Heads up- this first one is long and boring…

Secondly, I am not a writer. At all. In any past life. So I apologize in advance.

It is all about context right?

Although we have travelled extensively (or at least a few places) we have decided to start this travel diary here in Morocco. We have found that age is making us forget all our wonderful experiences and that to remember it properly we need to write them down. So here we are, our very first blog post in which we will start to highlight our most recent trip- Morocco.

As there is just so much we want to remember we will break our trips up into multiple posts so we can reminisce about the details and photos that accurately describe our adventures. Please note that we write this for us but we hope you may find some humour or notables in here. A first-hand experience of our travels together which are not always pretty.

So here we go.

Morocco. It’s on the list but really not at the top. A list you say? yes, the list. Or MY LIST  (Kara). Ever since we got together we have had a list, one that we update each year, or basically, we discuss and debate over in which I ask Ryan to add to or suggest what on MY LIST he actually wants to see. Because here is the secret. Ryan doesn’t really care if we travel, he is a homebody. But me… well. I start planning the next trip before we leave for the first. I cannot help it. I love to travel. Or maybe I like to plan. Or maybe both. Ryan loves it when we get there but I don’t involve him much beforehand. Other than some to-dos or budget or length of time, preferably short 🙂

We like to travel as our work does not allow for vacation or enjoyment of our own summer here in Nova Scotia. It’s my piece of peace these trips into other worlds. A place I can dive into like my books. Absorb, appreciate, learn from. Laugh, cry and love. It makes me feel very sad to think I couldn’t do that anymore.

I digress. Back to the list. This running list hasn’t changed much in the last ten years. We’ve knocked some countries off (of which we hope to write about in the future) and added a few but nothing major. Morocco is at the bottom. Egypt is above, South America even higher. But there was an issue on the list. ZIKA. So I picked Egypt. And a bomb went off, grrr. Scratch 😦 .

So during our annual discussion on trip planning this winter I wasn’t feeling it. It is a big project as it should be and I love to spend on average 40+ hours on each trip we do. I just couldn’t get my mojo going to plan a trip this winter. Not sure of my problem. So you know what we decided to do. Pick something not on the list- Iceland.

Not sure what happened there but thats what we did. I think I thought it would be an easy trip to plan. We invited Andrew, Ryan’s brother to go with us and I booked the flight got planning and BOOM. I didn’t want to go to Iceland anymore. Mojo was back and I wanted sun.

We were standing outside the cottage (Ryan’s happy place), and I was telling him how much he would miss the sun if we didn’t visit it this winter. He wanted to stay home more and enjoy the woods, but he said if I really wanted maybe we could just take a short trip somewhere where there is sun. I started with 7 days. Where could we go for 7 days that wasn’t on this side of the world with Zika? I looked into a Mediterranean cruise (not good until April really), Malta and Canary islands (not feeling it) and then I saw some flights to Morocco. Hmmm. Ok. But whoops, by the time you travel there and back 7 days is 5 days… Ryan I said, we have a problem….. so naturally, he agreed to 8 days which was great cause I agreed to 12 days. And the flight was booked! The man loves me what can I say.

So now I had two trips to plan. No problem.

My first run is to spend a few hours (10?) looking up all the itineraries from G Adventures, Intrepid, Kensington (who we used for our Safari Tour in Kenya/Tanzania) etc. Get the lay of the land, see what people want to see and do and then start narrowing it down from there. We seriously considered a G Adventure tour this time but the dates wouldn’t line up properly. I also read a lot of travel blogs as I love the insight and small details they give (I find them invaluable for on-the-ground tips). In the end, I found a blog by an Icelander (weird huh), that featured his trip to the desert and how he loved his tour co, So Morocco.

SO knowing what I wanted I sent out some emails to some local Moroccan tour Cos and landed with Linda at So Morocco. I cheated a bit with this trip but the research time was still the same- just to make sure she got it right lol. Ryan likes to do things, experience wildlife, camp, fish etc. We compromise on the things I am willing to do as I don’t like the outdoors, it is cold. But I always make sure he has some awesome highlights on our trips. Especially important if I want to keep him as a travel partner.

After going back and forth with Linda for quite some time we finalized the last details and then I spent my final runs on the little nuances; what to bring, what to wear, culture tips etc. Maps, food, currencies all those things. I never go in blind.

I must say Ryan must really trust me. We travel the world and he rarely asks many questions until 5 days before. I guess I talk too much or he has complete faith in my planning abilities.

Two weeks before we left, full detailed list of small things in hand, we decide on two things- 1- I am talking a small luggage carry on this 12 day trip, Ryan his big backpacker pack, plus each a backpack. 2- We are going to be screwed with the clothing choices as the temperature will be somewhere between 0 degrees C and 22 degrees C, and that could be the same day.

Two days before we leave I head to MEC to get a T3 merino, Walmart for a fleece and to the mall for an extra pair of pants. We go through all our goodies and make sure we have the usual (we’ve done this before). We argue over if I really need to take my travel fan and put the remaining items together. Ryan surprised me with a 2-1 electronic handwarmer from MEC. Man will this come in handy!

All packed (neatly rolled and air removed) luggage (Maybe I’ll take a pic for the next trip) and off to the airport we go for our 18.5 hours of flying! This trip will involve 3 flights. Halifax-Toronto, Toronto-Lisbon, Lisbon Marrakech and then the opposite home. Around 18 hours each way. Armed with my e-reader (which I will not break this time), Ativan, ear plugs and eye mask (all x2) we are ready to rock.

NB: I have a thing for Aeroplan. We book all our flights on it and I try to control as much spending as possible to make it work. Otherwise, there is no way we could ever afford to do this. I feel like it is worth mentioning as I get asked a lot about how we can do this. I’m a planner. And with travel that is a good asset.

Morocco here we come.