Journey to Morocco: Part One

Flight One: LAX to Chicago O’Hare… I read like a third of “Into Thin Air,” written by the author of Into the Wild (read: one of my favorite books and movies) the narrative is arresting and the fact that he was THERE makes it more real and arresting. The summit of Everest is about the cruising altitude I am flying at right now… pretty much mind-blowing. Living in a base-camp at like 16,000 feet in tents for two months makes what I am embarking on look like a walk in the park. I guess its reassuring? Reading inspiring stories of what individuals can do makes my life look easier and my little tasks seem very doable.
Later, on a much less inspirational note I Watched an episode of the office on the in-flight TV. I listened to some baby cry (loudly) for the whole descent. The guy that I sat by during this flight looked like a weird cross between George Lucas and Richard Gere (I know, right?)

Chicago: Super short layover! I am sitting two chairs away from an attractive young man who looks like a young Dave Grohl. This is the last time I’m going to be able to text anyone in America until July 24th? 25th? I should really find out when I’m coming home.

Flight Two: Chicago O’Hare to Madrid: it has become evident that its physically impossible for me to sleep sitting up without leaning on anything. Right now I am in Madrid, unfortunately I’m not leaving the airport so I can’t really say I’ve “been” to Spain. Does spending three hours in the airport count as visiting? My gate to Casablanca isn’t announced yet so I am at my leisure to peruse the duty-free stores and smell the expensive perfume I am making an effort not to succumb to buying.
On the flight, I saw a menu in the in-flight magazine with prices listed next to it and I got all paranoid about whether they were going to serve me food or not. The announcements in the plane were made in Spanish and English, but it was so muffled that I couldn’t hear what they were saying, like, ever. So it was a mystery. FINALLY, they brought out the food–I was starving–I have no idea what time it was in any time zone but all I knew is that I was hungry. Say what you will about airplane food…. at the moment it was the most delicious meal served on Earth. Er, over the Earth.

Madrid: I am typing this update in notepad because they want me to pay 5 euros for 30 mintues of internet time… a little steep? Its the first rate I’ve seen so I have no basis to compare with. What am I supposed to do during this three hour layover? I have to report back to the info booth at 9:30 to get my gate assignment. It is 11PM California time [Saturday] and 8AM Madrid time [Sunday]. Trippy right? Time zones are so weird!
I snagged a bench where the arm rest was broken off so I essentially have a double seat. Naptime? Time to guard my valuables with my life and perhaps try to get an hour or so of sleep.

Update: that whole nap thing didn’t work out. I’ll post the rest of my journey from Madrid to Casablanca to Rabat next time… for now I should probably try to sleep.

Also, I tried to add a couple pictures but it gave my computer a heart attack so you’ll have to wait until I can find a stronger internet connection.

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The Open Road

airports... i know them well
airports... i know them well

Alright readers, here’s the scoop… This is, and should be for a couple  years to come at least, my travel journal! There is something romantic about keeping a journal of your times in faraway locations, and there’s something even more romantic than that about keeping it in some tattered and dusty journal you roll up under your pillow at night. The thing is, I’m not so good and keeping something like that going without any kind of positive reinforcement so I decided that it would be a better idea to blog about it instead–that’s where the positive reinforcement comes into play with reader comments and whatnot. (So be sure to comment.)

La Route Libre means The Open Road… I was going for something Kerouac-esque and decided to just kind of take it and make it French. I didn’t want to do something location-specific, because I plan on using this for other travels at later times down the [open] road.

In the immediate future, this blog will contain the life and times of Staci in Morocco, with a couple of bonus days thrown in of Staci in Rome and Paris. Please let me know if there’s anything specific you would like to know about these travels, I will be happy to oblige! If not, I gave you the chance, and now you will be subjected to whatever I feel the need to write about that day, even if it’s mundane. I will try to keep it as interesting as possible.

(Also, writing this also provided the content for my “about” page so if you read this far, don’t feel the need to go over there because it is identical. But feel free to refer back to that page…. if you ever feel so inclined.)

This time tomorrow I will be somewhere over the Rocky Mountains on my way to Chicago. From Chicago I will sneak my way onto a plane to Madrid (okay, okay, i have a ticket so there will be less sneakines and more… just walking onto the plane.) From Madrid I will swim the Strait of Gibraltar and find myself in Casablanca. This ordeal will take me the better part of an entire 24 hour period. Its going to be long, but good. I already got my annual “problems at the airport” quota filled for the year (see: Denver) so I am really crossing my fingers that everything will go as smoothly as possible.