Day 1: All our Bags are packed and we are ready to go.
The kitchens closed as Mum would say..Morocco here we come...
we soon realised that dinner would not be served with wine or beer as there was at least one mosque close by. Having had Aldi delicious Sushi washed down with prosecco on the plane this was not a problem. We only wanted something light to eat, after the usual Dora & Boots indecisiveness we took a seat in the kerbside restaurant Black 9's a lot of further indecisiveness and dilemma to share or not we decided on the set menu of Mexican salad, Fish grilled or Fish tagine (we had one of each) and fruit. Our order was taken by a guy who looked like he had just got off his camel, he later described himself as a local Hippie. The salad was good, very refreshing, my grilled fish was served with well cooked carrots and courgettes. The stray cats that wanted to share it were so annoying as was the fact that the tagine with its whole fish did not appear until I had nearly finished. The meal was definitely the type of local culture experience we love when travelling, I have no complaints about food hygiene etc not being 5* in my opinion the rustic food has more flavour. 
A little excited, our first back packing trip post corrid.
5.45am Alarm bells...
6.25 am Uber to the station
6.35am Nuneaton station.20 minutes early. (All good so far) Stansted here we come.
10.45am Weatherspoons, Stansted airport Time to rehydrate. Flew through self bag check and security. My 16kg rucksack feels more like a ton, knew i should have gone to the gym. Otherwise so organised and early - must rehydrate slowly - 3hrs before we fly.
1.15 pm Boarded and ready to go...
6.15 pm After a short delay before take off, we arrived in Essaouira Morocco a little after schedule. We soon had Moroccan Dirhams and a local Sim 200Mdr (£16) in hand and was heading in a taxi to the medina area of Essaouira. The temperature was still 25c and the Sun was slowly setting as we made our way from the airport, everything appeared very dusty.
6.35pm We arrived in a public carpark area, we obviously needed to walk from here to the Hotel we had booked. A local with a barrow was waiting to assist with our back packs. Hoping he knew where we were going we let him help us. Unfortunately he spoke no English and didn't know where we were going. As we followed him into the narrow colourful streets of the Medina, I scrambled to get directions on Google Maps. Eventually we found the door to our Riad (hotel) up a very narrow Alley. Unsure how much to tip our sherper we eventually settled for 60Mdr, less than £5..
7pm Completely out of breathe, (should have gone to gym.) Climbing up four flights of stairs to our very reasonable roof top room was a challenge. The room is basic but adequate at less than £20 per night which included local tax and breakfast.
7.05 pm Bags dumped we headed out to explore the local vicinity. Is was a treat to take a slower wander through the medina maze and the colourful array of goodies on sale. We noted the pharmacy with its glowing flashing green light as a landmark to help us refind our riad.
Interesting shoe art work.
Total cost including 2 soft drinks and a tip of 20Mdr was 300Mdr (£24) After our interisting first taste of complimentary Moroccan tea, we were ready to walk the few minutes to the Riad picking up a bottle of water 16Mdr (£1,20) from one of the many kiosks. Most of the other shops were closing as it was now just after 10pm
10.30pm Another work out up the stairs of the easily found Riad and it was time to say good night.
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