ADVENTU

An action trip may be in vogue, but for the
unprepared traveler, it's a
trip to forget.

ALYSSA GABBAY

or Jessica P., it sounded like the trip

of a lifetime. The New York City administrative assistant signed up for

a 19-day tour in Morocco last May, a trip that included trekking in the

Atlas Mountains and visiting cities and tiny villages. What, she thought,

could be more fulfilling? But the tour turned out to be less — and more

= — than she'd expected.

The brochure's "moderate' level of hiking proved to be walking up

steeply graded slopes. There were times Jessica's heart pounded so hard

that she thought it would explode. She was terrified she would sprain

her ankle on the rocky terrain. When the temperature dropped at night

on the mountain, the clothes she'd brought, based on the trip literature,

F6 weren't warm enough.

continues on next page

f

