Day 193 - Planning the Next Adventure and Catching Moroccan Waves

Our day started much like many of our recent mornings in Sidi Kaouki, with coffee in hand and a slow start to the day.

Breakfast has become a bit of a challenge lately. After months on the road, we’re finding ourselves in that familiar traveller’s dilemma where the foods you’ve been eating every day start to lose their appeal. The kids were happy with muesli, bread, honey and jam, while Kia and I mostly picked at a few things without much enthusiasm. We seem to be in that awkward space between wanting something different and not quite knowing what that is.

With no major plans for the morning, Kia and I settled into what has become our latest project: working out the next stage of our journey.

Travel planning sounds exciting when you say it out loud, but anyone who’s travelled long-term knows how much time it can consume. Flights, accommodation, visa requirements, budgets, transport options and trying to find places that suit all four of us can easily fill an entire day. We spent hours researching London, looking at accommodation options and mapping out where we might head afterwards.

By the time we’d made some progress, it was already lunchtime.

We headed to our favourite local restaurant and enjoyed another relaxed meal. As usual, we ordered more food than we probably needed. The portions are incredibly generous, and every time we think we’ve worked out the menu, another plate seems to appear on the table.

The kids enjoyed traditional Moroccan mint tea while I treated myself to a beer. When the bill arrived, we discovered that the tea had been charged separately and was more expensive than we’d expected. It gave us a laugh afterwards and became one of those little travel moments that ends up becoming part of the story.

One funny surprise during lunch was spotting a familiar face. On my birthday, we’d spent a long time chatting with a local man who had approached us and struck up a conversation about life, travel and Australia. To our surprise, he was now working at the restaurant. It’s one of the things we love about small communities, you keep crossing paths with the same people, and places start to feel familiar surprisingly quickly.

After lunch, we returned to our accommodation and continued researching our next destination. The kids, however, had something much more exciting on their minds.

The surf.

I’d promised them that we’d head down to the beach later in the afternoon if the conditions looked good, and by about four o’clock they were more than ready.

Kia decided to stay behind. The wind was still blowing strongly, and with no plans to swim, she was happy to enjoy some quiet time instead.

The kids and I grabbed bodyboards and headed for the beach.

It turned out to be one of the highlights of the day.

The ocean was clean and glassy despite the wind, with none of the chop that often makes bodyboarding difficult. Wave after wave rolled through, giving the kids plenty of opportunities to catch some great rides.

There was lots of laughing, plenty of cheering and a few spectacular wipeouts along the way.

Watching Maddie and Emmett gain confidence in the surf has been one of the great joys of this trip. They threw themselves into the waves without hesitation and managed to catch some of the biggest rides they’ve had since arriving in Morocco.

For a couple of hours, all thoughts of flights, accommodation bookings and future plans disappeared.

It was exactly what we needed.

Back at the accommodation, Kia and the kids made a quick trip to the local shop and returned with fresh bread rolls and msemen for dinner. None of us were particularly hungry after our large lunch, so we kept things simple with avocado rolls, bread and jam.

As the evening wound down, I spent a little more time working on something that’s become increasingly important to me lately, writing.

While many of my other projects have taken a back seat during this period of constant planning and decision-making, I’ve continued putting time into the memoir stories I’ve been working on. It’s been a creative outlet and a way of capturing memories before they disappear into the blur of long-term travel.

Looking back on the day, there wasn’t anything particularly dramatic or extraordinary about it.

It was simply a day spent preparing for the next chapter of our adventure while making time to enjoy where we are right now.

And while Morocco has given us some incredible experiences, we’re all feeling ready for a change of scenery. Sometimes that’s part of long-term travel too. A place can be wonderful, yet still leave you excited for whatever comes next.

For now, though, we’re grateful for another day of ocean waves, family laughs and the freedom to keep exploring.