Quotes & Comments

You can still reserve rooms on the moon through Hotels.com or book flights to Mars through Expedia.com for $99. But hurry. The offers end Wednesday.
—Saeed Ahmed, CNN

I was actually pretty psyched; I mean, I know I’m probably not the first Western Michigan University student to take a trip to outer space (either real or, uh, imagined), but I’ve never been to Mars or the moon.
As far as I can remember, I know my mom took me somewhere when I was little.

So I went to Expedia.com, and I clicked on the $99 round trip to mars.  It would have been so cool! I was going to call my mom and have her watch for my rocket to take off, but the page didn’t work right, somehow they couldn’t find the flight!

I was disappointed, but undeterred; I’d seen a phone number on the site you could call and talk to a travel agent who would assist you.  There was probably just a mistake with the Web page, I’m certainly no stranger to that phenomenon!

I called the toll free number online, and I made sure to have my credit card ready; I figured the line would be loaded with people trying to book a chance, so I didn’t want to waste any time.  I actually got right through, which was amazing to me; it took me half a dozen calls to vote for Matt Giraurd last night, but Expedia must have better phone systems than American Idol.

I’m sure you can guess what happened next; I ended up getting a recorded voice explaining that the trip to Mars was not, after all, going to happen. Or the trip to the moon.  In fact, Expedia wasn’t doing any space flights in the near future, but I could still book a regular Earth bound flight by calling a different number.

April fools? I feel cheated. I really wanted to visit the red planet! Maybe next year; But I gotta run, there’s some ocean front property in Arizona that I really want to bid on before the end of the day!

—Kris Hitchcock
Web Manager

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=5353

Posted by HeraldAdmin on Apr 1 2009. Filed under Opinion, Quotes & Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
Web Manager: I'm a Communication Student at WMU, a SCUBA Diver, Boater, Ordained Minister, Notary Public, Web Designer, Film Maker, DJ, and of course a Journalist. Born and raised in Port Huron, MI and a graduate of SC4. http://www.codykimball.com