Today was an early start – we had to catch the airport shuttle at 5.30am.

Our first flight was Zurich to Paris and we left 15 minutes late. With such a fine transit time between the two flight we were not so confident of getting our next flight. Our travel agent had given us very specific maps to transit between terminal in Paris as this can be a nightmare. The usual time to walk between the two gates is 30-40 minutes.

On arrival in Paris we had to change terminals and gates for the ongoing flight to Marrakech, Morocco. It’s just as well that we were all sprinters in a past life as this came in handy here. We were literally running between the gates. Who thought it was a good idea to have another security check and passport gate during transit only! Damn the French.

We made it to the next flight in time, and with time for a quick little room stop on the way. The flight then left 20 minutes late!!

It’s a 3 hour flight to Marrakech. Over land, across the Mediterranean Sea, over the Middle Atlas Mountains (desert) and into the city – Marrakech.

We arrived in Marrakech, and after having passports checked 3 times in 15 minutes, having to explain to the immigration official that had no idea how to read my tickets that yes, my ticket did actually state Zurich to Paris, and then Paris to Marrakech, and point him to where it stated Marrakech on the boarding pass, I was allowed in. Yay.

The airport was not busy at all, and the first thing that struck me was how warm it was. And we were standing a glass enclosed atrium – what were we thinking. There were group photos taken at the airport and as enough people arrived we were ferried off to the hotel in mini-vans.

The check-in process was a bit slow and most rooms were not ready. Eventually we got our rooms and the air conditioning worked – that was the main thing.

We had a late snack by the pool with a cool refreshing beer. We had arrived.