Must Do?

From my perspective in traveling to a new country, I tend to get very overwhelmed because I want to SEE and DO everything…which just isn’t possible in the time I have.

I overcome the overwhelming-ness of it all by just starting a list and putting down every thing that is of interest. Then, I break it down by location and finally, making a time based itinerary. At that point, it’s very easy to see what will work in the time frame allotted and what will not. I don’t just disregard my list after I’ve agonized over what to include and what to exclude – I make a part II visit list.

For Morocco, I really wanted to go to Marrakesh – that was the number 1 place for me. Then, I researched the most authentic ways we could really experience the culture – within the parameters that myself and J had decided were important. Like, we didn’t necessarily want to go camping for this particular adventure and with the unknown of the food and water quality and availability we both wanted actual bathrooms with toilets and showers.

My biggest thing was that I wanted to see the souks that had been there for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, due to the complete chaos from the mopeds, donkeys, children, people, bikes, etc we didn’t actually spend much time perusing the stalls. I’m just not comfortable haggling for pricing and you can’t just leisurely browse – most of the vendors know tourists and are pretty fucking relentless. I get it, that’s how they make money but it was just too much for me on my first visit there.

I was disappointed in myself but it would have been far less enjoyable for me and J if I had just “powered through”. Quite honestly, he was amazing and far more patient than I’ve ever been with myself. Truly the very best person for me – he always knew just by looking at me when it was time to pull over to the side out of the flow of traffic and people and just take a breather. <3

It’s always important to remember what YOUR style of travel is and adjust your “must-do” list with what will truly make you happy but always be willing to adjust as you go along – we ended up doing a hot air balloon at sunrise and THAT was the most epic reason to see and go there for ME.

Going to Morocco – Marrakech & Casablanca

How did we get there? The hard way – flying to Casablanca, taking the “express” train to Marrakech, and hiring a taxi to “take us” to the riad.

Dude, we started traveling at 4pm on Monday, September 12. It was an overnight flight to Charles De Gaulle airport – short layover Tuesday morning (4 hours). I think we arrived at about 7 in the morning? 7:30 am – thankful for iphone pics and timestamps! We didn’t land until closer to 8am but whatever.

Paris (ish) France at Sunrise – so romantic hah

Short layover in Paris was like 4 hours Then off to Casablanca!

The flight leg from Paris to Casablanca was supposed to take 2.5 hours but there was an unexpected storm over Spain and we had to fly around it – that added another hour to the trip. We landed in Casablanca at 3:30 their time.

Can I also just mention that I’m definitely not used to calculating hours ahead and what time zone we were in…guess that takes practice. LOL

From Casablanca, I had thought we’d take the train to Marrakesh. Yeah, it added a hell of a long time to a long day of traveling but I DID NOT KNOW. Wow, did I NOT KNOW. HAH!

After going through their security line (this took about 30 min or so) we exchanged currency, found the train ticket window and we’re like, when does the last train leave for the day? And the lady said, RUN! So, we took off running down the hallways to get to this train before it left. Apparently, it’s the last one of the day. According to the train system website, it said it would be leaving at 5:30 but no my friends, it wasn’t quite 5 pm by the time we found the train and boarded it and we left a few minutes later.

WHAT THE FUCK.

And just for the record – their First Class is not all like other places first class. Not to mention, they didn’t even check for tickets.

The exchange rate is fairly easy to remember though and the US dollar fares very well – definitely more for the dollar.

To be continued…

Almost time for Adventure – Morocco!

I had my 50th birthday this past July. Even with Covid-19 and it’s long lasting issues still impacting the world, I really wanted to do something memorable for this big number.

I originally was going to choose something domestic – another trip to Utah or Nevada or Arizona but for some reason I just couldn’t make myself book anything. I went back and forth in my head about cost and expenses and everything related but it’s my 50th birthday. We have the time and money – it’s the time to get started on crossing off these bucket list items.

First flight since the pandemic started – we’re flying Delta.

Tip: if you take medications make sure you check if those medications are allowed in the country you’re traveling to – ADHD, injectables like insulin, etc. You may need a special travel letter from your MD or an alternate medication if that’s not possible.

This is a helpful link: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/travel-abroad-with-medicine

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Marrakech