Morocco Day 1
Morocco
Day 01 - Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - Flight - Denver to NY JFK to Morocco
With our new Daylight Saving Time it was still very dark when our alarm went of at 6:00 AM. We showered and finished our few remaining chores and said goodbye to our furry friends Kwai and Buddha.
It was 14º and there was light snow as we closed the garage doors for our adventure to Morocco and Tunisia with our good friends through OAT.
The further we went from our house, the more the snow came down and by the time we reached Interstate 25, two or three inches had accumulated. Traffic was slow but moving at about 49 MPH until we reached the outskirts of Castle Rock.
Three snow plows were cleaning the interstate and blocked the three lanes of traffic. So much for traffic flow!
After about 40 minutes of stop and go and no speed over 10 MPH, we decided to take a chance on the Castle Pines exit going the back way to C-470 and then the toll road to the airport.
This was a good choice, at least we were moving and by 9:00, after two hours on the road, we finally made it to the Pikes Peak Parking area. A shuttle was right at the “S” kiosk waiting for us and took us directly to our Delta check-in.
The ticket agent assured us we had plenty of time and checked our bags all the way through to Marrakech. We had a slight delay at TSA security and then rode the train to C Concourse and walked over to Gate 40 for our flight to JFK.
The flight had been delayed 15-20 minutes because of problems in New York. As we waited, Gennie called our son, Eduardo in Austin to let him know of our morning challenges. As we waited, we heard several other flights delayed or cancelled.
Finally at 10:20 we boarded a Delta 737 flight for the first leg of our journey. The flight was ¾ full and it took awhile for everyone to store their carry-ons, get out their lunches (some even breakfast), and settle in for our 3:40 minute flight.
As we flew east we had to climb to 39,000 feet due to turbulence and we saw that the tail winds were in excess of 130 MPH. As we began our descent there was extreme turbulence and some passengers got sick.
We arrived almost 30 minutes early and due to congestion concerns at JFK we had to sit on the tarmac until the gate opened. Our pilot kept us continuously updated and that made people feel somewhat better. We were finally given clearance and arrived at Terminal 3 Gate 16 at 4:40 PM.
We walked into the terminal, we asked directions to Terminal 1 and unlike the last time we were here, people were very friendly and supportive. We got on the SkyTrain and quickly at the terminal. We were helped again to find the Royal Air Maroc check-in and quickly got our boarding passes.
It took us a little while to go through security but after clearing we found Gate 1 from where our flight would depart at 8:01pm. We settled in to begin working on the journal, downloading the pictures and just waiting. We met Barbara and Vilma from California. They will be traveling with us on the pre-trip and Tunisia.
We boarded our Royal Air Maroc 767-300 aircraft at 6:45 and soon found out that it was a full flight, so many people, so many languages, and so many colorful costumes.
We pushed back from the gate at JFK International Terminal 1 and were able to see aircraft from all over the world including a huge new Airbus 380 flying the flag and colors of the United Arab Emirates. The huge expanse of the city of New York was below us for only a few minutes and then we were over the dark black Atlantic on our way to North Africa.
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Post a Comment!I like the way you label your pictures below each one. Thanks.
DIA Atrium
Gate C40
JFK from Google Earth
JFK Terminal
JFK Night Air
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