The Nornes' just returned from a week in sunny Morocco and boy, isn't life is about the journey, not the destination? Travel is one of life's best educators and I firmly believe you come away from every trip with all kinds of new knowledge and experiences. I'm positively giddy thinking about our next trip to Spain and all the things we will see there. So here today, I would like to share with you all the lessons we learned from our recent journey to Agadir, Morocco, via Casablanca, with a side trip to Marrakech.
Lesson #1: Public transportation can be tricky.
We decided to take the bus/train/subway to the airport this time. We all have Navigo cards, which allow us to use public transportation easily--kind of like a credit card for the bus. So after consulting many aps & maps, we decide the best course of action is to take the #43 bus from our house to the RER C at Neuilly/Porte Maillot. From there, that train goes directly to Orly Airport (the "Love Field/Hobby" type of airport in Paris). We each have one suitcase (rolling, thank goodness!) and a carry-on bag. In our family, you only bring what you can carry yourself--that's the rule. So all is going great until we get to the RER station and we're waiting for the train. As we hear the train approach, Katherine says "It's a short train."
Because none of us move or any way acknowledge what she's just said, she repeats again: "It's a short train."
She then begins sprinting to the other end of the station: "IT'S A SHORT TRAIN!!!!!!"
We all get it now--it's a short train and it's stopping on the OTHER end of the station from where we are standing!!! We all run and roll as fast as possible clear to the other end of the platform to catch the RER train. (The RERs don't come as frequently as the metro, and the next one going to Orly is a 30-minute wait) We have to catch this one!!! I could barely run because I was laughing so hard. We are STILL dorky public transportation riders and what could be funnier to the people on the RER than watching some family run after the train with all their luggage?
Lesson #1: RER trains come in both long and short versions. You should really check the monitor to make sure you are waiting in the right place unless you enjoy chasing trains while wearing bags containing heavy computers around your neck. Oh, and the monitor's all in French.
Lesson #2: Self-Belief
Lately, we have been discussing college and how Katherine needs to continue to work hard, study more and improve her SAT/ACT scores, GPA, blah, blah, blah...all that stuff many of you have discussed with your kids. Paul wants one (or both!) of the girls to go into engineering and was telling Katherine how important it is to understand math...
Teresa: "You know, Katherine, we believe you can do this. We know if you apply yourself and study hard, you can make good grades and do well on your college exams (inspiring background music plays). Dad believes you can do it, and I believe you can do it, but do you know who DOESN'T believe you can do it?"
Katherine hangs head: "Me, I don't believe I can do it".
Laura: "Me, either--I don't think you can do it."
Family dies laughing. Lesson Learned: never try to give an inspirational pep talk to your older daughter when her younger sister is around. She makes you look like a bad parent when you start laughing at her smart mouth.
Lesson #3 Ride the camel, then go to the spa.
One of the things we read about Morocco was how you could ride camels. So we figured, cross that one off the bucket list, right? So after talking with our trusty concierge, Rashid, we signed up for a sunset camel ride and barbeque. How cool was that? Ride the camels at sunset, see the gorgeous scenery and take camel selfies, tweet "It's hump day!" and all that jazz.
The camel wrangler drove us about 20 minutes outside of town to the camel ranch, which was really just some hay bales behind a shack with some camels tied to each hay bale. Uh-oh...#sketchy as my 2 girls say. The camel wranglers were warm and friendly (Hassan and Abraham) and they got us on the camels right away. Sadly, my camel saddle was crooked, so I was falling off the right side the whole time. WHICH ALMOST CRIPPLED ME!! So much for my spa day earlier where I got the great massage...
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| Is it really a camel saddle or some cardboard covered with a rug? |
Most families do the camel pictures or half-hour rides, but not us, no sir! We sign up for the sunset ride AND barbeque = riding a camel for 2 hours and then eating with people we've never met who speak no English...priceless! I could have totally been happy with a 30-minute ride, or even just a picture. Wait, I was the one who wanted the sunset camel ride.... But, it was beautiful and we did see the sunset...the food was excellent (our best meal in my opinion!) and the girls used all their French to talk to our new friends at the barbeque. We thought we would be eating in the shack (#sketchy!), but there was actually a tent set up, which was kind of cool. So, BTE!! (better than expected). Another lesson learned: if you're going to ride a camel, make sure the massage is scheduled immediately, like on the way home from the camel ranch.
Lesson #4: See Lesson #3 above; insert the words "Dune buggy" for "camels".
Our last activity of the trip was driving dune buggies in the dessert. Or, well, beside several land fills and over some rocks. But, it was still fun!! You know how in the US when you do these types of activities, they usually give you a little "lesson" on how to drive the car? (probably because someone sued someone else once) Well, here in Morocco, if you look like you can reach the pedals, you can drive. There is no "lesson", guidance, training or even a warning. Just a flimsy helmet that you hope you don't get lice from wearing. But, no worries--I rode with Katherine, who has her driver's license and knows how to drive, right? She did a fabulous job and we had a blast for about 10 minutes until we had to suddenly stop for a truck crossing the highway (yes, you read that correctly, we drove across several highways). Fearless Leader on his 4X4 stopped, and Katherine quickly stopped. Laura, driving behind us, "wasn't sure" which pedal was the brake, so stopped her buggy by smashing into the back of our buggy. I was barely over riding the camels and now I had whiplash and possibly lice.
But, our adventures on the dune buggies had just begun. Our group of 8 or 9 cars stopped several times for "photo ops"and our car kept dying. Finally, it died for good. So, the rest of the group drove on, and Katherine & I were stuck with Fearless Leader (who spoke no English) and Cute Little Boy, who was about 6 years old. I guess the boy was odd-man out from the bigger group driving with us, and being too young to drive, he was riding along with one of our guides. No English spoken by Cute Little Boy, either. Fearless Leader called for a new buggy for us and after about a 20 minute wait, Buggy Helper Guy brought one. When we caught up with the rest of the pack, our group had stopped at yet another shack in the dessert for what? We went inside and our guides had set up some Berber tea and snacks, which would have been refreshing except that we had dust caked all over our faces. I had smartly applied my favorite Clinique lip balm (superbalm!) just before getting in the buggy, so I tell you, it's pretty hard to drink hot mint tea (Berber tea) when you can't lick your lips. Paul told me to put the camera away because it was getting too much dust in it and it would break. Probably good because that kept my family from taking pictures of me with dirt all over my face. It was reminiscent of my days running on the track team in West Texas when you're surrounded by cotton fields and a dust cloud. Not to mention my whiplash and fractured pelvis or spine or both. Another buggy ran out of gas there, so we ended up spending about an hour at that shack. Good thing there was a guy with a guitar inside to entertain us and demand money. He sang off-key in Arabic (or something????) and tried to lead us in a sing-along as we gamely tried to sing without getting any more dirt in our teeth. When we finally were leaving, he followed us out the door when he noticed we had not put a tip in his cup. I "pretended" not to be able to speak French or Arabic and thanked him for his music and hobbled back to my buggy. Lesson learned: When renting dune buggies, drive BEHIND the non-driving daughter and leave your lip gloss in your purse. And that 15 minute driving lesson you always get at Mount Asia is worth every penny.
One last funny thing: An overly smug (translation: bitchy) young woman decided she was way too important to stand in the long line through security in Agadir. While I didn't take too kindly to her move (and tried to block her out with my best basketball defense), she pranced right to the front of the line and breezed on through. As we got off the plane in Casablanca, she was semi-comatose in her seat with what I immediately identified as "Cocktail Flu", the term my friend Lori coined for a hangover. While obviously concerned, we cut to the front of the plane anyway so we could beat her through customs.
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