EUROPE BLOG May 29th, 2023 - MARRAKESH to NEW YORK

5/29/23- Going home day is finally here. Our ride shows up at 7:45am and takes us to the airport in 15 minutes. We check in, drop off our luggage, grab our tickets and proceed to passport control (which is weird as this first flight is domestic to Casablanca).

There’s a stir from the guard when looking at our tickets and we’re held up for about 10 minutes while they sort it out. They let us through, but I realize the airline put both of our flights on the same paper ticket (including the next one to New York) so I’m sure that was the issue. It’s here that I notice our next flight tickets are both middle seats and will need to ask someone at the next airport for a change.

Our flight leaves on time at 10:40am and literally takes only 20 minutes in the air before we touch down. I’ve never been on a flight that short but we get there none-the-less. We then have to go back through security as soon as we enter the airport (I mean seriously, what could’ve we brought on the last plane that’s suddenly not allowed on the next). Needless to say, my soda purchased before the flight is now dumped.

We get through fine and I have to hunt down someone from Royal Air to assist on the tickets but told to go back through transit (which makes me go back through security again). The lady barely looks at my ticket after I explain the situation and says “Impossible, flights full” then ignores me until I leave. Um, it’s four hours before the flight, there’s no way it’s full already. Either case, there’s nothing I can do at this point so it’s the middle of the plane it is.

Upon returning to our gate, where Kelvin is waiting for me, a group of people sit around us smelling as if they just got off the bus from Cameroon. I’m really hoping our seats are not around this body odor.

I then call customer service to see what they can do and am told since I booked with American Airlines that they can’t do anything. I contact American Airlines and they say since it’s not their plane they can’t do anything. LOL. The saga continues.

The layover is a long 4 hours but we manage by eating the breakfast our hotel gave us. As we board, I talk with one of the flight crew who does change my seat to a window. I give it to Kelvin because I’m a nice guy and honestly the middle seat I have isn’t that bad as I’m able to watch several movies to waste time.

The flight is smooth until the landing, which felt like we were about to tumble over. Passport control is easy to go through; we pick up our bags, walk out of the terminal and call an Uber, taking us 10 minutes to our hotel (Fairfield Inn by Marriott). We have an actual microwave in our room (which none of the hotels in Europe did), extra towels, tv works with English channels and the room is large. I missed America.

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