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Before I start I want to note that Miss Rosemary is hilarious. We have had many laughs thus far and I'm sure it will continue. I want to tell you of this particular situation that occurred at the airport on Saturday. We were saying our goodbyes to my dad and his girlfriend. Rosemary was ahead of me and was waving her goodbyes and was facing them while walking forward when doing so she ran into a man with his luggage. Rosemary almost fell into this man as she tripped over his luggage. The people working at the doors couldn't stop laughing. It was like it was off a movie. Perfect timing. I don't think she could do that again if she tried. It was a great start to a great vacation. So far so good! Yesterday was a great start to our vaca! We haven't had much of a fuss here in AZ. We picked up the car with no ifs, ands, or buts! Shockingly easy peasy! Received great customer service from the car rental! Enterprise. That being said Harold (car-fiat) was our guy who was going to partake on our journey. He has had it's challenges that's for sure reaching the highest elevation of 8047 going through Phoenix! Phoenix was beautiful! The drive was very relaxing and enjoyable! Lots of cactus alone the way all vary in size and shape. Saw some cows as well. Thought that was pretty interesting considering the temperature reached 44 degrees Celsius and that was just yesterday's temp for the day; Very dry heat. AC was our best friend; couldn't put the windows down and just drive. It was way to hot. However, we survived the heat lol. We drove for 4 hours with a few stops along the way. Breathe taking drive to great scenic views provided by nature. The Grand Canyon was amazing, jaw dropping beautiful. Had a great time exploring. We saw lots if wild life there. We stopped and saw an animal just before reaching mathers point of the canyon. Everyone stopped to take pictures. Rosemary peeps up and says "it's a moose" no one says anything. After taking my picture I stated to Rosemary I don't think that's a moose lol don't they have antlers?! That being said we agreed it's was a deer. I guess u had to be there. It was pretty funny. Anyways we were able to test our limits while at the canyon. We climbs and hiked in order to capture great pictures. If I every go back id like to tackle a nice long hike through the canyon to see the Colorado river. We tackled maybe a just a courter of that trail. Our bodies are now hurting from all the exertion; it was worth it tho. After our adventures we decided to head back to a city called flagstaff (we struggled to remember this city we'd call it every other name but it's actual name like flagstone, staff flag lol) notes in this city a massive trauma centre lol we happened to make a weird circle when trying to find a place to crash for the night. During our night drive we were faced with the wild frogs, mice, cats, deer, coyotes. We stopped at 4 places to get a room everyone had no vacant rooms to provide. However, we did end up finding one on Route 66. Rosemary over joyed by this by the way. -Emma

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Grand Canyon. Aug 16,2015.

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West coast travels.

Kind of seems fitting heading towards the heat, once again this year in my travels. Keeping on a bit of a theme. All though extreme heat is not my forte, the Sahara Desert was amazingly perfect for my 25th birthday and now ending the summer in the dry scorching states of Arizona and California. This time I can wear whatever I want! Which is super exciting; actually getting to wear shorts in dry summer heat is key. I'm sure I'll still be sweating up a storm regardless fully clothed or minimally dressed. Now we all know I haven't even finished writing about Morocco ( my badd) and here I am writing about my next journey with another travel friend. Hopefully at times I'll be able to pull in stories about Morocco during this trip and hit two birds with one stone. A co worker of mine (Emma) and I have been talking and about travelling to somewhere in the states for a few long months now. Starting from Utah, "to why not Nevada", and "might as well add California in there too!"; to debating on doing the long haul of a drive from Ontario; scratching that; to just Arizona and California, mixing in flights and a road trip. Once again since I have a partner for my travels, Emma will be writing in my blog as well. More likely more than I will be... Since she can write while I drive ahahaha Once again very minimally planned. No real agenda. A few places in mind. A flight from Toronto to Phoenix and a returning flight -San Francisco to Buffalo. A car rental booked and the open road ahead of us. Not so much a backpacking trip this time, even to the point where I didn't even bring my pack. Which oddly feels weird to not have with me. This is such a different adventure altogether! Which is exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time. Never know what any type of travels will throw your way. Considering it will be interesting only for the pure fact of I can be SUCH a stressed out driver sometimes. (Stressed out to the point that my hands get all clammy and sweaty; my body completely tenses up; I clench my teeth without knowing and when all the stress is said and done with I instantly have to pee, which makes the situation all the more worse sometimes...) More in heavy traffic situations ( which I hear LA will be fun!...) and I've decided to drive by map this whole trip. Which is going to be SUPER fun. Never know if you can do it if you don't try. Hopefully my sense of direction kicks into overdrive. But we will see how that goes. A long day has finally come to an end. Day full of airports, and tons of waiting. Officially have been up for 36hrs now with very tiny power naps without (I don't even think I would count them as an actual nap.) All worth the while to start a vacation right after working a 12 hr night shift. Tomorrow is when our true adventure begins. Sweet dreams world.

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Alright ladies and gents, on the go again!!

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When traveling with someone, take large doses of patience and tolerance with your morning coffee.

Helen Hayes (via travel-quotes)

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The adrenaline and stress of an adventure are better than a thousand peaceful days.

Paulo Coelho (via travel-quotes)

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Sahara Desert, Morocco May 8/ 2015

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Fez, Morocco May 7th/ 2015

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Chefchaouen to Fez. May 6th. More blog posts to come!!

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Pants and Stamps

Chefchaouen is a beautiful town with a similar feel to Santorini with a Moroccan twist. A town of blues of the sky and sea. This town was just opened to tourists and the general public in about 1945. Before that the only ones welcomed were the people of the Rif ( the mountains in the north) and the locals that lived in the town. Which is quite incredible to think about how it was closed off to so many people for so long. A true Moroccan secret. Since we stayed an additional day in Tangier our stay in Chefchaouen was short but quaint. Yet again we got sucked into another carpet shop ( this time it wasn't me that got us sucked in!; it's 2 for me and 1 for Mike now aha), toured the town and soaked in it's blue beauty. An oasis in the mountains. I'm glad that we were able to visit this wonderful town, to break away from the hectic cities, and relax. A new pair of pants were purchased; looking like a true nomad gypsy and some stamps for postcards to friends and as souvenirs for myself. We tried to buy tickets to catch the bus to head to Fez but we were told that all the buses for the day were sold out. Word of mouth from fellow travellers that we knew the bus was only half full...( a slight piss off) Anyways it was a stroke of luck that we met Mark and Maiuo a Spanish couple that were stuck in the same situation that we were in. We ended up splitting a taxi 4 ways, which was cheaper for all of us and a more comfortable ride. They were quite lovely and were excited to work on their English. When we arrived into Fez, it was quite interesting. As we have found thus far every time we first arrive into a new city it is an overwhelming experience. Each town we get to is different completely. Luckily Maiuo knows Arabic so she spoke to the taxi driver and pointed us in the right direction. I had the directions of the hostel on my phone and first mistake I made was following Mike... He walks with such assurance sometimes so it seems like he knows where he's going, so I just followed him. By the time I knew it we were completely lost stuck between all the souks in the main part of the Medina. I was being such a cranky pants and wasn't impressed. All I wanted to do was get to the hostel, unload our stuff and use the bathroom. I was in a state of Hangry and exhaustion. My stomach was on edge. It wasn't good. We eventually backtracked. I led the way and asked for directions to the post office to avoid people directing us to the hostel and then asking for money for helping us. We had finally arrived to Dar Rabha hostel and then we got to be a part of a wonderful evening. More on our adventures in Fez next time! Cheers.

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Local musicians that played some music for us last night. Fez, Morocco.

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Hammam in Tangier

It's funny how experiences and events can really change your perspective on things in life. While in Tangier we experienced a true local Hammam. Hammam is the Arabic term for a Turkish bath; a public bath place for the locals to attend to for a deep cleanse. "The discovery that was lost has been found again, is this in the fewest possible words: The application of hot air to the human body. It is not wet air, nor moist air, nor vapoury air; it is not vapour in any shape or form whatever. It is an immersion of the whole body in hot common air. " This is definitely one of the things I had planned/ wanted to do during my visit to Morocco. Check! It is obviously separated between the sexes, there is a women's side and a men's side. Alice ( a fellow Canadian that we met at the hostel in Tangier; such a wonderful person) joined me for the experience as well. We had such a challenge at the start. None of the women who worked at the Hammam spoke English or French, but we eventually paid for entry, a massage and bought black soap for the cleansing. All for the whopping price of 55Dh, which converts to about $7 CAN. Talk about completely inexpensive! We stripped down awkwardly as to not to take off too much or too little. We really didn't know what to expect, especially with the complete language barrier. The women that worked there were quite entertaining; tugging at our clothes speaking Arabic, probably saying something along the lines of, "yes just take that off, it's a bath house duhh". Finally we walked into the Hammam wearing nothing but black underwear (I had read somewhere that's a respectable thing to do), and the lady running the Hammam in a bit of a tiff made us drop our drawers and change underwear (so we had dry ones to put on when we left). Disgusting thought of wearing someone else's underwear.... Like REALLY gross, but you try to convince yourself. "Ok you are in a bath house, you are going to be super clean by the time you leave...*deep breath* it's all about the experience." These underwear I was wearing... Basically see through. *face palm* Here's the thing about being naked in front of strangers... I feel so awkward and immediately want to cover myself up. I'm not happy with my body completely; and in the last year or so I've JUST started to appreciate myself and my own internal and external beauty. What better way to throw yourself out there than going to a Hammam... Especially with someone you just met. Anyways so we sat on a white tiled bench, where they first washed it off with warm water, then splashing me with luke warm-hot water. The bath lady started off with the black soap (which kind of reminded me of the same consistency of molasses, mixed with Vaseline) and scrubbed me down with it, just grabbing my limbs every which way she pleased to ensure she washed me everywhere. Then I sat for about 5 minutes for the black soap to soak in and do it's magic. I laid down and got a deep and complete scrub down ( and having a sunburn on your shoulders, wasn't pleasant to have intensely scrubbed). I then laid on my back to have the same thing done again. Once I sat up... Looked down... I saw an immense amount of dead skin in clumps everywhere. I couldn't believe the amount of crap they scrubbed off me, it was quite a site to see. The bath lady then continued to bathe and wash me down. I kind of felt like a little kid getting a bath by one of my parents, which in itself was a weird feeling. By the end you feel completely rejuvenated. Your skin feels like a baby's bum, it's quite nice. I don't think my skin has ever felt so nice! All in all, one of the best things I've experienced thus far, and you can't help to notice the other women in the Hammam. Not trying to be creepy, but really though people can't help but to be curious about... Well other people and their routines. It's amazing to witness others cleanse themselves in such a setting. If sounds weird I know, but if you ever have the opportunity. Take it! You would be amazed. Hoping to catch up with our blogs in the next day or so. We have done tons of travelling since we were in Tangier, and have tons to share. Until next time! Cheers.

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Chefchaouen, Morocco. We just arrived a few hours ago, and it's absolutely stunning here. So far the town has such charm, especially within the medina.

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Tangier thus Far!

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Rabat

We have journeyed past what we thought was suppose to be the most luxurious pristine place of Casablanca City and have now stayed a few days in Capital City of Rabat to not only recognize but be told that Casablanca is just an expensive tourist location. Rabat is so much cheaper, cleaner, and inhabited. Not to mention the surrounding walls, gardens, cafés, Mosques and medinas make this a luscious city. However as it is the new Capital (previously being Fez) it is the new home of president . Rabat is set up almost how Ottawa is to Quebec, with the Wadi Bou dividing Rabat from the city of Salé. With that being said security is much heavier in the city, with local groups chanting and marching, groups of what looks to be like a swat team wait on street corners to take action if needed. Regular patrols of army squads with a captain and 2 soldiers with guns at ease patrol the streets and medinas. Many uniformed officials toured the city from full green, full blue, full red, full white, and camo uniforms which can be quite intimidating and make a strong presence but are respectful to the people and tourists. Our walking ventures tend to get us lost as usual until we start to make mental maps of the areas, we ventured outside the city walls to Bab el-Rouah (gate) and a park garden, visit to Hassan tower which is under construction but closed to non Muslim regardless, mausoleum of Mohammed V, Ville Nouvelle, Oudaïa kasbah, Andalusian garden, beaches, and the local medina. Beautiful city with much to do and see, easy to recognize why it became the new capital of Morocco. The beaches played loud club like music very similar to the setup of wasaga beach, however the beaches were still pretty quiet as they consider it cold still being a high of around 26•c, women in full long outfits, men in full outfits or shirtless and children fully dressed roam the area. Long piers groups take walks down, we saw a band of young boys singing and playing music as the sunsets, and my new buddy Hassan we met but in the end tried to sell us Kleenex packages for 2Dirham which is about 25cents. The medina in this city was much larger with multiple streets and ally's to travel, however a lot of the shops had prices marked and were not as interested in bartering with deals. Souks also carrying items for sale which were quite disgusting, from live turtles to eat, scaled whole fish sitting in the sun, or a lovely older guy that had pig hooves and steamed camel skulls is what it appeared to be. We even ventured down Rue Souïka which according to our survival guide says it is closed to non Muslims but we had a venture down. I managed to find a few items I wanted and some underwear! However I am apparently a XXXL here, thank you to all my fake friends who never told me I was fat! We were shopping mid day when a segment of prayer had begun also, majority of stores close and lock up, groups of men gather around large couscous tajines and others head to prayer with a mat in the nearest mosque or designated area, quite and experience to witness. Also amount of stray cats/kittens that roam the streets/ally's/medinas/gardens is overwhelming and a sad sight to witness how hundreds of cats starve and roam the streets, to foul to even touch. On the other end of the medina is the kasbah and beaches where these robed women ran up to Rosemary with a syringe of brownish green paste and started drawing flowers on her arms, she than called another lady over to put a scorpion on my hand. At the beginning it was a rather alarming experience but it was just Henna art which they use to keep evil spirits away. The city's flow is non stop and fast paced, this city actually has some street lights as Casablanca barely did, however there is a large tram way here that maintain priority, after that it is a free for all for cars and pedestrians alike. It can be a very dangerous city in means of getting bit if you are not quick and cautious! We even managed to see a man who appeared to be hit by a car the first day in the city, he was bloody and barely moving laying on the pavement as hundreds of pedestrians just stand idly by as the authorities are hopefully called. Hopefully he ended up alright! The evening we strolled down the beach way, the water of the Atlantic was beautiful and warm as it was just a coved area. And a stroll down a long pier to watch the sunset. Absolutely stunning, watching the sun melt into the vast horizon in a bed of clouds that appeared as the day ended, and the moon rises up behind the mosque and the city lights turn on! We stroll back through the closing medina grabbing some raspberry and pistachio Icecream from a vendor and back to our hotel for a night cap on the bar, a dark modern lounge with old jazz and classic sultry tunes set the mood. However a sip of wine as were are basically sleeping from a long day of culture sun and exploration. As we complete our visit in Rabat we now head to the city of Tangier, we are staying in a cheap hostel for 3 nights in this location and are now riding the train for 4 hours. With our new buddy Mohammad a young maybe 10year old riding the train alone to Kenitra interested in us but only knows Arabic and French and we know English and basic Frenglish. But his curiously keeps trying as our whole trip has been, the people study us just as we are studying them, but there comical and humble nature eliminates all potential thoughts of danger or threats. Normally they just laugh at us to be honest lol. Rosemary has also been a treat to say the least lol, learning new sides of her everyday which is so funny, from white Beyoncé who sings not remembering the words or tunes, to Spanish Rosé that pops out Spanish or Italians words confusing with French, the dyslexic Rosie that assures "Dino the Doug" is having a good adventure, to the zoned out Cruella deville in the bar wearing black and white in a red high chair at a loss for words as she stares into the distance. Much love Rosie! Haha it's interesting to witness your many sides, especially when your exhausted! But we work as the perfect travel pair with no set schedule agenda or at time idea where we are, we just have fun and stay open minded, at least trying to maintain a sense of direction! Until next time! Salam -Mike

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Ribbit Ribbit Rabat

Rabat has been quite the city to visit thus far. Rabat is the capital city of Morocco and it truly shows. It presents itself to be much cleaner and put together than Casablanca. Our hotel is located about 100m from the train station, yet again a prime location to be in. We are staying in Belere Hotel, which for the price we paid (not overly expensive at all, definitely not a backpackers style a by any means) is quite luxurious. Which of course is nothing we can get used to, this has definitely been quite the treat. Our first day in Rabat consisted of getting pleasantly lost and absorbing in the wonders and architecture of the city. Wondering a new city on the first day is my favourite. No maps, ( or at least trying your best not to use one) stumbling upon new sites, and eventually discovering what they are ( usually on a later date). We actually ended up looking at majority of the city by the end of the first day on foot, which tells you how accessible everything is within the walls of Rabat( and how much walking we did). We enjoyed cheap delicious food at the market. Paid only 20Dh (which isn't even $3 CAN) for a shawarma pita, fries, and 2 sides. One thing I can definitely check off my list for Morocco is getting Henna done. Mind you how it happened was quite hilarious to be honest. We were touring around near the end of our first day by Old Rabat/ Kasbah and a lady who was quite nice walked up to us. Her name was Hennan. Pulled out this needle and it kind of scared us both, as soon as she saw us jump back a bit; "oh don't worry it's not sharp here let me show you". Me and my 'alright, sounds good attitude' stuck out my hand and got stuck into a what I'll call a 'sly selling technique'. As she drew away on my arm and hand we talked about henna and where we were from. The henna was stored in a small container quite thick in consistency, "shit" brown in colour (as mike would call it) and has quite a sweet smelling fragrance. Henna itself is used protect against evil spirits and supernatural forces. It purifies and beautifies the wearer. Out of no where ( and to be honest I can't really remember where the heck she came from) another lady sat down beside me and grabbed my other arm and started doodling away. " Do you like?", "Isn't it pretty". Mike got a pretty good photo of me with the two ladies absorbed into their work on my hands. It was quite entertaining. Anyway I ended up paying 150Dh to each lady; not what I was expecting to pay out but they did a decent job and it was something I really wanted anyway. Side note: you know how I mentioned in my previous posts about wondering what the statistic of car accidents are in Morocco. Well we have yet to witness one( pretty close on several accounts),but I'm almost positive we walked by a man near the Rabat train station that did get hit by a car. It was awful to completely walk by and not even offer to help. Broke my heart, considering that no one was helping him at all. Anyone that was around him stood there and stared at him like he was a wounded animal. As we walked by I caught the expression of one of the bystanders; it was almost as you see the fear in his eyes of what had happened as he shook his head. Our second day in Rabat mainly consisted of site seeing throughout the city. We started off our day by visiting the Mausoleum of Mohammed V and the Hassan tower; unfortunately the Hassan tower is under construction at this time so we weren't able to really see the detail of the tower. Inside the Hassan tower isn't open to the public. In between the Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum is a huge court yard with several columns lined up in rows. At the time of being there I had no idea what they were for/ from; they are the previous remains of the Hassan Mosque's prayer hall which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1755. The Mausoleum of Mohammed V (who is the father of Moroccan independence) is remarkably beautiful. It's embellished with fancy mosaic work, mahogany hand crafted ceilings, marble columns,and stained glass windows in the dome of the ceiling. The tomb itself that Mohammed V is in, was carved from a single block marble laid on top of a slab of granite. We then toured to the Oudaïa Kasbah which of course someone heard us speaking English and said "come, come" to show us around for some Dh. He was quite nice, and it was good to have someone that could tell us a little about the place, in a language that we could understand. After our little tour we headed to the Cafe Maure for some Moroccan tea and then to the Andalusian Garden. These little places were all located within the Kasbah walls. Ending our day off we spent the evening at the beach watching the sunset, just below the Kasbah. Which was a nice treat considered we were both pretty tired from all the walking and being in the sun all day. I think I'll never make the mistake again of forgetting to put sunscreen for the rest of the trip! My poor shoulders...