Jim and Jodi Spaeth
FARGO (KFGO) – What was a bucket list trip and a dream vacation for a Fargo couple did not go as planned.
Jim and Jodi Spaeth traveled to Maldives, a series of small islands in Southeast Asia and spent time at a resort, leaving Fargo on February 19. It took two days and 36 hours to get there.
Then, the war with Iran started and they were stranded. They finally got home last week.
Jodi Spaeth says the couple received some help from travel agents who they had worked with in the past, but there was little they could do. She says despite hopes that they may be able to get on a U.S. State Department charter or a military flight back to the states, they received no government assistance.
“No, this was totally on our own and right now we are around $12,000 out of pocket for the extra nights we had to stay at the resort, just all the extras, so the airlines and the change fees that they had, they were gouging everybody, it was really said,” Jodi Spaeth said.
Travel insurance taken out prior to the the trip will not cover their additional costs.
Spaeth says people from other countries who were guests at the same resort were evacuated, some with help from their governments. She say during the total trip she and her husband crossed all 24 times zones on 12 flights, first landing in San Francisco before finally making it back to Fargo.
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