Finally, it was my time to board the train. It felt like 10 hours of waiting. Something funny happened to me while waiting. This lady that was sitting next time told me in arabic, “watch over my bags while I go to the bathroom.” I had no idea what she was saying. However, she thought I was Moroccan. After about 15 minutes, she came back. Grabbed her bags and thanked me in Arabic. Replied with the little arabic I know, “shukraan” meaning thanks. She found out that I obviously didn’t speak arabic. She told what she asked in English. We laughed and I made a new friend. That’s what life is about. Meeting people and making memories.
Once on-board the train, I went to the first class section. There was like a 7 dollar difference from the main cabin to the first class seats. It was a no brainer. Sat on my seat, I was surprised to see how beautiful the trains were. The west gives bad media attention towards africa. Trust me people, it’s not as backwards as you all think.
My cabin mates for this journey came and got to their seats. After about ten minutes, the train was in motivation. The crew operating the train came to check out tickets. He had to look at my ticket twice because it had the wrong date on it. The worker at the Marrakech station printed out the wrong ticket. I didn’t noticed because my mind was elsewhere. Reluctantly, I had to buy the ticket again. All this because I missed my frist train. Moral of the story, always google the current time when in a forgien country.
One of my cabin mates spoke English. He understood what happened and explained to me that I can get a refund at the Casablanca station. We ended speaking about the current affairs of Morocco. He told me this french and Arabic speaking country has Africa’s first high-speed train.
The further the train went into Morocco, the deeper my new friend and I had conversations about entrepreneurship went. He owns a few businesses and a travel agency. Found out he was going to Casablanca too. Sadly, there were two Scandinavian girls were killed.
My new friend showed his anger towards the terrorists that committed murder. He explained that terrorism is not Islam. This is something I already knew from my travels to Egypt. He let me know that terrorist groups create chaos to prevent progress. Morocco has just built their high-speed trains and opended up thier country more for tourism. This makes the extremist groups furious. It almost a reminder of my views towards the average muslim. They just want peace.
This is great always love reading your blogs
Making new friends while traveling is a wonderful side-effect of being new places.
Looks like cushy seating. Glad you had people to talk to. How long was the train ride?
The train was like 4 and a half. Felt like 2 really.
It was very comfortable. Yeah the guy did his best to try to make Morocco seem better because of the scam. He wanted to make sure i spoke well about Morocco
Seems the Moroccan focus is similar to Egypt all they can think about is getting tourists. Tourists for money and any opportunity they can grab. They do not want local money but foreign. I had a similar thing happen when buying a ticket to Cairo the people just do not listen I had to buy another tick on the train and I lost my seat booking too.
Sadly yes it is true. Moroccan in general are good but there are some scammers and thieves. It somewhat sad these people give bad impressions to such beautiful countries.
I have not been to Morocco and find your posts interesting. The Egyptians in general give a bad impression of a beautiful country.
yes, that is a sad true. regardless, i still see past the negativity,. well at least i try.
Loved the post. Trains are the best way to meet people when traveling aren’t they? Feels like people’s guards are down more as opposed to with air travel!
so very true! met some awesome people while traveling. trains are just more friendly
I’d love to go to Morocco one day. Your site has lots resources. Thanks
glad you liked it! keep safe out there!