My Moroccan Encounter
Photo by Raul Cacho Oses on Unsplash
Sometimes vacations don’t always go the way you want them to. A seasoned traveler knows how to be flexible and calm when things go wrong while traveling. Here’s my CRAZY story of when I went to Marrakech, Morocco with some friends and things started out ROUGH. I was so excited to FINALLY go to the “Motherland” (Africa, that is). We took a European budget airline (that will remain unnamed) from Europe, and all was going well at first. I fell asleep on the flight only to be awakened to see the beautiful Atlas mountain range over Marrakech - it was GORGEOUS!
However, there was one problem.
“A seasoned traveler knows how to be flexible and calm when things go wrong while traveling. ”
The pilot couldn’t land because there was a thick fog covering the city. We circled for 45 minutes or more in the air. I was in and out of sleep, interrupted intermittently by the pilot announcing why he couldn’t land. He finally said that he would try to land in a nearby city to solve the fog problem. Well, apparently he was using the word “nearby” loosely, lol. We landed in Agadir, a city on the Atlantic cost of Morocco, about 250 miles from Marrakech. Why there? Who knows.
I thought it was funny at first, but I was not expecting what was next.
We deplaned, and for some reason I thought we were going to stay at the airport until the fog cleared, and then be put on another flight to Marrakech. That did not happen. That European budget airline left us waiting at the Agadir airport with no further instructions. We were all confused. After 2 hours, the airport staff proceeded to put all the passengers on a bus to Marrakech (yes, I said BUS, y’know, 4 wheels, runs on the ground). Trip was supposed to take almost 4 hours to get there, but ended up taking us about 5. We were originally supposed to arrive in Marrakech at 7am, but didn’t arrive until 5 or 6 pm. We lost an entire day.
However, when we actually arrived in Marrakech it was amazing! Even though we lost the first day, we made the decision to not be sour and to just make the best of the rest of the trip. I now have a fun and interesting story to tell, and I’ll be honest, the bus ride was an adventure. We connected with the other passengers who were in the same situation as us. And we got to see lots of the interior of the country. All in all, Marrakesh was so much fun, and I definitely would love to go back!
Do you have a crazy travel story to tell? I’d love to hear about it! Comment below!