Itinerary disappeared, so refund was a no-show

For a chance to experience the mystery of the medieval church through statues, glass and relics, France’s Chartres Cathedral, just an hour from Paris by train, is ideal. The towering Gothic cathedral, marking the center of the town of Chartres, somehow captures the spirit of the 13th century — the so-called Age of Faith — in the 21st century.

In 876, the church, officially called Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, honoring “our lady of Chartres,” acquired the torn veil believed to have been worn by Mary when she gave birth to Jesus. The popularity of the Virgin Mary was huge back then, and Chartres, a small town of 10,000 with such a prized relic, found itself in the big-time on the pilgrim circuit.

Then, in 1194, a fire destroyed the old church. The treasured veil was feared lost. But, lo and behold, several days later townspeople found the veil miraculously unharmed. Church officials and the townsfolk interpreted this as a sign that Mary wanted a new church. The people of Chartres worked like mad to erect this grand cathedral, gift-bearing pilgrims came as never before, and the church we see today was completed in 70 years. That’s astonishing, considering that other Gothic cathedrals (such as Paris’ Notre-Dame) took centuries to build.

Chartres Cathedral was

A. It would be a toss-up between Morocco and Italy. Morocco was easily one of the most amazing and inspiring places I have ever been to. The food and people were great, and the design and architecture are unreal. I did so much shopping for my home there. Go to the Medina. The souks there sell incredible homemade things, and the atmosphere there is great. And Italy is somewhere that I have always loved and dreamed of living eventually. The people and the food in Italy are unlike any place I’ve ever been. Capri and Positano are two places you can’t miss in Italy. rebuilt so quickly and lavishly that it gained a muchappreciated unity of architecture, statuary and stained glass, preserving a relative snapshot of the time.

A fragment of Mary’s venerated veil is still on display in the cathedral, kept in a gold frame away from light and behind bulletproof glass. But tthe cathedral is most famous today for its stained glass and statues. Together, the glass and statues, created to inspire the illiterate medieval masses, tell the entire Christian story. In the “book of Chartres,” as some nickname the church, the text is the sculpture and windows, and its binding is the architecture.

A. When I travel, I try to make a point of taking local back roads and not necessarily following a plan. It may very well be the road less traveled, but each place I have been to, I have done this, and it has never disappointed me. I always find a sweet face of a young child or an older woman with an expressive smile, and those are the things I remember most about a trip.

A. I traveled to Cambodia and was connected with an organization that’s sole mission is to end slavery and sex trafficking. That trip changed my soul and shaped who I am today. Gothic architects learned to create a skeleton of support with columns, pointed arches and buttresses, so that the walls no longer needed to support the heavy stone ceiling but were free to hold windows. And with its vast nave — more than 400 feet long and the widest in France — Chartres has plenty of room for windows. The cathedral contains the world’s largest surviving collection of medieval stained glass, with over 150 13th-century windows. The mystical light pouring through these windows encouraged meditation and prayer. While churchgoers in medieval

A. Hong Kong sort of reminds me of Vancouver, where I grew up. There are a lot of Canadian transplants in Hong Kong, and I always run into someone I know over there. A. Greece. Trying to make it happen this year.

A. Best vacation memory would be hot air ballooning in Morocco at 5 a.m. The sights were unreal. Worst vacation memory would have to be seeing all of the young kids and their siblings selling things on the road in Thailand as cars sped past them. It was an image I will never be able to get out of my head. times may have been illiterate, they were fluent in understanding the rich symbolism in the windows, and that filled their lives with hope.

Medieval symbolism is more oblique to modern visitors, though, so I recommend the help of a good local guide to illuminate your visit. Historian Malcolm Miller has dedicated his life to studying the cathedral and teaching visitors its wonders. (Miller and his understudy, AnneMarie Woods, give excellent cathedral tours for a small price daily in high season; As Miller explains, the

A: It’s not a lost cause; far from it. Hotels.com has your money, and you should get it back now.

Why has the company held on to $1,400 of your hard-earned dollars? It looks like a computer glitch of some kind, where your reservation simply disappeared, along with your money.

That’s no excuse, of course. But it’s the best explanation I can think of.

A company like Hotels.com should have made your problem its own problem. That’s what travel agents do for their clients.

When you’re dealing with millions of bookings, it’s kind of hard to add a personal touch or to impose any kind of institutional windows on the cathedral’s darker north side feature Old Testament themes about awaiting the light of Christ’s arrival. And the windows on the brighter south side illustrate the good news of the New Testament. Read Chartres’ windows in the medieval style: from bottom to top. A window near the entrance to the tower tells the story of Noah and the flood. In the bottom diamond, God tells Noah he’ll destroy the earth. Subsequent panes show Noah building the ark, loading animals, waves covering the earth and drowning the wicked, and Noah releasing a dove. Near the top is a rainbow, symbolizing God’s promise never to bring another flood.

Outside, statues on the south porch show Christianity’s triumphs over persecution. On the center door, Jesus raises his arm in blessing, while trampling a dragon and lion, symbols of evil, underfoot. Beneath Christ, the souls are judged, the righteous on one side and the wicked, who are thrown into the fiery jaws of hell, on the other.

A few years ago at dusk, I had some quality time all alone with Chartres’ Gothic

Qcompassion. I guess what I’m saying is: Hotels.com treated you like an object, not a person.

I think you might have fared better by starting a paper trail, which is, to say, sending an email to Hotels.com and then escalating this up the chain of command. Hotels.com doesn’t seem to handle calls well, and even if it did, there’s no record of the promise it made to you.

A quick look at Majestic’s cancellation policy

shows that you were entitled to a refund. You just hadn’t asked the right person yet; instead, you were dealing with call-center employees who couldn’t or statues. The setting sun brought life to the expressions on their delicately carved faces. As I stood there, quiet and unrushed, it almost felt as though they were struggling to share with me the stories they’ve told eight centuries of pilgrims.

It’s a different experience once darkness falls. In the 13th and 14th centuries, Europe’s wonderful Gothic church facades were boldly painted. “Chartres en Lumieres,” a nighttime soundand-light show (April through September), helps re-create how the cathedral’s facades might have looked with colorful statuary. A path of lights guides the way to two dozen “scenographies” all over town.

Day or night, a pilgrimage to Chartres leaves me wonderstruck by its cathedral spires and stained glass — and awestruck by the devotion of its medieval faithful.

I booked five nights at the Majestic Colonial Punta Cana in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, through Hotels.com in June 2015. I had major shoulder surgery around Christmas and was told by my doctor that I couldn’t fly.

The hotel’s cancellation policy stated that cancellations needed to be made at least one week before arrival. I logged into my Hotels.com account more than two weeks before my scheduled arrival, but it said that my itinerary does not exist. If it had “existed,” then I could have canceled.

I called Hotels.com to resolve this over the phone. I was put on hold for more than an hour. When I got through, a representative couldn’t find my itinerary in the system either. Eventually, Hotels.com did find it, and I was assured there would be no problem getting my refund.

But the refund never came. I followed up with Hotels.com for months, and even though someone promised me a resolution, my $1,400 refund never came. It’s been 16 months, and I’ve given up. Hotels.com should not be allowed to run its business like this, trampling over its customers. Is this a lost cause? wouldn’t help.

I list the names, numbers and email addresses of the Hotels.com executive contacts on my consumer-advocacy website:

(Hotels .com is owned by Expedia.)

I contacted the company, and it promptly issued you a $1,400 refund. Better late than never!