Was travelling to Morocco fully planned? Not really. Sometimes you just grab an offer with flights + accommodation included and then think about the rest later on. And mum agreed.
The whole month of September, I will share 30 stories with you. One story each day. You will find out how I travelled, what countries I called home and how many times I repeated a travel in the same place. But most importantly, you will get to know my comfort zone stories. Would you share yours?
Exploring Agadir
I talk a lot about going outside of your comfort zone and challenging yourself. It might be a cliché, but I feel strongly about it so I won’t ever stop. And this trip was exactly that. Not for me (remember how I lived in Tunisia for 5 months?), but for my mum. Yes! My mum joined me on a trip outside of Europe. Our first trip together was to Italy a few years prior. It was her first time ever in an Islamic country, and let me tell you, it was filled with anything you can imagine. For context, she has only been to France before and visited West Berlin, in the early 1980s.
She was completely overwhelmed in the beginning and quite scared. Understandable. We decided to stay in Agadir, as one of the less shocking places we could have stayed in. She told me later on that on our ride from the airport she kept telling herself to trust me because I travelled way more than she and I know what I’m doing. I mean, that warmed my heart – I guess it’s good she doesn’t know how often I feel lost.
Day Trips From Agadir
Anyway, back to the trip. After the initial shock, she loved it more and more. In the end, she didn’t want to go home. We both didn’t like the very insistent sellers that would follow us on the street, but I was surprised by something else. I know Islamic countries value their elders and especially mothers a lot, but seeing it in person was something else. We also went on a day trip to Marrakesh and one other day trip to the Sahara Desert and around the Tiznit area.
Everyone was so kind to my mum, from the tour guide to the waiter, from the receptionist to the taxi driver. Probably you think that’s their job, well yeah, but somehow I never got that kind of treatment before. I mean, who gets roses from their waiter? More than once?! Not me for sure – I mean not me without a mum, anyway. Hahaha.
Oh, and she even went one time by herself to the mall. I truly dislike malls and she really wanted to go. And so, she took a taxi and off she went. I forgot to mention she is in her 60s and she speaks almost no English. She managed it just fine and I couldn’t be more proud of her. I cannot wait to go on another trip with her, hopefully soon. The pandemic really got in our way.
While we were travelling to Morocco, Romania celebrated 100 years of Unification Day. And since it wasn’t my first time celebrating National Day abroad, it truly deserved a whole episode of the podcast Travelling Inside Out.
Do you travel with your family? What are your chosen destinations? Let me know in the comments below.
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