French Tourist Stranded in Morocco for 52 Days Due to COVID-19 Lockdown

"A friend and I arrived on Monday, March 9, at the Argana Hotel in Agadir, for a one-week stay on half board. The Transavia company, where we booked the plane tickets, announced to us on March 14 that the return flight was canceled, causing panic among the many affected customers. As the only return tickets we were offered exceeded 1,000 €, many of us decided to stay and enjoy a few more days of vacation, despite the lockdown in Morocco, starting March 20, depriving us of swimming and beaches," recounts Patricia Aubinais to Actu.fr.

She confides that they had contacted the French consulate in Agadir and had been placed on a waiting list for a return to France. However, "they were obviously overwhelmed," she adds. "After eight days, the Argana hotel closed and we found ourselves at the Adrar hotel, the only hotel still open and providing minimum service. We did our shopping in a supermarket located outside and all meals took place outside, the hotel restaurant being closed. It was rather cold in the evening," she relates.

"Fortunately, the ties between the various European clients stranded in this hotel were very good and this allowed us to live through good times, making up for the moments of hardship related to the health context," rejoices the vacationer.

"Transavia was offering us a return flight for May 18, but I managed to find a health repatriation flight operated by Air France for April 28 from Marrakech, at a cost of 350 €. [...] The return to Nantes was not easy either... We had to find a taxi car in Roissy, find a hotel for one night in Montparnasse and take a TGV to Nantes, the one at 1 p.m. on April 29 last. It will remain a very good memory of Morocco, in the time of confinement!", she concludes.