India? Miss India, welcome!

Matt, Inga and I decided to leave cold ole London and venture abroad to Morocco over Christmas and the New Year.

So off we ventured for a 6am flight from Luton (thanks Mattie for working till 2am in the morning so we could get a free taxi to the airport but lets not mention us not getting any sleep!).

Morocco - this is a trip I have been wanting to do since the last time I was in the UK. This country is a tourist board's dream. So many amazing sights and scenery that I did not expect to see. But in order to see it all (well a fair bit) it involved A LOT of travelling via 4 wheel drive, camel, walking, trains, petite taxis and grand taxis.

We started the journey in Marrakesh and ventured around the medina, souks and sites. We even managed find a hotel that served booze, otherwise Mr Burns might have had a fit. Not sure if the beer was worth the £4 per bottle though but at least you got free snacks.

We then hired a 4 wheel drive to make our way down south via the desert x2, Draa Gorge, Dades Gorge, Ziz Gorge, Todra Gorge, the High Atlas mountains and the Middle Atlas mountains. Final destination Fez.

Tip 1: don't ever have Mohammed as your guide. USELESS!

On way to Zagora we stopped in the High Atlas mountains for the most expensive coke and see the panoramic view.

Then we made our way to Ait Benhaddou to visit the kasbahs (fortified tribal villages) and through the Draa valley.

The first desert just past Zagora we probably could have missed. The 2 hour camel walk in the dark has to have been one of my most painful experiences. Those camels were anything but comfortable.

Tip 2 - wear padded trousers if on a camel for a long period of time.

With very basic surroundings we stayed the night out there in the cold with some interesting and very annoying people! Lucky we had our own tents and it was only for a night.

The next night we made our way through some gorges to Merzouga to the second and most amazing desert - Erg Cherbi Dunes. This desert is picturesque and a definite must.

But I have never seen a camel pee and crap so much on a 2 hour camel ride. I guess Matt must have the magic touch.

The whole 2 nights in the desert I could not feel my feet and had all 7 layers on!

We won't mention the walk up the sand dunes in the dark where I thought I was going to die of a heart attack. Our berber Omar helped me up and invited me to stay at his family's tent in the desert next time and promised to swap email addresses. Luckily Matt and Inga arrived at the top and put an end to that. But alas on the way down which resulted in me being dragged down on my butt (berber skiing) by Omar and then being offered a berber massage??!! Needless to say I sat on the other mat next to Matt and Inga. I think he got the message.

After that night we made our way to Dades Valley via the Todra Gorge and the Dades Gorge for xmas morning.

So who would have thought that we would have to go to Morocco to have a white xmas, hang with the tail less monkeys and eat pizza because all of the street names are in Arabic so we could not find the restaurant!

So we hung around Fez for a few nights, had the most useless old giant as a guide and then headed to Meknes for the night to see Volubilis (Roman Village with amazing mosaics) and Moulay Idriss.

We then hopped on a train and headed for the coast. We were in dire need of relaxing and less travelling. Destination El Jadida, Oualidia (check out our cool home made wine cups) and Essaouria.

A wonderful country if you can get past being ripped off, being stared at and always greeted.....hey you...India? Miss India? India, welcome. The scenary is stunning. The mosaics and carving are amazing. The amount of time and effort that would have gone into making them. I can only hope that they take the time and money to maintain them. An enjoyable and fun trip.

Now I have over 8 weeks of no travel (hard I know) and then I head back home for a short trip so keep mid to end of March free to catch up with me in Wgtn!