About four years ago my new husband and I took a trip to Morocco for our honeymoon. At the time, Ebola was spreading across western Africa in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Although these countries are about 3,900 miles from Morocco, further than the distance from Mexico to Canada, many of our friends and family worried about us traveling there.
Others worried about us traveling to a Muslim-majority country. This came from a misunderstanding that some Americans have that traveling to a Muslim country as a Westerner is dangerous. We knew that Morocco’s culture and the religion of its people would play a part in our vacation and planned accordingly. Knowing it would be hot, I planned to dress modestly in long skirts and short sleeves to keep my shoulders covered and my husband planned to wear pants and short sleeves. We also knew that alcohol would likely not be on the menu.
We wanted to visit a number of places and knew that we did not want to drive on our own, so we worked with a tour company to plan a private tour with our own private driver. We didn’t speak the language and didn’t know the rules of the road in Morocco, and didn’t want to spend our honeymoon fighting about directions.
This turned out to be the smartest and one of the most memorable parts of our trip. Driving in Morocco was like nothing we had experienced before. There were mountains, motorbikes, bicycles, children, carriages, and so many donkeys to contend with. And without our driver Mohammed we never would have been able to experience all of the beauty Morocco had to offer.
I wrote much more about our trip and what we ultimately learned from our driver in a short essay, “Seeing Through Mohammed’s Eyes.” The essay is now available in a new anthology, Corners: Voices on Change. The anthology features more than 20 essays about finding a way through change.
Special Offer – Free E-Book
The e-book of Corners: Voices on Change is free for a limited time. Download at no cost until June 4, 2018.
Oh yes, you should definetly go to Cornwall, it’s really amazing to see and experience too!
I am from South Africa and married a Moroccan and have been living here since 2007. I am glad you enjoyed your trip and the pics look lovely. I have travelled around Morocco a bit but you have probably seen more than me at this time. My husband and I went to Cornwall in England for our honeymoon and it was just lovely.
Morocco was so lovely. We were so lucky to have been able to visit. I’d like to go to Cornwall too someday.
Got the book!
I have recently become more interested in Morocco. I read a book set in Morocco and it seemed magical and fascinating. Of course there was no Ebola in the book.
🙂
I absolutely recommend going to anyone who can. It was beautiful.