Ericka

As Star Alliance fliers, we found there was no easy way to get to Morocco from the US. LH flew into CMN but it involved very long layovers. After exploring our options, this is what we ended up doing, but it’s not for the faint of heart. We flew biz class on a 747 and an A321. LH is one of the “angled-flat” holdouts on their long-haul product, but we found if we kept the seat in more of a recliner position, we were able to control the wedgie-effect. On LH’s new intra-Europe business class cabin, we weren’t as pleased. The refurbished A321s still used coach seats up front (they justify the added expense by blocking the middle seat) and the new seats were hard and thin with no additional leg room. This meant we could now better feel the knees of the person seated behind us.

For our long layovers, we opted for a dayroom at the onsite FRA Sheraton rather than the LH-discounted Kempinski. We found it was easier to walk the few steps to the hotel rather than call for the Kempinski shuttle. Our Sheraton room was fine, the property was good for catching up on sleep and it had very nice workout facilities. We also gained an appreciation for the new LH Welcome Lounge in FRA that biz passengers may use during morning transit. It wasn’t as glamorous as the F terminal, and we had to leave security and go through passport control to get to it, but we loved the hot breakfast, readily available showers and quiet room for napping.

Once in Morocco we had all of our transfers done by car. The Royal Air Maroc flight schedules weren’t convenient for us and the private plane/helicopter transfers were prohibitively expensive…probably due in part to the weak US dollar. As Americans, we are used to driving longer distances, so we settled for car rides of 2, 5, and even 7 hours. We booked all our drivers through our hotels and found their vehicles and English to be very pleasant. Most of the scenery was lovely….mountains, waterfalls, shepherds and their flocks, etc…and made the trips feel shorter.