We finally have a date for our Manila to Morocco trip!

Mench and I have recently booked our long haul trip, Manila-London-Manila via Qatar Airways, with a brief stopover in Doha, Qatar. Why Qatar Airways? It was the cheapest of all the London flights we canvassed online, with the round trip for 2 coming out at around $2,200. Ouch, that’s the biggest chunk of our budget right there!

So our trip will be from October 3-28 of this year. Some of you might notice that it’s a few days longer than our original itinerary - Mench and I had quite a tussle over how many days our trip would be, and you know who always wins in the end That’s being married for you. But we did add a few “rest days” as some traveler friends mentioned that our itinerary was overly packed, and we didn’t have time to just relax, do some errands like washing your clothes (of course, you bring only 4 days’ worth for such a long trip!), etc.

There have been a few interesting things happening related to the trip, one of them being our talk that we gave at R.O.X. in Bonifacio High Street as part of the “Backpacking, Pinoy Style” series. We’ll give you more updates about that in a separate post.

We’ve been overwhelmed by the encouraging response of our friends who have seen our website and invites. A lot of them have been asking, “Why Morocco?” Let me put in some good reasons here then

Taken from Our Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring guide book:

“Welcome to the greatest show on earth.”
“Morocco is sensory overload at its most intoxicating, from the scents and sounds that permeate the medinas of medieval Fes and magical Marrakesh to the astonishing sights of the infinitely varied Moroccan landscape.”
“Morocco’s secret is simple: there is no place on earth quite like it.”

Is that reason enough, or what?

Here are some more reasons that Mench and I would love to travel to Morocco:

1. We want to go to the Africa! Morocco is at the tip of the African continent. In fact, it’s the only non-European country in our Europe on a Shoestring book!
2. We’re in love with the culture. We really love the imagery that the word “Morocco” connotes - a unique mix of Moorish Arab and Mediterranean culture.
3. We get the original “Tangerine” - the fruit was named after Tangier, the port city of Morocco.
4. Just go - You don’t need a visa to enter Morocco for up to 90 days!
5. Filigree - Mench really likes filigree designs, which after some research turns out to be of Moorish origin.
6. “Marrakesh”, Pao’s house that we nicknamed - now we get to see the real thing!
7. Camelback - We want to take a camel ride on the sand dunes of the Sahara.
8. Casablanca. ‘Nuff said.
9. Bargaining at the Moroccan flea markets. We get to see if Mench’s ukay-ukay skills are world-class!
10. Getting lost in the medina. It truly is an assault on the senses, with hawkers offering delicious street food on every corner, beside jugglers, snake charmers, and musicians.

We really can’t wait to go there!