Category: Morocco
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Airbnb Stays Overseas
I first sign up for Airbnb almost 10 years ago, when I was still traveling frequently overseas. There’s not as many Airbnb properties in the Philippines yet, so we use Airbnb as an alternative to look for good accommodations that fit our hostel budgets, but doesn’t make us feel like we’re having a hostel experience…
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Marrakech
When Morocco is mentioned, people always think of Marrakech. This vibrant city is the most popular destination in the country, thanks to budget carriers that have direct flights from various cities in Europe. After Fez, we were ready to face the touts at Djemma El Fna Square and the souks. Orange cart at Drjemma El…
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Ouarzazate and Aït Benhaddou
We claimed our bags from the bus’ hold and had to stop to stretch our stiff bodies. The trip from Merzouga covered a good part of the day; it was already 4pm when we arrived in Ouarzazate. This small town was added to our itinerary primarily for Aït Benhaddou and we had no idea what…
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Hassi Labied and Erg Chebbi
Once again we woke up inside a bus, but the landscape outside is quite different. There seemed to be a seemingly endless nothingness, broken only by small clusters of buildings every once in a while. Slowly, the bus empties, until only half a dozen tourists remain. The driver pulls up to a small town in…
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Chefchaouen
I was jolted awake when the bus made a sudden turn. I looked out the window and was dismayed to see that it was raining. The rain was unrelenting, following us for hours as we journeyed from Meknes to Chefchaouen. It was nearly four o’clock when we glimpsed a sea of blue on the side…
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Meknes, Moulay Idriss and Volubilis
Though Casablanca was our port of entry in Morocco, we considered Meknes as our first city. We merely transited in Casablanca, never going out of the airport and the train station enroute to the old capital. Bab Mansour Meknes wasn’t really in our original itinerary. We wanted to go to Volubilis, and according to research,…
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Project Morocco
When I published my Morocco travel expenses, friends started messaging me expressing their surprise at the figures I presented and asked for tips on how to plan a trip to Morocco. I promised them I’d give a copy of my spreadsheet, which has our itinerary, budget, list of accommodation we considered staying at and links…
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Snapshot Morocco: Closing the loop
We’re back where we started: Casablanca. Tomorrow we’ll be boarding the plane that will take us to Abu Dhabi then onwards to Manila. Putting my cooking lessons to good use We left Marrakech early this morning, anticipating the volume of people traveling back to their hometown on the eve of Eid al-Adha. We were so…
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Snapshot Morocco: Into the souk
After 12 days, we gave in and shopped. It was hard resisting in the other cities we went to before Marrakech, but we held off because it would be cumbersome to travel with the extra weight in our bags. I love my new bag Lilliane, who is into the fifth month of her one-year RTW…