worldtraveller73

Marrakech, Morroco
Day 3.

Having done all the shopping we’d ever wanted, and having seen the walled city of Marrakech for two days, we ended up taking it easy in the morning. I came to the conclusion on this trip that Marrakech is pretty much a 2 or 3 day destination worth of things to see and visit, if you’re not staying at a resort for sun tanning or other relaxing time.

MrsWT73 wanted to go do a location scout for the scenes filmed in the Hollywood Movie" Sex in the City 2". Many of the scenes were filmed at the Aman Jenna resort which was slightly out of town. We arranged with our riad to go and get some transport out there and back. The Aman Jenna resort is in the middle of the Marrakech Palmeries area that is in the scrub land for the non landscaped areas out of the resorts.



The Aman Jenna is a super duper place. The staff were pretty much waiting on us where ever you went. The isolation and pools looked to be wonderful and it was a shame we weren’t staying. Having said that, rates can be upward of 600€ a night without taxes so it's a good thing we visited for lunch.











There are some scenes visible from the general walkways of the hotel, in addition to the scene where Aiden (John Corbett) kisses Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) under the “7 arches named after the various Emirates”



The pool scene appears to be renovated and the view towards the Jewel Suite is actually to a non-existent building, or perhaps filmed at some other resort.

Lunch was a nice affair. While I was disappointed we weren't staying, I felt a bit better after seeing the prices. I had a smoked salmon and avocado sandwich with cherry tomatoes and a micro greens salad. MrsWT73 had a quinoa salad with mint, cucumbers and tomatoes. We each had a glass of wine. The bill with Aman Prices came to $102 USD for lunch. It was pretty tasty and fresh considering we were in Africa. It's pictured with the "dumb" phone provided by our Anayela villa to contact our driver.





After lunch, we returned back to the riad and did some packing. We went back to the Café Arabe for dinner where I had a beef tagine with potatoes in their nice courtyard.



Overall, I found Marrakech to be an interesting place. It was a great introduction for those that would be into visiting Africa for the first time. I didn’t find it to be all to authentic of an experience; I’d save that title for wandering the streets of Cairo. Having said that, there is enough there to keep you entertained for a few days. It also appeared reasonably tolerant of western values which a new time visitor to Africa may find appealing.

worldtraveller73

Overland Travel from Marrakech to Mhamid, Morroco
502 Km travelled.

While we were in Morocco, we had about 6 days in the country thanks to the schedule of our trip and award availability. I wasn’t interested in spending all the time in Marrakech so I set out looking for something interesting to do. While we considered visiting Essouria, the Erg Cheddi Luxury Tented Camp outside of Mhamid seemed interesting.

The Erg Cheddi camp is located in South East Morocco and is situated approximately 40 minutes drive and 20 kilometers away from the now closed international border of Morocco and Algeria. The Camp offered an “all inclusive” experience where all meals and drinks were provided. The days were filled with daily activities. The activities included sand boarding, camel rides and sunset cocktails on the sand dunes.

The drive today was advertised as being about 9 ˝ hours from door to door plus stops. It was a super long day and we were pretty exhausted by the time we got into camp. The reality was that the drive was about 11 ˝ hours by the time we had gotten door to door. This included getting partially lost in a sand storm on arrival. It’s a fair statement to say that I would have enjoyed this drive more in my twenties than I did in my forties. Despite this, we were able to see a very large amount of Morocco in a way that we wouldn’t have explored had we not done a trip such as this. Of interest, flying on Royal Air Maroc is possible from Casablanca to about 4 hours drive from the camp. This doesn’t help if you are travelling from Marrakech as the flight times with connecting flights to be about 11 hours which is about the same as over land travel.



We were up at 5:40 AM for a 6:20 AM breakfast and our 7 AM collection at the Anayela riad out to Erg Cheddi. Our driver Ayboud was ready waiting for us at 7 AM in the riad lobby.

We loaded up a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and started heading out of town. We stopped in a suburb of Marrakech to briefly meet with owner / operator. The main purpose of the stop was to load up the car with a case of wine and a flat of beer destined for the camp. It seems that the locals are not allowed to carry alcohol in that many quantities (if at all) so the camp has to use the tourist transport in order to so do. The drive leaving Marrakech immediately started to get hilly. We were in the rolling hills among the Berber villages before we knew it.



















We arrived to the small town of Oued Tamjdert. We stopped for breakfast at the base of the mountain pass. The driver had a Berber Omelette; eggs baked in a pan with tomato, cumin, onion over bread along with some Moroccan Tea. It was actually quite tasty.

We then drove up through one of the first serious passes on the trip. We stopped at the top for some amazing photos of the road and drive up.













It was an absolutely spectacular view and one of the more twisty roads I’ve had the experience to travel on.

At the top of the pass, we stopped at Col du Tichka. The elevation was 2260m, which was quite substantially high for an African country. Stepping out of the truck, you could feel the difference in temperature with cooler breezes and wind.







The pass itself was pretty amazing. I had no idea that there were this many mountains in Morocco. While I had heard of the Atlas Mountains, I hadn’t seen many pictures or other first hand experiences of the area. Coming down over the interior side of the pass, the terrain was mostly arid and desert like. There were vast areas of emptiness.









We pressed on past Atlas Studios in Ouarzazate as we were keen to get to the camp in daylight. The Atlas Studios is the world’s largest studio by square footage and has been home to many contemporary films such as “Jewel of the Nile”, “The Living Daylights”, “Gladiator”, “The Mummy” and “Game of Thrones” to name a few. We had offers to stop at various places which we took advantage of when the need arose. The topography of the terrain got to be a bit more hilly and arid as we moved closer to the Sahara Desert.











Similar to our road travels in Namibia, there were simply miles and miles of nothing in this country. We would continue on for another hour and a half then stop for a quick photo break to stretch the legs and refresh. At each stop, another view awaited.









We eventually made it to the town of Agdz and the start of the Draa Valley. The Draa Valley is home to over 3 million date palm trees and stretches on for miles between Agdz and Zagora. I later learned that it was approximately 150 km and full of palm trees end to end. We would end up driving the entire length of it. The valley is backed up against a mountain which looks like an extended version of Table Mountain from Cape Town, South Africa.

We had a brief stop at the start of the Draa Valley at a viewpoint in Agdz. It’s a start contrast to see all of the date palms after miles and miles of desert. Immediately opposite, there are dry river beds which show how dry things can get here when it’s not raining.













After a quick spin through town (many of them look the same), we stopped for a simple lunch on the outskirts of Agdz. Lunch today was chicken brochettes grilled over charcoal along with Moroccan Salad (chopped tomatoes, cumin and onions). The chicken was surprisingly well cooked over charcoal; so much better than the gas barbecue attempts at home.











Before we left lunch, we took an opportunity to look at the palms of the Draa Valley up close. Across from a nearby Kasbah, we wandered across the street from the restaurant where a local guide took us on a short paid walk through the fields.







The Draa Velely fields are surprisingly irrigated and green in comparison to the other areas around. The palm trees are lush with dates which are a major export product for Morocco. Our guide even gave us a climbing demonstration; the things you do for money (laughing).

















It was nearing 3 pm at this time and although there were offers from our driver to visit the CheChe scarf factory to have the berber head scarfs fitted, we opted to push through to avoid missing sunset and getting to the camp after dark.

We arrived to the last outpost town of Mhamid, passing several military installations that had since popped up since the Moroccan government officially closed the border with Algeria. It’s now reportedly heavily guarded, with surveillance cameras and fenced in some areas. In second though, a visiting camp next to an International border may not have been the best idea security wise but we didn't feel any danger or experience any surveillance or security problems at all.





From Mhamid, the pavement ended and it was off road to the camp. I had hoped in first world order that the camp would actually be close to Mhamid for supplies and logistical purposes. It was actually about 90 minutes of off road bashing to get there. The surface was a mixed of gravel, dried sand riverbeds (salt flats) and soft sand that slowed the SUV. It was quite flat at the start of our trek into the desert and it eventually the dunes got a little bit larger. The flat route was frequently used in the past by camel caravans making the trading trek from the Draa Valley to Timbuktu in Mali for the spice trade.







About 75 minutes into our trek, we saw a sand storm approaching on the horizon. I had not been inside a sand storm other than seeing the digitized effects of them in Hollywood movies. The sand essentially just blows and swirls reducing visibility to almost zero. It was the same case here and we could hardly see a few feet in front of our vehicle.

Somehow, we managed to locate the camp, thanks to our driver. How he managed to do this with near zero visibility is beyond me. It must be his Berber roots.

worldtraveller73

Erg Chigaga Luxury Tented Camp,
Mhamid, Morocco.

The wind was blowing absolutely everywhere so we huddled in the camp tent with our new found camp mate friends as we settled into the Erg Chigaga Luxury tented camp. We came across a couple from Brazil, a couple from Colorado, USA and a couple from the United Kingdom.

As soon as the storm arrived, it blew away. After about 20 minutes, it was clear again to be outside. We were able to get our first impressions of the camp as visibility was restored.









We were going to go settle into the tent but sunset was calling. We climbed for about 15 minutes up a nearby dune for a sunset in the sand dunes.











Camp was kind enough to have drinks and snacks brought up to the dunes and we had a picnic under the stars as the day faded to black.





We walked back to the tent under the stars where we got acquainted with our tent for the next two nights.

The tent was indeed a camp style with a portable toilet and bucket shower (of water scooping variety). Truthfully, it was more camp than luxury.... It was a bit dark in the tent, which was powered by generators during most, but not all of the day. While the fittings had all the style of "glamping", most of the structures appeared portable and the walkways were all carpets and not concrete; meaning that sand tended to get everywhere both inside and out of the tent.

The tent was spacious and large, with enough room to move around in larger than many hotel rooms.









We’ve been lucky enough to have done two past tented camp experiences at the Fairmont Masai Mara in Kenya and at Sossusvlei in Namibia. Both of those were pretty clean and well maintained. It’s fair to say that although well appointed, our camps wasn’t quite up to that standard. It was a little rougher than our Fairmont Masai Mara experience as the facility was a little more portable than their structures. I am convinced though that this was probably the best that was available for the area. The camp structures are also portable, in that additional units could be created as needed. I ended up fully absorbing the camping experience and didn’t bother to shower or shave for the two days that we were there (the horrors!). Ultimately, I enjoyed the experience where as MrsWT73 was a little less than impressed with the whole sleeping arrangements. She preferred the Fairmont tented camp experience and all the luxury that it entailed.

After sunset, dinner was served communally in a group tent. Dinner was a beef tangine, with vegetables along with fruit for desert. We were pretty happy to have some still time after that long travel day, and slept pretty well at the end of it.

nequine

Your drive to the camp looked very spectacular!

Bretteee

You went to Dahab? I hear it's beautiful. I am from Egypt originally and am too scared to go back. Would love to visit the Sinai etc. So much to see and all I know is Cairo and Alexandria. Pity. And now you saw Kenya I am sure. You did a great trip report recently.

gates_2

Lovely Report- Enjoyed it!

Surprised to see the Rivetto Barbera on the Iceland air wine list- A nice Serralunga producer!

I hope you enjoyed the wheel at the Big Lebowski bar in Reykjavik - I was there for a bachelor party earlier in 2018 and we had the unfortunate luck to hit the "10 beer" slot multiple times .I must admit I lack an affinity for Icelandic beer.

worldtraveller73

It was a gorgeous drive nequine; especially looking back at the photographs.

Dahab holds a close place in my heart Bretteee; I popped the question to MrsWT73 while on the beach at the Le Meridien Dahab. We've been itching to go back but it doesn't look like its in the near future. It's a pity because it's a nice spot.

I am smart enough these days to stay away from the wheel gates_2; they can be nasty...

worldtraveller73

Erg Cheddi Luxury Camp,
One and half hours drive or 45 km from M’Hamid, Morocco

We slept in as our first activity was not scheduled until 10 AM. We ended up naturally waking up at about 8 AM as the desert heat of the day started warming up the tent.

We had a breakfast of yoghurt, museli and fruit, along with coffee. We were also able to more fully situate ourselves as sunset came pretty quick the day before. The morning light made for some great photographs against the dunes.





Our first activity of the day was a camel ride into the desert. All the activities were included with the lodging fee. The camels that the resort had access to were very pleasant and mild tempered. There was no spitting or irritability on their part; they were very mellow.



We trekked about 45 minutes into the desert along with our Brazilian camp mate friends. I’ve been fortunate enough to ride camels on 4 earlier occasions in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Most of these rides have been from opportunistic camel minders at the bottom of the pyramids of Giza. All of these have been for short periods of about 15 minutes; you pretty much get what you pay for after you bargain. When you go for a camel ride that is an hour in length, there is a certain muscle group on your body that gets used that you don’t typically get used. Needless to say, I was walking a little funny for the next forty eight hours. Despite this, there were some nice views of the dunes and the desert.



Although not as tall as the sand dunes at the Qsar Al Sarab, Liwa Oasis, United Arab Emirates, the dunes were still a pleasant sight.

















After the camel ride, the camels took a break and fed themselves on some shrubs in the nearby dry river field.







We hopped in the SUV’s which had been driven up and drove to a nearby oasis that was about 30 minutes drive away, or about 15 kilometers from the camp. The camp was run and occupied by a nomad that had experience in living in the desert. We are definitely off the grid here, there wasn’t much around for miles.









We had lunch there of Moroccan salad (tomatoes, onion) and brochettes of chicken and beef. We spent a lot of the afternoon at the oasis under tents as it was shady and pleasant. MrsWT73 and I had each brought a book with us which helped pass the time with great comfort. It was recommended by our local hosts that we stay at the oasis as it could get very hot at the camp during the day with no immediate shade trees available.

At around 4 PM, we left the oasis. We were one hour back in the car to the desert camp. Once back at the camp, we set up in the full sun to relax. MrsWT73 enjoyed the free flow wine that was available to guests.



Another sunset this time, we headed up top the dunes a little bit late as the sun appeared to disappear quickly. We stocked up on a drink and started the long climb up the dunes to the sunset picnic spot.













We settled into the picnic spot for another sundowner as it got dark. It’s hard to beat a view with a set up like that!











I went and tried sand boarding for the first time. It was pretty neat to try and I managed to only crash down once at the first start. MrsWT73 wanted to get some silly pictures with our hosts so I was more than happy to oblige.





With the sun coming down, we walked down the hill using cell phone flashlights and for the rest of the evening, had some time next to a cracking camp fire. The camp was set up with candles and lights all around, making it comfortable to spend time outside before retiring.







It was a pleasant and interesting day of life in the middle of nowhere. Although the camp was great, it sure took a tremendous amount of time and effort to get there to appreciate those views.

worldtraveller73

Travel from Mhamid back to Marrakech, Morroco
500+ km traveled

It was departure day today. We slept in a little later today and got away from the camp at 9 AM. We bid good bye to our gracious hosts that took care of us and brought us drinks for the past 2 days.

Our departure took us on a more direct route involving less highways. The path was three hours through the rough desert, then 6 hours travel through highways. The advantage was the ability to see different scenery on the way back. I wasn’t able to replicate the exact route on Google Maps since its programmed to stick to paved roads. If you can imagine an “as the crow flies” route from Erg Chigaga to Foum Zguid, that was pretty much the start of our route, following the blue path the rest of the way.



Abouyb, our guide, told us stories about his grandfather who used to travel by camel to Timbuktu in Mali to sell spices and salt. Their camel trip was 52 days in duration and they used to meet up with camels sometimes numbering in the 1,000’s as a group convoy. He indicated that the borders between these points were now closed as had finished the spice camel trade as a way of life for some.

The start of our journey took us though several rough sand roads which jostled the truck quite considerably. We passed another car convoy that had stopped where the passengers had gotten sick. Indeed, I started to feel sick after about an hour, even after having taken Gravol. It would set the tone of my overall drive home more than I would ever know at that particular time.



We eventually made it to the salt pan, which was smooth sailing for about an hour. The first part of the drive had great views in the basin.















After passing through the salt pan, the terrain got a bit more rough and off road “light”. We ended up stopping at a water well where we located a nomadic goat herder. The scenery was similar to Arizona south of the United States. How Ayoub found his way around is beyond me. Nothing was posted or signed for about 3 hours of driving…











Finally, after 3 hours, we hit the gravel payment and the town of Foum Zguid. We stopped for a drink. I was so ill at this point from motion sickness despite taking the motion sickness pills I needed a few minutes to be still and not shaking or vibrating in a car. There was only warm sprite to settle my stomach, kept and sold in a fridge that had no refrigeration as was often the case throughout Morocco. Oh, the perils of travel!







After about 15 minutes rest, we continued northwards on R111. The scenery continued to be beautiful. We found ourselves in the more rustic backcountry area of Morocco. It seemed that some of the highway infrastructure was over run by flash flooding. There were mud and rock debris on a lot of the routes and small towns that we passed.











Eventually we stopped at the town of Tazenakht. This was the last available lunch stop for another two hours and it was already 1:30 PM. I didn’t at all feel like eating but we ended up stopping at the Hotel Ali Baba for lunch. The hotel had a typically African pool; totally empty. We met up with our other travelling companions from Brazil who arrived shortly after us in separate car. They also indicated that they were quite ill on their journey out. I was able to re-connect wifi and reconnected with the world.







After lunch, We bypassed the offer to visit the carpet store. We weren’t going to buy a carpet and had seen similar demonstrations in Turkey, Egypt and India. We continued onwards through Route 108 and some more rural terrain.









We eventually linked up with the N9 motorway near Ouarzazate and repeated our steps back towards Marrakech on the same route we came in on. I didn’t take many pictures at this point as it was the similar scenery and I was still feeling a bit green.

We were dropped off at the hotel at around 7 PM. It was ten hours door to door and we were totally exhausted. Towards the end of the journey, the owner / operator checked in with us by phone; something which I appreciated. We thanked Abouyb for our safe passage and he wished us well for our onward journey. I was feeling wretched by this point and I was happy to have arrived. I curled up in the fetal position when I got to the room. It took a good rest of the night for me to calm down from the body turbulence.

The Erg Cheddi Luxury Tented Camp was an interesting experience. We were able to see a lot of Morocco in a very short time. We were able to learn that it is a pretty country that is full of interesting scenery. I personally hadn’t banked on the length of the drive; which was the Achilles heel of this adventure. I think I’m getting to the age where squeezing into a car for that dream overland truck African Cairo to Cape Town trip isn’t going to be as enjoyable an experience as it would have been in my twenties. I’d probably fly or break up the trip from Marrakech to Mhamid, Morocco in the future. In summary, I was happy to have had the experience, but I probably wouldn’t be going back next year. For global world travelers, the sand dunes at Liwa Oasis 3 hours outside of Abu Dhabi are easier to access on fully paved and straight roads and are much larger than the sand dunes in Morocco.

worldtraveller73

Le Meridien N’Fis
Marrakech, Morocco
Executive Room.


I picked this place as it was one of the bargains in the Starwood Preferred Guest portfolio. We stayed for 2,000 Starpoints for the night with a free Platinum breakfast included. The hotel was also on the west side of Marrakech and the medina so it was situated close to the Marrakech airport. I can’t really complain since you can pretty much earn two thousand points with a one or two night stay in the Americas if you’re playing your promotions right.

On arriving to the hotel, we entered through a metal detector and the bags were wheeled in. Similar to many of my other Le Meridien experiences, the property was quite dated and partially refreshed. The check in was handled fairly promptly and there was no wait to get to the counter. On our arrival, the lobby happened to be full of packaged tour guests. I asked if there were any Platinum Upgrades available and the host indicated that we had been upgraded to an Executive Room.







We had our bags wheeled up as we were led to Room #344. Unfortunately, the beautiful upgrade that I had been dreaming off after the tenting experience turned out to be just a Club Level view room on the top Starwood preferred guest floor.

The room was in reasonable condition and was likely in first third of it’s life cycle. It was a pretty straight forward and standard room. We were happy that we didn’t spend all our time in Marrakach at this resort when we compared to the Anayela Riad as the Riad was a much nicer experience (and priced accordingly). I wasn't a super fan of the red 1990's accent wall, but who's complaining at these prices?





The bag was not included with the room. LOL.





Although there were lots of suite upgrades reported here through others, the building we were in didn't appear to have too many suites configured into the layout at only 1 per floor.



There was a tiny and slightly drab bathroom with the usual Malin + Goetz toiletries.



At least the room had a pleasant view into the palm trees of the property.



The next morning, I ran around and took some photographs of the property. The hotel had some nice gardens and a pleasant pool area that was completely deserted all throughout our stay. Being an older property, it happens to have a lot of real estate attached to it. As a result, it was very spacious for an inner city property.











On the day of our arrival, we had dinner at the hotel property bar. It was a dated looking bar but it offered a club sandwich which I was craving at the time. By this point, I’d had Moroccan Tagines about three nights in a row. Tagines are great but they tend to be similar tasting after a while. The bar was old, dark and smoky; just what you’d expect from an older African hotel. It was full of French visitors smoking thin cigarettes.

We took in a Platinum breakfast the next morning. It wasn’t anything all too exciting to write home about. It did offer Moroccan Tea, along with the opportunity to try fresh pancakes which were featured all over morocco.

The Le Meridien N’Fis certainly met my expectations for a quick stay. It wasn’t all too exciting, but fit the need for a quick overnight at the airport. The pools looked great, but it was definitely a cheaper place to stay for those that didn’t want to spend a large amount on a luxury resort or a riad that Marrakech was known for. At two thousand Starpoints, I certainly wasn’t complaining. It seems that the same property is now offered for 12,500 Marriott Reward points, which is still reasonable value.

worldtraveller73

Pearl Lounge.
Marrakech International Airport, Morocco

I had heard lots of horror stories about the Marrakesh airport. Most of the reports online recommended arriving at least 3 hours in advance of the flight. The issue appeared to be long queues and bureaucratic checks.

At about T-180, we departed the hotel. A taxi was only 70 Moroccan Dirhams and we were dropped off in less than 10 minutes. The Le Meridien Marrakech is well situated close to the airport and on the correct side of town.

We arrived up at the Marrakech airport. The airport itself is a beautifully designed and looking building. We had a departure experience filled with bureaucracy; likely the most that I’ve ever had leaving an airport. It started with an X Ray scan of all bags entering the building.









We went over to check in where we had no waits at the check in for the BA flight to “Londres”. We were given lounge invitations and a verbal explanation for the fast track queue to depart the airport.



We got rid of all our Moroccan Dirhams and had them changed into Euro’s at a nearby money changer on the public side. The country appears to be exceptionally strict about taking Moroccan Dirham out of the country.



Getting out of the check in hall was another matter. We headed for the newer departure area of the building. We located the Fast Track line, where a guard checked our eligibility. We then proceeded to an inspection station where the only purpose seemed to be on questioning us on how much cash we were carrying with us and taking out of the country. We then had a security inspection, where our passport and ticket details were manually recorded in a log book by hand. We then proceeded to the exit immigration customs, where I had a friendly chat with the border police who asked a whole host of questions on my employment and career. Leaving the exit immigration area, there was a fifth inspection to ensure that we had received the “exit stamp” just around the corner from the last inspection. We would later have a sixth inspection and questioning of our bags prior to entering the holding lounge for the departure flight. If you happen to have travels through here, make sure you allow lots of time for these assorted inspections; none of them really enjoyable or useful.

We travelled up the escalators to the departure level and were met European styled duty free shopping by Dufry and a whole host of other luxury brands. MrsWT73 picked up on some Moroccan Rose wine as a souvenir for 7 €.





There also happened to be a Starbucks Coffee in the airport, and MrsWT73 was able to collect another Marrakech city mug.



We were given vouchers at British Airways check in for the Pearl Lounge, also a member of Priority Pass. We were given access courtesy of our Business Class level of service on British Airways.





The Pearl Lounge was a bright new facility with several sleeping areas. Everything was new and fresh looking. Although there was daylight windows, the windows were covered with wainscoting to keep out the bright sun.









There was a small food area but the food didn’t look all to appealing to me. Small, packaged and delicate appeared to be the order of the day.



There was wine by the glass that was available over the counter on request (and surprisingly not on display). Like everything else in Morocco, the wine was warm as well and not super appealing after the first couple of sips. I suspect it had heat shock. I stuck with water which was lightly refrigerated. At least the wifi was good and strong throughout the airport. Ultimately, this place was nicer than the terminal to visit but I probably won't expect to much in the way of food and beverage when passing through here. Given the bureaucracy leaving Marrakech, it could be a convenient place to hang out if you happen to find yourself with extra time thanks to light security checks.

worldtraveller73

British Airways
BA 2667 – Business Class (U)
RAK – LGW (Marrakesh – London Gatwick)
Sept 16, 2018
1:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Booked: Airbus 320
Flown: Airbus 320

We departed for the gate at T-50. Boarding was set to commence at 12:50 PM as posted on the boarding card.







After a last security screening checkpoint, we boarded along with priority boarding for all Club Europe and One World Bronze and higher members. The priority boarding wasn’t too successful as we were allowed on to the non air conditioned jet bridge and stood there in the heat for a good 5 – 7 minutes. It was long enough that the economy passengers that had filtered in behind us had started breaking out into choir like song.

There seemed to be a lot of One World travelers since most early boarders streamed past us as they filtered towards the back of the plane. On board, we found our seats in 4A / 4C. The British Airways Club Europe is the typical economy class seat with the blocked middle. I still don’t know or understand how the European carriers get away with it for a 3 ˝ hour flight or longer in some cases. I thought it was interesting that when I paid for the seat assignments for this flight, they were offering business class seats assignments all the way back to row 7 A/C. It turns out they didn’t sell more than 4 rows of business class today since we were in the last row of business class in Seats 4A/4C. It was also interesting to see that they were 2 families of 4 persons that were occupying 8 business seats in the cabin of 14.







There was no pre-departure beverage offered and we pushed back fairly quickly after all had boarded. I happened to see some airframes from Air Caribe and RyanAir as we left.





We departed eastward on Runway 10. I took a few last photographs of Marrakech and the Medina as we climbed out of the world of dis-order towards the world of order.







As we got underway, printed lunch menus were offered. The menus offered a new Club Europe menu that was globally inspired and showcasing the best of the British Isles; whatever that meant.





I started with a proper glass of wine that was actually cold, along with almonds.



For lunch, I had Anti Pasti with macaroni pasta with Parmesan velouté and roasted chestnut mushrooms, along with a “celebration of British Cheese”. I was still feeling delicate at this point. I thought that I might have a mild bug from the driving and the way I was feeling. I didn’t know if I could measure up to such a rich dish but it really hit the spot. I had this with a Chatron et Trébuchet 2016, AOC M con-Villages, Burgundy France white wine.



Decompressing from that long car ride, I continued on with the Tanqueray and Fever Tree Indian Tonic as we cross the Gibraltar straights onwards towards the UK.



As we approached, the landing cards were were passed out. Most of the cabin seemingly being UK / EU residents didn’t need one. The contrast of landscape between Africa and the United Kingdom was apparent when we were on approach to landing. Everything was green.



Award availability was quite difficult if near impossible to find on this British Airways route. Despite this, there aren’t many benefits to fly Club Europe versus economy class. The only real improvements are open bar, a small meal, and a lounge that you may already have access to with the right credit card. Despite this, the service was pleasant and I’d consider flying British Airways again to Marrakech over the experiences we had with Iberia.

nequine

Your sand dunes stuff looked really nice although given the journey, would you do it again/recommend it?

CatchThePigeon

I'm really enjoying your TR, thanks. You've managed to capture the sounds and smells of Marrakech and you've tempted me to visit.

choosethedrew

THANK YOU very much for this amazing trip report of places well off the beaten track. I love how you have seemingly chosen each destination for its contrast to the next!