Epic Trip 2023 Part 1: Morocco and Egypt

The amazing trip that I planned one year ago--and have been wanting to to do for many years--has finally come and gone! I returned home safe and sound late last Wednesday evening. I traveled via Canada to Morocco x2 days, Egypt x4 days, Jordan x4 days, and Israel x3 days. Unfortunately only a couple days later war has broken out in Israel, and I am very blessed to have been completely safe while I was there.

I built this custom itinerary with a travel agent I found based in Cairo, Egypt. Originally I planned for seeing all the big sights in Egypt, Jordan, and Israel for 12 days and invited any of my friends to join me on this trip! I started out with about 15 people showing serious interest, but as time went on and more people backed out, the actual group whittled down to just 4. My best friend Jessica would by my roomie, and my coworker Christina was bringing her friend Sarah.

Over the summer Jess and I got serious about booking our flights, and I discovered the price for the flights (in to Cairo, out from Tel Aviv) was significantly cheaper if we made a short stop off in another country on the way! We chose Casablanca, Morocco x2 days and even with a hotel there we saved almost $300/person on the flight! How could I say no.

Unfortunately everything leading up to day 1 of the trip in Cairo was plagued with trouble. The day before we were due to head out to Canada for our flight my friend Jess had a family emergency requiring her to cancel her entire trip. I did continue on, but now would be completely alone for the flight as well as the 2 days in Morocco. I put on my big girl pants and prayed for the best!

My troubles continued the day I left as my car was completely dead. Nick had to make an emergency trip to the store for a new battery and thankfully that got me on my way. Then my drive to Toronto was delayed over an hour by closed roads on the way to the border crossing, as well as a huge wreck on the highway slowing traffic down for miles. When I got to the airport I had troubles printing my luggage tags and confusion figuring out which counter to go to. Once I FINALLY got thru security and ran to my gate, I saw my flight was delayed. This caused me to then miss my short connection in Montreal that was supposed to get me to Casablanca at 7am the next day. They rerouted me from Montreal to Paris for yet another connection but guess what--that flight was delayed also!! I arrived late in Paris and ran to that gate, but was denied boarding as they had already closed the door on the airplane.

After dealing with the {rude} French agent I was rebooked on yet another flight later than evening from Paris to Casablanca due to arrive at 9pm. That in turn made me have to reevaluate my transportation because the train I was planning to take did not run at night. So then I had to prebook for private transportation to my hotel. I finally arrived in Casablanca around 930pm Wednesday evening, but my poor luggage was no where to be found...As I struggled to find help we looked in every nook and cranny for my bag while I was begging my driver outside to please wait just a moment longer and not leave me. We finally found my luggage sitting buried in an office--all I can assume is that it somehow arrived on an earlier flight and was tucked away since no one picked it up. After that I was happily on my way to the hotel and with a sigh of relief I checked in to my room and went to sleep!!!!

Moroccan House Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco

The next morning I went down for breakfast and tea, then pretty much spent the rest of the day in my room relaxing, doing research, and catching up on my jet lag. My nervous stomach was not much hungry at all so I skipped lunch.

I was going to eat dinner in the hotel, but was informed that I was supposed to preorder it in the morning (which I was not told) so then I walked around a bit from my hotel without luck of finding a cafe that seemed safe enough or was still offering dinner. I gave up and went back to my room for a granola bar haha! No worries, I had fun plans the next day and would make up for it.

I had already booked a city tour on Friday my last day in Morocco, and after the tour he would drop me at the airport so after he picked me at 11am we were on our way for a private tour of the city! He took me all over the neighborhoods and told me the history and important details of Casablanca.

Here is Rick's Cafe, inspired by the fictional cafe in the 1942 movie Casablanca.

View of Hassan II Mosque from Corniche beach.

He asked what I would like for lunch and I told him Moroccan food! He took me to a small but local place where I got to enjoy my first tagine meal. It was chicken, potatoes, and veg and was just delicious. I ate the entire thing.

He picked me up after an hour and we continued on our way of the tour. 

Casablanca Cathedral

Parc Murdoch/Arab League Park

Walls from original Anfa prison

Habous Market

Baking pastries in wood fired oven

Mohammed V Square

To end my tour of the city I had a 1hr guided tour of the Hassan II Mosque. The biggest mosque in Africa, and the 3rd largest in the world. It was just beautiful! Built in 1986-1993.

After that he dropped me off at the airport where I killed a few hours waiting for my overnight flight to Cairo where I would finally meet up with the other two friends for our adventures!

The rest of the journey went off without a hitch and we all checked into our Cairo hotel Flamenco and rested up for a bit that afternoon. Our tour manager suggested an amazing activity for the evening since we didn't have anything planned so of course we said yes---dinner then riding ATVs behind the pyramids!!

She took us to a great little restaurant on the second floor with a view of the sunset.

I had fish for my entree.

Looking at the amazing view!!!!

After dinner she dropped us off with a couple guys who got us each settled on an ATV then we were off for 2 hours of fun in the Sahara desert for sunset over the pyramids.

He got some great photos of us and we had an amazing time. The next morning our Day 2 scheduled tours began, and we started with the pyramids and the Sphinx.

We got to ride camels around the pyramids!

After that we went to a shop for a papyrus demonstration on how the ancient paper is made from a plant while we sipped hibiscus tea. Very interesting!!

After the shop we toured the old city of Cairo and the Khan El Kalili Bazaar.

From there we continued on to the Egyptian Museum where we wandered around the 2 levels and saw countless artifacts from the area.

That evening we rested and finished day 2 of the tour, then early the next morning we hit the airport for a morning flight to Luxor for day 3! First class baby!

First we toured the West bank and Valley of the Kings

Colossi of Memnon from 1350 BC made out of sandstone from 420 miles away.

Temple of Hapshetsut on the edge of the desert beyond the city built directly into the cliffs in the 1400s BC (almost 4000 years old!). She was one of the the longest reigning female pharaohs.

From the Temple we continued in the Valley of the Kings to the tombs where we got to go down into 3 different tombs partially.

It was about 105-110 degrees outside, and even hotter down in the tombs with all the people!

After the tombs we went to a shop where we saw a demonstration of carving alabaster vases and statues with ancient techniques.

Then we got to check in at our Luxor Hotel Sonesta St George for 1 night. We had a late lunch then enjoyed the beautiful pool. Our hotel was right on the Nile!

After getting some dinner in the hotel restaurant we met our next guide for a sunset felucca (sail boat) ride on the Nile! There wasn't much of a breeze so we mainly just floated but the view was a great way to end the day.

Day 4 started very early as we were picked up at 530am for a sunrise hot air balloon ride! I was really looking forward to this and it almost didn't happen as they tried to cancel our reservation due to overbooking! However they were able to get us in with another company so crisis averted.  The whole experience was a bit crazy--we caught a boat right behind our hotel, crossed the Nile, got in a van that took us to the airfield where we waited for our balloon to get set up. Afterward we got back to the van, back to a boat, crossed the Nile again and finished back at our hotel.

View of Hatshepsut Temple we were just at the day before! You can see the line between the farms irrigated by the Nile, and the beginning of the Sahara.

After the busy and amazing moring adventure, we happily enjoyed a late breakfast at our hotel then packed up and checked out to finish our day in Luxor. Next up was touring the East bank Karnak Temple built in 1900s BC (almost 4000 years old).

Statue of Khepri (scarab faced god) that you circle 7x for good luck.

After that we went to Luxor Temple built in 1400s BC. These statues are of Ramesses II 

Trying to give him water but he wouldn't take any.

After that tour, our adventures in Egypt were over and it was time for a late but short flight to Amman, Jordan for the next set of excitement! Check back soon for part 2....