At my last post on 2 February 2021 I expected to be back in England in fairly short order, however several hitches occurred along the way, and I finally arrived back in Wirral on 29 June!

In February we had returned to Rabat and I attended a henna ‘tea party’ for Assia’s brother Sifdin’s wife Jehan who was then 6 or 7 months pregnant. Otherwise life continued as before. Everything was open in Rabat and life was pretty normal.

Jehan’s feet were also decorated

My house purchase continued to drag on, but I eventually got possession of my retirement flat in Hoylake in the second half of March. My friend, Linda then had to arrange for my possessions to be moved from storage and my new bed to be delivered and assembled (assembly service not available due to Covid). We allowed 3 weeks for this, so she could make it just habitable for my 10 days quarantine at home. There had been no direct flights from Morocco to the UK since before Christmas, so I booked a flight from Casablanca to Heathrow via Paris for the 9th of April. This involved 2 nights in hotels.

Then calamity struck as the Moroccan government closed its airspace to all flights to and from Europe. It was thought this was just for Ramadan (to stop migrant workers from France and Spain returning home in large numbers and bring Covid variants with them).

There were still flights to and from some other countries in Africa and the Middle East, but there were no ‘transfer’ flights to the UK at all, and I was unable to find a route via a safe country that would let UK citizens through passport control in order to catch another flight to the UK.

In Morocco Ramadan was from 13 April to 12 May, so I was hopeful that I would get home late May.

I fasted for another Ramadan. This time I was able to get out and about, but as it is against the law for a Muslim to eat in public during the fasting hours during Ramadan, all the cafes were closed. In places with lots of non-Muslim tourists I believe the cafes are normally open for them, but of course tourists were notable by their absence. But at least I could go for walks and at the end, the 3 days of holiday feasting with families could take place as normal.

View from the balcony. Three tables, children, women and men.

However mid May arrived and there was no announcement from the Moroccan government about re-opening the borders.

Up until then travel within Morocco had also been restricted since the end of March, but that was lifted. As a result it was decided to show me more of Morocco. I will make further posts about these journeys (and what it is like being on holiday and travelling with Moroccans). We visited Khouribga (about an hour east of Casablanca) where one of Jamel’s nieces lives for a few days. Then 5 of us went on a tour for 10 days starting at the extreme eastern end of Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, and making our way to Fes via two other towns.

Eventually it was announced that flights could recommence on 11 June, and that direct flights to the UK would be permitted. The best option so that I could leave Morocco in a morning and arrive in Hoylake mid evening was from Tangiers to Gatwick. Air Arabia had 2 flights a week on Tuesday and Saturday. I waited to check they actually flew before booking for Tuesday 22 June.

Assia and Jamel decided to come and see me off, and we left Rabat on the TGV train on the Saturday, so that I could get my PCR test done in Tangiers in time to get the result for the flight.

There will be another post about Tangiers in due course. It is one of the best places I visited in Morocco and quite different to the rest of the country.

So why did I not arrive home until the 29th?

Originally one is allowed in to Morocco for 90 days as a tourist. Obviously this expired in April 2020, and at that time I did visit a police station in Rabat with Yassin, where we were told that I would be OK until the borders re-opened. I should have realised that they re-opened to some countries in late summer 2020, but we were in Amsa then and I lost touch with the Moroccan government announcements.

So having checked in and passed security at Ibn-Batouta airport in Tangiers, I was refused permission to board the flight by passport control.

As I had been based in Rabat, I had to sort this out with the police in Rabat. So we returned to Rabat and I spent many hours in the next week visiting the police station. To get permission to leave I had to book another flight for the 29th. It was Friday the 25th before I had all the necessary paperwork assembled, and on Friday everything closes at midday for Friday prayers, and police stations only re-open on Monday. I eventually had a mug shot and fingerprints taken and got my passport back just as they were closing. They assured me that Tangiers airport would be notified, because there was nothing marked in my passport at all.

So on Sunday the 27th Assia, Jamel and I again caught the TGV to Tangiers and I had another PCR test.

On the Tuesday morning I was again stopped at passport control as Rabat had not sent the information through as promised, but I explained all that had happened at Rabat, and fortunately they believed me and decided to let me board the plane.

After that all was plain sailing. The Airbus 320 only had about 40 passengers. When we got to Gatwick it was the only flight that seemed to have landed. I think I was the only passenger with no Moroccan ancestry, and only half a dozen of us followed the UK passport holders signs. I was expecting to be interrogated, but I just went up to one of the three e-passport scanners and was straight through. I never even spoke to anyone. Of course the airline had checked my PCR certificate and my Passenger Locator Form in Tangiers. The scanners must have been testing out the new software before it is installed at Heathrow.

The luggage appeared as soon as I reached the carousel, and I then had to catch the virtually empty shuttle to a totally deserted South Terminal where the car hire is located. I was greeted by name as I entered the office, so I suspect I may have been their only customer that day.

Not having driven since February 2020, I was very glad that the roads around Gatwick were deserted until I reached the M25. England were playing football, so once the match started the other roads were pretty empty as well.

I duly started my 10 days quarantine on the Wednesday, and was freed (following a Day 5 PCR test) on the following Wednesday morning. However it wasn’t quite all over. Someone on the flight must have subsequently tested positive as on Thursday afternoon I was texted by NHS Track and Trace and sent back into quarantine for another day until the end of Friday. I also had to get yet another PCR test, though at least this one was free.

You are probably wondering why I didn’t make this post whilst housebound. When we arrived in Tangiers on 27 June, my laptop decided not to turn on at all. I could not take it to the Apple Store in Liverpool (there are none in Morocco anyway) until I escaped the quarantine on the Wednesday. There was a problem with the battery and they kept it for repair, all to cost me nothing as it was covered by AppleCare. Due to lack of space for the repair geeks at Liverpool to social distance, it was sent to the Czech Republic. It finally came back about 10 days later with a new case, screen, keyboard, keypad and battery. However it had also been restored to factory defaults. I had a recent back up, but, following another visit to the Apple Store, it was only possible to restore my data, not any applications. I am now just about back to where I was originally, but it has been quite a struggle.

I hope to post about the Khourigba trip in the next week or so, and take it from there.

Covid permitting, I still intend to travel in the future, though probably in 3 to 4 month chunks, so there may be plenty more to come from this blog.

PS Jehan and Sifdin now have a baby girl, Jasmine. This photo is from the major event that they made of her naming ceremony. They had been unable to celebrate their wedding in 2020 with family, so it was a sort of combined celebration with well over 100 people present for many hours.

This being a Muslim ceremony, the two rams were subsequently sacrificed – though out of sight.