Final thoughts on Morocco 2023

 I've been home for four days now and I think the jet lag/travel fog is finally lifting and the laundry is done. I have some final thoughts on the experience which may be helpful for my future travels or perhaps even yours.

I normally don't do group tours for the whole of my vacation, and I've now done two in less than 12 months (the baseball tour in July and now Morocco), and I'm still not sure they are for me. I mean day tours are one thing, maybe 8, 10 hours at the most with a group of people, but 7 days with 20-30 people on a bus, at meals, on tours is a totally different beast. There are definitely pros: everything is pretty organized, I didn't have to worry about connections, hotels, finding the highlights, and all at a fair price I would say. The cons: well, you are stuck with the same people for a long period of time (and they are stuck with you), there is some flexibility, but you are in the city as long as the tour is planned, you can't really extend if the city is in the middle of the schedule, and there is just less opportunity for you to follow your whimsy. So, I guess you have to pick what's more important for your satisfaction, but even as I type this, I am thinking of my next organized tour. I am looking at places that I need to be smart with my time and places where it might not be as easy for me to navigate on my own. Stay tuned.

Banana Juice in Marrakech

Packing: I was fully prepared to pack very little on this trip, but I didn't know how these group dinners/outings worked, if they were more formal like on a cruise. Um, the answer is no, I could have very easily packed less clothes than I did, and next trip, I will. I did leave enough room to bring home a few nice mementos from Morocco, but that suitcase was a lot heavier than it should have been. 

Currency: On previous trips, I have tried to go with some of the local currency: pounds, euros or an international currency card like Travelex used to provide (I believe due to the pandemic, Travelex greatly downsized their US operations, and maybe all operations). Anyway, in this case, you cannot get Moroccan currency until you are in Morocco. I did some research and found a company called Wise that seemed similar to Travelex: you can preload US dollars on the card and then use it in a local ATM (cashpoint) or to make purchases. I didn't actually use it until the last day of the tour because I was nervous it wouldn't work, but it worked like a dream: I used it like a debit card to make a purchase, I took money out of an ATM, and I easily reloaded it with a transfer from my home bank account. I think I would take less US currency (always take some) and load more onto the card. This may not be for everyone, and I encourage you to do your own research, but I think this was a winner. 

Food: I was excited to try real Moroccan food, I had a little taste in Minneapolis at a restaurant downtown, but it's hard to get all the flavors in one lunch (believe me, I tried). Moroccan food is like the architecture, a little Spanish/Andalusian, French, African, Arabic. There were a lot of chicken and vegetarian options (chicken tagine was a popular menu item on our nights out); seafood in Casablanca; a variety of salads- cooked and raw; French patisserie (oh my gosh so good); and more varieties of olives than I could ever imagine; mint tea. Mint tea is offered almost everywhere, and it is quite tasty with sugar. There are plenty of American fast food chains and it is always interesting to see what different items they have on their menus. I (and many of my group) stopped by the McDonald's on our last day. I just had a fish and a vanilla shake (for some reason they didn't have chocolate), but it tasted so good.

This is a real thing, but I did not partake.

My veggie pizza with harissa (hot) sauce

Airport pain au chocolat

Flights: Ah, the flight home. I really don't remember booking this flight originally, but I do recall that Air France was making a lot of changes and I had to adjust my return flight, and I think I was like, oh, okay, a 14 hour layover in Paris, I can do that. Except, it was not that easy. I couldn't just stay in my gate because I couldn't print out my boarding pass and you have to go through security. The thought of sitting in a cold, character-free corridor overnight was not appealing at all. I had done my research and knew there was a Yotel in gate L. I didn't really want to spend $150, but it was my best option. Below is my cubicle; a very good use of the space and I got a good night's sleep. 

All's well that ends well. 

If you're asking yourself, should I go to Morocco? I would say without hesitation, yes! The people, the food, architecture, the history make it a wonderful travel destination.