“I’ve been to about 30 countries but Morocco was the first Muslim country I visited. They’re very religious. No alcohol. I happened to go during Ramadan. They fasted all day until dinnertime. And they ate dinner at 9pm after night prayer. There were speakers set up everywhere across the country. There are prayers five times a day. So there’s loud sirens that go on and someone reads scripture. That was very soothing. Sometimes they sing. But the night prayer is the main event. After the night prayer people can eat so it’s kind of a celebration.
This to me was the highlight. I got to see all these people walking to the mosque and praying. They’re just so devoted to their religion. Visiting Morocco gave me a different perspective of [Islam]. What you hear about Muslims isn’t always positive when you watch the news but to see how peaceful they practice their religion was really refreshing to me. It made me realize how naive and maybe biased I was.
I was in Morocco for eight days by myself. Ultimately I needed to get to Barcelona for a wedding, friends I met while backpacking in Europe by myself like 9 years ago. I’ve been to all the surrounding countries [near Spain]. So I was like, where else have I not gone?
There weren’t many foreigners. I stood out but I felt safe. I’ve heard Morocco is a very safe country. It was quiet for the most part. You don’t go to Morocco to party. There’s definitely no night scene. There are no bars or anything like that. You can buy alcohol inside your hotel, but nobody’s really drinking.
I flew Norwegian and had a layover in London. I’ve never flown a 10 or 12-hour flight where you get no food or drinks. You have to pack your own food. That was kind of interesting. You can request water. They’ll give you a small cup.
I used my Chase priority pass that comes with the Sapphire Reserve to go to all the lounges. So that’s huge. Chase Sapphire Reserve is the best. When you sign up you get like 100,000 points. I think it’s 50,000 now but it’s still worth it. I didn’t use points because I’m saving them for later.
I was in Marrakech for three days. From the airport to Marrakech, it’s a short cab ride, about three miles. I arrived late around 11pm so [a cab] was the only option but even during the day, I’d recommend taking the taxi from the airport.
For me, when I go places I don’t really have any plans. That’s one of the benefits of going by myself. So what I did was I booked the first two nights [in Marrakech] through Kayak or TripAdvisor.
I can’t recommend Les Borjs de la Kasbah high enough. It was one of the best hotel experience I ever had. The whole experience was incredible, so much so that I even wrote a review on TripAdvisor. And I rarely write reviews. But that hotel was just top notch. I’ve received better service there than at the Four Seasons. It’s a really well-kept, family-owned hotel. The location is slightly away from the medina, which is the central market. But it’s a nice walk. It was set up Moroccan-style, felt very safe.
Marrakech and Tangier both have what’s called a medina. It’s basically a big open market with a bunch of shops selling everything. You can buy spices, leather, belts. It’s definitely a tourist spot. It’s the thing to do. But I think what’s really amazing about the medina is that there’s all these little alleys. And you just get lost. You can’t help but get lost. You will get lost. And I think that’s the best thing to do. If you try to track where you are, you’re just not going to have a good time.
Just block out a half a day or a full day and just walk around. Travel by foot. It’s the best way to see the city. There are all these colors in the building of Moroccan design. The buildings itself are very beautiful and very narrow.
The souk, which is the market inside the medina is also quite fascinating. I also visited palaces and museums. I particularly liked the Bahia Palace.
There’s a lot of street hustlers. And because I stood out and I was by myself, I was an easy target. They’d come and try to sing for you and ask for $20. Another day, I was kind of bored and this guy offered a tour so I said I’d go with him to check out his camp. And it was indeed a scam. He took me and showed me their leather-making process. They’re known for their leather. Then they took me to a shop that sold leather jackets and bags. He tried to pressure me into buying something. I, of course, didn’t buy it and they were pretty pissed off (laughs).
I went on a 3-day Sahara tour through Viator. I booked that when I got to Morocco. I left my bags at the hotel in Marrakech. They kept my belongings with them, they kept it safe. So I didn’t have to pay for bagging fee when I was at the desert.
Sahara desert is pretty far from Marrakech. You have to drive for about 10 hours. So it’s one day to get there, then a day to tour, then to come back it takes another day. So it takes three full days.
One night I stayed in this hotel the tour booked. The second night we slept in tents. You don’t need to bring your own tent as they are all set up for you with a bed and blanket. The experience was incredible. You literally see so many stars at night and it is dead silent. There was a heavy sand storm at night so we had to cover our face with scarves but it was all worth it.
So you ride camels to the Sahara desert. You ride for about an hour and they have a base camp set up. It’s the desert, you don’t see anything else. It’s miles and miles of sand. But it’s beautiful. The Sahara desert I heard is like 3,000 miles. Just imagine nothing but desert sand for 3,000 miles, it’s pretty crazy.
They bring snowboards so you can go sandboarding. Sandboarding is definitely slower than snowboarding. You ride barefoot. There’s too much traction on the sand. But you can slide down. It ended up being more like a sled. It’s hard to stand up. It’s just fun. It’s something you never do.
The drums were part of entertainment that the local guides provided. We also got to play the drums ourselves and dance to the beat of Moroccan traditional drums.
The Sahara desert tour combined our group with two other groups so we had roughly 20 to 25 people in the camp. We got to meet people from all over Europe and a group from mainland China. The tour was really top notch. I’d highly recommend it.
After I returned to Marrakech, I left early in the morning the next day on a day tour [to Essaouira]. It takes about 2.5 hours by bus. Once I got there, it was easy to find your way around since Essaouira is relatively small. There is a fish market, and souk. I walked around and had lunch. Stayed for about four to five hours and I took the bus back to Marrakech.
I took a train to Tangier. It takes a long time so I took the overnight train. There were two beds in each of the room [on the train]. My bunkmate was a French guy who didn’t speak a lick of English. It was pretty funny. That’s the kind of stuff you enjoy when you travel, you meet so many people from different parts of the world. Trying to communicate to each other was pretty funny.
I stayed in Tangier two nights at the Kenzi Solazur Hotel. Tangier actually has their medina on top of a hill so you have to hike up quite a bit. You can take a cab to the medina. Even the cab driver tried to rip me off. He didn’t reset the meter. So I got ripped off $5 not a big deal. But just be mindful of that.
Tangier is a port city that connects Africa to Europe. It’s pretty historic. A lot of famous artists stay in Tangier. You have the beach. Beach was quiet, but had a lovely boardwalk. There were also camels on the beach you can ride for a fee. Not sure how crowded it gets during the summer but when I went, it was relatively sparse. You can definitely lay out to get some sun and it was a nice, warm day in May with little breeze. It was my stop before Spain.
Their staple food is what’s called tagine. They have these stone pots and you put any kind of protein, usually chicken, but they eat beef as well. I got chicken and they put all kinds of veggies and steam it. And it’s really, really good. Also, their orange juice is the sweetest you will ever have.
- Talk to strangers that come up to you. They’ll act friendly and ask where you’re from, where you’re going, etc. It all means the same thing, which translates to, “How can I sell/con you something you don’t need or take you to places and charge you for it even when they first told you it would be free.
- Pay full price. This applies to many other places around the world. Start off at 25 percent of asking price and go from there. Fifty percent is maximum I’d pay.
- Ask random people for directions to random people. Best bet is to ask vendors. there are way too many street hustlers and it could get you into dicey situations.
- Take pictures of women. They don’t like to be photographed and should be respected.
- Go inside a mosque unless you are Muslim. This includes the area outside of the mosque where they pray.
- Be afraid. Morocco is a safe place.
- Do a Sahara desert tour. A must. Best part of the trip
- Learn to say hello and thank you at the very least. This obviously applies everywhere else but I found Moroccans especially appreciated when I said, “Shokoran,” instead of thank you.
- Witness late night prayer at the mosque. You might not be able to go inside but you can still see from the sidewalks. Truly a spiritual experience.
- Eat tagine. Incredible. Also on the list: orange juice. Sweetest OJ you will ever have.
- Get lost. Marrakesh and Tangier both offer fantastic medinas. Each old town is simply magical and you will surely get lost in the labyrinth and that’s perfectly fine. No maps, no phones, just walk and you will be amazed at all the little streets and corners. it was my favorite thing to do in the city.
- Carry smaller bills. Even $20 USD is big. $100 dirham ($10USD) or less. Typical food dish will cost $40-80 dirham.
- Make sure your meter is set at zero inside the cab.
- Stay in the old town/medina and not new. Old town has much more to see and do.
- Have an open mind. Morocco is a very different place than the US. it takes some time to get used to their way of life. If you stay curious, you will have a much better time and learn at the same time.
- Camera (Fuji XT-1)
- Power strip so that you only need one power converter
- Google drive/photo/Cloud to backup photos
- Book/Kindle
- Packing cube
- Priority pass/mileage card
- Photocopy of passport
On Traveling
Most people travel to reset, relax, to get away. And all of that applies to me, of course. I do that. Some people like to go a resort, and relax at the pool and that’s great. I’ve done that too. But for me, I want a unique experience. I’ve been to about 30 countries and 100 plus cities. Now that I’ve done that, my whole philosophy is I want to go somewhere different. I want to see how other people live. And for me, Morocco was great because I’ve never experienced the Muslim culture the way I’ve seen with their prayers.
There’s a whole neighborhood feeling. Back home, I don’t even know my neighbors. At the end of the day, people do the same thing. They work, they eat, they care about their family, they want a better life for themselves, all of that is true there, but they do it as lightly different way.
Traveling alone is absolutely liberating. You get to do whatever you want. You set your own schedule. You wake up whenever you want. You don’t have to wait on anybody. You get to eat whatever you want. It’s just very liberating. There certainly are times when you get lonely. But there’s a balance. You compensate that with being able to enjoy how you want spend your time and by doing whatever you want to do.”
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