April 2, 2025 • 34 mins
Steam through Morocco's northern treasures as Tracy and Doug recount their 10-day adventure with Intrepid Travel, showcasing the country's vibrant medinas, stunning architecture, and warm hospitality.
• Strategically arriving early in Marrakesh, then transferring to Casablanca maximised sightseeing opportunities
• Travelling with Intrepid provided authentic experiences with local guides and a small group of just eight travellers
• Marrakesh overwhelms the senses with colourful souks and lively atmosphere
• Chefchaouen (the Blue City) offers stunning photography opportunities, especially during less crowded mornings
• Traditional Moroccan food features vegetable-heavy tagines, aromatic couscous, and refreshing mint tea
• Small group tours provide rich cultural insights that would be difficult to access when traveling independently
• Navigating medinas requires local knowledge – they're designed like mazes where even experienced travellers get lost
• Weather can be cooler than expected (in March), particularly in mountainous regions
Join Tracy for a women-only Morocco tour next year by contacting us through our website or Facebook group!
⭐️ Guest Host - Melissa Kiely from Queensland Travel Guide
📝 Show Notes - Episode 48
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode #37 - Tips for first time visitors to France
- Episode 42 – Discover Italy: Essential tips for first-time visitors with Dianne Bortoletto
- Episode #9- Trip Report: Snapshots from Asia
🎟️ Book a Walks or Devour Tour in London
Want to make your London trip unforgettable? From early access to the Tower of London to food tours through Borough Market, Walks and Devour offer small-group, expert-led tours we love and recommend.
➡️ Click here to book your tour
🎤 Leave us a voice message via SpeakPipe
🗺 Global Travel Planning
Website - globaltravelplanning.com
Instagram - Global Travel Planning
YouTube - Global Travel Planning
🇬🇧UK Travel Planning
Website - UKTravelPlanning.com
Instagram - UK Travel Planning
YouTube - UK Travel Planning
📍London Travel Planning
Website - LondonTravelPlanning.com
Work With Us - Contact tracy@globaltravelplanning.com for brand partnerships and business inquiries.
Thank you ❤️
Disclaimer: Some outbound links financially benefit the podcast through affiliate programs. Using our links is a small way to support the show at no additional cost. I only endorse products, programs, and services I use and would recommend to close friends and family. Thank you for the support!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thinking about visiting Morocco.
In this episode, doug and Irecap our northern Morocco
adventure with Intrepid Travelcovering the highlights of our
itinerary must-visitdestinations, unforgettable
experiences and, of course, theamazing food From Marrakesh to
Chefchaouen and beyond.
We'll share what we loved, whatsurprised us and whether we'd
recommend a group tour forexploring Morocco.
(00:20):
Hi and welcome to the GlobalTravel Planning Podcast.
I'm your host, tracey Collins,who, with my expert guests, will
(00:43):
take you on a weekly journey todestinations around the globe,
providing travel inspiration,itinerary ideas, practical tips
and more to help you of theGlobal Travel Plan N podcast.
Now this week, doug and I arehere to chat about our recent
trip to Morocco.
So if you've been following uson social media or a member of
our Global Travel Plan NFacebook group, you'll know that
Doug and I spent 10 fantasticdays touring Morocco.
(01:04):
You'll know that Doug and Ispent 10 fantastic days touring
Morocco.
Now, rather than us justtalking away, we decided that
the best way to do this was tobe interviewed.
So our friend Melissa nowMelissa is from.
You'll recognize Melissa'svoice if you listen to our
podcast regularly, because sheis the Aussie in our Brit,
aussie and Yang episodes at theend of every month.
So, hi, melissa, you've come onto ask us lots of questions
(01:25):
about our Morocco trip, so wouldyou like to introduce yourself
today?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yes, hello, I'm Melissa.
I'm the Aussie, as Tracy said,from the Brit Aussie and Yank,
and I so want to go to Morocco.
So I thought why not interviewTracy and Doug, who have just
been to Morocco, and get excitedabout it?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Oh yeah, honestly, it was an amazing trip.
We loved it, so we're reallylooking forward to um sharing
all about it with you guysawesome, let's get started.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Okay, guys, tracy and Doug, just let's do a quick
overview first, so like how longwas your trip and why did you
choose this trip?
Let's start there.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Well, we were there for 10 days.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, and we chose it because we've never been before
.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah.
So we flew the 18th of Februaryto the 28th of February so
they're 10 days and when we werechatting about where to go we
were kind of I don't know.
We just went well, where havewe been?
That is fairly easy to go to.
And also there was an intrepidsale on, so that kind of we
looked at intrepid because weknew we'd probably want to do a
tour, um, so we kind of lookedand went, oh, there's a tour in
(02:31):
morocco perfect and we noticedon part of the tour included a
train journey, so that had mesold straight away it did.
In fact, I had two trainjourneys, so you are.
Once I said, the dog has gottwo train journeys.
We're going to mor, morocco.
It's a place neither of us havebeen to, but we really want to
go to.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
It just fell from there, didn't it Fell into place
?
Fell into place, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
All right, so before you guys started the trip, I
understand that you arrived inMarrakesh a little bit early, so
tell us about that.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Okay.
So we flew in on the 18th ofFebruary and the tour didn't
start until the 20th inCasablanca.
But because the tour was endingagain in Marrakech and we have
quite a lot of luggage becausewe were now making our way back
to Australia from the UK, sowe're doing that over a few
months, so we have a little bitmore luggage than we would
generally.
We didn't want to take that allaround Morocco, so we decided
(03:26):
to fly into Marrakech, stay inthe hotel that we were ending
the tour in in Marrakech, leaveour luggage there and then
transfer to Casablanca to startthe tour in Casablanca on the
20th.
But we decided to go on the19th.
So we flew on on the 18th andthen had a morning in Marrakech
and then took a transfer toCasablanca, which meant that we
had time before the tour startedto actually see Casablanca.
(03:47):
Otherwise we wouldn't have beenable to do that.
So it worked out best for usand leaving the luggage was a
really good idea.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, that was a very good idea.
It means we could streamlinewhat we actually carried with us
.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So you'd recommend that, like arriving early in
Casablanca.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
So what?
You're saying, that otherwisethe tour didn't really see
Casablanca?
Yeah, it didn't really.
You didn't see anything inCasablanca if you on the tour
because, though it started there, the meeting was at 6 pm on the
20th and then we left the nextmorning to transfer on by train
to Tangier so if you didn't seeCasablanca that day, or come
early, you weren't going to getopportunity to do it.
So it worked really well for usbecause actually we we had most
(04:30):
of a day in Marrakesh on the19th, which meant we could do a
tour which actually workedreally well at the end, and then
it meant that we also had thetime to see Casablanca without
feeling like too rushed, or youknow, we saw the highlights of
Casablanca without feeling liketoo rushed, or you know, we saw
the highlights of Casablanca,basically, which worked for us
yeah, cool, cool.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Let's talk about Intrepid.
Like you know, tracy, you and I, I mean, we've both been on
Intrepid before um so how wasyour experience with Intrepid in
um, morocco?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
excellent, excellent.
I mean.
They're just an outstandingcompany and obviously we know we
traveled.
We did two intrepid tours lastyear in India which we must talk
about on the podcast.
I keep saying that we reallymust.
That were amazing.
They're a very good company.
They're very conscious aboutmaking sure that they give back
into the community.
They look for authenticexperiences.
(05:21):
You have tour guides from eachof the local areas that will
take you around, so that againputs some money into the
community and employs localpeople.
They're very conscious aboutthings like plastic.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, they're very conscious of that.
They encourage you to bringyour own bottles, and they have
large bottles of water which youcan fill up at any time.
They carry them around withthem, so that makes it so much
easier.
So you haven't got to thinkwhere, where I'm going to buy a
bottle of water from, becauseit's all been sorted yeah, so
that was good.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, so found them really good, very well organized
and approachable and veryapproachable and, and you know,
fred, who took our tour, wasjust amazing.
He was an outstanding guy.
Yeah, he was really a fantasticguide, just brilliant.
And we had two trainee guideswith us as well.
Yeah, because there was onlyeight of us on the tour
(06:15):
altogether, so we were reallyspoilt.
I think that we had Fred andthe other two.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, I mean they joined us for some meals, but
they were approachable at alltimes.
And Fred got the the other twotrainees involved as well.
They weren't just in thebackground, they're actually up
front, they're involved with it.
He had them doing sort of dayintroductions and tour
introductions as well.
So it really was a littlecommunity, a little family yeah,
it was.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
It was very good.
And what about the group likewhen was everyone from?
How did that go?
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Well, most were from, so there was eight of us, so
three couples and then twosingle lady travellers who came
for solo, I should say two solofemale travellers, one from
England and one from Dubai, butAustralian, and hopefully Donna
will be coming on the podcast totalk all about the fact that
she's now visited 145 countries.
(07:09):
Wow, so she was amazing to talkto.
But generally, yeah, we all goton really well, no problems,
because you know you'retravelling a lot together, but
you also had a lot of free timeon this to go and do your own
thing, so it worked really well.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
But no issues and the free time we had.
Quite often we all stayedtogether anyway yeah, nice, nice
, nice, that's nice together,particularly in medina's, to
sort of stay together yeah, soit made made the guide, fred's
job even easier, and the fact hedidn't have to go looking for
one person.
So, we were either all going tobe there or all lost at the
(07:45):
same time.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
That's nice, hey, all right, let's get into some of
the destinations that you guysvisited, like what were your
favourite places that you wentto on the tour.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I have to say Marrakesh.
Marrakesh is an interestingcity to visit, very lively, just
colourful, and, yeah, itreminded me, I guess, of the
same experience I had in India,where it's just all your senses,
you know the smells, the sights, the sounds, everything just
kind of yeah, it's notoverwhelming, it's just amazing,
(08:20):
you can immerse yourself in it.
So I think for you, Marrakesh,as well.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, we both enjoyed Marrakesh Well.
It's just amazing.
You can immerse yourself in it.
So I think for you Marrakesh aswell.
Yeah, we both enjoyed Marrakesh.
Well, it's because it's thefirst place we visited in
Morocco, so it sort of sticks inyour mind.
But to me it just seemed alittle bit more low-key and a
little bit more relaxed thansome of the other places we
visited, with a bit more hustleand bustle.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's true, but I would say I mean the Medina in
Marrakesh is pretty busy.
And then I think the nextobvious place to mention has got
to be Chefchaouen, which is theBlue City.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Oh yes.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
If you've seen my photos on Instagram or in the
Facebook group, I can't even youknow I'm very proud of my
photos because they are verybeautiful, but, honestly, being
there as well, it's just.
You can't replace it, it's just, it's just the most beautiful
place, and we were actuallylucky the first morning that we
walked around, because it wasactually torrential rain.
So we got umbrellas, but whatit meant was.
(09:19):
And the rain eased off, butwhat it meant is that we were
the only people on the streets.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So later in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
So I have tons of photos with nobody else in them.
It's just amazing.
Later on in the day so the raincompletely eased off.
The rain eased off as we walkedas well, but it didn't get busy
until later in the afternoonand then we were walking back
around and we saw just howdifficult it was to get any
photo without a million peoplein the picture.
Okay, so actually, even thoughwe were kind of like, oh it's
(09:47):
pouring down rain, do we want todo this?
Actually worked out to be thebest thing possible it really
did yeah yeah, very, very cool.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Um, what about, um, any surprises, like maybe
negative, positive and what aresome surprises for you guys?
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I think I felt a lot safer than I thought it was
gonna be.
I think, yeah, I just didn'tfeel at any time unsafe.
Um, you know, I mean you usethe usual precautions.
Like you know, I had my theftproof crossbody bag.
I always have that, I'm alwayscareful um, but I don't think
anybody at any point felt unsafeor you know, you know and I
(10:27):
guess I don't know why I'd had.
I guess it's a bit like india aswell some countries you just
have it, or maybe it's going tobe a bit more intimidating, um,
but it wasn't.
I felt really safe.
I think it was a bit colderthan I expected and I think that
caught quite a few members ofthe group out as well, because I
think we were kind of expectingit was going to be early 20s
(10:49):
but it wasn't.
I mean, some days it was downto like 10 or 11 and especially
like chef show and which isbetween two mountain kind of two
big hills in the north in thevalley yeah, at that it.
It was a lot colder than we hadanticipated, but, um, I mean we
did all right.
Everybody had enough jumpersand jackets and you know, you
just wear the same clothes threedays on a road.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, who cares?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
yeah, right, yeah there's two things I will sort
of mention, and not that it wasa surprise, it's just how
friendly the people are.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Everybody was just so kind and friendly and positive
and happy to talk about thehistory of the country, which
was far more in-depth and variedthan I.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I realized oh, that's , that's, that's awesome yeah,
as well as people being friendly, I think, um, they were also
really.
We had quite a few peoplesaying thank you for choosing
morocco to visit.
Yeah, oh yes yes, a few timesyeah, a few people said that
thank you for coming andvisiting our country, which was
really lovely.
(11:53):
I think Morocco really shouldbe more visited than it is, if
that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Wow, okay, that's really nice to hear.
And what about, like the?
How are you guys getting aroundlike between cities, like what
was the transportation like?
So how did we get around?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
well, um, we got around in different ways.
We had two train journeys,which, of course, doug
absolutely loved, um, we did.
We went to local taxis as well,and for part of the time we
also had a private small minibus.
Um, so it was pretty easy toget around.
We organized our own transferfrom marrakesh to casablanca,
(12:36):
but the hotel did that for us,so we had a private driver.
Now we could have done that bytrain, but we wanted to try
because we knew we're comingback that way by train anyway.
We decided we'd try.
Well, how easy was it to do akind of private transfer?
And it was really.
It was about two and a halfhours to casablanca, I reckon
two and a half three hours.
So that was really easy, noproblem, um, and not massive.
(12:56):
I think it was about 130 euros,so it wasn't hugely expensive.
More obviously more expensivethan the train, um, but we did
that.
Um, we found it fairlycomfortable.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
I mean, you get motion sickness, so you had to
sit at the front yeah, and a few, a few times Fred would say to
me you know how are you if youwant to stop, but you'd have to
stop, but it's nice to be asked.
It's nice to be conscious ofyour needs as a tour guide,
because obviously he's dealingwith everybody else at the same
time.
Yeah, lots of questions.
(13:28):
So that was nice to beconsidered and you know, at the
end of the trip I did actuallyturn to one side and say you
know, thank you very much.
You know, you've been veryattentive and very kind and
considerate.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And I have to say I found the driving far, far less
intimidating than I did in India.
Yes, it was a bit crazy inIndia.
Honestly, it was nothing likethat, felt safe 100% of the time
.
I did not feel at at any pointthat we were driving crazily or
you know.
But but um, I just think ofwhen we're in india, when we're
(14:01):
at the tea plantation going up,there was a little scary, but it
was fine if I and to be honestI would say they were very
steady drivers.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Oh, I mean, I'm sure they weren't just doing that for
my benefit, but I am verygrateful, yeah.
Yeah, there was no rushing, weweren't hassled, it was just all
very relaxed.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, it was very relaxed.
It actually was a very relaxedtour and everybody was on time
Nobody you know, we all knewwhat we had to do, and that
always makes things so mucheasier when everybody's
considerate of everybody else.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, absolutely.
What about the accommodation?
Tell us about that.
How was that?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
So the accommodation in Marrakesh was really lovely
and we stayed at that hotel onthe way back.
Probably my least favorite wasthe hotel in Casablanca, which
we'd booked our own night beforethe Intrepid tour and it just
didn't.
It wasn't my favourite, put itthat way.
Yeah, it just didn't.
It didn't kind of tick a lot ofboxes for me, I mean the best
(15:03):
thing was it was opposite thetrain station.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
It was To say the hotel was a little bit Spartan,
it was a little bit unexciting.
Yeah, it was functional.
That was probably the term I'mlooking for.
It's functional, it did.
There was a bed and there was ayeah there's a bathroom, but
there wasn't much uh anythingcharacter, I guess that's the
thing.
And it.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
But I mean, you know, it was very functional and it
did what it do.
But obviously then we stayed atriads, which were far more what
you expect in morocco so youknow, then you have that, that
more of a kind of moroccanexperience, rather than staying
in a hotel, so they were better,um, and we stayed like a
homestay, um, so again, and thatI think that was in fez yes um
(15:48):
and chef showing as well.
We stayed in nice accommodationthat was the riad.
So they were definitely, Iguess, what people expect more
of with morocco, whereas umcasablanca was, say, more
functional.
The hotel marrakesh was reallynice, um, outside into the in
the new city part, not in themedina, but um, to be honest, we
did look at booking a riad forthe first night and then move
(16:10):
into the hotel um and leavingour luggage there because they
agreed to do that.
But to be honest, we were a bitintimidated about getting from
the airport into Riyadh becausewe'd heard that trying to get
through.
And afterwards, when we sawwhat it was like in the Medina,
we were like, oh, we would havegot lost, so we didn't do it.
So we were a bit chicken withthat one.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
But we stayed in a homestay in Mule Idris.
Yeah, a homestay in MoulayIdris.
Yeah, we climbed yes, we had tothe coach, the minibus stopped
and then all the luggage wastaken up on the back of donkeys
or mules up the backside streetsand we stayed in the homestay
there.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, so it was good.
The accommodation, nothing tocomplain about at all.
You know, it was absolutelyperfectly fine yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And all the you know, we, a few of the places,
including the homestays, we allhad a meal together on one table
.
So there was no engagementthere, there was no little
cliques sort of thing.
So everybody sort of mixed upthe seating, you know there
wasn't those always sat withthose and it was very, very
social.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Nice.
Now, when I think of Morocco, Ithink of all those amazing
colorful markets.
So tell us about that.
Is that reality?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
oh, honestly, yes again.
Um, if you haven't seen myphotos on on Instagram and our
Facebook group, check those out.
I'll put them in the show notesas well.
Colorful, I mean, I love coloranyway, I love to dress in
colorful clothes, uh, and I justyeah, it's a feast for the eyes
.
It really is.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
It was fantastic and the senses, the smells, the
spice, yeah, the spice market.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
So, yeah, just the different souks.
It was great and the first daythat we're marrakesh, we had a
private driver um, a privateguide.
I should say hi, ishmael, he'son my on my instagram.
He was brilliant so he showedus around um, the different um
throughout around the medina andthe different suks in the
medina in marrakesh and honestly, it was great.
(18:07):
We did go, we did buy some bitsand bobs, um, I bought a scarf
you know I'm gonna buy a scarfand and I did get mine on a very
nice uh rug, which I didn't buyum, but you know, it's it just.
And we found people were keen,obviously to sell, but they
weren't, weren't pushy um, so,again, and when we we went back
(18:27):
to marrakesh the last, the lastafternoon and the day after when
, when we arrived back from thetour and we we just walked
through on that with thatparticular tour guide, with
intrepid, there's a lot ofpeople who were staying on um,
and I'm glad that we did theprivate tour on the first day,
because we wouldn't have had thein-depth experience that we had
of the marrakesh um medina,because we spent far longer in
(18:51):
there and actually meetingdifferent shop owners and trying
, trying different things, um,trying to think of the oil, the
name of the oil.
I did buy some beautiful oil andit's really famous and I've
completely gone out my head, um.
But I did buy some reallylovely, um, rose scented oil, uh
, which is very good for yourhair, argan oil, that's argan
oil uh, so bought that and Ibought we didn.
(19:12):
We didn't buy a huge amount, infact, because we're travelling
a lot, we have to be veryconscious about what we bought,
but I did buy some argan oil anda scarf I think that was about
it, really, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
How about language?
How did you go with that?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
No problem at all because I do speak French.
So it did help, though myFrench is very rusty, but
obviously we had the guides withus who spoke English.
But I did use French a fewtimes when I needed to.
But I say, I'm not, I used tobe fluent and it's nowhere near
that anymore, but it does helpbecause I understand and I can
converse a little bit in French,which again does help.
(19:50):
Yeah, so if you have a littlebit of French, that will help
you, because that's the secondlanguage and obviously English.
There are a few other languagesas well which I'm going to get
wrong, so I'm not going to saywhat they are, but English and
French are spoken, arabic spoken.
There's a Berber language aswell, but most people will speak
French if they don't speak.
(20:10):
Well, they all speak French andthey will have some English as
well, but we didn't have aproblem with that.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
No, no, no no.
Not at all no.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Awesome.
Let's talk about food.
Tell us about food in Morocco.
What's that like?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Oh I don't know where to start.
Well, I will start, becausethey go a lot more in.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
You had your birthday in Morocco.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I did.
You know what I'd forgotten?
I thought I might sort of flyunder the radar with that one.
No, I saw it.
I celebrated my 21st birthday.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I do know that 21st birthday Doug in Morocco.
How was that?
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yeah, that was incredible.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Did you have a good dinner?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, I don't like to be centre of attention, but
they sort of made me centre ofattention in the evening with
candles and things and cake.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, that was really nice.
Which?
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I did share obviously .
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I did eat the whole cake and that was lovely because
I organised all of that.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Yes, it was a lovely surprise Because nobody listened
.
It wasn't my 21st birthday.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Oh, I thought you were serious.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
No, it wasn't my 21st birthday.
I thought you were serious.
No, it's really good.
I mean, I love moroccan food,is one of my favorite type foods
anyway, I used to live infrance and I I remember in the
80s being taught to makecouscous royale and and always
loving it.
And when we go to paris wealways go to the same moroccan
uh restaurant there and um so.
But I have to say even I, bythe end of it, had probably
eaten as much couscous and asmuch tagine as I could possibly
ever eat.
So we're having a little bit ofa break from it now.
(21:43):
But I tell you what I thinkit's probably because I'm
notoriously not a good eater.
I mean, I'm probably the onlyperson in the world who goes to
Japan and loses weight.
I don't like.
Japanese food, the word fussydoes come to mind.
But you know what Moroccan food?
It's vegetable, it's sovegetable heavy, which I love,
so you know I could just have avegetable couscous and eat that,
(22:07):
and the tagines with thechicken, the lamb, so well
cooked, it's so moist and tender, so just really tasty.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
It is One in particular.
We had a group evening meal.
It was in a riad that had beenturned into a restaurant, and
that was an exceptional meal.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
That was in Fez.
Yeah, that was fabulous.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Yeah, that was special.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
We had the I think it's called pastis, which is
like a chicken pie, which issomething that I hadn't tried
before and that's a specialty ofthat area, so we enjoyed that,
so it was really good.
Just trying different foods,the best thing for me is that
there was olives all the time.
Olives, olives, olives.
(22:50):
Yes, who doesn't like olives?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You know what they always say if you eat so many
olives, you'll suddenly likethem.
Well, after what?
45 plus a lot more years oftrying them, I still don't like
them it's not gonna happen, justmore for us olive lovers.
That's all, that's what I saidto everybody else, just more to
(23:14):
share out yeah talking of foodand drink, I have to say I
really, really like the mint teaokay all right, it was lovely,
it was really lovely yeah, Imean, as you know, we're tea
lovers anyway, but to try thetea speciality from another
country was particularly specialreally helped.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, sorry I.
I was just gonna say I wastraveling with tracy a lot.
She always has her own littlespecial tea, so I'm quite
intrigued to hear that tracy'sdrinking other people's tea.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
I know I am I know I'm gonna say I'm fussy about
tea as well, but, um, I did tryit and I was like, okay, I'll
give it a go.
Um, and some places we had thatmint tea.
It was outstanding and itreally helped with digestion.
Honestly, I had no problem.
Everything was really healthybecause you just it feels like
probably one of the mosthealthiest cuisines I've had
anywhere.
Now, I know they eat a lot ofsugar, so I will say that I
(24:16):
didn't have, we didn't gooverboard with the sugary kind
of biscuits and treats andthings that they have, which I
know are very, very popular inMorocco.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Well, with the mint tea, after I tried the first one
which was particularly sweetbecause obviously we've got Fred
with us who could speak thelanguage he did actually ask for
ones with little or no sugaradded, and that's when it sort
of stuck with me.
I think that's just how I likeit, that is just perfect for me.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, cool, cool.
What about?
You know, it sounds amazing,but I'm guessing there might
were there any challenges whileyou were travelling?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I don't think so, nothing that I can think of.
It was actually a really smooth, easy trip, yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Fred was very good at anticipating anything that
potentially could have been a anobstacle, and he kept us well
informed about foods and drinksand things to do, not to do, and
so I think it's very, veryattentive.
So, no, I don't think we Ihonestly can't think of anything
.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
It was all really went really smoothly.
The only one thing that was abit difficult was actually we
had booked a tour in Casablancaand we had two other guests on
that tour who did not behaveparticularly well.
Oh yeah, yeah.
So that and our guide, eunice,was amazing.
(25:36):
So hi, eunice, because he dealtwith it.
He was trying to deal with itas best he could.
So hi, eunice, because he dealtwith it.
He was trying to deal with itas best he could.
But they were just beingextremely difficult and they
were spending a long time out ofthe vehicle going to the toilet
for half an hour.
Yeah, they were on the phonewhen he was trying to talk to us
about Casablanca playing music.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Yeah, playing music.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
So that was really.
I've never been on a tour likethat.
It was a couple of hour tour ofCastle Monk.
I've never, ever had thathappen again or happen before,
and I hope it never happensagain, where we have two
incredibly selfish girls thatdid that.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
So make that clear that was not part of the
Intrepid tour.
No, that was separate.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
That was a separate tour that we had booked, but
Eunice was amazing, the tourguide who took us and he gets a
five stars from us His patience.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
We were getting irritated, but he was very calm
and collected and you know verypatient.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Awesome.
How about money and stuff Likewhat was that like?
Like the money and paying forstuff?
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Mostly cash.
We used cash Just got out ofthe cash point because you can't
get money before.
I think in Morocco it's one ofthose conferences, like India,
you can't take it in or out.
I think yeah.
So we just got it out of theATM and we didn't spend a
massive amount, really, did we?
Speaker 3 (26:52):
No, we grouped together for tipping and then
that was done as a group.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, like putting into that tip and kitty, which
is always worth doing, so that'sgood.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yeah, but what Fouad did?
He had us, you know he handedus some cash each time, you know
, asked one of us to go, then goand hand the cash over.
So he was not one person.
So we were engaged with hotelsand restaurants.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, so that was really good.
I don't think, you know,Morocco was not expensive, so
meals were cheap.
We didn't have all the mealsincluded, probably less so than
when we were in India, Melissa,actually, but it was not
expensive to buy.
You know, really not expensiveto have a meal out and you know,
the couscous or having a taginewere really accessible, really
(27:42):
not just cheap yeah, it's justyeah, yeah awesome and what
about um like health issues or,you know like no good.
I mean you have to have travelinsurance when you go out with
intrepid anyway.
But nobody got sick, nobody.
There's no upset stomachs,because I know, obviously when
we're in india a couple ofpeople did get sick, um, but
(28:04):
that did not happen in moroccoat all.
I mean, we did get you know,told not to eat food from any of
the markets because they don'tnecessarily use the clean water
and also you can't water or havewater.
Is that we, because of we'renot used to the minerals that
are in the water in Morocco?
Well, moroccan people can drinkthe water there.
It's not advisable, if youvisit to the country, to drink
(28:26):
the water, so it's too mineralrich and it can upset your
stomach.
But nobody got sick at all theentire time.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Well, that's great.
Okay, now a couple of generalquestions.
What do you think?
Do you think Morocco is a gooddestination for, like, solo
travels, couples, group friends,like what?
Do you reckon who should go tomorocco?
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I think, I think it's a great destination for
everybody.
I mean, I think, um, I wouldstill recommend taking a tour.
I mean, we're, you know, we'reindependent travelers, as you
are, melissa, and we 99 at thetime we would never do a tour.
We'd always organize ourselves.
However, I genuinely feel andit's the same for India that you
have a far richer experiencefrom doing a tour than you would
(29:11):
have if you did it yourself.
Not saying that you couldn't doit yourself, because I'm sure
plenty of people have, and onceyou plan to get from destination
to destination, you know it'syou.
Probably those are the thingsyou'd have to start planning.
It's not so difficult, but Iwould always encourage people,
if they're going to do it ontheir own, or if they're going
to do it you know, even in acouple or whatever that they
(29:32):
make sure that they use thelocal guides, make sure that you
book locals to take you aroundthese places, because you're not
going to learn or experience itor really fully get it unless
you do that and also don'tforget the the passion that the
locals have talking about theirown town, their own cities,
their own country's history, youknow, for the good and the bad,
because it's still history yeah, um you know, and I think the
(29:56):
shared experience sometimes in agroup is, you know, enriches
your travel experience yeah, Ithink I was gonna say, normally,
as I say, you know, we wouldn'tdo an organized tour, but I
think there are some times whereyou have to look at and go.
actually this is the best option.
Yeah, um, and you know I didn't.
A bit like india, we, you know,I think, when it can feel a bit
(30:18):
overwhelming, then planning fora destination like that and
actually, um, even if you know,even going back when it can feel
a bit overwhelmed, and thenplanning for a destination like
that, and actually, um, even ifyou know, even going back to
Morocco, and we plan to go backto Morocco and in fact I'm
trying to get up off the grounda women only tour next year.
I know, let me know, um,because that's something I'd
like to get organized and sorted.
So, um, you know, I still wouldsay recommend do a tour.
(30:40):
It's like India Went back toIndia, I'd do a tour again
because I just think that's thebest way to actually experience
those sort of countries and alsowe just didn't have time to sit
and organise another itinerary.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Yeah, cool, cool.
One last question what one bigtip would you give to anybody
travelling to Morocco for thevery first time?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
What would you say, Doug?
Speaker 3 (31:06):
I think what we did as regards to the luggage arrive
a day earlier and see where thetour's going to end and
consider your onward journeyfrom there and what fits best
logistically.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yeah, I think that's a good idea and I think one tip
for me is go, just go, don't youknow, just get yourself.
Go to Morocco.
If you have any thoughts about,oh, maybe I should definitely
go.
So that's my big tip and do atour, you know, get involved
with the locals.
That's what I'm saying.
Rather than doing a large grouptour, just do a smaller tour if
(31:41):
that's what you want to do, ormake sure, if you're doing it
independently, that you arestill looking at getting those
guides to show you the places,because you will get lost.
You will 100% get lost.
Those medinas are like crazy,crazy, honestly like mazes, and
you know, the only people whogrew up in those medinas will
(32:02):
know the way around.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, yeah well, I've always wanted to go to brocco,
but after interviewing you twonow I want to go even more.
But as the uh specialinterviewer guest, I am now
going to hand it back to theprofessional.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
So, tracy, thank you very much for having me oh,
honestly, melissa, thanks somuch for agreeing to come and
chat with us about morocco.
I've got your name down for thetour for next year already.
It's always great to chat withyou and um, and it's been so, so
much fun to chat about ourexperiences in moroc, morocco.
(32:40):
And if you're listening to thisepisode and you're thinking,
yeah, I really fancy a trip toMorocco, check out the show
notes, um, let me know.
You can leave us a message onspeakpipe.
If you're interested in joiningan all women tour to Morocco
next year, get in touch and letme know, because if I get the
right numbers, we can get it offthe ground.
Um, but otherwise, if you wantto see the photos from the trip,
(33:01):
doug's also going to put somevideos together.
Check out our Instagram, globalTravel Planning and our website
, globaltravelplanningcom.
This will be forward slashepisode 48.
And also join our Facebookgroup community as well, where
we share destinations around theworld.
But again, thanks so much,melissa.
No worries, my pleasure.
(33:22):
Thank you for joining us onthis episode of the Global
Travel Planning Podcast.
For more details and links toeverything we discussed today,
check out the show notes atglobaltravelplanningcom.
Remember, if you enjoyed theshow, please consider leaving us
a review on your favoritepodcast app, because your
feedback helps us reach moretravel enthusiasts, just like
(33:42):
you.
Anyway, that leaves me to say,as always, happy global travel
planning.
Thinking about visiting Morocco.
In this episode, doug and Irecap our northern Morocco
adventure with Intrepid Travelcovering the highlights of our
itinerary must-visitdestinations, unforgettable
experiences and, of course, theamazing food From Marrakesh to
Chefchaouen and beyond.
We'll share what we loved, whatsurprised us and whether we'd
recommend a group tour forexploring Morocco.
(00:20):
Hi and welcome to the GlobalTravel Planning Podcast.
I'm your host, tracey Collins,who, with my expert guests, will
(00:43):
take you on a weekly journey todestinations around the globe,
providing travel inspiration,itinerary ideas, practical tips
and more to help you of theGlobal Travel Plan N podcast.
Now this week, doug and I arehere to chat about our recent
trip to Morocco.
So if you've been following uson social media or a member of
our Global Travel Plan NFacebook group, you'll know that
Doug and I spent 10 fantasticdays touring Morocco.
(01:04):
You'll know that Doug and Ispent 10 fantastic days touring
Morocco.
Now, rather than us justtalking away, we decided that
the best way to do this was tobe interviewed.
So our friend Melissa nowMelissa is from.
You'll recognize Melissa'svoice if you listen to our
podcast regularly, because sheis the Aussie in our Brit,
aussie and Yang episodes at theend of every month.
So, hi, melissa, you've come onto ask us lots of questions
(01:25):
about our Morocco trip, so wouldyou like to introduce yourself
today?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yes, hello, I'm Melissa.
I'm the Aussie, as Tracy said,from the Brit Aussie and Yank,
and I so want to go to Morocco.
So I thought why not interviewTracy and Doug, who have just
been to Morocco, and get excitedabout it?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Oh yeah, honestly, it was an amazing trip.
We loved it, so we're reallylooking forward to um sharing
all about it with you guysawesome, let's get started.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Okay, guys, tracy and Doug, just let's do a quick
overview first, so like how longwas your trip and why did you
choose this trip?
Let's start there.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Well, we were there for 10 days.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, and we chose it because we've never been before
.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah.
So we flew the 18th of Februaryto the 28th of February so
they're 10 days and when we werechatting about where to go we
were kind of I don't know.
We just went well, where havewe been?
That is fairly easy to go to.
And also there was an intrepidsale on, so that kind of we
looked at intrepid because weknew we'd probably want to do a
tour, um, so we kind of lookedand went, oh, there's a tour in
(02:31):
morocco perfect and we noticedon part of the tour included a
train journey, so that had mesold straight away it did.
In fact, I had two trainjourneys, so you are.
Once I said, the dog has gottwo train journeys.
We're going to mor, morocco.
It's a place neither of us havebeen to, but we really want to
go to.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
It just fell from there, didn't it Fell into place
?
Fell into place, yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
All right, so before you guys started the trip, I
understand that you arrived inMarrakesh a little bit early, so
tell us about that.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Okay.
So we flew in on the 18th ofFebruary and the tour didn't
start until the 20th inCasablanca.
But because the tour was endingagain in Marrakech and we have
quite a lot of luggage becausewe were now making our way back
to Australia from the UK, sowe're doing that over a few
months, so we have a little bitmore luggage than we would
generally.
We didn't want to take that allaround Morocco, so we decided
(03:26):
to fly into Marrakech, stay inthe hotel that we were ending
the tour in in Marrakech, leaveour luggage there and then
transfer to Casablanca to startthe tour in Casablanca on the
20th.
But we decided to go on the19th.
So we flew on on the 18th andthen had a morning in Marrakech
and then took a transfer toCasablanca, which meant that we
had time before the tour startedto actually see Casablanca.
(03:47):
Otherwise we wouldn't have beenable to do that.
So it worked out best for usand leaving the luggage was a
really good idea.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, that was a very good idea.
It means we could streamlinewhat we actually carried with us
.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
So you'd recommend that, like arriving early in
Casablanca.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
So what?
You're saying, that otherwisethe tour didn't really see
Casablanca?
Yeah, it didn't really.
You didn't see anything inCasablanca if you on the tour
because, though it started there, the meeting was at 6 pm on the
20th and then we left the nextmorning to transfer on by train
to Tangier so if you didn't seeCasablanca that day, or come
early, you weren't going to getopportunity to do it.
So it worked really well for usbecause actually we we had most
(04:30):
of a day in Marrakesh on the19th, which meant we could do a
tour which actually workedreally well at the end, and then
it meant that we also had thetime to see Casablanca without
feeling like too rushed, or youknow, we saw the highlights of
Casablanca without feeling liketoo rushed, or you know, we saw
the highlights of Casablanca,basically, which worked for us
yeah, cool, cool.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Let's talk about Intrepid.
Like you know, tracy, you and I, I mean, we've both been on
Intrepid before um so how wasyour experience with Intrepid in
um, morocco?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
excellent, excellent.
I mean.
They're just an outstandingcompany and obviously we know we
traveled.
We did two intrepid tours lastyear in India which we must talk
about on the podcast.
I keep saying that we reallymust.
That were amazing.
They're a very good company.
They're very conscious aboutmaking sure that they give back
into the community.
They look for authenticexperiences.
(05:21):
You have tour guides from eachof the local areas that will
take you around, so that againputs some money into the
community and employs localpeople.
They're very conscious aboutthings like plastic.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, they're very conscious of that.
They encourage you to bringyour own bottles, and they have
large bottles of water which youcan fill up at any time.
They carry them around withthem, so that makes it so much
easier.
So you haven't got to thinkwhere, where I'm going to buy a
bottle of water from, becauseit's all been sorted yeah, so
that was good.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, so found them really good, very well organized
and approachable and veryapproachable and, and you know,
fred, who took our tour, wasjust amazing.
He was an outstanding guy.
Yeah, he was really a fantasticguide, just brilliant.
And we had two trainee guideswith us as well.
Yeah, because there was onlyeight of us on the tour
(06:15):
altogether, so we were reallyspoilt.
I think that we had Fred andthe other two.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, I mean they joined us for some meals, but
they were approachable at alltimes.
And Fred got the the other twotrainees involved as well.
They weren't just in thebackground, they're actually up
front, they're involved with it.
He had them doing sort of dayintroductions and tour
introductions as well.
So it really was a littlecommunity, a little family yeah,
it was.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
It was very good.
And what about the group likewhen was everyone from?
How did that go?
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Well, most were from, so there was eight of us, so
three couples and then twosingle lady travellers who came
for solo, I should say two solofemale travellers, one from
England and one from Dubai, butAustralian, and hopefully Donna
will be coming on the podcast totalk all about the fact that
she's now visited 145 countries.
(07:09):
Wow, so she was amazing to talkto.
But generally, yeah, we all goton really well, no problems,
because you know you'retravelling a lot together, but
you also had a lot of free timeon this to go and do your own
thing, so it worked really well.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
But no issues and the free time we had.
Quite often we all stayedtogether anyway yeah, nice, nice
, nice, that's nice together,particularly in medina's, to
sort of stay together yeah, soit made made the guide, fred's
job even easier, and the fact hedidn't have to go looking for
one person.
So, we were either all going tobe there or all lost at the
(07:45):
same time.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
That's nice, hey, all right, let's get into some of
the destinations that you guysvisited, like what were your
favourite places that you wentto on the tour.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I have to say Marrakesh.
Marrakesh is an interestingcity to visit, very lively, just
colourful, and, yeah, itreminded me, I guess, of the
same experience I had in India,where it's just all your senses,
you know the smells, the sights, the sounds, everything just
kind of yeah, it's notoverwhelming, it's just amazing,
(08:20):
you can immerse yourself in it.
So I think for you, Marrakesh,as well.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, we both enjoyed Marrakesh Well.
It's just amazing.
You can immerse yourself in it.
So I think for you Marrakesh aswell.
Yeah, we both enjoyed Marrakesh.
Well, it's because it's thefirst place we visited in
Morocco, so it sort of sticks inyour mind.
But to me it just seemed alittle bit more low-key and a
little bit more relaxed thansome of the other places we
visited, with a bit more hustleand bustle.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
That's true, but I would say I mean the Medina in
Marrakesh is pretty busy.
And then I think the nextobvious place to mention has got
to be Chefchaouen, which is theBlue City.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Oh yes.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
If you've seen my photos on Instagram or in the
Facebook group, I can't even youknow I'm very proud of my
photos because they are verybeautiful, but, honestly, being
there as well, it's just.
You can't replace it, it's just, it's just the most beautiful
place, and we were actuallylucky the first morning that we
walked around, because it wasactually torrential rain.
So we got umbrellas, but whatit meant was.
(09:19):
And the rain eased off, butwhat it meant is that we were
the only people on the streets.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So later in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
So I have tons of photos with nobody else in them.
It's just amazing.
Later on in the day so the raincompletely eased off.
The rain eased off as we walkedas well, but it didn't get busy
until later in the afternoonand then we were walking back
around and we saw just howdifficult it was to get any
photo without a million peoplein the picture.
Okay, so actually, even thoughwe were kind of like, oh it's
(09:47):
pouring down rain, do we want todo this?
Actually worked out to be thebest thing possible it really
did yeah yeah, very, very cool.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Um, what about, um, any surprises, like maybe
negative, positive and what aresome surprises for you guys?
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I think I felt a lot safer than I thought it was
gonna be.
I think, yeah, I just didn'tfeel at any time unsafe.
Um, you know, I mean you usethe usual precautions.
Like you know, I had my theftproof crossbody bag.
I always have that, I'm alwayscareful um, but I don't think
anybody at any point felt unsafeor you know, you know and I
(10:27):
guess I don't know why I'd had.
I guess it's a bit like india aswell some countries you just
have it, or maybe it's going tobe a bit more intimidating, um,
but it wasn't.
I felt really safe.
I think it was a bit colderthan I expected and I think that
caught quite a few members ofthe group out as well, because I
think we were kind of expectingit was going to be early 20s
(10:49):
but it wasn't.
I mean, some days it was downto like 10 or 11 and especially
like chef show and which isbetween two mountain kind of two
big hills in the north in thevalley yeah, at that it.
It was a lot colder than we hadanticipated, but, um, I mean we
did all right.
Everybody had enough jumpersand jackets and you know, you
just wear the same clothes threedays on a road.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, who cares?
Speaker 3 (11:12):
yeah, right, yeah there's two things I will sort
of mention, and not that it wasa surprise, it's just how
friendly the people are.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Everybody was just so kind and friendly and positive
and happy to talk about thehistory of the country, which
was far more in-depth and variedthan I.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I realized oh, that's , that's, that's awesome yeah,
as well as people being friendly, I think, um, they were also
really.
We had quite a few peoplesaying thank you for choosing
morocco to visit.
Yeah, oh yes yes, a few timesyeah, a few people said that
thank you for coming andvisiting our country, which was
really lovely.
(11:53):
I think Morocco really shouldbe more visited than it is, if
that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Wow, okay, that's really nice to hear.
And what about, like the?
How are you guys getting aroundlike between cities, like what
was the transportation like?
So how did we get around?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
well, um, we got around in different ways.
We had two train journeys,which, of course, doug
absolutely loved, um, we did.
We went to local taxis as well,and for part of the time we
also had a private small minibus.
Um, so it was pretty easy toget around.
We organized our own transferfrom marrakesh to casablanca,
(12:36):
but the hotel did that for us,so we had a private driver.
Now we could have done that bytrain, but we wanted to try
because we knew we're comingback that way by train anyway.
We decided we'd try.
Well, how easy was it to do akind of private transfer?
And it was really.
It was about two and a halfhours to casablanca, I reckon
two and a half three hours.
So that was really easy, noproblem, um, and not massive.
(12:56):
I think it was about 130 euros,so it wasn't hugely expensive.
More obviously more expensivethan the train, um, but we did
that.
Um, we found it fairlycomfortable.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
I mean, you get motion sickness, so you had to
sit at the front yeah, and a few, a few times Fred would say to
me you know how are you if youwant to stop, but you'd have to
stop, but it's nice to be asked.
It's nice to be conscious ofyour needs as a tour guide,
because obviously he's dealingwith everybody else at the same
time.
Yeah, lots of questions.
(13:28):
So that was nice to beconsidered and you know, at the
end of the trip I did actuallyturn to one side and say you
know, thank you very much.
You know, you've been veryattentive and very kind and
considerate.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And I have to say I found the driving far, far less
intimidating than I did in India.
Yes, it was a bit crazy inIndia.
Honestly, it was nothing likethat, felt safe 100% of the time
.
I did not feel at at any pointthat we were driving crazily or
you know.
But but um, I just think ofwhen we're in india, when we're
(14:01):
at the tea plantation going up,there was a little scary, but it
was fine if I and to be honestI would say they were very
steady drivers.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Oh, I mean, I'm sure they weren't just doing that for
my benefit, but I am verygrateful, yeah.
Yeah, there was no rushing, weweren't hassled, it was just all
very relaxed.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, it was very relaxed.
It actually was a very relaxedtour and everybody was on time
Nobody you know, we all knewwhat we had to do, and that
always makes things so mucheasier when everybody's
considerate of everybody else.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, absolutely.
What about the accommodation?
Tell us about that.
How was that?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
So the accommodation in Marrakesh was really lovely
and we stayed at that hotel onthe way back.
Probably my least favorite wasthe hotel in Casablanca, which
we'd booked our own night beforethe Intrepid tour and it just
didn't.
It wasn't my favourite, put itthat way.
Yeah, it just didn't.
It didn't kind of tick a lot ofboxes for me, I mean the best
(15:03):
thing was it was opposite thetrain station.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
It was To say the hotel was a little bit Spartan,
it was a little bit unexciting.
Yeah, it was functional.
That was probably the term I'mlooking for.
It's functional, it did.
There was a bed and there was ayeah there's a bathroom, but
there wasn't much uh anythingcharacter, I guess that's the
thing.
And it.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
But I mean, you know, it was very functional and it
did what it do.
But obviously then we stayed atriads, which were far more what
you expect in morocco so youknow, then you have that, that
more of a kind of moroccanexperience, rather than staying
in a hotel, so they were better,um, and we stayed like a
homestay, um, so again, and thatI think that was in fez yes um
(15:48):
and chef showing as well.
We stayed in nice accommodationthat was the riad.
So they were definitely, Iguess, what people expect more
of with morocco, whereas umcasablanca was, say, more
functional.
The hotel marrakesh was reallynice, um, outside into the in
the new city part, not in themedina, but um, to be honest, we
did look at booking a riad forthe first night and then move
(16:10):
into the hotel um and leavingour luggage there because they
agreed to do that.
But to be honest, we were a bitintimidated about getting from
the airport into Riyadh becausewe'd heard that trying to get
through.
And afterwards, when we sawwhat it was like in the Medina,
we were like, oh, we would havegot lost, so we didn't do it.
So we were a bit chicken withthat one.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
But we stayed in a homestay in Mule Idris.
Yeah, a homestay in MoulayIdris.
Yeah, we climbed yes, we had tothe coach, the minibus stopped
and then all the luggage wastaken up on the back of donkeys
or mules up the backside streetsand we stayed in the homestay
there.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, so it was good.
The accommodation, nothing tocomplain about at all.
You know, it was absolutelyperfectly fine yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
And all the you know, we, a few of the places,
including the homestays, we allhad a meal together on one table
.
So there was no engagementthere, there was no little
cliques sort of thing.
So everybody sort of mixed upthe seating, you know there
wasn't those always sat withthose and it was very, very
social.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Nice.
Now, when I think of Morocco, Ithink of all those amazing
colorful markets.
So tell us about that.
Is that reality?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
oh, honestly, yes again.
Um, if you haven't seen myphotos on on Instagram and our
Facebook group, check those out.
I'll put them in the show notesas well.
Colorful, I mean, I love coloranyway, I love to dress in
colorful clothes, uh, and I justyeah, it's a feast for the eyes
.
It really is.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
It was fantastic and the senses, the smells, the
spice, yeah, the spice market.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
So, yeah, just the different souks.
It was great and the first daythat we're marrakesh, we had a
private driver um, a privateguide.
I should say hi, ishmael, he'son my on my instagram.
He was brilliant so he showedus around um, the different um
throughout around the medina andthe different suks in the
medina in marrakesh and honestly, it was great.
(18:07):
We did go, we did buy some bitsand bobs, um, I bought a scarf
you know I'm gonna buy a scarfand and I did get mine on a very
nice uh rug, which I didn't buyum, but you know, it's it just.
And we found people were keen,obviously to sell, but they
weren't, weren't pushy um, so,again, and when we we went back
(18:27):
to marrakesh the last, the lastafternoon and the day after when
, when we arrived back from thetour and we we just walked
through on that with thatparticular tour guide, with
intrepid, there's a lot ofpeople who were staying on um,
and I'm glad that we did theprivate tour on the first day,
because we wouldn't have had thein-depth experience that we had
of the marrakesh um medina,because we spent far longer in
(18:51):
there and actually meetingdifferent shop owners and trying
, trying different things, um,trying to think of the oil, the
name of the oil.
I did buy some beautiful oil andit's really famous and I've
completely gone out my head, um.
But I did buy some reallylovely, um, rose scented oil, uh
, which is very good for yourhair, argan oil, that's argan
oil uh, so bought that and Ibought we didn.
(19:12):
We didn't buy a huge amount, infact, because we're travelling
a lot, we have to be veryconscious about what we bought,
but I did buy some argan oil anda scarf I think that was about
it, really, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
How about language?
How did you go with that?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
No problem at all because I do speak French.
So it did help, though myFrench is very rusty, but
obviously we had the guides withus who spoke English.
But I did use French a fewtimes when I needed to.
But I say, I'm not, I used tobe fluent and it's nowhere near
that anymore, but it does helpbecause I understand and I can
converse a little bit in French,which again does help.
(19:50):
Yeah, so if you have a littlebit of French, that will help
you, because that's the secondlanguage and obviously English.
There are a few other languagesas well which I'm going to get
wrong, so I'm not going to saywhat they are, but English and
French are spoken, arabic spoken.
There's a Berber language aswell, but most people will speak
French if they don't speak.
(20:10):
Well, they all speak French andthey will have some English as
well, but we didn't have aproblem with that.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
No, no, no no.
Not at all no.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Awesome.
Let's talk about food.
Tell us about food in Morocco.
What's that like?
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Oh I don't know where to start.
Well, I will start, becausethey go a lot more in.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
You had your birthday in Morocco.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I did.
You know what I'd forgotten?
I thought I might sort of flyunder the radar with that one.
No, I saw it.
I celebrated my 21st birthday.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I do know that 21st birthday Doug in Morocco.
How was that?
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yeah, that was incredible.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Did you have a good dinner?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, I don't like to be centre of attention, but
they sort of made me centre ofattention in the evening with
candles and things and cake.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, that was really nice.
Which?
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I did share obviously .
Speaker 1 (21:01):
I did eat the whole cake and that was lovely because
I organised all of that.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Yes, it was a lovely surprise Because nobody listened
.
It wasn't my 21st birthday.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Oh, I thought you were serious.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
No, it wasn't my 21st birthday.
I thought you were serious.
No, it's really good.
I mean, I love moroccan food,is one of my favorite type foods
anyway, I used to live infrance and I I remember in the
80s being taught to makecouscous royale and and always
loving it.
And when we go to paris wealways go to the same moroccan
uh restaurant there and um so.
But I have to say even I, bythe end of it, had probably
eaten as much couscous and asmuch tagine as I could possibly
ever eat.
So we're having a little bit ofa break from it now.
(21:43):
But I tell you what I thinkit's probably because I'm
notoriously not a good eater.
I mean, I'm probably the onlyperson in the world who goes to
Japan and loses weight.
I don't like.
Japanese food, the word fussydoes come to mind.
But you know what Moroccan food?
It's vegetable, it's sovegetable heavy, which I love,
so you know I could just have avegetable couscous and eat that,
(22:07):
and the tagines with thechicken, the lamb, so well
cooked, it's so moist and tender, so just really tasty.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
It is One in particular.
We had a group evening meal.
It was in a riad that had beenturned into a restaurant, and
that was an exceptional meal.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
That was in Fez.
Yeah, that was fabulous.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Yeah, that was special.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
We had the I think it's called pastis, which is
like a chicken pie, which issomething that I hadn't tried
before and that's a specialty ofthat area, so we enjoyed that,
so it was really good.
Just trying different foods,the best thing for me is that
there was olives all the time.
Olives, olives, olives.
(22:50):
Yes, who doesn't like olives?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
You know what they always say if you eat so many
olives, you'll suddenly likethem.
Well, after what?
45 plus a lot more years oftrying them, I still don't like
them it's not gonna happen, justmore for us olive lovers.
That's all, that's what I saidto everybody else, just more to
(23:14):
share out yeah talking of foodand drink, I have to say I
really, really like the mint teaokay all right, it was lovely,
it was really lovely yeah, Imean, as you know, we're tea
lovers anyway, but to try thetea speciality from another
country was particularly specialreally helped.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Yeah, sorry I.
I was just gonna say I wastraveling with tracy a lot.
She always has her own littlespecial tea, so I'm quite
intrigued to hear that tracy'sdrinking other people's tea.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
I know I am I know I'm gonna say I'm fussy about
tea as well, but, um, I did tryit and I was like, okay, I'll
give it a go.
Um, and some places we had thatmint tea.
It was outstanding and itreally helped with digestion.
Honestly, I had no problem.
Everything was really healthybecause you just it feels like
probably one of the mosthealthiest cuisines I've had
anywhere.
Now, I know they eat a lot ofsugar, so I will say that I
(24:16):
didn't have, we didn't gooverboard with the sugary kind
of biscuits and treats andthings that they have, which I
know are very, very popular inMorocco.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Well, with the mint tea, after I tried the first one
which was particularly sweetbecause obviously we've got Fred
with us who could speak thelanguage he did actually ask for
ones with little or no sugaradded, and that's when it sort
of stuck with me.
I think that's just how I likeit, that is just perfect for me.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, cool, cool.
What about?
You know, it sounds amazing,but I'm guessing there might
were there any challenges whileyou were travelling?
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I don't think so, nothing that I can think of.
It was actually a really smooth, easy trip, yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Fred was very good at anticipating anything that
potentially could have been a anobstacle, and he kept us well
informed about foods and drinksand things to do, not to do, and
so I think it's very, veryattentive.
So, no, I don't think we Ihonestly can't think of anything
.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
It was all really went really smoothly.
The only one thing that was abit difficult was actually we
had booked a tour in Casablancaand we had two other guests on
that tour who did not behaveparticularly well.
Oh yeah, yeah.
So that and our guide, eunice,was amazing.
(25:36):
So hi, eunice, because he dealtwith it.
He was trying to deal with itas best he could.
So hi, eunice, because he dealtwith it.
He was trying to deal with itas best he could.
But they were just beingextremely difficult and they
were spending a long time out ofthe vehicle going to the toilet
for half an hour.
Yeah, they were on the phonewhen he was trying to talk to us
about Casablanca playing music.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Yeah, playing music.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
So that was really.
I've never been on a tour likethat.
It was a couple of hour tour ofCastle Monk.
I've never, ever had thathappen again or happen before,
and I hope it never happensagain, where we have two
incredibly selfish girls thatdid that.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
So make that clear that was not part of the
Intrepid tour.
No, that was separate.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
That was a separate tour that we had booked, but
Eunice was amazing, the tourguide who took us and he gets a
five stars from us His patience.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
We were getting irritated, but he was very calm
and collected and you know verypatient.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Awesome.
How about money and stuff Likewhat was that like?
Like the money and paying forstuff?
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Mostly cash.
We used cash Just got out ofthe cash point because you can't
get money before.
I think in Morocco it's one ofthose conferences, like India,
you can't take it in or out.
I think yeah.
So we just got it out of theATM and we didn't spend a
massive amount, really, did we?
Speaker 3 (26:52):
No, we grouped together for tipping and then
that was done as a group.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, like putting into that tip and kitty, which
is always worth doing, so that'sgood.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yeah, but what Fouad did?
He had us, you know he handedus some cash each time, you know
, asked one of us to go, then goand hand the cash over.
So he was not one person.
So we were engaged with hotelsand restaurants.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, so that was really good.
I don't think, you know,Morocco was not expensive, so
meals were cheap.
We didn't have all the mealsincluded, probably less so than
when we were in India, Melissa,actually, but it was not
expensive to buy.
You know, really not expensiveto have a meal out and you know,
the couscous or having a taginewere really accessible, really
(27:42):
not just cheap yeah, it's justyeah, yeah awesome and what
about um like health issues or,you know like no good.
I mean you have to have travelinsurance when you go out with
intrepid anyway.
But nobody got sick, nobody.
There's no upset stomachs,because I know, obviously when
we're in india a couple ofpeople did get sick, um, but
(28:04):
that did not happen in moroccoat all.
I mean, we did get you know,told not to eat food from any of
the markets because they don'tnecessarily use the clean water
and also you can't water or havewater.
Is that we, because of we'renot used to the minerals that
are in the water in Morocco?
Well, moroccan people can drinkthe water there.
It's not advisable, if youvisit to the country, to drink
(28:26):
the water, so it's too mineralrich and it can upset your
stomach.
But nobody got sick at all theentire time.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Well, that's great.
Okay, now a couple of generalquestions.
What do you think?
Do you think Morocco is a gooddestination for, like, solo
travels, couples, group friends,like what?
Do you reckon who should go tomorocco?
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I think, I think it's a great destination for
everybody.
I mean, I think, um, I wouldstill recommend taking a tour.
I mean, we're, you know, we'reindependent travelers, as you
are, melissa, and we 99 at thetime we would never do a tour.
We'd always organize ourselves.
However, I genuinely feel andit's the same for India that you
have a far richer experiencefrom doing a tour than you would
(29:11):
have if you did it yourself.
Not saying that you couldn't doit yourself, because I'm sure
plenty of people have, and onceyou plan to get from destination
to destination, you know it'syou.
Probably those are the thingsyou'd have to start planning.
It's not so difficult, but Iwould always encourage people,
if they're going to do it ontheir own, or if they're going
to do it you know, even in acouple or whatever that they
(29:32):
make sure that they use thelocal guides, make sure that you
book locals to take you aroundthese places, because you're not
going to learn or experience itor really fully get it unless
you do that and also don'tforget the the passion that the
locals have talking about theirown town, their own cities,
their own country's history, youknow, for the good and the bad,
because it's still history yeah, um you know, and I think the
(29:56):
shared experience sometimes in agroup is, you know, enriches
your travel experience yeah, Ithink I was gonna say, normally,
as I say, you know, we wouldn'tdo an organized tour, but I
think there are some times whereyou have to look at and go.
actually this is the best option.
Yeah, um, and you know I didn't.
A bit like india, we, you know,I think, when it can feel a bit
(30:18):
overwhelming, then planning fora destination like that and
actually, um, even if you know,even going back when it can feel
a bit overwhelmed, and thenplanning for a destination like
that, and actually, um, even ifyou know, even going back to
Morocco, and we plan to go backto Morocco and in fact I'm
trying to get up off the grounda women only tour next year.
I know, let me know, um,because that's something I'd
like to get organized and sorted.
So, um, you know, I still wouldsay recommend do a tour.
(30:40):
It's like India Went back toIndia, I'd do a tour again
because I just think that's thebest way to actually experience
those sort of countries and alsowe just didn't have time to sit
and organise another itinerary.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Yeah, cool, cool.
One last question what one bigtip would you give to anybody
travelling to Morocco for thevery first time?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
What would you say, Doug?
Speaker 3 (31:06):
I think what we did as regards to the luggage arrive
a day earlier and see where thetour's going to end and
consider your onward journeyfrom there and what fits best
logistically.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Yeah, I think that's a good idea and I think one tip
for me is go, just go, don't youknow, just get yourself.
Go to Morocco.
If you have any thoughts about,oh, maybe I should definitely
go.
So that's my big tip and do atour, you know, get involved
with the locals.
That's what I'm saying.
Rather than doing a large grouptour, just do a smaller tour if
(31:41):
that's what you want to do, ormake sure, if you're doing it
independently, that you arestill looking at getting those
guides to show you the places,because you will get lost.
You will 100% get lost.
Those medinas are like crazy,crazy, honestly like mazes, and
you know, the only people whogrew up in those medinas will
(32:02):
know the way around.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yeah, yeah well, I've always wanted to go to brocco,
but after interviewing you twonow I want to go even more.
But as the uh specialinterviewer guest, I am now
going to hand it back to theprofessional.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
So, tracy, thank you very much for having me oh,
honestly, melissa, thanks somuch for agreeing to come and
chat with us about morocco.
I've got your name down for thetour for next year already.
It's always great to chat withyou and um, and it's been so, so
much fun to chat about ourexperiences in moroc, morocco.
(32:40):
And if you're listening to thisepisode and you're thinking,
yeah, I really fancy a trip toMorocco, check out the show
notes, um, let me know.
You can leave us a message onspeakpipe.
If you're interested in joiningan all women tour to Morocco
next year, get in touch and letme know, because if I get the
right numbers, we can get it offthe ground.
Um, but otherwise, if you wantto see the photos from the trip,
(33:01):
doug's also going to put somevideos together.
Check out our Instagram, globalTravel Planning and our website
, globaltravelplanningcom.
This will be forward slashepisode 48.
And also join our Facebookgroup community as well, where
we share destinations around theworld.
But again, thanks so much,melissa.
No worries, my pleasure.
(33:22):
Thank you for joining us onthis episode of the Global
Travel Planning Podcast.
For more details and links toeverything we discussed today,
check out the show notes atglobaltravelplanningcom.
Remember, if you enjoyed theshow, please consider leaving us
a review on your favoritepodcast app, because your
feedback helps us reach moretravel enthusiasts, just like
(33:42):
you.
Anyway, that leaves me to say,as always, happy global travel
planning.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.