du’a, the travel agent was able to convince a woman at the airlines to refund my ticket and rebook me at the earliest for Sunday evening while charging me a nominal fee (ok…more like $500…but I’ll try to forget that part).
More updates as I travel, inshallah. There is yet the obstacle of getting past Cairo Airport, though I am armed with a multiple exit re-entry visa this time, one can never be certain.