My friend Ali got a Fulbright scholarship to study some medieval converted bell lamps in Fez, Morocco. There's an article about him in today's paper:
http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2008/jul/23/smu-masters-student-receives-fulbright-scholarship/
Anyway, there's a possibility that we might be able to go visit him next year while he's there, and that would be AWESOME!! Not only because we would get to see Ali again since he's moving to Boston tomorrow, but I'd get to see his lamps in person (I edited his thesis, so I know all about them, and they're really cool!), and - total bonus - both Ali and his wife speak fluent Arabic, so we'd totally have people who could take us around and communicate. Plus, it's a chance to practice the Arabic I learned two years ago. And, it's a free place to stay in Morocco. How can I turn it down?
So, I just wanted to know how much it would cost to fly there. I got on the internet and I cannot find a single flight from Dallas to any city in Morocco. Crazy, right? So, finally, I just called American Airlines to see if they could give me a ballpark figure. I spoke with Jim who works in the "Fares" department. Here's a small sample of our conversation - I'll let you judge for yourself how it turned out:
Me: "Hi, Jim, I'm looking to fly from Dallas to Morocco next year. I don't have any specific dates in mind - just sometime next summer - and I just wanted to have a general price range for a round-trip ticket."
Jim: "Where's Morocco?"
Me: "It's in North Africa."
Jim: "I don't know where we fly in Africa."
Me: "Well, I just looked on your website, and it says that you fly to Casablanca. How much does that cost from Dallas?"
Jim: "What country are you flying to?"
Me: "Morocco."
Jim: "Is that the city?"
Me: "No, Casablanca is the city. Morocco is the country."
Jim: "OK, so Dallas to Castablanca."
Me: "No, it's CASablanca - there's no T. Like the movie."
Jim: "Oh, OK. I never saw that."
