40+ hours

If you haven't heard by now, let me reassure you that I have not only arrived in Morocco in onc piece, but I am now settling in to life in Fes and doing very well. So well in fact, that my room is already a mess, its just like home (don't worry mom, I will clean it up).
The Journey over here was fairly intense. Overall the flights weren't too bad, but the long layovers took their toll. The morning of departure was frantic at best as my mom and sister can certainly attest to. Thank you both so much for all of your help and support in getting ready to leave, I couldn't have done it without you! We arrived at Seatac with plenty of time, checked in and managed to successfully make it through security for the first time with a laptop. I made it to the gate and plopped down on the floor as a sense of relief, exhaustion, and reality overtook me. It was finally real, I was actually leaving. I was loaded onto the plane with a bunch of Sonics Cheerleaders (its amazing how they can look perfect even after 10 hours of flying...), found my seat, made friends with the couple next to me and began to settle in. After a very momentary peace I ended up being moved to a different seat in the next section up where I sat in a row with 2 guys who didn't appear to speak english. We took off and I spent the next 10 hours in and out of sleep with a variety of movies in between. (Note to all travelers: Lufthansa Airlines is wonderful for international travel, I highly recommend it!) Towards the end of the flight I finally had enough sense to strike up a conversation with the guy sitting next to me, Alexander, but Sasha for short. He spoke English (among a host of other languages) and was a student from Kazakhstan who had just spent the last 10months in the US. He was a lot of fun to talk with and if I ever make it up to Kazakhstan, it sounds like I would have a place to stay.

I arrived in Frankfurt at 9:30am local time, just minutes before realizing that my short stay there was actually a staggering 13 HOURS!!!! I contemplated trying to get a taxi and heading out into the city, but I didn't want to risk getting lost or being late, even more than that, I didn't want to go through security again! So I toughed it out and looked for a place to settle in. A few observations... there is NO carpeting in the airport, an extreme shortage of chairs and benches, and the bathrooms have GREEN papertowels. (Ok, so I got a bit bored in the airport). I did however seem to attract numerous babies and mothers, as they frequently seemed to settle in wherever I did. I met a lady from Oman and another from Turkey. In addition to two guys from France who were originally from the Congo and Senegal. Being trapped in the airport allowed numerous opportunities to meet people and to eat ice cream... it was Haagen-dazs, the real thing, and the only thing that looked appealing.

When I finally left Frankfurt it was well after 10:30pm local time and I boarded my 3 hour plane to Casablanca. At this point, I don't really remember my flight to Casa, except for the fact that they feed us sometime around midnight and I was awake long enough to take pictures of my two traveling companions, Mushu and Nico. I had also learned from my previous flight to ALWAYS GO WITH THE PASTA! The chicken dinner I ate traveling on the plane from the states was questionable to say the least, but the pasta was wonderful (for airplane food). I arrived safely in Casa an hour later then the tickets indicated I should, thanks to Morocco's sudden (and seemingly random) switch to daylight savings time a few weeks ago. I got off the plane and headed to immigration, which should have been a breeze, except for the fact that the young man held me 4 times as long as any other passengers around me as he seemed to be flirting and then decided that he should try and teach me arabic... oi vei! When all was said and done, I grabbed my bags, slid through customs and was met by my friends in Casa!

My Moroccan friends Yassine, Tarik (and one of their friends), met me at the airport, greeted me warmly, and scooped up all my belongings with ease. They then escorted me out to the car (which ironically enough was named Christina, since the first song that played on the radio after it was purchased was Christina Aguilara). Since my plane was over an hour late, they had to readjust their plans for the morning, but we ended up still being able to stop and grab a quick snack. We stopped at a little cafe place for juice and paninis (sandwiches), which were delicious! The panini was ground beef and cheese and I ate every bite! (No, this doesn't mean I have converted to a beef eater, I was being culturally sensitive and I was also incredibly hungry). From their we stopped by their apartment, where they carried nearly 100lbs of my stuff up 8+ flights of stairs (it was quite impressive). Next we headed out for a walk by the beach which was lovely! I had a wonderful time talking with each of them and even got into a political discussion with some guy on the street, oh, I should mention, it was about the current American Presidential race. After hanging out in the nice cool air we went back to the apartment to hang out and talk. I jumped online for a short bit while the guys had some shisha and shortly there after we all crashed for a few hours. When I got up it was time to head to the train station to go back to the airport so I could take what was supposed to be the shortest and EASIEST flight from Casa to Fes... it was a nightmare!

When I arrived and managed to drag all my stuff up the moving ramp, its like an escalator, only flat and going up hill. (It was actually quite comical as the weight of my bags on the cart actually started to push me back down the ramp and it was an all out battle to keep from sliding down the ramp to where I started). I miraculously made it, and was certainly glad no one was around to witness the weirdness that was the crazy american girl! Upon arrival at check in I was informed that I could only take 20 kilos of stuff. This was a rather big problem as I had just over twice that amount of of personal affects with me. The not so friendly man behind the counter seemed quite annoyed with me, as though I should have known that this was the standard (I didn't see it printed anywhere!), he then informed me that he would have to call and check if it would be allowed. After about 15min of negotations it was reported that I could not. In growing distress I asked what he suggest that I do then. He said my only option was to pay, something I already figured I would have to do. I said ok and asked how much, I was then informed that he would need to write me a receipt, which required someone else walking over to a different station, getting the special paper and bringing it back over so that he could write it out. Long story short I was then sent over to a different station to pay, but their credit machine wasn't working, was then sent to a bank (that wasn't a bank), finally found a bank, waited for what seemed like an eternity, finally got my money exchanged, and then reversed my previous steps. When I finally made it back to the ticket counter the man reluctantly presented me with my boarding pass. I don't exactly remember security and the flight was a mess, but after all the drama and headache, I made it safely to Fes an hour or so later and was thoroughly DONE with airports!