Marrakech

Nice sunny break from the cold, rainy city of London.

I went with 6 other girls to Marrakech and left super early Friday morning. Unfortunately I was out with a couple of people drinking on Thursday night so 5 vodka-cranberries later I finally went to sleep at about 12:30. The fun part was getting up at 3:30 so that I could get ready and jump in a cab. Not sure if I was still tipsy or if I was hungover but it wasn't great.

Picked up my friend Katherine on the way and got dropped off at Kings Cross where we got the train to Gatwick. Check-in was a breeze and so was the flight. Just wish that I retained some of the French that I learned at school as that is the language spoken in Marrakech. I did try but the Spanish just kept coming out - luckily quite a few locals spoke Spanish as well as French.

Arrived in Marrakech at about 11ish and met up with the other 5 girls who had just arrived from Manchester and set off to get a taxi into the city. Just like most cities you get ripped off getting a taxi from the airport. It was 150 Dirhams which is just under 10 pounds but to get a taxi from the city to the airport was only 60 Dirhams (3.50).

It was gorgeous, hot and sunny in Marrakech. Our Riadh was only 2 blocks from the Royal residence which was crazy because on the other side of the huge wall were homeless people, bike repair shops and little tiny shops...nothing like any other palace I've seen.

Our taxi dropped us on the street which lead to our Riadh, only problem was that we had no idea where that was. So as we're getting our bags out of the trunk this little kid, maybe 10 years old runs over and starts grabbing our bags and putting on our backpacks. We weren't sure what this kid was doing - was he trying to steal our stuff or help us out?! Turns out that for a small fee he would show us the way to our Riadh. We gave him all the change we had which was about 25DH and he says "I'll come back for more later". Cheek!

We chucked our bags into our rooms, changed and went onto the roof for some relaxation in the sun and chatting. We had a great host at our Riadh - Youssef. He came up onto the roof to chat with us and offer us some mint tea (a must have). One of the girls, Sally, said "I LOVE mint tea" to which we all giggled. But the best part was Youssef saying "what you like better...mint tea or Cat Stevens?". We had no idea where this came from but it set the tone for the trip....anytime anybody said they loved something it was "well do you love (whatever it is) or do you love Cat Stevens." We found out later that Youssef liked Cat Stevens because they had the same name - go figure.

After an hour we decided that we were all hungry so we should go get some lunch and start shopping. The first meal was a bust, it was in our Time Out guide as a 5* restaurant/hotel but was crap. So off we go to do some shopping. There is the main square, Djemaa el Fna which we called Fnar for short which was packed with people, fresh orange juice stands (only 3DH) and nuts and dried fruit stands. It was great. In the Fnar I found; snake charmers (yes they really do exist), monkeys on chains (not a happy sight), homeless people begging, small children peeing in public, people trying to kiss you and of course people trying to sell you anything and everything.

Shopping was great in the Souks. You head down these little alley-ways which branch off everywhere. You can get bags, purses, head scarves, throw blankets, trinkets, handcarved wooden anything, lamps, poofs (what I would have called a leather ottoman) and anything else you want - they sell it ALL. The best part was the bargaining. I ended up doing most of my shopping with Katherine and her sister Amy and we worked really well together. I got one guy down from 850DH for this purse I was DYING for to 230DH - pretty good deal! We also saw these green beads the first day but the guy didn't want anything to do with us and our bartering so we left thinking we could find them somewhere else. Nope! The only place in the market was this one guy but going back on Sunday he seemed more receptive to some bargaining. We got him down from 150DH for one necklace to 300DH for 5!

We had some amazing food while we were there (except for the first meal). We found a place called Chez Chegrouni which was ridiculously cheap and amazing. 4 starters, 4 mains, bread, a large bottled water, 3 fresh squeezed orange juices and side orders was 12 pounds! We were shocked. We also overdosed on the nuts from the market on the first day.

For anybody travelling to Marrakech and wanting to partake in some drinking...a word of advice - bring your own! It is much easier and much cheaper as booze is not readily available in Marrakech and if it is - it's bloody expensive! Kat brought a 26 of vodka and a 26 of whisky so all we needed was mixers. After dinner on Saturday we decided to try a bar listed in our Time Out guide. It was completely hidden and at one point I thought "where the hell are we going and are we ever going to come out alive". Once inside though it was one of the most amazing places I've ever been to. You must pay for the decor as the prices of the drinks were crazy! 85DH for a cocktail - PLUS TAX! Keep in mind that our huge dinner for 4 people was 200DH, so one drink was half the price of dinner! That was the end of that idea.....we finished our drinks and left.

Sunday was reserved for more shopping (hello it was an all girl group!) and a trip to the Yves Saint Laurent gardens otherwise known as Jardin Majorelle. These gardens were bought by YSL years back and redone, supposedly gorgeous. When we got there it was just a bunch of cactus and palm trees - nothing to write home about.

The trip ended this morning when I had to catch a taxi back to the airport and come home to dreary, cold, wet and windy London.

Fabulous trip but I wish I'd done a bit more sightseeing and not so much shopping. But for those of you thinking of going - you do need to dedicate at least an entire day to shopping in the Souks as you can easily get lost and there is a lot of ground to cover.

Would definitely go back for some cheap shopping. The trip itself was cheap - 110pounds for the flight, 55 pounds for the hotel and I only spent 100 pounds on food/shopping/transport while in Marrakech.

Highly recommend it!!

On the Road Again

I'm all settled in my new flat in Stoke Newington which is North of the Thames and way closer to work.

Moving was a bitch as I'd gone out on Thursday night for a friend's birthday for '1' glass of wine' which turned into 4 (or was it 5) and several shots of tequila! However, I did meet a very charming and good looking Brit named James.

Needless to say I was ridiculously hungover on Friday but luckily I only had to work for a 1/2 day.

As Dan and I both had to move out on the Friday we decided to split the cost of a rental van to move all of our stuff. Laura (a friend from work) came over at 2ish to help me pack everything up and load the truck.

We finally make it to Stokey after getting lost several times and just my luck - it starts to pour! My new landlords are super cool though so they helped Laura and I unload the truck but then comes the fun part - I live on the 4th floor of a Victorian house....what fun lugging all my stuff up those stairs!!

Dan hadn't packed a thing so he got home at 6ish and was racing around doing last minute packing while I was doing unpacking. I headed back to the old digs in the Heath at about 10 and he loads up the car with all his bits and pieces and off we set for his friends Johnny and Leah's place which is in Ealing. Well, Dan didn't exactly have the greatest directions and we got lost several times on the way there as well.

We finally arrive at something like 12:30 and I'm exhausted from moving all day and the drinking/no sleeping from the night before. So I sat in the van while Dan lugged all of his stuff into his friends place.

Eventually made it back to my new pad at 2:15am!! I has passed the basic tired stage and was somewhere between complete and utter exhaustion and delerium.

I've got everything unpacked and love my new place. It's in a really cool area and is only about 15-20 minutes away from work. Hopefully I don't move again for the rest of my stay as this is my 4th residence in 10 months!