Palaces and The Sahara

[n7of9]

I've always been iffy about posting a trip report. I'm not of the social media generation, and other than Reddit and AFF, have no actual social media profiles. I started a trip report last year on my trip to South Korea and Japan, but deleted it after a few days without posting. Earlier this year, though, I really enjoyed @Human's TR of KSC and it just made me happy following his travels and remembering my own time there... so here's my TR of London and Morocco.

I've booked a 9-day tour of Morocco - single menopausal woman with a Natural Resting coughface travelling alone in a Muslim country, I'm not taking any chances! (I swear I'm happy on the inside and more than likely thinking about how cute my cat is, but I'm told my face says otherwise). I've done many multi-day tours over the years and always resigned myself to the fact that the accommodation will just suck, but this particular tour calls itself "Upgraded" so I'm hoping for slightly better than suck.

Once I had my tour dates I started looking for SQ J rewards to anywhere in Europe for whatever dates before and after the tour. I ended up with MEL-SIN-FRA and the dastardly dilemma of how to fill a week in Europe before I needed to be in Casablanca - oh no, my life is so hard, etc. I considered driving Frankfurt to Paris; flying to Barcelona and driving South to at least be closer to Morocco; train to London via Brussels. In the end I decided I'll have two nights in Frankfurt adjusting to the time zone then I'll fly to London for 5 nights before Casablanca.

I've only been to London once, for 3 days. I do want to do a proper in-depth trip of the UK and Ireland 'one day', so this time I decided to spend all my time in London visiting various Palaces. Of course, only after I'd booked flights for my Mon to Fri visit did I realise that a lot of the palaces and castles aren't open on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I'm missing out on Kensington Palace. But I will make it to Buckingham Palace, Hampton Court Palace, Windsor Castle, and the Palace of Westminster, as it is still called.

...
I'm pretty sure it was my first time in J on an A380. I gotta say, not a fan of the seat, I found it hard on the butt, and the lie flat position felt like my head was lower than my feet. The seat controls were too difficult to make incremental changes - I'd press it 4 times and nothing would happen, then on the 5th it would zoom out of control and wouldn't stop. Lord of the Rings marathon filled up 9 of the 13 hours nicely, though.

...
That's a lot of words for someone who hasn't actually done anything yet, other than leave home and check into the Hilton Garden Inn in Frankfurt. They have windows that open, yay, but only fruit tea, and no bottled water.

...
<STATS>

Flexiroam Global 12 months 30GB $172

SYD-MEL VA J on 737-800 with no shower curtain, $386 originally when I thought I'd be working that day, but changed to an earlier flight a week out for +$192

MEL-SIN SQ J on A359 with the flip down bed, 67,000 Velocity points plus $242
BTC Peppercorn Beef

SIN-FRA SQ J on A380, 92,000 Velocity points plus $301
BTC Lobster Thermidor (served with veges not rice, yey)
BTC Beef and mushroom burger

Changi Aerotel hours booked, 4...used, 3

Hilton Garden Inn, Frankfurt, 2 nights, $263 plus a Luxury Escapes voucher for $150

Things forgotten, 1 Fitbit charger. Amazon UK should be delivering one to my London hotel tomorrow

Hours waiting at MEL, 4.5
Hours waiting at SIN, 5

Leaked liquids, 2 (toner, face cream)

Wheels broken on my suitcase, 3 of 8
...

Mini Churros at MEL SilverKris lounge, so good!

Book the Cook - Beef peppercorn (great), Lobster Thermidor (great), Beef mushroom burger (not good)


Hilton Garden Inn, Frankfurt

 

[Human]

Definitely following, and well done for doing a TR — the first post is the hardest!

One lesson: Burgers on planes don’t work.

 

[kookaburra75]

On board, deck chairs set up to follow you along - MrsK says she can relate to your mindset. Morrocco is an interesting place; what's your itinerary?

 

[tgh]

Interesting place, Morocco,,following...

 

[Daver6]

Definitely following, and well done for doing a TR — the first post is the hardest!

One lesson: Burgers on planes don’t work.

I was about to agree with this thinking of a disappointing burger I had in QR F. However, recently CX J had a seriously good burger, so it can be done.

 

[VPS]

Very interested in your Morocco trip. It’s a place I’d like to go and as a cranky old lady not keen on tours

 

[Flyfrequently]

Another on board with you @n7of9
Enjoy!

 

[n7of9]

Morrocco is an interesting place; what's your itinerary?

 

[kookaburra75]

View attachment 471054

Wow - now that is an itinerary! The back country north of Fes, up through the Atlas Mountains is great to see. Even up the coast, where it is a mix of Phoenician/Roman/Byzantine antiquity (usually stacked on top of each other) is interesting. The open country down south is fascinating too. Very, very jealous, and riding on board.

Very interested in your Morocco trip. It’s a place I’d like to go and as a cranky old lady not keen on tours

As I'm heading to retirement, I've been looking for an angle to set up a small business where I could link travel to business expenses. Although spinning my ideas for branding past MrsK, of "...cranky old lady not keen on tours" Tours, didn't land that well.

 

[VPS]

Wow - now that is an itinerary! The back country north of Fes, up through the Atlas Mountains is great to see. Even up the coast, where it is a mix of Phoenician/Roman/Byzantine antiquity (usually stacked on top of each other) is interesting. The open country down south is fascinating too. Very, very jealous, and riding on board.


As I'm heading to retirement, I've been looking for an angle to set up a small business where I could link travel to business expenses. Although spinning my ideas for branding past MrsK, of "...cranky old lady not keen on tours" Tours, didn't land that well.

if I ran a tour, nothing would start earlier than 10am and breakfast must be served in your room or if you have to come down then you should be allowed to have not showered and definitely no make up

 

[RooFlyer]

Pls excuse the distractions, @n7of9 . As compo I'll say look out for saffron, which is grown in the lower Atlas hills.

I was about to agree with this thinking of a disappointing burger I had in QR F.

If you order a burger in any F you deserve to be disappointed. Book whY next time.

As I'm heading to retirement, I've been looking for an angle to set up a small business where I could link travel to business expenses.

Some business mates and I went to start an exploration company in Morocco; after doing due diligence in west Africa, Morocco seemed the safest bet re corruption.

Na. In fact I dare not enter the country any more as our Moroccan partner, who we punted for stealing from us, has excellent government connections (which is why we got him in ...).

 

[n7of9]

if I ran a tour, nothing would start earlier than 10am and breakfast must be served in your room or if you have to come down then you should be allowed to have not showered and definitely no make up

You're my favourite person of the day, I want to write songs about you.

 

[VPS]

You're my favourite person of the day, I want to write songs about you.

thanks - you just made me LOL

 

[Flyfrequently]

RBF Travels @VPS @n7of9 for your travel guidelines "Resting...... you get the rest

 

[MEL_Traveller]

View attachment 471054

Glad you are doing Chefchaouen! One of the most beautiful cities in Morocco! Lovely to walk around at night. Shame they haven’t included Tangiers though, the old part of the city with European influences is wonderful, and depending on your hotel, you can have breakfast looking out to Spain!

If you are flying business class into Marrakech there’s an unofficial fast track to the far right of the immigration hall. Show your boarding pass and you’ll be let in. Saved us well over two hours in February. The lane is not marked, but says something like crew/diplomatic.

 

[Scarlett]

Nice tour and I like the plan to have a bit of a look around London. So many great places there.

Do you know if they’re putting you up in a riad in the old town of Marrakech? Such a nice setup in many of them.

 

[n7of9]

If you are flying business class into Marrakech there’s an unofficial fast track to the far right of the immigration hall. Show your boarding pass and you’ll be let in. Saved us well over two hours in February. The lane is not marked, but says something like crew/diplomatic.

Both in and out of Morocoo was quite expensive so I booked economy for both. Thanks for the tip, though, I'll get to MKA super early for my flight out in case its similar hooha getting out.

Nice tour and I like the plan to have a bit of a look around London. So many great places there.

Do you know if they’re putting you up in a riad in the old town of Marrakech? Such a nice setup in many of them.

We are staying in a Riad in Chefchaouen, and Marrakech

 

[n7of9]

Forgot to mention the clusterforkenstraße that is Frankfurt international arrivals. It I was like they'd only just learnt how to deal with crowds and were still getting used to it, trying their best. A staff member at the end of a long corridor was aggressively directing Asian-looking people to the snake queue to the left, and everyone else to go around the corner to the end of another long corridor. Germans seemed confused that they had to wait in any line at all, and Italians were physically pushing people aside so they can get in front of them. When I got to the front of my very long queue I was directed to, you guessed it, the line of Asian-looking people - because, you see, only Asians have foreign passports and everyone else must obviously have an EU passport. The border patrol man stared a hole through my skull and asked "where you going" which I astutely translated to "what brings you to our lovely country full of warm people", and promptly gave me my first stamp in my new passport when he learnt I'll only be his country's problem for 2 days.

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I woke up at 3:15am which isn't too bad, it'll be 6am within a couple of days and that's perfect. I tried to go back to sleep but my stomach started doing maths - if I ate 5 hours before I landed and I've been here for 9 hours, when are you going to feed me? Room service is from 1700 to 2200 which I didn't notice before I crashed out last night...oops!

Rossman (711/Priceline looking place) opens at 8:00, as does the bakery across the road from it, and the hop on/hop off from Romer 1.2km away at 10:00. I guess I'll just fill up on water until I can eat, my room only has two coffee sachets.

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There's nothing open. I was last in Germany 14 years ago and things weren't open on Sundays. They still aren't.

I think I'm in a bad part of town. Just before 8 on the way to the bakery (which was open, phew!) I saw lots of sex shops, lots of drunk people, lots of groups of men hanging out in doorways of indeterminate businesses, and lots of homeless people yelling at ghosts. One such man made a beeline for me and when he saw the fear on my face he too got scared and just ran away. I'd only made it 50m from the Hilton..wtf? Discarded beer bottles everywhere, most of them broken, and everything just smelled of urine - like the bad parts of Sydney City, south of Park Street.

I hurried to the bakery and got a coffee and two baked goods, and hid in the corner while I ate and contemplated my choices. It started raining. There's nothing open.

I knew the train station was nearby and hoped that it would be one of those big German ones (it was) and would have lots of people (it did), and that if I could just find an umbrella I'd be more comfortable figuring out my next steps.

...
Literally everything got better after I purchased an umbrella. Away from the sex shops I found beautiful European architecture, a mix of old and new, and with so few people around it made it easier to be aware of my surroundings. Nearing Romer, I could see ye olde buildings in the distance, and came into a wonderful square just as church bells started ringing from everywhere.

After the first hoho loop finished at 11am I found that the streets had come alive with tourists, and shops relevant to tourists (food!) had opened, representing most cuisines of Earth - Indian, Thai, Hot Pot, KBBQ, doner kebab, doner kebab, doner kebab. I'm pretty sure the Germans think they perfected the doner much like Americans believe they perfected Italian food. You couldn't pay me to eat a kebab at home but you can bet your ace I'm going to eat one before the day is done.

I got off the second hoho loop at the zoo and though not spectacular, it's always a nice way to spend time doing nothing. I was done with the bus and walked back through the city on this side of the river, then on that side - that's literally what they're called, diesseits des Main or jenseits des Main. Efficient, accurate, German.

Frankfurt, ford of the Franks... when they couldn't find a shallow part of the river to cross, they would place rocks to create a ford, to make the crossing by foot easier.

Having now walked 11.02km/17,499 steps, I was nearing the Hilton and found the sex street again. It seems to just be one street around the corner from the hotel, and if I can just remember which one it is I can easily avoid it. A woman no older than mid-20s was walking in the middle of the road and yelled at a car, Al Pacino I'm walking over here style, then approached me and introduced herself. She was ..uuuhhh, tweaking? Either the drugs were wearing off OR or she needed medication which she didn't have, she was twitchy and kept looking over her shoulder. She was extremely polite and thanked me for not dismissing her. She said she didn't want money but asked if I would be kind enough to buy her some food.

I could not say no. Honestly, what would you do? What if I said no and she physically attacked me? What if I said yes and she led me into a dodgy doorway and I got mugged? What if she's just a young woman and she wants some food? How many bad decisions am I away from having to ask a stranger to buy me food - 3? 30? I walked with her to a pizza shop across the road and you could tell the dude did not want to serve her or me. I asked him if he takes card and he said €10 minimum as a deterrent. You see, a few hours earlier I'd spent 15 Euros on a stupid tote bag from the effing zoo because I'd bought too many pretzels from yet another bakery, so I needed a carry bag to put them in. And this woman was now apologising and offering to go elsewhere where it would be cheaper than €10. I told her to just order more food, I paid, and wished her well.

Frankfurt, proud to be the city of more than 200 foreign banks, employing over 600,000 people from all over the world, and still its citizens go hungry. It's not right.

...
<STATS>

Things forgotten-
Umbrella (minischirm), 1
Hat, 1

Things appropriated-
SQ folding comb/brush, 5 (I have a problem)

Taxi drivers who tried to scam me, 1
Taxi drivers who succeeded, 0

Mirrors directly facing the toilet so you can observe yourself in all your glory, 3 (2 planes, and my hotel room)

Frankfurt Hauptbanhof, 350K passengers per day

Lufthansa employees, 100K

Bus left at 10am precisely as the clocktower struck it's last dong, it was both impressive and creepy

.....

Stunning architecture













A steam train through the middle of the city! No platforms, it stops, you get off as best you can


Old and new:


This is titled: How would I even know I was in Europe if the bridges didn't have padlocks? -OR- Your AirBnB key will be at padlock 873 code 0101


Zoo










This one made me sad, his eyes were so very human and he did NOT want to be there:


And this is why Germans have no chill:

 

[Pushka]

Very interested in this as we are doing an 11 night Morocco tour next year through Luxury Escapes.