The journey started on Wednesday 12th August at 03:00 (BST). Being the optimistic person I am, although people that know me will see the irony in that statement, I thought if I planned everything it would all go to plan. O ye of little faith events were about to unfold that would test the patience of most people.
The journey began with ordering a taxi, now for some reason Manila Airport requires people to check in 4 hours before the actual flight, so this had to be taken into account. Also the traffic in Manilla, well let’s just say Casablanca you got no worries, to travel 20 km took 2 and a half hours, as I said earlier being the optimistic soul I am (sic) I had planned for this and still arrived 2 hours early, so a 6 hour wait for the flight.
When I eventually got to check in the fun and games began, even though I had already got the exit visa (yes if you stay longer than 6 months in the Philippines you have to pay an exit visa to LEAVE. It was just my luck that the person in Passport control was not au fait with the system and that started a long discussion with various colleagues and supervisors, a little embarrassing for the person at the desk but even more frustrating for me, after 20 minutes we eventually got this sorted out and then we were down to 4 hours waiting for the flight.
Everything from here went fairly smoothly though I must admit for an International airport the facilities at Nino Aquino International Airport leave a lot to be desired, simple things like concession stands or equivalent in the waiting areas would help, there is only one vendor allowed to sell food and this has to be ordered and delivered within 30 minutes, so they effectively have a monopoly on the food, not the best idea as this limits your choice and if you need an example think Mcdonalds but a poorer version and that will give you an idea.
Once past check in we are in the ubiquitous Duty Free area, here the choices are a little more, shall we say abundant, but as is to be expected the prices are jacked up because here we have a captive market and you literally have no choice, the prices one can only assume are reached by collaboration between the providers, in other words a little cartel within the airport.
So we come to the gate and this actually runs fairly smoothly and we get on board the plane which was Turkish Airlines, now recently there has been a lot of hype about how good Turkish Airlines are and I must admit I was impressed. The staff were extremely courteous and spoke with flawless English and nothing was too much trouble for them, please take note Royal Air Maroc.
The meals on board this flight were quite impressive with a choice of three items on the Menu, Chicken, Fish and Beef and of course everything was Halal. What surprised me the most was that the utensils were actually metallic, in this day and age of post 9/11 flying this was definitely a welcome surprise and much appreciated, no fighting with plastic utensils that are basically useless.
The flight from Manila to Ataturk Istanbul was uneventful and on time and a very pleasant experience I would definitely recommend them, the only problem being was the 5 hour wait between flights, the lack of WIFI at the airport, if you wanted it you had to pay, no free WIFI.
Only downside after 5 hours waiting there was a 30 minute delay but in the overall scheme of things this was not too bad and was acceptable.
Again this was another Turkish Airways flight and the same exacting standards applied as the first flight, courteous and extremely helpful.
Finally arrived in Casablanca at around 2pm local times on th 13th August 2015, a long and tiring trip from Manila.
This is where the real fun begins, arriving at Passport control I join the queue several flights as would be expected, however for some reason known only to Royal Air Maroc, only 7 counters were open out of 24, this despite it being the peak month for tourism both local and International and to cap it all part way through one left his post and was not replaced, this despite other flights arriving behind us and the queue was building up with peoples tempers getting a little frayed.
The procedure for checking incoming passport holders seemed very long with each person taking around five minutes each, despite it being computerised it was long and slow, Marrakech is definitely better organised.
Eventually after an hour I got through with no further problems and then proceeded to the ONCF station at the airport, the train to Casa Voyageur was 10 minutes late, but that was OK in the overall scheme of things.
From there things took a dramatic downhill turn, the train for Tangier was supposed to leave at 17:35 but did not leave until 4 hours later.
All in all its been an eventful 2 days but I must admit I am glad to be back
Are you just sat there waiting for the job to come to you?
antonymallinson 