Help now emergency

Hello carolynhunter

Have you been able to solve your problem? How can we help you?

Regards

Kenjee

i called the airline and your luggage won't arrive today

i am trying to call the hotel with no answer!!

i dont knoiw wh y

everything almost has gone wrong i am so tired and frustrated and you probably are too

i hugely appreciate your hrelp and continue to do so even if you are not sucessful i do appreciate your help yo might give of your time and effort.

my phone is not good and seems its better to go bu e mail...seems better than bad phone reception...did you get my sort of summery?

i am so tired i can not think straight

so sorry,  im using computer at <garzota inn="" where="" i="" have="" to="" stay="" cause="" seems="" there="" are="" no="" vacencies="" at="" nearby="" hotels="" for="" cheaper="" prices...sigh="" />

i did get some  help from the usa em bassy and eduardo said hed check it out

it seems EL AL  may have put  my luggage on another one of their  delta- partnerships flights nwith , and i intend to go on to salinas without them. heres a copy of what i sent barbara who understandably but perhaps wrongly has thought i had inconsistancies

copy

i AM  75 THIS JULY

I HAVE BEEN TELLING THE TRUTH

this is MY TRUE STORY

ON TOP OF THAt I DO HAVE ADRENAL INSUFFICIENCY AND CANCER, AND AM TRYING TO GET A PENSIONERS VISa 9-1 but may have to go for an investors one if i dare to spend my whole amount

I DO THANK YOU FOR THE INFO ON USING ATM MACHINES

IF THEY WILL WORK..... I WILL TRY AND SEE. but wit h my disabilities i have to tak e a cab everywhere and
have trouble ev en  getting in and out.

BUT WHAT DO YOU WEAR  IF YOUR BAGS GET LOST?

tho you say my story is full of inconsistency, there is NOTHING inconsistancy .....except in your mind...altho i do understand  todays cautions...seems you have to  have the  many troubles counpounded that i have had..... you can check with the hotel to see i am telling all t he truth... to understand how it can happen to a person........

but i underst and your caution ............ even then in my case it is not warranted, i will go to salinas today  or tomorrow,without help from the airlines...and  fortunately i did take most of my medicines next to me without checking them,  but carried onboard.....along with my gate checked waklker,.....but will continuing to have to temporarily buy clothes to replace what airline isnt at present.taking care of....... i guess you all are too rich to understand  my situation, but i will continue to try salinas.

I am truly perplexed as to why you chose to move in the first place...

Gets more perplexing all the time Stumpy...

There's really a lot more to this one than meets the eye.

Carolyn,

Really! Can you not understand why many here are so confused and starting to question this whole situation? You can't see the inconsistencies in what you, yourself, have posted?

Just consider the following information that is already out there:

Inconsistency No. 1
You say you're 74, 75 in July and suffer from Adrenal Deficiency and Cancer - yet, why, pray tell would someone who has such serious illnesses even consider moving away from a country where Medicare and Medicaid exist to take care of their healthcare needs, much less consider moving to a developing nation where the healthcare system is in chaos and they'd have no medical coverage unless they purchased a very expensive private healthcare plan? This simply makes no sense whatsoever! And what about family support should your health deteriorate? You'd just chuck all that and trot off to Latin America? Really?

Inconsistency No. 2
You posted that you're a pensioner and have very little money, yet also talk about 30 days in Israel then travel to Columbia and Ecuador. I have very little money, I can't afford bus fare to Rio, let alone airfare, hotels, etc, in order to travel abroad.

Inconsistency No. 3
Your luggage goes missing at the airport, you don't know now if TAME has sent it to some unknown location or if El Al has, regardless of the fact that by law, airlines are required to deliver the lost luggage to you once it is located and regardless of where you may be (and they do this all the time), you choose to stay in an expensive hotel, buying clothing, etc., near the airport rather than carry on to your destination and probably cheaper accommodation, going about your business as usual, waiting for your luggage to catch up to you there. Now doesn't that really make much more sense when you stop to think about it?

Inconsistency No. 4
Members can't seem to contact you by telephone despite numerous attempts. Your phone doesn't work? The same members can't seem to get through to the hotel either, don't you find that strange? As it stands right now, nobody here has ever spoken personally to you or seen you personally and it appears that this isn't about to happen anytime soon either.

Incosistency No. 5
Just looking back through your past postings, there are precious few of them that are not asking for some kind of urgent help or other. Don't you think that this in itself is going to arouse the suspicions of members here? I'm wondering if you can't seem to handle situations on your own like losing luggage, how in the world would you ever handle a serious health situation without major intervention?

Inconsistency No. 6
If you're a US citizen, why then do you not just contact the US Embassy and seek their help? Perhaps there may be some kind of Traveler's Aid located at or near the airport like in other cities, have you sought out any of them?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you aren't exactly what you have stated that you are. What I'm saying is that the information that you've already put forward simply doesn't all make a lot of sense, seem contradictory and makes everyone here doubtful. You must understand that the ANONYMITY that computers offer us, anyone can claim to be anything nowadays and there is very little way to confirm any of what is stated. I think that almost everyone has been taken in once or twice in their lifetimes by being too trusting, so you should understand why people here are starting to have doubts.

Perhaps if there were some logical explanations forthcoming regarding these issues, then maybe people would be a bit more understanding. I'm sorry to have been so frank and straigtforward in what I've said here, but I'm sure it's nothing that isn't already running through the minds of every member who has read this and the other related topic threads.

Well put.

Carolyn,

I do hope you are getting your issues sorted out and I hope you won't be put off by the frank discussions you are receiving in this thread. I hope you will continue to post and keep us updated. It does sound like you were ill prepared for this adventure and it might be helpful to others to learn from your experience. When you get to a place of safety and have time to compose a response it would be nice to hear what factors influenced you to seriously consider Ecuador with your health issues. Were you influenced by people living down in Ecuador trying to sell you services, real estate, visa facilitation, etc. Did they represent the health care system to be adequate to your needs? You may be able to help others in similar circumstances. There are many places in the US more suitable for older people with serious health challenges (Phoenix or Tucson sound better for you and cheaper than Ecuador). Good luck, my thoughts are with you. If everything is as you have posted you must feel alone and scared. 

Jeff

i did talk to her, but she never contacted me before coming and I am very busy with my 2 year old son, plus work, I don't understand her and the hotel she is staying is not even close to being expensive.

I offered my help but what happens is she is not fully aware of the costs of living in Ecuador, it is true that Ecuador is cheaper than other countries but you cannot rent a house filled with luxuries for 120 a month, it is just not true

The Largisimo wrote:

Carolyn,

I do hope you are getting your issues sorted out and I hope you won't be put off by the frank discussions you are receiving in this thread. I hope you will continue to post and keep us updated. It does sound like you were ill prepared for this adventure and it might be helpful to others to learn from your experience. When you get to a place of safety and have time to compose a response it would be nice to hear what factors influenced you to seriously consider Ecuador with your health issues. Were you influenced by people living down in Ecuador trying to sell you services, real estate, visa facilitation, etc. Did they represent the health care system to be adequate to your needs? You may be able to help others in similar circumstances. There are many places in the US more suitable for older people with serious health challenges (Phoenix or Tucson sound better for you and cheaper than Ecuador). Good luck, my thoughts are with you. If everything is as you have posted you must feel alone and scared. 

Jeff

For me her story was believable. It seemed an ill advised decision to go to Ecuador by herself given her stated health issues. She sounds very distraught.

Somehow, according to the timeline established by her posts, she traveled from California to Israel around June 10, returned to the U.S. (JFK) on El Al and somehow found herself in Guayaquil (TAME) on June 19, despite claiming she would be in Israel for 30 days.  I couldn't do that and I suffer from no physical disabilities and have ample cash and credit at my disposal!

Whatever.... does it matter if this is phony? Let's wait to hear back from her. She's not trying to scam anyone for money and there are a lot of others in EC that are.

SawMan wrote:

Somehow, according to the timeline established by her posts, she traveled from California to Israel around June 10, returned to the U.S. (JFK) on El Al and somehow found herself in Guayaquil (TAME) on June 19, despite claiming she would be in Israel for 30 days.  I couldn't do that and I suffer from no physical disabilities and have ample cash and credit at my disposal!

I agree with you completely. I live on a fixed income (pension), have reasonable health apart from a visual handicap and for somebody of my age (65) do ok, but I not only couldn't afford such globetrotting wouldn't have the stamina it takes. One thing that I certainly could do though is to figure out how to deal with the initial problem of lost luggage, because it's not an earthshattering catastrophe. ICAO and IATA regulations obligate all airlines to arrange to deliver lost luggage to their passengers wherever in the world they may be. Failing that they are required to compensate the passenger... so why would it be necessary to do anything other than to inform the airline of the fact the luggage is missing, the address where it can be delivered if found and the value of the contents if it cannot? Then I'd simply continue my trip as planned, rather than wasting my time sitting in a hotel room near the airport waiting to see what will happen, this is not only unnecessary, but wasteful.

Obviously when you travel you'll pay for accommodations and in this lady's case it appears that the accommodations at her ultimate destination were already arranged and less expensive. The luggage is lost or delayed, so she'd need to buy some clothes to tide her over regardless of whether she stuck around the airport or went on to her destination, so that's a non-issue. And what about the accommodations at the destination? Were they pre-paid, is there going to be a cancellation fee or worse still is she going to have to pay the full cost even though she didn't arrive? Not to mention the fact that this whole soap opera has put whatever it was that she had planned on doing at her ultimate destination ON HOLD until she finally gets there, if she even gets there at all now. None of this makes a whole heck of a lot of sense. The whole line of reasoning (if there is one) escapes me completely.

I'm sorry if this sounds cold and unfeeling, but I really question the rationale of leaving the USA in the first place given the health issues that she has stated. Why on earth would anyone with reasonable thinking capacity even consider leaving a country where they have ready access to some of the best medical treatment in the whole world, government medical coverage that will likely pay for all or at least most of the cost of that treatment in order to move to a country where the healthcare system is precarious at best, especially when they would have to pay for second rate care out of their own pocket or pay astronomical private health plan fees? Even if one were able to effectively double or triple their monthly income due to advantageous currency exchange rates and lower cost of living this would surely be gobbled up by healthcare costs, probably leaving one with a net deficit.

Why would someone with an illness as serious as cancer, even if it were in remission, even think of pulling up stakes and jonting off to Latin America, to take up residence thousands of miles from any support circle, family and friends who would be an indispensable source of help at home should their health begin to deteriorate? I'm sorry, but that whole idea sounds so poorly thought out that it's hard to swallow at all. I mean really, if it's a matter of finding a specific climate just how much different can the climate in Ecuador be from where she is living in California? Wouldn't it make much more sense to find a more suitable climate in the USA if this were truly the case?

Then too something that hasn't even been touched on yet is the language issue. Does this lady speak Spanish well enough to get by in day-to-day life situations, or more importantly well enough to be able to communicate with doctors and nurses should she experience sudden health problems? The inability to communicate effectively in such situations could be fatal.

Sue asks, what does it matter if this is phony? Well since she's not asked for any financial help (YET) that doesn't necessarily mean that that won't come somewhere down the road. Especially if she can find someone to be the "guardian angel" it appears she really needs or is looking for. I mean, who could easily say no to some poor old soul in need, if they had established some kind of personal friendship? I know that one's own feeling of guilt would almost preclude the possibility of doing so completely.

I'm also beginning to wonder if this really isn't just a case of someone who thrives on attention, begs for help because any kind of attention, even negative attention, is still attention. They do exist you know! I can tell you all about that from personal experience and being involved in any way with this kind of person can be emotionally draining, it can suck the life out of you.

Carolyn, as brutal as it sounds unless you can take care of the little things in life all by yourself, what makes you think that you could get along in a foreign country at all unless you were able to bring a companion/caregiver with you to take care of you, or at least hire one once you got there? Dreams are great, we all need them, but they've got to be realistic and achievable. Personally I think that your plans have been so poorly thought out that you should either scrap them altogether or rework them from the ground up. Surely you must have family and friends, what the heck do they all think of this plan of yours anyway? (Don't answer, it's just a rhetorical question)

This whole thing is a jigsaw puzzle that's supposed to have 1000 pieces, unfortunately there seem to be so many of those pieces that have been lost somewhere along the way that it's never going to come out right.

You forgot to mention that she went to Tel Aviv and couldn't find any of her relatives.

Who flies half way around the world to visit family members without knowing where they are?

gardener1 wrote:

You forgot to mention that she went to Tel Aviv and couldn't find any of her relatives.

Who flies half way around the world to visit family members without knowing where they are?

Trust me, that`s not the half of it. There is so much more about this that I`m not at liberty to say you wouldn`t believe it. Unfortunately even that doesn`t prove one way or the other what is actually happening here. Let`s just say that the 9th and 16th letter of the alphabet tell it all.

wjwoodward wrote:

SawMan wrote:

Somehow, according to the timeline established by her posts, she traveled from California to Israel around June 10, returned to the U.S. (JFK) on El Al and somehow found herself in Guayaquil (TAME) on June 19, despite claiming she would be in Israel for 30 days.  I couldn't do that and I suffer from no physical disabilities and have ample cash and credit at my disposal!

I agree with you completely. I live on a fixed income (pension), have reasonable health apart from a visual handicap and for somebody of my age (65) do ok, but I not only couldn't afford such globetrotting wouldn't have the stamina it takes. One thing that I certainly could do though is to figure out how to deal with the initial problem of lost luggage, because it's not an earthshattering catastrophe. ICAO and IATA regulations obligate all airlines to arrange to deliver lost luggage to their passengers wherever in the world they may be. Failing that they are required to compensate the passenger... so why would it be necessary to do anything other than to inform the airline of the fact the luggage is missing, the address where it can be delivered if found and the value of the contents if it cannot? Then I'd simply continue my trip as planned, rather than wasting my time sitting in a hotel room near the airport waiting to see what will happen, this is not only unnecessary, but wasteful.

Obviously when you travel you'll pay for accommodations and in this lady's case it appears that the accommodations at her ultimate destination were already arranged and less expensive. The luggage is lost or delayed, so she'd need to buy some clothes to tide her over regardless of whether she stuck around the airport or went on to her destination, so that's a non-issue. And what about the accommodations at the destination? Were they pre-paid, is there going to be a cancellation fee or worse still is she going to have to pay the full cost even though she didn't arrive? Not to mention the fact that this whole soap opera has put whatever it was that she had planned on doing at her ultimate destination ON HOLD until she finally gets there, if she even gets there at all now. None of this makes a whole heck of a lot of sense. The whole line of reasoning (if there is one) escapes me completely.

I'm sorry if this sounds cold and unfeeling, but I really question the rationale of leaving the USA in the first place given the health issues that she has stated. Why on earth would anyone with reasonable thinking capacity even consider leaving a country where they have ready access to some of the best medical treatment in the whole world, government medical coverage that will likely pay for all or at least most of the cost of that treatment in order to move to a country where the healthcare system is precarious at best, especially when they would have to pay for second rate care out of their own pocket or pay astronomical private health plan fees? Even if one were able to effectively double or triple their monthly income due to advantageous currency exchange rates and lower cost of living this would surely be gobbled up by healthcare costs, probably leaving one with a net deficit.

Why would someone with an illness as serious as cancer, even if it were in remission, even think of pulling up stakes and jonting off to Latin America, to take up residence thousands of miles from any support circle, family and friends who would be an indispensable source of help at home should their health begin to deteriorate? I'm sorry, but that whole idea sounds so poorly thought out that it's hard to swallow at all. I mean really, if it's a matter of finding a specific climate just how much different can the climate in Ecuador be from where she is living in California? Wouldn't it make much more sense to find a more suitable climate in the USA if this were truly the case?

Then too something that hasn't even been touched on yet is the language issue. Does this lady speak Spanish well enough to get by in day-to-day life situations, or more importantly well enough to be able to communicate with doctors and nurses should she experience sudden health problems? The inability to communicate effectively in such situations could be fatal.

Sue asks, what does it matter if this is phony? Well since she's not asked for any financial help (YET) that doesn't necessarily mean that that won't come somewhere down the road. Especially if she can find someone to be the "guardian angel" it appears she really needs or is looking for. I mean, who could easily say no to some poor old soul in need, if they had established some kind of personal friendship? I know that one's own feeling of guilt would almost preclude the possibility of doing so completely.

I'm also beginning to wonder if this really isn't just a case of someone who thrives on attention, begs for help because any kind of attention, even negative attention, is still attention. They do exist you know! I can tell you all about that from personal experience and being involved in any way with this kind of person can be emotionally draining, it can suck the life out of you.

Carolyn, as brutal as it sounds unless you can take care of the little things in life all by yourself, what makes you think that you could get along in a foreign country at all unless you were able to bring a companion/caregiver with you to take care of you, or at least hire one once you got there? Dreams are great, we all need them, but they've got to be realistic and achievable. Personally I think that your plans have been so poorly thought out that you should either scrap them altogether or rework them from the ground up. Surely you must have family and friends, what the heck do they all think of this plan of yours anyway? (Don't answer, it's just a rhetorical question)

This whole thing is a jigsaw puzzle that's supposed to have 1000 pieces, unfortunately there seem to be so many of those pieces that have been lost somewhere along the way that it's never going to come out right.

Part of me suspected that this was some kind of ploy and might be a scam to get money. It is quite telling that she has not posted again. I hear you loud and clear about the type of person (if she actually exists)  might be. In the business we call it "needy" or "attention seeking behavior". The more you give into it the worse it gets. If she actually does have relatives I'm sure she has burnt them all out by this time. If true it really is pathetic and I pity the woman and her family.

Well, again there are some things that I'm not at liberty to mention here Sue, but I believe that I know why Carolyn hasn't posted again recently and it has absolutely nothing with the backlash that this is getting.

I think it more of a case of being caught out than anything else. There is also a very good reason that nobody was able to contact her on her cellular phone and that the hotel number didn't seem to work, but I won't go there either.

As I say, the information that I have is not conclusive regarding whether it's a scam or just attention seeking, but one thing that the information does prove it that to quote William Shakespeare, "Something is rotten in the State of Denmark."

I really think if we don't hear back from her within a week the thread should be closed. While it's okay by me for  RJ to vent ( it does happen on these threads) we have spent a lot of time discussing, analyzing how little sense this makes. She was advised early on (another thread) that EC was not a good option for her. If this has any relevance at all on the Ecuador Forum it is a word to the wise and infirmed to be realistic about their health and physical needs and if they can be met in EC.

RJ sounds like you enjoy puzzles and I am puzzled with your alphabet reference. By my count 9th and 16th letters are I and P. What seems to make more sense to me is 9th and 17th I and Q. Am I right????

Or could it be that something is rotten in Nigeria?   

No, it really was IP... think about it for a while.

gardener1 wrote:

Or could it be that something is rotten in Nigeria?   

or fishy in San Francisco?

If it was a scam the idea was to get people to offer money, goods or services, not for her to actually ask for money.

In all my travels luggage has been lost twice, both times a cash advance was given and the luggage sent to my accommodation. The last time the airline even paid for my accommodation as the luggage could not be sent to me in 24 hours in time for my next flight.

wjwoodward wrote:

No, it really was IP... think about it for a while.

Let me guess again. It's not an acronym but something a toddler or someone who belongs in a nursing home might say????

suefrankdahl wrote:

wjwoodward wrote:

No, it really was IP... think about it for a while.

Let me guess again. It's not an acronym but something a toddler or someone who belongs in a nursing home might say????

No Sue, it is a computer term IP Address, that is the identifying number of every computer that has ever been manufactured and it can tell exactly where the messages from that computer originate. Just try changing the password on your FB or google or hotmail e-mail accounts, you'll probably get a message sent to your main e-mail account that was used to set it up telling you that someone has changed your password and if it was you, ignore the message. Well, that message will usually contain the IP Address and the location of the computer used to do it.

So, as I said, there are some things about all this that I'm not at liberty to tell you; but I think you can figure the rest out for yourself.

If one looks at the posting history of member carolynhunter, many of her posts seem to have gone missing. Including the bizarre essay about her trip to Tel Aviv posted last Saturday, June 21. No trace of it. Nor of the later posts reiterating the Saturday post.

It was an interesting mystery. Captain Mustard in the library with the candlestick. I win.

NO I win....My first guess was correct... a computer acronym....as I said i'm just not savvy

Bonne nuit

gardener1 wrote:

Captain Mustard in the library with the candlestick. I win.

Bzzzzzzz!!! Wrong answer - it was Mrs. Peacock, in the Billiards Room, with a lead pipe. Better luck next time!

GAME OVER....LET'S PLAY JEOPARDY....GO AHEAD ALEX GIVE US THE TOPICS

Didn't this turn out to be a huge hoax?

I think so but it was kind of fun at the end

For some reason I got just the original post followed 4 hours later by the thread!  Thought she was starting all over again :-)

I do hope this was a hoax. It was very compelling to read in real time and I felt awful for this poor, old, ill-prepared woman. We have had one person hint at hidden info related to ip addresses but also another long time poster who claimed to talk with her live. I certainly understand why she would be reluctant to post again. If all was as she posted (and I believed it as it was being written and have no reason to doubt it now) I hope she is somewhere safe and contemplating more realistic options for her future. If it was all a fake, congratulations it was very compelling.

Everyone should get the benefit of the doubt and whatever truth there was to her story, like yourself I wish her the best.

No Sue, it is a computer term IP Address, that is the identifying number of every computer that has ever been manufactured and it can tell exactly where the messages from that computer originate.

I think what you might be thinking about is a MAC address. MAC address' are unique to each computer in the world. IP addresses are NOT unique to every computer in the world.

My laptop can be granted an IP address in an Internet coffee shop someplace in the world. And then a few hours later (or even sooner) someone else's computer could be granted that same IP address.

There is no way to track an IP address to an individual computer unless that computer maintains that same IP address for a long enough period of time. In some cases this does happen, but it certainly does not have to happen.

In the case of the MAC address, it is only observable on the local area network. It is not transmitted from one computer to another over the Internet unless the IP traffic uses IPv6 addressing. In that case, the MAC address is part of the IP address. However, IPv6 is not typically used throughout the Internet (at least not yet).

Never fall for this kind of stuff PLEASE!!!  It will lead to you being bilked out of $$$