A frank description of our clients
Every tour operator we have seen has an “About Us” on their website. We think it is equally important to talk “About You”. Otherwise when you visit our website you have to work out on your own if there is a match, and we think that can be a bit difficult particularly with so many different offerings on the market. So here goes…
Your age and health
You are in at least good health and thus able to manage the heat and the physical exertion sometimes required in Morocco (e.g. if necessary you can climb a flight of stairs in a riad when no elevator is available, as is often the case even with four star accommodation). You are prepared to take a travel-bug probiotic (available without prescription from your local pharmacy) before, during and after your holiday to limit the risk of an upset tummy from travelling in Africa.
Maree, Cara and Joe at an information session for a photography tour to Morocco
Who you are travelling with and how you expect to travel
It might not be your first time to Morocco. Maybe you are coming back to show your partner or your friends this amazing country and, for yourself, you wouldn’t mind experiencing something a bit different this time.
You are prepared to engage a bit at the coalface in Morocco, that is to say, deal with issues like how much to pay as a tip to a particular person, albeit with the benefit of advice from Aussies in Morocco Tours™ (AIMT™). However, we don’t offer tours where you get in a bus and everything, absolutely everything, is taken care of.
If that is the kind of holiday you want, we are not for you.
We don’t for example cover every meal, because our experience is people don’t always want to eat the same food, at the same locations and always with each other. Our tours in general are more intimate rather than you simply being transported from one panorama to another. With that richness of direct experience of beauty and adventure there are going to be little discomforts like working out how much tip to pay someone. You accept that. There may be some confusion, or even some charlatanry, when it comes to paying a bill if you decide to go out on your own for dinner.
Length of your holiday
A longer tour, that gives you more time to catch your breath could look like this.
At the same time, you don’t want to experience a holiday that in retrospect seemed to be largely driving from one place to another. So you want a balance between not spending too much time and money in Morocco, seeing as much as you can of the sights, but also not driving and driving and driving. You also expect to experience some fatigue, but you don’t want to feel exhausted. You understand that, as these tend to be inconsistent objectives to some extent, there will need to be some compromise. Perhaps a longer period of time with more time spent in specific locations, and if necessary returning in future to see more of Morocco.
Tour 5: Marrakech to Fez 10-day round trip
Tour 6: Casablanca to Marrakech 10-day trip
Your financial situation and financial expectations
Even with the luxury option, your focus is on authenticity of experience. You are not seeking a resort-style holiday in Morocco. You do however want to be comfortable.
You in fact may be incorporating the expense of Morocco into a much grander trip that encompasses Europe – in particular the Iberian peninsula of Spain and Portugal, which historically and geographically has close ties with Morocco as we set out here.
Your attitude to your own safety
You are likely to be highly safety-conscious in terms of firstly your own health and of those with whom you are travelling, secondly in terms of your personal safety (e.g. crimes against the person such as pickpocketing) and thirdly, in the back of your mind, or perhaps at its forefront, you are concerned about terrorism.
You understand that it is compulsory for you to arrange adequate medical and health insurance for Morocco. You are happy to know that in addition to that AIMT™ has crisis management insurance if, for example, there is a flood or other major disaster requiring immediate attention to your personal security. It is comforting to know that in addition AIMT™ has a specific bespoke, safety app for mobile devices that we discuss here.. It is an app that was designed originally for the security of journalists and aid-workers, working in hot-spots around the world.
Your attitude to learning
At the same time, you are not looking for a lecture tour and are quite happy to google for some information at the next available wi-fi location if your driver doesn’t know the answer.
Your cultural expectations
You really want things to be well-organised, as you are only there for a limited time and so you want to make the most of every moment. As a person keen to learn about new cultures, you understand Morocco is Africa, not Paris. So western European mores, such as punctuality and promptness, will not always be adhered to in Morocco. However, in retaining Aussies In Morocco Tours™ you hope and wish to diminish the degree of any disjunction between your expectations and your actual experience in Morocco. You also understand that AIMT™ can’t control absolutely everything that goes on in your daily life whilst you are in Morocco (just as we can’t even here, in Australia).
You may have read some Trip Advisor reviews of other organisations offering tours in Morocco, and you see that Australians express concern or distrust about specific incidents in Morocco. They may have been asked for money, or taken to places (e.g. for lunch) when the usual practice is not to cover lunches in the tour fee.
So you are looking for a tour operator that addresses those kinds of concerns, so that they either do not occur to you or are explained to you on the website, in the blog posts or in direct communications, in a way that you can accept.
You are looking for accountability and responsibility before, during and after your experience of a lifetime in Morocco. Thus, you feel comfortable about retaining a tour designer based in Australia for when you get back or even during the trip.
See also our “What to Expect” page here.
You are pro-active and mature in your outlook
We wrote an entire blog post about this, the link to which appears immediately below.
You are the kind of person who will ask for what you want in sufficient time beforehand, so it can be arranged. For example, if you want to stop somewhere on the way down to the desert, you need to let the driver know the day before so that you can leave early enough for that, otherwise you will miss the sunset in the desert.
At the same time, you are also prepared if necessary to “go with the flow”, keeping the ambiance relatively lighthearted – a requirement often called upon in the Moroccan milieu. If in doubt, you are happy to whatsapp AIMT™ and check out what is really going on.
You are prepared to be the adult in the room if necessary, when dealing with hot-blooded Moroccans and cultural misunderstandings that may arise between you and them.
You love creativity and attention to detail
Cara’s psychoscape with appropriate genuflection to Dali. For more about Dali, the relationship between his art and the Moroccan desert and how you can engage with his mysticism, see our two blog posts on this topic, the links to which are immediately below.
The second and final leg of an art tour of Morocco that focuses upon Dali and the desert.
Oh, and one final thing. Maybe you already know Cara, our principal, possibly through her work as a lawyer or her interest in French and philosophy. If so, she says a warm hello to you.
Updated March 2022