Our arrival in North Africa

We finally touched down and clambered off the plane, walked down the long corridors past closed shops and burst into this high ceilinged beautiful room with fountain and intricate tilework.

Steven couldn't resist putting his hand in the fountain (of course) then we mustered up and headed for the baggage claim.

At the baggage claim a blonde man walked up to me and said, "Jeanine?" I totally didn't recognize him from as one of the many people I had met on my previous trip and was quite startled to see him in the baggage claim, as it is strictly off limits for non passengers to come in from the outside. He must've seen the confusion on my face because he quickly explained that he was from my school and they had allowed him in to meet us especially (probably because he is charming) so he suggested I only allow two porters to help with our bags (you have to pay each porter who assists you) but I didn't know how to stop them and frankly couldn't see how they were going to fit more than a few bags on their tiny little baggage trollys anyway. So, even though I was unable to call them off, it seems it was ultimately to our benefit...


When we lined up for customs, absolutely the very last people to go through,with our four porters, three kids, two adults, and one smiley blonde guide (who didn't speak arabic or much french) came up to the front of the line... the security guard looked overwhelmed! It was almost as if he was thinking... I've been fasting all day, this is the last plane of the night, here is an entire troupe of foreigners with who-knows-what in their suitcases, and crabby kids on top of all that... and I don't want to be here all night dealing with this... and he waved us through. We were in such a hurry to get the porters all dealt with and taken care of, that we were swept out of the airport and onto a bus without getting a chance to exchange any money. This would cause complications later on.