To save money, I had booked a return flight from Marrakech to London with a ten-hour stopover in Madrid. Ten hours. I have already seen and done Madrid, so what the hell would I do for those ten hours? About a week before I left for Morocco, I saw some photographs on Facebook that was posted by my old school friend Mel. In the photos was one of the most prettiest towns I had ever seen with a fully-intact kick-ass Roman aqueduct and a supermassive cathedral. The place was called Segovia, in Spain. As I wondered how I had managed to miss this place during my tour of Spain four years ago, I checked out its location on Google Maps, hoping by chance that it was close to Madrid. And what do you know, it was ... read more

The name of the place just has that classic, romantic ring to it, doesn't it? Maybe it's because it's the name and setting for one of the most famous films of all time. Maybe it's because it sounds like the name of a Spanish lothario. Whatever it is, it might just be the coolest-sounding name for a city ever. Most people's reports of the place are that it is a dirty, run-down, industrial city with not a lot to see - but being a former colonial city with an international past much like Tangier, a visit to a place called Casablanca just had to be done. Back in Fes, the 'five-star' breakfast at my five-star hotel didn't quite live up to its billing, but I appreciated having a hot breakfast with scrambled eggs and grilled tomatoes ... read more

The hotel breakfast was an ordinary, tasteless, carb-dominated affair of chewy roti, dry pastries and stale pittas - not impressed. The only things with any taste were some horrible olive-infused luncheon, hard-boiled eggs and some very salty olives. However, it was included in the price and I had a journey ahead of me so I force-fed myself as much breakfast as I could. The journey was one by bus from Tangier to Chefchaouen, a supposedly charming and picturesque town in the Rif Mountains. On arrival in Chefchaouen, my hostel directions say that the hostel is about a fifteen minute walk from the bus station - but it never said that it was a fifteen minute walk up. Looking at the very steep incline before me (as well as two stray cats shagging off the side of ... read more

As soon as it was announced that there would be a bank holiday to celebrate the marriage of Kate Middleton and the Prince of Wales - and as soon as I realised that it was the weekend after Easter meaning that three days off would get me an eleven day break - I without hesitation booked the three days off before any of my colleagues could. Thank you so much Will and Kate, I am so happy for you, really. You guys are awesome. The day off was meant to be so that we could all join in the celebrations - I would be "celebrating" in Morocco. I had always wanted to do a two-week trip to Morocco, so this break was perfect. I also decided to take a couple of extra days off so that ... read more

It was only after looking at a map of the Sinai Peninsula that I realised just how far we had travelled to get from Dahab to the port of Taba, right on the border with Israel. I was asleep for most of the coach journey so didn't even realise how long I had been on the coach. From Taba, we then caught a ferry that took us to the port city of Aqaba, Jordan. It was here that we experienced the first rain of the entire trip as we pulled into a super-flash, newly-built marina. As the sky started to spit, we waited - there was no-one at the marina to pick us all up. About 20 minutes after we arrived, our tour leader finally showed up and lead us past the the modern marina apartments ... read more