Wednesday 13th March

Salam Aleikum!

So the story goes something like this one miserable winter weekend in February while at college:

Jayne: I need a holiday

Me: Tell me about it, I miss sunshine

Jayne: We should go on holiday

Me: Yeah we should

Jayne: Hey, here's an idea, wanna go on holiday together?

Me: Urm...... heck yes!

So the next time we were at college, off we trotted to the travel agents to see where we could go.  When that failed, we got on t'internet to find our own bargain and the next week we were off!

Wednesday 13th March

We departed Southampton and headed to London for the airport, guidebooks in hand but other than that very little research under my belt.  Whilst at the airport we met another guy who lives in Marrakech and gave us some hints and tips.  The most important being a phrase that we were assured would be useful:  La choukran.  This is Arabic for No thank you.  I was already having flashbacks to Thailand!

The long road to the hotel

We arrived late at Marrakech airport and after failing miserably to spot our driver, eventually found the right guy and headed on our airport transfer to our home for the next five days; the Quaryati Ecolodge.  One rather dark and scary cab ride later, we arrived at our hotel, miles away from the city - well, miles away from anywhere quite frankly - down a ridiculously long, windy and gravelly track through what seemed to be kidnapper's valley. 

Thankfully the small amount of research I had done before the trip had warned me about this and I was fully prepared for the journey to our hotel.  The reviews said it would be worth it in the end and I only hoped some daylight the next day would prove them right - we really had travelled a very long way in a very old taxi, I didn't fancy that again in a hurry.  It was also a good test of our language skills as we reached our destination and realised we'd have to brush up on our holiday French to negotiate and pay the fare.  Between the language barrier and the strangely different currency, it was a wonder the taxi driver got any money out of us.  That small matter out the way, we then wandered in and were met by the lovely Francois and her staff, who made us some yummy Moroccan snacks and highlighted the many things we could do at the hotel during our stay.  So far so good.

We were shown to our room - which was in their very own little Berber-style village within the grounds.  After a long day of travelling we figured we'd decide what to do in the morning.  It felt like we had made a good choice with our hotel and we were looking forward to seeing it in its full glory the next morning.