Anyone have tips and advice for travel to Morocco?

Sometimes I don’t know what’s more exhausting, planning and booking travel, or the actual travel itself.

from vancouver to morocco

Right now we’re home for another brief break from Prison Break. Soon we’ll be heading back to LAX, then flying to Santa Fe for a memorial service. Then back to LA. Then flying to New York. Then flying from New York to Marrakech. Then driving four hours from Marrakech to Ouarzazate. Then staying in Ouarzazate, while Mike continues to produce Prison Break, and I hopefully have enough wifi and to keep me entertained.

If this sounds complain-y, I assure you it’s not. While I am worried about a few things, I’m excited as hell. I set my life up for EXACTLY this kind of thing. And other than feeling super-guilty for ditching my cat so much, I’m living my dream right now.

(Although, when you’re 15 emails deep on a travel itinerary chain, and can’t leave your hotel room on a gorgeous day, eating handfuls of stale muesli because that’s the only thing to eat within the wi-fi boundary, and my travel buddy isn’t responding to me, because he’s dealing with set complications… it can all start to feel a lot less dreamy.)

But now that all of our travel plans have been ironed out (whew, thanks to hours of research, hounding, and one very brilliant travel agent)…

You guys… Morocco!

What’s that place like? Anyone have tips and advice for travel to Morocco? What should I wear? What shouldn’t I wear? What should I see? What should I buy? (Keep in mind I’m not a shopper so I need specifics.) Give me all your intel, if you have it.

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10 Comments

  1. honestly, Morroco is one of those ‘you wont believe it til you see it’ places and NO amount of chat (of which we will have plenty) will prepare you! It is an incredible place, a real attack on the senses and will open your eyes to an insanely unique culture, there is truly nowhere else like it! You’ll have a blast 🙂 Looking at NYC right now BTW Xx

  2. KathyRo

    These are good problems to have!
    I get a kick out of planning travel… as long as there aren’t too many people involved.

  3. KathyRo

    My understanding is that you can get rare spices there for a lot less money — like saffron. Maybe a nice gift for your culinary friends?

  4. Kate

    How thrilling! My sister went to Morocco about ten years ago and loved it. (And brought home some amazing gifts for the family.) I remember she borrowed some of my clothes for the trip, as the tour instructed all the women to dress modestly: trouser were okay as long as they were loose, long sleeves, no cleavage. Luckily it’s Modest Fashion Week in Istanbul (http://www.istanbulmodest.com/en/) so that should offer some inspiration.

  5. meganfinley

    WHOA! Modest Fashion Week is EVERYTHING!!!

  6. Never been but if you want some travel porn on of my favorite blogs talks about it: http://www.ohladycakes.com/2015/03/morocco.html

  7. Morocco is wonderful! We got engaged there this time last year, so maybe i’m a little biased….
    Marrakech can be a little overwhelming, but with a good travel buddy its just fine, don’t walk about with anything you would be too upset to part with, be sensible – if you feel a little uncomfortable in a set of alleys, walk yourself back the way you came, use google maps to plan your jourrney if you have somewhere specific you want to go, otherwise just wander. We liked Le Fondouk for a fancy dinner – and they walk you to a taxi via lantern afterwards (not best area of town after dark, but safe to get back via taxi to the square) but equally special was eating in the square (Jemaa-el-fnaa) with the locals.
    Tagazout is great if you like to surf, although Tamraght is not quite so surfbumesque.
    Essaouira is a beautiful oceanside walled city, with a great little souk, lots of cool riads to stay in, amazing views, some great fresh seafood/fish huts (not big enough to call them resturants, and so fresh you watch the fishermen bring the fish to them from their boats), also good if you like to windsurf, not so good if your just learning….
    Festival Gnaoua et des musiques du Monde is also in Essaouria, in the near future (?may/june time i think) – music from all over africa, and some further afield stuff, mostly free stages, fab atmosphere, acts you would never see elsewhere, pretty awesome.
    I’ve travelled via bus which was fine, used a tiny bit of high school french, some charades and english, easier when youre getting off at the end destination, but helpful bus conductors will throw you off in roughly the right point if you show them where you need to go!
    Buy fresh, cheap argan oil for hair/skin etc, try not to get carried away with lanterns, get really excited when you see a goat in a tree!

    • meganfinley

      OMG! This is WONDERFULLY helpful. I take off in a few hours for Morocco and I now I’m even more excited, because I can’t wait to see some fucking goats in some fucking trees!!!

      • Almost jumped out a moving minibus when i first saw goats in trees – surrounded by very cool, and very hot surfer dudes, and i’m screaming and pointing ‘theres a goat in that tree, A GOAT!’ Dare you to manage to do anything different!

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