If you’re like me, packing is stressful. And if you’re not like this you probably don’t need to read this article and I’m jealous. I generally start packing a week in advance by grabbing items and staging them on the guest bed. This goes on for a few days and then I start to edit aiming to put back about 30% of the clothing. I try to live by that phrase “bring half as much stuff and twice as much money”. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I stick with one general color scheme, so everything is mixable, and I wear one set of jewelry the entire trip.
I really want to be a carry-on only type of traveler and I’ll get there. But, baby steps. For two adults and a child we brought one medium suitcase plus one carry-on size suitcase, a backpack each and my cross-body bag. In hindsight, below is what I wish I packed for Morocco. I was close to this and probably over-packed by about 4 items. And this obviously doesn’t include the excessive first aid supplies I packed, or the carry-on books, snacks, charging cables, converters etc. Just apparel. If you prefer dresses/skirts to pants, you could make that swap. Yes, I looked like an athleisure advertisement. But I was comfy, functional, and water resistant at all times.
The trip was 10 days in April, including glamping in the desert. We visited Casablanca, Marrakech, Ouarzazate and Dades Valley en route to Merzouga (Sahara desert), Fes, Chefchaouen, and Tangier (to catch the Al Baroq back to Casablanca). We did laundry twice. No formal wear was needed for our itinerary.
Tops: 4-5 synthetic shirts (forget the cotton)
Bottoms: 2-3 quick dry pants
Shoes: 2 pairs (So hard. I couldn’t choose between my low hikers and tennis shoes so I brought them both plus sandals and it was overkill.)
Bras: 1 regular and 1 sports bra
Undies: 4-5 pairs
1 scarf, 1 swimsuit, 3 pairs of socks (incl a warm pair for the plane), 1 hat, 1 sunglasses
2 long layers (I brought a thin long-sleeve quick-dry hoodie with UV protection. And then my very warm hooded jacket for the plane/train and the night in the desert.)
We get to Morocco and I am so proud of my low suitcase to person ratio. We look like a semi-professional travelers. And then, on day 2 out of 10, I went shopping…
If you’ve seen my rug post, you know I’ve purchased a gigantic rug plus a small runner because who gets just one rug in Morocco? If I had more suitcases, more money, and more house, I’d probably have 5 Moroccan rugs now. I assured my husband pre-trip we could ship any rugs home but I needed that total price to come down during rug negotiations and heard shipping could be $200-400 easily, so there we were with rugs I’ve decided would travel with us and on us for the next 8 days.
How do 2 adults, 1 child, 2 suitcases, 3 backpacks, 1 crossbody bag and 2 new rugs travel across Morocco for the next 8 days?
The kind owner of the rug store rolled those two rugs together and wrapped them in paper and packing tape and made a 35-lb cylindrical bundle with durable tape handles and delivered it to our riad while we explored Marrakech. He assured us it could count as a suitcase and we planned to check it through at the end of our trip.
The rugs stayed like this for most of the trip and we just carried them around like luggage. However, towards the end of the trip that wrapping paper was showing some holes. I had visions of my rugs sitting on the tarmac during our Montreal layover while a surprise blizzard blew in and then rolling off the luggage belt and into a puddle of jet fuel or oil. The horror! This simply would not do!
At this point we were in Chefchaouen, our last big stop before making the journey through Tangier back to the Casablanca airport. It’s 9pm the night before we leave and I look at my husband and say, “I have to repack this”.
For the next 45 minutes, my daughter lends encouragement as I rip open the paper bundle and two rugs pop out and expand to cover most of our room. I guess I forgot how big 12’ x 8’ really is.
Before we left the States, I rolled a large water-resistant duffel bag and packed it in our luggage. My intention was to stuff the rugs into it and be done. I rolled and stuffed and folded and squished for 45 minutes. This included grabbing both zippered edges of the duffel and using a foot to sort of jam the large rug in enough for the zipper to maybe close. With the strength and weight of myself plus a 7yo, we got it done.
Except… the runner didn’t come close to fitting. I assumed I would be making an early morning outing to buy a small suitcase or a tote or something so I wouldn’t have to go through the airport wearing a runner as a shawl. The next morning, in less than an hour and for $37, I became the proud owner of a stylish leather duffel handmade in Marrakech. I stuffed that runner in, plus the 4 pairs of shoes from Fes and a kaftan we bought in Chefchaouen, and we were set to leave town. Two suitcases had become four and the nice people at Air Canada let us check them all without any additional charges. Success!!!
If I had it to do over again, I would pack less clothing and probably a smaller first aid arsenal. I would still take the medium suitcase and the carry-on. But I would bring two empty duffels for more capacity as we shopped. And hey, if you get carried away with shopping, since it is amazing and affordable in Morocco, you just buy another suitcase. People will understand. At least, I certainly will.
Ok. This is awesome info. And photos for context. And now I want to go to Morocco. Impressed with the packing.
Did you hand wash undies etc in hotel rooms. Or was there a washer somewhere along the way?
Thank you! Morocco is amazing! We stayed at Riad Les Trois Mages in Marrakech and when I asked the owner about laundry he told me to put it in a pile on the floor that morning and it would be taken care of same-day. We came back that evening to clean folded clothes and there was no charge for it. Later in the week we asked our riad in Fes to do some laundry. They charged a reasonable fee and it also came back same-day. That being said, I also washed a few (non-cotton) things in the sink one night:)
[…] To follow how these rugs traveled the country with us and how they made it back to the US, check out my next post. […]