Thank you for being a friend. Travel down the road and back again….
So begins the lyrics of “The Golden Girls” TV show theme song — Arguably one of the best ones of all time.
At first glance, you wouldn’t think it applies to 11 strangers meeting on a travel tour through Morocco, but hang with me.
Sistah and I have been taking sister trips for the past 18 years. We’ve sky dived in California, hiked Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, fly fished in New Mexico, braved freezing winds for Obama’s Washington, DC. inaugurations, applauded Broadway shows in the Big Apple and roamed the ancient ruins of Rome’s Colosseum. (Just to name a few.)
Old hands at this now, Sistah and I usually go it alone. But as we started planning our trip to Morocco and the costs racked up, we decided to try a group tour.
Neither of us had any real expectations. Sure, it was going to be more affordable and traveling with a group offered us more safety than traveling alone. But honestly, Sistah and I were both most looking forward to the down times when we could break from the group and do our own thing.
Headed by our guide, Rachid, a Moroccan native, we were the only Americans and Black folks in the group. Everyone else hailed from Australia, the UK, Dubai, Italy and Canada.
They were all pleasant. Really. They were.
But again, Sistah and I are used to going it alone and the group was just a means to an end. We didn’t them to make our trip memorable.
After our first meal together, though, I realized I was wrong. We clicked right away. And over the next 7 days — after singing at the top of our lungs to a group Spotify playlist during our drives around Morocco, riding camels together through the Sahara Desert, and sharing daily meals of Tagine (And I mean, daily!) — we all bonded in ways I never was expecting.
Fam, I can honestly say that our tour mates made our ordinarily solo sister trip extra special.
No longer strangers, our friends have restored – as Sistah shared – our hope in humanity.
And who knows? Maybe one day — if our WhatsApp chat is any indication – we’ll find ourselves belting out punk rock tunes again in distant land on a tour together. 😊
We took so many pictures and videos, Fam! No way to share them all in one post. So, check out these few and stay tuned to see more from our other adventures this week.
If you want more detail about each pic, check out my FB page.
Enjoy!
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