We’re finally back in Marrakech now, and this will be our last port of call before going home. We’re staying for a couple of days in the suite of a posh riad in the Sous district of town, very close to the Djemma el-Fina. True to most market areas, there’s pretty much everything you could want here in a souvenir, from exotic spices and dried fruits to handicrafts and decorative weapons of all varieties - if you’re willing to put up with the hassle of acquiring them.

Not to put too fine a point on it, it was a bloody… (more)

We’re on our way back to Marrakech now, but as we’re not actually due at our only pre-booked place on this trip for a couple of days, we’re taking an extended detour over at the shockingly expensive Ksar Massa (near the Sous Massa Bird Reserve), before heading back over the mountains.

We were in the car for the best part of the day today, leaving Essaouira by about 10:30am and heading south towards the city of Agadir. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see much coastline on the so-called coast road (which for most of the trip was about 1km away… (more)

We’ve been taking it a bit easy for the past few hours, after walking around the seaside town of Essaouira. We arrived earlier today, and are staying inside the walls of the old town, in the Bagdad Villa hotel - the ex-palace of a local chief turned into a boutique guest house. You have to traverse some pretty dodgy dark alleys to get here, but are pleasantly surprised once you get past the ornate but secure front door to the open courtyard inside.

It didn’t take us too long to get here from Marrakech, and following an uneventful and scenically… (more)

It’s a 500 km trip to from Zagora to our next destination, so we’re here on a stopover at the Akabar Hotel in Marrakech; we’ve pretty much exhausted our list of things to see and do, so we’re winging it now from this point on.

We decided that we would make a beeline to the coast, and Marrakech seemed like a good place to stop and lay our heads before completing our journey. On paper, the journey seemed quite practical - unfortunately, we forgot how much longer everything would take due to the mountain roads and being stuck behind one… (more)

We’ve spent the past two days here in Zagora. Unfortunately, apart from the fantastic Riad Lamane hotel in which we stayed, there was really no reason for us to be here.

Most tourists come out this way to check out the sandy Sahara dunes, but as we’d already done that it seemed a little pointless to actually drive another 100km from here just to see them again. Still, it was nice to relax for a few days before deciding what to do with the rest of our time here.

As for the hotel itself - well, how many places have… (more)

We’ve just arrived at in the town of Zagora, our first taste of modern civilisation since departing in Marrakech. It’s been a bit of a long drive here, as although there are two roads to town, the shorter route is actually under construction; something we only found out after arriving at a dead end 45mins after starting down it. Unfortunately for us it nearly doubled our journey adding, another 130km to our journey. It’s just as well Emma likes driving…

We left Merzouga extremely early; there’s not much going on in the desert after the sun comes up (unless you… (more)

It was an early start today - people say that it’s cold in the desert at night, but you aren’t quite prepared for how utterly freezing it is - extra blankets were definitely the name of the game.

Waking up at 4:45am is not something I would do voluntarily under most situations, but today was something special - venturing out by camel into the Sahara to witness the sunrise.

We followed our noses in the pitch black from the room to an area at the back of the auberge, where the stench of 20 camels and their Berber owners were… (more)

We’ve just finished eating and are now settling in, after an afternoon’s driving to our next destination in Mezouga. We’re staying in a small but very friendly psudeo-riad called Auberge la Caravane at the very edge of the Sahara desert. We’ve had to change our accommodation plans a little, as it appears that a number of places we had earmarked in the Lonely Planet guide have been completely destroyed by severe flash-flooding a few months ago. This appears to be one of only a few places to have survived, the carcasses of formerly four and five star rhiads collapsing into… (more)

It appears that not a single place that we’ve been to so far has been unaffected by flash-flooding. This morning’s excursion to the Gorges in Boumalne du Dadès found us circumnavigating broken roads, mudslides and piles of loose shingle - unfortunately, a number of 4x4’s and tour vans were caught a bit short during the flooding and the now broken and disconnected roads leading through the valley had completely cut off some of the hotels and restaurants nearby. This has’t appeared to affected the tourist trade though, as busses of people still manage to make it through to the amazing… (more)

It’s been a pretty full day today - we’ve moved on now from Ait Benhaddou and are now about 120 kilometres from our previous stopover, in a place called Boumalne du Dadès. We had a brief visit to one of the Gorges here just to get a taster for what’s in store tomorrow, but for the time being we’re staying in Hotel Restaurant Chems overnight before visiting them tomorrow proper. It’s actually become very chilly here now, and although the rooms here are clean and comfortable (if a little basic) we’re sitting around with our sweaters and jackets on due… (more)

We’re sitting in our hotel room at the moment, after just arriving back from the restaurant following our first taste of traditional Moroccan food. The tajine - a stew of meat and vegetables cooked in a conical shaped pot over an open fire - is still not something I’m totally sold on yet, but as that’s one of the only options to appear to be on the menu since we arrived in the country I’m sure I’ll develop a taste for it.

It was an overcast but scenic journey up to and through Tizi N’Tichka (2092m at the pass, and… (more)

We’re hanging out at the hotel just before dinnertime, after spending most of today driving to our first port-of-call on our road trip around southern Morocco.

We had a good night’s sleep at the (characteristically cheap and cheerful) Ibis hotel in Marrakech, and ventured out into town to try and find ourselves a rental car. We’re doing things a little differently this time, giving ourselves the freedom to do what we want by having our own vehicle and not pre-booking hotels weeks in advance like we usually do. It’s a little more risky this way, but it gives us the… (more)

We’ve just arrived by taxi to the Ibis hotel in Marrakech, and after wash and brush up will probably head out to find food.

It was a short hop from Gatwick to Marrakech, and we had an especially strong tailwind (apparently) so the flight was about three hours 10 minutes (not including the now obligatory 20 minute cheap-carrier boarding delay).

I have to say, the more I travel now the more blasé I feel about flying, so much to the point that it feels almost as ordinary as taking the bus (especially when going by the cheap orange… (more)

You have to keep your wits about you if you want to get a seat anywhere close to your loved ones on EastJet:

1. Make sure you get to the departure gate as quickly as possible, so you can get through passport and ticket checks first and get a seat in the gate lounge, nearest to the boarding tunnel doors. You can cut the queue and barge people out the way to achieve this goal (If you are particularly arrogant, then this will be second nature).

2. As you’ve made it to the front of the boarding lounge, you’re now… (more)

We’re just settling in for the usual pre-flight vigil, after barely making it through security with our sanity intact.

I’m wondering if anyone’s actually thought through these new security arrangements - I mean, does anyone really believe that baby’s milk, gravy and jars of jam (just three things explicitly listed on the liquid no fly list) pose an actual safety risk? How about curry or stew? or a nice pot of Muller rice?

Additionally, this nonsensical “only one item of hand luggage per person” rule makes even less sense; before, we were able to carry two small bags plus an… (more)