Morocco

We drove from the airport, with a car that was set up my local PwC team, to our hotel. Which seemed to take forever since traffic is a bit of a mess going into town. We stayed at the Hotel Kenzi Tower, which is the tallest tower in Casablanca and had a great view.

We met with the local team and then had dinner at the restaurant at the top of the Kensi Tower hotel. It was amazing to see all of Casablanca lit up at night.

This day started just like any other going to the airport via public transportation. Left the house around 09:45 headed to the train thinking I would get there around 10:45 for my 12:25 flight and since I just had a carry on that was more than enough time to arrive. 

After getting to the stop where you can switch and catch a train out to CDG, I had the feeling something was up. They were making an announcement and between having my headphones in and it being fully in French I didn’t hear the entire thing. So I got onto the RER B and headed out towards CDG. Once we got a little outside the city I popped up Citymapper and tried to see if I could tell what the announcement was about. Since the situation was just happening it did not have much information and usually when something happens causing a delay it is fixed relatively quickly and you only end up stopping a few times on the tracks while arriving eventually where you need to just a little late. A little late didn’t concern me very much at this point since I had built in some extra time. Well at this point I should have started to get concerned. Eventually at Gare d’Aulnay-sous-Bois the train stopped and said “train termine” and now I was very confused and starting to get concerned about time. Because of all the previous stops in between and going slowly it was now approaching 11:00 and we were only about 2/3 of the way to CDG. Now me and a few hundred of my closest friends were stranded on the platform without much information although we slowly began to figure out that for one reason or another a train was on the tracks a few kilometers ahead and wasn’t moving. After watching 2 additional trains come and empty out and time getting less and less for me I decided with 2 others that it was time to try to get an Uber and get to the airport ASAP. After exiting the gare while trying to book the Uber, but having to wait for longer than usual we figured out why because there were hundreds of others outside trying to get on the bus or a taxi.

Finally a driver picked up our fare and after not being able to find where he was in all the mess we finally got into our Uber around 11:20 or just more than an hour before my flight was scheduled to depart. Considering it shouldn’t have been that far to the airport anyway I was not as concerned as again I probably should have been. Well it all just kept getting worse as the cluster of all of these people having to get off in this smaller town created havoc on the roads as well. As time kept going and we still weren’t at the airport I was now officially freaking out. Before I go any further on the way I was trying to keep myself somewhat calm by looking at what happened on the RER B, and we came to find out that it was possible that someone was struck by the train which is why the issues were so much worse. Now back to the freaking out, no lie the Uber pulled up to the departures area exactly at 12:00. I quickly said bon voyage to my fellow passengers and sprinted into the terminal. 

At this point I had pretty much resigned myself to missing my flight, but a quick glimpse at the short line at customs and border patrol got me thinking maybe there was a chance. As I ran my way through the weaving barriers I had someone flag me down. I was thinking oh great maybe they would help me rush through, but nope they wanted to weigh my carry on items!! Just as a quick FYI AirFrance has begun to weigh carry on items to limit you specifically to the 12 kilos that it has always said in your ticket agreement. I was completely caught off-guard by this process and was course over by a kilo or so, but after some pleading with the gentleman and telling him my flight left in 15 minutes he said “Next time below 12?”, and I said absolutely and was on my way. Quickly clearing customs and onto the tram to my specific gate area. This is now where I had to get through security and luckily I found another very nice person who let me through the Access #1 (First Class and Priority) line which had no one in it. I am now at a dead sprint down about 10 gates trying to get to mine around 12:10 hoping that they hadn’t closed the door 15 minutes before like they say they are supposed to. If you hadn’t noticed the theme of “luck” as this story has gone on I will add another piece of luck to it. As I come running up to the gate I see that they are just starting to board as the flight was a few minutes delayed! As I breath a sigh of relief and erase all the worries about trying to figure out how I was going to explain this to the partner who insisted I come to Morocco for dinner tonight I quickly get a cafe, water, and sandwich for the 3 hour flight and make my way on board. Oh what a morning…..

Once I arrived at the airport in Casablanca I cleared customs with just a short wait and went down to the gare and purchased my train ticket into the city. Since French is spoken it was very easy to purchase a ticket and all I had to do was wait about 20 minutes for the next train to depart. Another nice thing is that Euros go very far here in Morocco so my first class train ticket was only 6 Euro!!

After about 30 minutes on the train we arrived at the main station in the center of Casablanca, Casa Voyageurs. I knew that upon arrival I would need to switch to a tram which would take me towards the hotel which was just a little ways outside the city center. Unfortunately I assumed that at said tram I would be able to buy a ticket with our card. After walking to the tram stop outside the station I noticed that it was cash only (actually just coins even) for tram tickets. Of course just arriving I did not have any local currency so first I needed to find a ATM to get said local currency, then I needed to get change for the bills that I was able to get from the ATM. I ended up getting a water from the cafe on the corner and was able to get enough coins in return to get my tram ticket. After a quick 15 minute tram ride followed by a 15 minute walk I arrived at Hotel Kenzi Tower. Kasey was out seeing some of the sites when I arrived but had left my name so I was able to head up to the room and relax from an already long day of traveling.

Casablanca playing on repeat in the background.

We then started our day at the Marrakech Museum, which was not far from our hotel. This was a great way to understand more about the culture. There were also absolutely beautiful elements of architectural design.