Ants in my Pants...

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I leave in exactly 13 days and I can’t wait. I’m starting to go stir crazy in Toronto and this adventure is exactly what I need to shake things up a bit.

I’ll be extremely busy this week. One of my fellow travelers is getting married and I can’t wait to help her celebrate this very special milestone in her life. She will be joining us in London the day after we arrive to wrap up some school stuff at the University of London.

We are back to the drawing boards on Tuesday planning out our stay in London and booking our train tickets from Marrakech to Fez and our hotel room in Fez. We have been using a shared Google Doc to plan this trip and it has been a great resource to help us identify what we need to book before we leave Toronto.

If you haven’t used Google Docs yet, I urge you try it out the next time you have to work on a project with someone. Google Docs is a convenient way to share information and keep your fellow planners updated in real-time. It has been a great resource for us to track our bookings and structure our time together in an easy to update format. It will remain as our itinerary in the cloud that we can consult if we don’t have a hard copy on hand.

The London part of our trip needs some serious re-evaluation. Our itinerary was pieced together before Morocco and now that we added it to our schedule it is time to rank activities and make sure we do all the things we had planned to. Some of the highlights of our trip to London I was looking forward to include: London shopping, high tea, Buckingham Palace, The Ismaili Centre, the Cadbury Factory, and the Jack the Ripper Tour.

I am big on seeping in culture by becoming part of the city so I look forward to some of the quieter moments too. Like browsing local bookstores, riding the tube, taking a break at a well-known coffee shop. I feel like you learn a lot about a city by just taking a moment to appreciate it for what it is.

We also plan to spend this week visiting wardrobe. Morocco is a Muslim country so it is important that we are dressed appropriately. According to some travelers it is recommended that women wear long skirts and loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirts. These shirts seem to be all the rage at Zara however many seem to be sheer and very unflattering on 5’0 foot frame.

We are in Morocco during Ramadan and we want to make sure we are respectful of the culture during our stay. This means dressing appropriately and staying informed of any rituals or practices we may encounter. As practicing Muslims I am familiar with the month-long fast that occurs during Ramadan but might come across some regional practices that I haven’t experienced before.

I received an email from the owner of the Riad offering to arrange transportation from the airport to our hotel upon our arrival for 10 euros. Based on my research this seems a bit steep but according to my fellow travellers that have stayed at this particular Riad it is recommended for first-time visitors.

The reviews also mentioned a delicious breakfast served on the terrace each morning. This brings back many memories of my trip to Zanzibar where we started each morning with a fresh breakfast on a terrace looking over the city. This was an incredible experience and I am really looking forward to starting my mornings in Marrakech like this.

I know the next 13 days are going to fly by and I’ll be boarding my plane before I know it but until then I am a ball of nervous energy and excitement!

Follow me on Twitter: @NoorinLadhani

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