Through the grapevine I found out an old friend was planning a trip to Morocco. Why not? I asked myself. I have yet to travel to the countries in North Africa, just north of the Atlas mountains.

Europeans escape to this area to get away from their every day lives for a taste of culture that is very different, yet has some familiarity. A “safe” adventure to Africa!

As the area is very new to me, I wanted to explore a little more. So after a little research, I booked the following itinerary using United miles (right before the devaluation!).

Itinerary

1. EWR – OPO – LIS – RAK
2. CMN – TUN
3. TUN – ALG
4. ALG – FRA – DUS – EWR

In other words, my first leg of the trip is New York to Lisbon via Porto, Portugal. After a layover in Lisbon, I fly to Marrakech, Morocco.

The second leg starts in Casablanca, Morocco to Tunis, Tunisia. Then from Tunis to Algiers, Algeria.

Finally I’m flying from Algiers to New York with two stops in Germany.

Highlights

This trip is exciting for a couple of reasons.

• Country Count: I will be visiting 4 new countries in about two weeks, bringing the country count to 64/196. New countries are Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria.
• Airlines: The flights will be very comfortable as my cross Atlantic flights are business class with TAP Portugal and Lufthansa. I will be flying two new airlines, TAP and Tunisair.
• Portugal: I will be able to explore the capital for a couple of hours and count it.
• Morocco: The majority of the trip will be in this country. My friend Napo and I will be frolicking through this romantic desert country from town to town. We hope to explore Marrakech, Fez, and Casablanca.
• Tunisia: A few days in this country will allow me to visit Tunis, Carthage, and Hammamet.
• Algeria: With only a couple of days here, I will only have time to explore the capital, Algiers.
• Germany: Though I’ve been to Germany many times, Dusseldorf will be a new city for me and fortunately I have a bit of time to check it out!
• Hotels and Resorts: I have some really amazing hotels lined up and I can’t wait to visit and feature them!

As I’m sitting in the SAS lounge about to publish this post, I’m excited for the trip to start. It’s going to be a roller coaster ride as usual and I brought plenty of SD memory cards to capture the action!

Stay tuned!