Epic Morocco-Part 6

Asking the driver in Spanish, we figure they have rode on ahead. We drive another 20 minutes and begin to spot the string of riders. Yes…I have caught up with the group. I meet Charlie, owner of Epic Morocco, for the first time and we decided to drive on ahead where I can change from Airplane gear to bicycle gear. Pretty soon, the group meets up with us, I get the Giant hardtail, change over to my crank brothers egg beater pedals and start the micro adjustments. I ride a 03’ Giant VT 1, so I have had great experiences with Giant bicycles.
I have been going since the previous day with 4 hours of airplane sleep, I am now on a bike, riding down the dirt road (warm-up) and for some reason, I am still awake. Starting out at the back of the group, I speak with each member for a bit, then ride up to the next one. In not too long of a time, I am now at the front of the pack on no sleep, not breathing very hard. The 15 weeks of training I had been doing paid off.
We travel around an hour when the group stops on the road side next to one of many road side random stuff for sale. They have fossils, ceramics, and other random trinkets. The SAG vehicles catch up to us for none snickers, nut/dried fruit mix, and water refill. What a nice valley we were above. Charlie informed us that the road ahead was a bit rough and it was ok to walk parts of it. AHHH…a challenge…looking forward to one of these.
The road down was big chunk rock that was a mix of loose rock, water eroded lines, to hard chunk rock with a nice down angle. My brakes weren’t working so well, I kept pulling the right brake and wouldn’t stop as much as I thought I could (I couldn’t even skid the brakes when I tried). I later find out that these bikes were configured like Motorcycles and was grabbing the front brake with my right hand. I soon pass the other group members and get the opportunity to explore the road below. As the tour goes I would zip passed the group, stop, take my camera out and take several pictures. I have included the pictures above.

The best way to describe what I am seeing as going back 200 years.
As we continued to ride into hour 4, dark black clouds started to loom above. Charlie mentioned that if it started to rain, we would need to get out of their quick. Apparently, the road turns into a sticky clay substance that the vehicles and bicycles have a hard time making it to the next stop.
As the clouds loom ahead we ride into….

Epic Morocco-Part 5

Part 5
I look at the lady and say, pardon me, here is my itinerary, here is the boarding pass your companies agent gave me in JFK, New York, here is my ticket number. I was bumped off two flights to get here. She had 10 other people to deal with, so she told me to wait a minute, while the others went right on through the line and loaded the bus to the tarmac where the airplane was sitting. So I thought, great, I make it all this ways to fall short in Casablanca and miss my tour.
-As the last bus full of people drives away, the lady behind the corner of Royal Air Maroc turns to me, looks at my ticket number, looks it up, does a few things, finds something, then hands me a ticket with a seat and tells me to get on the next bus, I am making the plane!!!! WOOHOOO!!!!
So I am on the plane to Marrakesh…yeah…I am getting to Marrakesh. I land in the plane, get off, and go through a huge empty airport. To a carousel. Well, remember we had 15 minutes to switch planes in Casablanca so there is a good chance I won’t find my luggage. Great…
Then the luggage cart comes around and guess what I see…yeah!!! My luggage I just bought in Minneapolis. I don’t see anywhere to try to see if my other luggage made it so I go through customs which was very straight forward and see a man with a piece of paper with my name on it.
We figure out He doesn’t speak English, I don’t speak French or Arabic, so we decide on Spanish. So I am able to tell him that I have another bag from another airplane that came yesterday. Turns out his French isn’t so good, so here is the funny part. I translate my English to Spanish, speak Spanish to him, he translate that into Arabic to the Customs guy, who talked in French to the other customs guy. They tell me to follow him and he brings me to the claims guy who speaks English. Yeah!!! I tell him my story and hand him my luggage tag (yes they are useful) and he tells me he has it locked up. Wow…I have two pieces of luggage now. But I have to tell the other customs guy down the hall to bring the key.
When I get to the customs guy, I ask in French if anyone speaks English. They get one guy, and I motion and say a key and point to the other guy. They must have understood the international hand symbol for key, because they scrambled around for a couple minutes and produced a key. They open the door and there was my luggage. Kind of sketchy, I get the bag and the guy tells me to have a nice day, doesn’t check the tag or anything.
I walk back through customs with two full luggage sets out to the driver waiting for me, we get in the Land Rover and we are off. To recap, I have slept 4.5 hours 30, I am on my way in a car, speaking to a Moroccan driver in Spanish in Africa and he keeps inserting Arabic words in Spanish which is confusing the daylights out of me. 2 ½ hours later, we go up and over Tishka Pass which is way high~7k feet, where it is now cold, damp, raining and we are going way into the middle of nowhere. We pass many donkeys with goods on their backs being driven on small paths and red, red rock. We keep going, and going, and going. I finally ask him if he knows where he is going and he says yes…of course he would.
We go to the town of Telout, where we were supposed to meet and there was no group….hmmm…the driver then pulls off the road to a 1 lane road where we are looking for the group. We drive for 20 minutes and nothing. This is really weird.

Epic Adventure-Morocco-Part 4

What!!! There is no way I can get bumped 3 times in one journey. So after 20 minutes and several calls to a supervisor, she kept asking me for my paper ticket. I can’t remember the last time I even saw a paper ticket. Eventually, she found my information through the delta code share number , but my goodness, it was tough. Luckily, she was tri-lingual and spoke English well. I get my ticket and check my bag, and wait in the international terminal in JFK airport. What an international place. I went to get some dinner and it felt awkward to speak English to person behind the counter.
I get on the plane, the pilot gets on the loudspeaker and out comes Arabic, French, then in English. Awesome, finally, I am going to Morocco. It was 10pm, I had 6 ½ hours to try and sleep on the plane before I arrive in Casablanca, switch planes, hop in a transfer vehicle, for several hour ride to meet up with the tour, where I get off the car, hop onto a mountain bike and ride 20 miles.
So I got about 4 hours of random sleep during the flight, we arrive in Casablanca, Morocco around 40 minutes late and have 10 minutes to get to the next flight. Luckily, there are 25 or so of us, so they hold the flight from Casablanca to Marrakesh. Unlike most countries, they keep the planes on the tarmac, then bus you into the terminal. I get off the bus, walk through the terminal, through security, onto the gate for the next flight. I hand the lady behind the counter the ticket they gave me in New York, only to be told, yes you guessed it sorry sir, I do not see you on this flight, do you have a paper ticket. By this time, I could only laugh, because in 5 flight segments, not one went well. I look at the lady, take out my itinerary and say....

Epic Morocco Adventure-Part 3

An email from Trish owner of Bike Hike Adventures. She had gotten my email at 9pm, made several phone calls, reached Charlie at Epic Morocco, and everything was set up so that I was good to go. Thank goodness…She had called Epic Morocco in Marrakesh, who also made arrangements to have a driver meet me at the airport and take me to the nearest town to meet up with the group.
Bike Hike Adventures (+ 5 answered email at 9pm, called across North America, Altantic, all the way to Africa to set me up to meet up with the tour that I was going to be a day late for.
Epic Morocco (+5 arranging a driver to pick me up at the airport, and drive me to meet the group 2 hours outside of Marrakesh over a high mountain pass).
Yes, finally something was going my way and I was very happy to have researched such great adventure tour companies.
I am all set up to meet up with my tour, only I have no bike helmet, bike jerseys, no sleeping bag…the slightly important stuff. I asked the Hotel staff for outdoor sports stores and they point me to the mall of America. I go online only to find stores like Foot Locker (not really helpful). Just out of curiosity, I look up REI and find one miles in Bloomington, MN next to where I am staying. So I go to the Hotel counter and find they have regular trips scheduled to the Mall of America. After explaining my storing and presenting a map of where REI is, I meet the driver and he gladly agrees to help me achieve my goal of reaching all 7 continents. With my plane leaving at 1300, I had to be at the airport by 1100 (didn’t want to miss this flight). That left me with REI opening at 1000. The driver drops me off at 1000. I have 40 minutes to buy a 20 degree sleeping bag, 2 bike Jerseys, 2 shirts, a pair of shorts, socks to cycle in, bicycle gloves, a Hat, a camelback (or equivalent), 2 pair bike shorts, soap, soap container, first aid kit, and I figured I needed more than 2 pair of underwear for 9 days. To help the shirts and jerseys last longer without stinking, I choose merino wool for a jersey and one shirt, and socks. Well, since REI charges full price for everthing, $800 later and 40 minutes later, I get out of REI meet the shuttle, get to the hotel, load the new stuff in my new bag, and run back out to meet the shuttle and off to the airport.
I check the luggage (with tags still hanging) at the airport and walk through without any problems. Woah…something must be wrong. I get to the to boarding gate, and ask the agent to please verify I still have a seat. I have a seat…woohoo!!!!
Northwest Airlines (Minneapolis-section +1 I have a seat on a flight…finally).
I am told that I need to check in when I get to JFK at Royal Air Moroc Airlines and get that ticket there.
I get on the plane, am in the air without any problems…something was finally going right, I am going to get to Morroco…woohoo! Landing in JFK I had 4 hours, thankfully, because that is one huge airport. Nearly getting lost, I take a train to the right area, and find the Royal Air Moroc counter.
I hand them my passport, she types in the number and says, I sorry sir, I don’t see you on this flight…(until next post)

Epic Journey to Morocco-Part 2

I get to the gate, only to be told, were sorry sir, you didn’t check in 60 minutes before your flight, we gave away your seat. What!!!! How can that happen? I just got rescheduled through here from getting bumped…I can’t get bumped twice in one trip? Again, this flight was overbooked by 15 people as well, so there was no way I was getting on. By this time, I about gave up…I mean, it was easier to get to Antarctica than to catch 1 blasted flight to Amsterdam. Well, the flight was leaving and I was out of options to get to Marrakesh by Friday night. I should have taken the flight on British Air..hmm..
Well, the Northwest Airlines people behind the counter looked at me and asked me why I was here. I was not so calm this time explaining your Seattle Northwest counter parts involuntarly bumped me in Seattle and routed me through here. The lady behind the counter kept asking me where my checked in Luggage was and she would not/could not accept that my luggage left on the flight that I was not on. She kept saying, that can’t be, that is illegal. After 15 minutes of explaining my story, her supervisor came over, hit a few keys, shook her head and confirmed my luggage was on its way to Amsterdam and told me not to expect my luggage where ever I end up.
Northwest Airlines (minus two--luggage really lost and illegal, and NWA didn’t check me in when I left Seattle dooming me to getting bumped--again).
Now I have been up for 16 hours, it is 9pm, I missed two flights, missing my first night in Marrakesh, not knowing where or when I can get to Marakesh or if I can meet up with my tour.
Having done extensive research on flights, I knew quite a few alternative routes to get to Mararkesh. It was obvious I wasn’t going to get to Marrakesh until Saturday morning. Errrggg!!! We tried, London, Spain, Germany, Amsterdam, France, and finally told them Delta code shares with Royal Air Maroc out of New York. We get that flight all worked out, but I don’t get in until Saturday morning 9am in Marrakesh. The tour leaves before then, but maybe I can meet up with the group. The staff in Minneapolis was really, really helpful, giving me several food vouchers, and also explaining to me that I will not meet up with my luggage for several days.
(Northwest Airlines- Plus 1-finding another route- & a $750 voucher for another flight--not sure if I want to use it at that point).
They give me a hotel room, and find out I am just one of hundreds of others from Northwest that had flight issues that night and were being given rooms. So I call the number they gave me for a hotel and it went to some dude named Fred. He was a little upset I was calling at 2300 about a hotel room.
(Northwest Airlines (minus 0.5-booking at hotel and giving me no phone number of how to get there.)
I stumbled on the hotel shuttle, got on, and randomly, got to talking to several other guys in the van who grew up in the town I now live in and named a co-worker as one of his good friends. Then another lady next to me chimed in, and said, her sister also lives in the same town I live in. Here in Minneapolis at 2300 hours I am in a hotel shuttle with 3 separate people that all know the town I live in. Crazy weird.
I get to the hotel, look up my contact at EPIC MOROCCO (awesome company), but it is like 4am at this time. I emailed my booking company Bike Hike Adventures (awesome company) with my story and asked help contacting Epic Morocco. I also leave a message with EPIC Morocco’s website with my story. It is now midnight, been up for who knows how many hours, don’t know if Northwest Airlines will come through and actually get me to Marakesh, don’t know how to meet up, or if I can meet up with my tour group, don’t know where to get a bike helmet or other bike gear, don’t know if the Mall of America will open in time for me to get to the airport. Pretty much a mess, tired and can’t figure out what more to do, and go to bed.
I wake up around 0530 wide awake, go to check my email and find….