Our First "Wild" College Spring Break

Our Itinerary

We have been fortunate enough to make spring break trips with Anna for as long as I can remember, and we usually planned them as soon as the calendar for the new school year was published.  This year, however, was going to be different, with Anna starting at university.  We spoke of planning something, but as we normally booked before the school year even began, with this being such a new experience and not knowing what might be ahead, we had to hang back and wait.  We knew when Anna's college spring break would be, which was much earlier than during her public school years.  Those spring breaks always occurred during the week leading to Easter, whereas colleges break much earlier.  Without knowing, too, if her second semester mid-term exams would be before or after the break, we were very hesitant to book any trip which might force her to miss days leading up to or following the break.

As fortune would have it, however, we came across a tour with our trusty agency Gate1 Travel to Morocco, which hit just the right days and would not put any school class in danger.  In addition, Morocco had been on our bucket list for a while, so much later than usual, we booked the trip in October.  It helped that Royal Air Maroc airlines just started non-stop flights between Dulles and Casablanca, which made the timing even better.  We would depart Dulles late on a Friday night, and return the following Friday.  That maximized our time, but also ensured no school was missed -- just in case.

As it was, Anna's only class on Friday -- a discussion session, late in the afternoon -- was cancelled, so she was able to come home Friday morning.  She pretty much packed everything at school, but this still gave her time to finalize things.  Her best friend, Charlotte, had also just returned from Tulane on her break, so they had a quick chance to see each other, get their hair and nails done, and have lunch, so it worked out well.  I met my parents early on Friday morning, as they watched Chip for us, and then K and I worked the day.  Even working the full day, we had plenty of time to have a normal supper at home and then make our way to the airport.  What had been forecast, however, as rain showers for day, had turned into a slushy snow, which only worsened after dark.  In addition to the snow, we had allowed extra time, as we knew the Royal Air Maroc flight was completely full, and we would not be able to use our TSA Pre-Check with this airline.  As it was, however, we had never seen the airport so empty.  Check-in and security were super-quick affairs, and we ended up with well over an hour to kill in the airport lounge.  It was interesting, too, as the security line was all-but nonexistent, the Customs & Border Patrol agent was chatty.  He noted we were off to Morocco, and he added that he'd visited twice and loved it.  We took this as a good omen.

When we got to our gate, we were met with a huge contingent of Virginia Tech students.  It seemed as though the entire flight was wearing Hokie gear.  They were on an organized trip through the Fulbright Foundation, and every other passenger seemed to be an American destined for vacation.  Boarding was fine, but while the weather in DC was really only a nuisance, the same storm was clobbering points north, which resulted in cascading delays.  We ended up having to sit on the tarmac for 90 minutes waiting for a corridor to open, and then another 30 minutes for de-icing.  The flight itself was only scheduled for six hours, but the delay made it a much longer night.