Who hasn’t dreamt of one day going to the Grand Canyon? Thanks to the “Travel Agent from Hell” this was one of the worst trips of my life, especially at the start, and extended into the next two years!
The start of this trip was one bit of bad news after another. Two friends from A Coruña, Spain, were to join me in New York City, where I lived, and then fly to Colorado to start a National Parks Tour in the southwest United States. Unfortunately, my friends’ plane was delayed, meaning we would miss our flight to Colorado and the first day of our tour.
So I called the travel agent, who had arranged the whole trip, to see if we could meet the tour group on the second day of the tour. The travel agent said unequivocally that this was not possible because, given we hadn’t shown up on the first day, our reservations for the tour and hotels were all canceled!!! WHAT?!
We were in shock. My two jet-lagged friends and I were in my small Manhattan apartment, with no AC, limited accommodations, no vacation, and a lot less money in our bank accounts. A trip we were so looking forward to had just vanished.
A trip we were so looking forward to had just vanished.
I had to do something, looking frantically through the New York Times Travel Section to get ideas. We had just lost a lot of money so our only option was to do something economic. I decided to organize a similar trip on our own and a couple of days later we were off to the start of quite an adventure!
Our off-the-cuff trip started and ended in Las Vegas, Nevada, the place furthest from the image of what you’d call a natural park. But I had found a great deal that included round-trip airfare from New York to Las Vegas, a few nights’ stay in a hotel in Las Vegas, and a car rental for a week, all for a little over $400! What a deal!! Maybe the fact that it was July had something to do with it?
Because I had extensively studied the areas and parks included in the itinerary of our paid tour, I planned a possible route as many places on the map sounded familiar. We had no hotel reservations but I figured we’d find something, if not we’d sleep in the car! Remember there was no Internet or GPS in those days.
One of my friends was the only driver, so she took the driver’s seat. I was the designated copilot, with the paper maps on my lap, telling the driver where to go next. I had a vague idea of where we could go but much of the trip was improvised. It was tense for me and felt a certain responsibility. My other friend, who was quite funny, sat in the back seat and joked throughout the entire adventure. We laughed so hard at the craziness we were doing but we were super happy about what we were living. We felt like Thelma and Louise Plus One!
We drove along the Grand Circle, through several National Parks like Zion, Bryce, and Natural Bridges, hopped on a ferry in Lake Powell, crossed the Hoover Dam, and drove around a reservation or two. We didn’t know we couldn’t drive through the reservations, so we had to go around them. We ended up doing many more miles than expected. The driver was quite a trooper!! Fabulosa!!
The Grand Canyon was one of these dream stops on our route. But it was quite a challenge to find a hotel in the area. We drove for miles and miles and no vacancies to be found. We ended up at an odd place, with a little booth for the Reception Desk. The room smelled like food and was equipped with 2 double beds with stained sheets. We were so happy to find a hotel we didn’t even care but surely laughed about the ordeal once in bed and resting. It was one of the last stops before driving back to Las Vegas. WOW!!! Amazing places! Amazing colors! I never thought rocks could be so beautiful. It was a memorable trip!
Once back home, I was curious about my Travel Agent from Hell. I saw she had cashed my check, so she kept our money!! I then made a few phone calls and discovered that the whole story she had told us about the cancellations in Colorado was a lie!! I also found she had used this same Modus Operandi on several other people. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only victims.
I finally ended up suing her and two years later I recovered all our money, the tour bookings for the 3 of us.
Although the start was awful, the three of us agree that this was one of our all-time favorite trips. We loved it! There were plenty of obstacles but we still truly enjoyed the trip! I HIGHLY recommend visiting this region! Go for it!!!