The room at the Hilton Garden Inn was small, but the staff made up for it. They were very helpful and cheerful. "You're leaving us? oh, we are so sad to see you go." We got a Valentine's bag full of left over Halloween candy and breakfast featured heart shaped pancakes.
They let us stay two hours after normal check out, but we decided to leave at 1:00 pm and make sure we'd get there. Took the shuttle to the right terminal and found about 40 other EJ people waiting by the Royal Air Marco counter. I'm thinking there is no way this is where we check in so I went exploring and found a more likely spot.
I summoned Pam and a young couple from Des Moines, WA that rode in on the shuttle with us, to sneak with me to what should be the front of the line. Pam obliged, they didn't. Within 5 minutes we had 100 people behind us and we were the first to check in.
Went through security and found our gate that was loading passengers for Shanghai, a 14 hour flight. Not feeling too bad about a mere 7 hours to Casablanca.
They called out a special boarding preference for EJ and we got early boarding and found our seats right next to a bathroom with seats that wouldn't recline. At least we could find it easily, but then the odor hit and I'm thinking Carnival Cruise Lines.
As they pushed us from the gate drops of water landed on my scalp. Pam grabbed a stewardess and she said she'd find us different seats. I'm thinking we are going to move forward from row 26 so I opened our water bottle and soaked myself (not really). We found ourselves in row 37 out of 38.
No sign of dinner or beverages yet and we are an hour into the flight. We were served a 2x4 inch clear baggie of pretzels with an expiration date of 12/31/2014. They were fresh and crispy!
Beverages and dinner finally arrived and it was good.
The plane was older as it had t.v.s mounted on the ceiling every 7 rows or so. Kind of a bumpy flight and they turned on the lights and handed out breakfast about 2 hours before landing.
When we landed in Casablanca it was dark and foggy. We climbed out of the plane and into buses for a ride to customs. About an hour and half later we were in a bus for a 3 hour ride to Marrakesh with our complimentary bag of chips, water and diet coke.
It was too dark and foggy to see for the first hour, but it appeared green. Many small herds of sheep with a human attending them. Even saw a dog with one herd/flock/group.
Our room was ready and it is nice. A little balcony that overlooks the pool and the Atlas Mountains in the distance. We decided to go down to the pool area to sleep and actually found a 10x10 shaded 'bed' with leather pillows and tried to sleep. Too many Jack and Maggie's around having fun in the pool.
I went up and showered and headed to a market about 1/2 mile away for some provisions which I found!
Our welcome dinner wasn't until 6:30 so at 5:00 we walked to the old part of the city. Traffic is chaotic, but not real fast and coming at you from the right direction. Made it to the dinner in time and found some interesting couples to sit with.
Moroccan food, music and dancing. Pam & I were accosted by some elderly belly dancers, who weren't showing any belly thankfully, to gyrate with them.
Back in the room by 8:30 and a good night's sleep. We still feel like we are on the plane or bus and are bouncing about.
Meeting in the morning and a group tour of the old city. On Sunday we signed up for a cooking class a little ways out of town. Should be fun.
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