Stephanie was kind enough to accompany me to Dallas the afternoon before my departure for Morocco. My original flight had been scheduled for 1:30 in the afternoon, but it had been changed by Delta to 11:20 a.m. I still had planned to just get up at about 4:00 a.m. and drive myself to DFW on the 2nd. I was glad, though, that Stephanie came along. We had a very nice dinner the night before I left, and spent a relaxing evening at the Hyatt Place near the airport.

My solo travel had quite an inauspicious beginning. I woke Saturday morning to a message I had received during the wee hours. Delta had canceled my flight. “We’re sorry, your flight has been canceled. We couldn’t find an easy option for you, so go online and see if you can find an alternative, or we’ll give you a refund.” I wasn’t sure from this if they had canceled one leg or both. I had reservations in North Africa and at a minimum, I would need to be there for Egypt. I also had ferry tickets and flights between Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. All of Delta’s online options suggested I go from DFW through Detroit, Boston or JFK, then to Charles deGaulle, to Morocco, landing either late in the day Sunday or even Monday morning. None of those seemed like good options. If Delta had only canceled the leg from DFW to Atlanta, surely there was some way I could get to Atlanta in time to catch the 4:50 p.m. leg from Atlanta to Marrakech.

I looked on a different site. There were American flights all day from Dallas to Atlanta. There was even one Delta flight, it just left at 10:18. If I hustled, why couldn’t I just catch that one, and keep my original itinerary after Atlanta? I called Delta to ask for it, and sat on hold while I showered, dressed, and ate my breakfast. Still no answer. I decided to drive to DFW and just ask the Delta desk if an agent didn’t answer before I arrived. None did. The Delta agent at DFW informed me that yes, there were tickets available on their 10:18 flight to Atlanta. The reason it had not showed as an alternative online was that it left from Love Field in Dallas, not DFW. Love field is about a 30 minute drive from DFW in the best of conditions. It was Saturday morning, though, and traffic would be light. I decided to accept the ticket and hustle over to Love Field. If I made that connection, I would be able to keep the rest of my itinerary. I made it without a hitch. I bade Stephanie farewell, and was on the road to Morocco!

I ended up with extra time for my Atlanta connection, and even arrived in Marrakech about an hour before scheduled. Little good this did, as it was 5:15 a.m. Not much could have been done at that hour. My plan was to drop my bags at the hostel I had booked, then walk the old medina, seeing what sights I could on foot during the day. Staying on my feet would keep me awake, despite sleeping only about three hours on the flight.

I did have one other immediate setback immediately upon arrival in Morocco. I passed immigration and customs without a hitch. As usual, I stopped at an ATM before leaving the airport so as to have some cash on hand. I knew from research that Morocco was a largely cash economy. The first ATM I saw was placed there by Al Barid Bank. From what I had read, this one had the lowest ATM fees. I don’t know why I cared about this, since my home banks all waive ATM fees anyway. Using this ATM was a mistake I could not have anticipated. I asked for 2,000 Moroccan Dirhams, and went through all of the usual steps. Afterward, I got a message saying the ATM was “under maintenance.” It did not dispense any cash. It kept my card. It even debited my account for the 2,000 dirhams. I looked around for help, but it was before six a.m., and this was just a stand-alone ATM. There probably wouldn’t have been anyone who could have helped anyway. I called Schwab immediately, filed a claim for the 2,000 dirhams, and asked that a new card be sent to my residence. It would arrive in 7-10 business days… in Texas. Fortunately, I always carry one and sometimes two backups of every kind of ATM and credit card, from different banks. So I went to another machine that didn’t fully ingest cards, and successfully made a withdrawal.

It turned out that Morocco was a very pleasant destination. The casbahs of the old cities are highly trafficked by tourists. Marrakech, especially, is not an off-the-beaten-track destination. That city is a bit more expensive than the others I visited in Morocco as well. While I was not sad to get away from the crowds of foreign tourists when I left, I did find the country easy to navigate. The trains were reliable and relatively comfortable as long as you had a seat. The weather was spectaculary in May. I had expected it to be a bit warm, but at least in the north, the weather was perfect this time of year.

It was a bit difficult to navigate the city bus systems, as those outside of Marrakech were not on Google Maps, and I couldn’t find any other information online about routes and schedules. They are extremely inexpensive, though, and when you can make use of them, they are a cheap way to get around cities. I was sometimes able to guess in Fes which bus would be going my way.

I also enjoyed the food. Morocco is best known for tagines. Couscous is another popular dish. My favorite Moroccan food was tangia, but this was a Marrakech specialty I was unable to find anywhere else. I found I could often get a meal for anywhere between about six and twelve dollars. You can spend as much as you want on restaurants, of course. My range is for inexpensive or mid-tier local joints.

The northern part of Morocco seems typically Mediterranean in climate and geography. It isn’t all the Sahara desert landscape you might expect from North African stereotypes like those parodied in the 1942 Bob Hope and Bing Crosby film, “Road to Morocco.” Slopes of the different ranges of Atlas mountains are covered in olive orchards and wheat fields. Andrew said that the pictures reminded him of California. This seems like an apt comparison. The temperature was often in the 50s in the morning and 70s in the afternoon. It was never warmer than about 82. The Volubilis environment was particularly beautiful, with its sprawling agricultural surroundings and abundant wildflowers among the ancient city ruins. The northern parts of Algeria I visited could be similarly described.

By no means did I thoroughly explore all of Morocco. I really only saw Marrakech, El Jadida, and the area around Fes. The latter included Volubilis, Meknes, and Maulay Idriss. I only passed through Casablanca, and never made it to Rabat, Tangier, Chefchaouen, Essaouira, or the Sahara. There is much left to see. It felt bit over-touristed sometimes. There was the everpresent pressure from touts, salesmen, and scam artists that goes with tourist destinations in an otherwise weak economy. Overall though, I found Morocco pleasant and easy to visit. I would enjoy going back to see the other parts of the country.

Follow the links below to see what I found in the parts of Morocco I visited in May, 2026.