A nasty little habit I've developed while travelling....

Warning: this blog is LONG....there was a lot of travelling to cover so we've made it as succinct as possible for your reading pleasure...

A few days after we arrived in Lagos, Portugal, Trev and I both got nasty colds. Sneezing, coughing, runny noses, achy tired bones, you know the works. For 4 days we could barely move let alone leave our rented flat to enjoy our little holiday. The flat was freezing too which made it that much more unbearable. With only 4 Portuguese TV channels to entertain us, I have to say that I was expecting a much better time in Lagos. When we did actually make it out of the flat, we went out to by toilet paper and cough mixture. I couldn't go more than two minutes without blowing my nose, it was ridiculous. We knew we needed to have toilet paper for our 10 day tour in Morocco which was taking place about a week after Lagos, so we bought a few extra rolls for our trip.

Flying into Faro, Portugal before taking the 1 and a half hour train ride to Lagos

The essentials for being sick in Lagos, toilet paper ;), wine, cough mixture, more random Portuguese cold medicine, cards, water, etc.

Trevor looking how he felt

Good old Portuguese cough mixture

The beautiful, Christmas decorated streets of Lagos

After we barely survived our time in Lagos, due to our illnesses, the constant cold and the excessive drinking (when we actually did manage to go out), we took a 5 and a half hour bus to Seville, Spain to stay there for 3 nights. Seville is really beautiful but we found it very hard to navigate. We really liked the hostel we stayed in. It was called Samay hostel and it was very centrally located, clean and comfortable. And I was obviously a fan of the fact that the ensuite bathroom to our 6 bed dorm room had an endless supply of toilet paper rolls perfect for taking with you wherever you went if you were still sick and had to blow your nose every five seconds. We tried to make the most of our time there but found it difficult to communicate (since neither of us speak Spanish) and difficult to get anywhere (but getting lost was EASY). We got our laundry done, cooked a little and got a good amount of sleep trying to get better before going to Morocco for our 10 day tour over Christmas and New Years.

Chocolat con Churros - Hot Chocolate with the yummiest greasiest sugary donuts - Breakfast of Champions ;)

Spanish Garden Gnome

Seville is apparently where Tapas come from....they're everywhere!

Our hostel beds at Samay hostel in Seville

So after grabbing another roll of TP (toilet paper) we hopped on another bus...this time to Algeciras (the port city on the coast of Spain where we'd catch our ferry over to Tangier). After a few hours on the ferry, and half a roll of toilet paper later, we arrived in another world. Saying I experienced culture shock would be like calling a tsunami a small wave. I felt more dumbstruck than anything. As we stepped off the ferry we were approached by a older gentleman named Ahmed. He didn't really offer to help us around, just attached himself to our sides and because we didn't know what the hell was going on we just followed him around like lost puppy dogs (which is essentially what we were at the time). He took us to catch a cab to the travel agency where we were supposed to pick up couchette (or sleeper) train tickets for the overnight train leaving from Tangier that night and arriving in Marrakech 11 hours later early in the morning. After hailing us a cab he hopped into it after we did, which we found somewhat strange. After arriving at the agency, Ahmed took us inside and told the woman working there what we needed. She told us that the man that had the tickets wasn't going to be there for another couple of hours and to come back at 6:30pm. So Ahmed told us he'd take us somewhere to get something to eat because we were obviously hungry at this point. So we followed Ahmed through the busy streets of Tangier looking around with wide-eyed wonderment because this world was still so new. At the restaurant the only menu available to us was some sort of tourist menu. For 100 Dirham each (about 10 Euros) we could both get a 4 course meal. The first was vegetable soup and bread. The second was a chicken samosa type thing with cinnamon sprinkled on top. The third was chicken and vegetable tagine with couscous and the fourth was little sugar cookies. Ahmed stayed and talked to us while we ate. He sat and told us stories of what Morocco was like in the 70's, told us about his family and gave us survival tips for our stay in Morocco. By this time we were slowly starting to relax and enjoy our surroundings. Ahmed then told us that when we go to Marrakesh which is in Southern Morocco, that it would be seen as disrespectful to the locals if we did not wear the traditional robe called a djellaba. He told us that we'd be ripped off if we tried to buy one there (because we're tourists) so he would buy two for us for 250 Dirham each (this amounts to about 50 Euro). So against my chagrin Trev handed Ahmed a 200 Dirham note and was going to pay the remaining 300 Dirham after he came back from buying them. When Ahmed returned we were now the proud owners of a couple of djellaba's. After a couple of cups of Moroccan mint tea (a few of many we'd consume during our time in Morocco) and a couple of cups of Turkish coffee we asked for our bill and somehow it ended up costing 420 Dirham (that's 42 Euros - WTF?!). So against our better judgement to ask to actually see a bill, we reluctantly paid and got ripped off (are you starting to see a trend yet?).

The restaurant we got ripped off at....our first meal in Morocco

Ahmed, our personal professional conman took us back to the agency to pick up our train tickets. He then hailed us a cab and asked us for money. When Trevor tried to hand him change he told him that he doesn't take change....isn't that convenient?!

When we got to the train station, outside having a smoke I decided to take a look at the tickets we'd purchased. There, right in the middle of each ticket it read "2nd Class." I probably did a double take at this point in absolute shock. We went inside to the ticket booth and they told us that there was no more couchettes (sleepers) available. There was apparently nothing in 1st class either. Oh My God, my worst nightmare was coming true. I probably started crying at this point because I'm a girl and I do that when I'm sad or mad or frustrated or scared as I was at that moment. In hindsight I really was overreacting and I was being overly paranoid and afraid. But at the time I really was afraid. In a sleeper we would've had a door that locked and beds to sleep in...we would've felt safe and would've been able to have a nice sleep. But I did not feel safe in 2nd class. My fear was transferring to Trevor and he told me to turn my necklace and put my ring in my pocket. Him telling me that made me even more scared and to make a long story short it was definitely one of the longest nights of my life. At one point Trevor went to the toilet and came back to tell me there was no light in it and there was piss everywhere. Good news considering I needed to go. So Trev located another one on the other side of the cart that did have a light but the door didn't close and there was a big hole in the door so he agreed to guard me while I used it. The toilet bowl was full and didn't flush. The motion of the train was making the contents of the toilet splash onto the floor. I managed to hover above the toilet and vowed to not take even one more sip of water for the rest of the train ride to avoid having to use that toilet again. This was another time that my stolen toilet paper came in handy.

The place where 11 hours felt like 111, apparently Trevor didn't feel the same way

The Marrakech Train Station

When we eventually arrived at the Marrakesh train station, feeling less than refreshed after the fitful and scary night on the train, we took a cab to our hotel near the main square, Djemaa el Fna. We were at the hotel by about 8 in the morning and luckily they checked us into our room early so we could get some much needed sleep.

A very welcome sight after a night of no sleep

At 6 pm that night we met with the rest of our tour in the lobby of the hotel. All 50 of us. The tour commenced the following morning (the 24th of December) where we did a walking tour of Marrakech, led by one of our tour guides Mohammed.

The wonderful Mohammed

Marrakech is truly amazing. By this point the previous days events were out of our minds and we felt good. We saw the impressive Koutoubia Mosque, Saadian Tombs, city gate Bab Agnaou, and Bahia Palace.

On the way to the main square

In the souks

Us at the Bahia Palace

The main gate

We then went for lunch in the square (couscous, chicken tagine, mint tea etc.). Then we spent some time getting lost in the winding little streets of the souks (traditional markets where you can find and buy anything after bargaining with the little shop owners). The following day, Christmas morning, we left Marrakech in our 4 minivans for a full day of driving to spend the night in La Kasbah de la Vallee in the Gorge du Dades. Along the way we made a few toilet stops and I had to accept the fact that "squat" toilets were going to be a reality of my time in Morocco. This is where the toilet paper always came in handy. Christmas really didn't feel like Christmas until dinner when we blew up balloons, pulled Christmas crackers, drank wine and ate like kings.

The making of Berber rugs

My first "squat" toilet, so exciting it was worthy of a photo

Christmas Crackers!

Delicious Christmas Desserts

Eeyore

The next day we hiked for two and a half hours after breakfast then hopped back in the minivans and drove to the Todra gorge where we spent the night at the Hotel Yasmina. The next morning lots more driving because this time we were headed to our Camel trek and night in the Sahara dessert. When we got to the edge of the dessert we hopped on our camels and rode them 45 minutes into the Sahara dessert. It was definitely one of the coolest things I have ever done! Trevor really enjoyed it as well. When we got to our Berber camp, we grabbed a couple of snowboards and everybody took turns sandboarding in the dunes. We then had dinner which was delicious and then sat around a fire all night with the Berbers who sang and played drums. We managed to get a decent nights sleep considering it gets to 4-5 degrees in the dessert at night. And the next morning, before we could even have a cup of coffee, we were back on the camels making our way out of the dessert.

STOP! Camel Time!

Trevor of Arabia

50 camels all in a row

Sandboarding

Berber Camp fun

After breakfast we drove back to Ouarzazate to spend the night there. The next day we had the option to either go quadbiking, or visit the movie sets where films such as Gladiator and Lawrence of Arabia were filmed. Trev and I chose to do neither because we needed a relaxing day to catch up on a little sleep and emailing. That afternoon after lunch we headed back to Marrakech but on the way we went to see the ancient city of Aït Benhaddou, it's an UNESCO World Heritage listing that has also had parts of the films Gladiator and Lawrence of Arabia shot there. It was actually really cool to see and the pics we took are amazing. That night after getting back to Marrakech rather late, we ate in the Djemâa-el-Fna square. The following day was the 3oth of December and us and a few of the other people on the tour went to Essaouira for the day. It took about 3 hours to get there and we were only there for a few hours but we still had a good time while we were there. It's on the coast so it was really beautiful and although the sun wasn't shining you could still see why so many people flock there, especially during the summer. We ate fresh fish at the fish markets there and walked around the markets before drinking 3 cappuccinos with Caroline (a lovely Zimbabwean who was on our tour with us).

The super cool ancient city of Aït Benhaddou

Trev and I at the top of Aït Benhaddou

The fresh fish markets in Essaouira - we're pretty sure this is where Trevor got his food poisoning from...

Essaouira, still beautiful on a cloudy day

Caroline and I in Essaouira

The next day was New Years Eve so after spending some of the day in the souks we got ready for New Years Eve dinner. I also must make note that at this point Trevor was signs of food poisoning so a Happy New Years it was indeed. And I have no idea what happened because on the whole tour the food had always been good up to that point but the dinner we had that night was SO bad that it was definitely inedible. We had bought our own alcohol the previous day to save money so a bunch of us would go back and forth to the hotel rooms to drink it during dinner. Everytime I would come back from a visit to the rooms for a drink there'd be a new course infront of me and I was SO hungry at this point and as the forkful of whatever it was would almost make it into my mouth, someone nearby would shout "NO, don't eat that, it's terrible!!" So, disappointed, I'd put the fork down and cross my fingers for the next course. At one point I got excited when I came back to the table and there were kebabs - yum! But again somebody from somewhere shouted "NO! Don't eat it!" and proceeded to point out that the chicken was severly undercooked and that after having sent it back it was still raw. So this happened for every single course and needless to say I had a liquid dinner that night. But although the food was absolutely awful, the entertainment was great! Bellydancers, Snakecharmers, and Live Music made it a really special and fun way to celebrate New Years with our newfound friends. Which led to me having to be put to bed just after the countdown - again Happy New Years indeed.

Trev and I while we were still relatively sober

Snakecharmer kissing the cobra...weird

Trev debating whether to eat the snake 'cause our crappy New Years meal left us hungry

A pic of the fabulous raw chicken

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

This was taken about 3 minutes before I had to go to bed...

The next morning (my birthday), myself - still drunk from the following evening, and Trevor, experiencing the worst day of the food poisoning thus far, had to make our way to the Marrakech airport to fly back to London. The flight was definitely a memorable one, more for Trevor than myself as I don't think he's ever been so aquainted with an airplane's toilet in his life. He's insisted that I mention the fact that at one point he was on the toilet and he started throwing up in the sink at the same time. After he was done relieving himself, because the puke wouldn't go down the drain, he had to scoop it up and into the toilet with his hands. I'm not entirely sure why he's insisted that I tell you that....I think in some strange way he's proud of that moment in his life....who wouldn't be?!

The Marrakech airport is worth taking photos of

Coolest airport ever

Flight back to reality (London - time to get jobs)

We then spent the next 3 nights in a hotel paying £95/night just so Trev had a nearby toilet. The 2nd night I woke up at 2am to puke my guts out. The same thing happened at 4am and 6am as well. The following day I was pretty sick the whole day and Trev and I shared the toilet because, as you know, sharing is caring...especially when it comes to toilets. The following day, after leaving the hotel we moved our stuff to my friend, Franco's flat. We went to the hospital to have Trevor seen too because at this point he'd been sick for 5-6 days. They prescribed antibiotics to him and said that it was most likely Gastroenteritis. The next day we went with Franco to look at some flats as we all intend on moving in together. We went to eat at The Slug and Lettuce at one point because the food was 50% off that day. On our way out I stopped by the toilet to discover that one of the really large rolls of toilet paper had been used to where it was the size of a normal roll of toilet paper, and lo and behold it fell into my purse before I left. So this is the nasty habit I speak of....I've become a toilet paper kleptomaniac. But before you clutch your purses and hide your valuables, trust me when I say that it is only toilet paper that I feel compelled to steal these days. And it is only because especially with having a cold for the last month and travelling constantly with it and using so many toilet-paper-lacking public toilets, I have developed a dependence on having it readily available in my purse at all times. I'm not proud of my new problem...as you can imagine I'm a little embarrassed at the rush I experience everytime I steal another roll. But traveling will make you do some very interesting things. And I'm sure...before this long trip is through, I will be writing about many interesting things we will have to do to survive this strange journey.....

Lauren