The Wi-Fi-FreeSpot Directory is a listing of locations that offer Free Wi-Fi. It lists State-by-State US sites as well as international locations.

wififreespot.com

Malaysian low cost airline Air Asia have announced flights from Kuala Lumpur to London Stansted will commence in March 2009. This means that there is now a low cost airline that operates the full length of the Kangaroo Route (UK to Australia).



Fares from Australia to London are on sale from AUD 260.

airasia.com

Blunity is a social networking site where you can communicate with and meet people who travel with Air France and KLM. A similar concept to a website I have featured previously, Flight Club.

bluenity.com

Medical tourism is all the rage these days. I have friends in England who swear by their dentists in Hungary and Poland. Why go to Eastern Europe though when you can go to Northern Africa.



This dentist at Djemaa el-Fna, the market square in Marrakech, will repair your dentures on the spot. You can mix and match from hundreds of teeth of all shapes and sizes.

Morocco is a great budget travel destination if you have just come from Europe. The hotels at the cheap end of the scale tend to be old places with ecclectic flair. I have found that the best places to stay are either in the Ville Nouvelle (the "new" town areas that were built by the French) or on the edge of the Medina's. The cheapest budget hotels are often in the Medina's, but I found it is not worth the hassle of carting your bags in those areas and trying to find your way around the narrow streets.

In Marrakech I split my time between the new and old areas. In the old area I found a hotel on a main street near the Medina, the Hotel de Foucauld. This room was 220 Dirham ($25 US).



It is your typical budget hotel with lots of beautiful tile work throughout the hotel, and unusual room layouts.



My room had an ensuite bathroom that is so high up you could call it a mezzanine bathroom.

Djemaa el-Fna in Marrakech is famous for its orange juice stands. Here you can get a freshly squeezed juice for 3 Dirham (35 cents US).



Buying a juice should be a simple procedure that doesn't need instructions, but here are some tips to be aware of.

Some of the juice guys pre squeeze the juice and add water and sugar. Adding sugar to OJ ruins the taste for me, and I am not alone in the quest for 100% Orange Juice.

Also some of the stalls will try and upsell you to a blood orange. Some of the stalls have the price clearly marked, but others don't. A guy in front of me got super-sized to a blood orange and was caught out when his 3 Dirhams didn't cover the 15 Dirham drink.

Djemaa el-Fna is the main square of the Marrakech Medina and the most famous market place in all of Morocco.



It is here that you will find snake charmers, dancers and musicians, potions and bush remedies and carnival type side shows - anything from miniature golf to boxing.



I thought much it was all put on for tourists, but many of the attractions are attended only by Moroccans.



If you look and linger just a fraction too long (say about one second) at any attraction, the man man will suck you into his sideshow then try and extract an extortionate amount of Dirhams out of you. Don't even think of trying to take a picture withiut paying for it.

Mint Tea is the drink they drink around here in Morocco. You'll see people drinking in cafes, and traders will often offer you a free cup when you are shopping in the markets.



I tried it and I must say it wasn't my cup of tea, so to speak. To me the taste of mint will forever be associated with mint sauce which is used on roast lamb, so I was always expecting dinner to arrive whenever I drank it.

I'm sure it must be a refreshing drink in the summer, and I like it as a complimentary beverage, but I felt I wasted good coffee money when I bought this mint tea.

The Marrakech souq (market place) is within the Medina (walled city) and it is useless to use a map once you are inside. This is half the fun of course. You will get lost, go round in circles and when you find an exit it will probably be no where near where you thought you were. The best thing to do is to wander and enjoy.

Sacred sites lists the world's sacred sites and pilgrimage places from every region and religion. Includes photos, maps and explanations of the sacred places.

sacredsites.com

The Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca is claimed to be the biggest mosque in the world, but that depends on what you are measuring. It wins in height at least. It is the tallest religious structure in the world, with its minaret reaching 210 metres (689 ft).

It may come as a surprise to fliers in the west that Iraqi Airways is still open for business. Actually it might come as a surprise that there ever was a national carrier in the first place.



I saw this office in Casablanca so I naturally had to look up where they fly to. They only fly within the Arab world at the moment, such as to Casablanca, but according to the Iraqi Airways UK site, they will fly to London. The site was last updated in 2006, so don't book your Baghdad holiday yet.

Casablanca, the film, is often listed as one of the greatest films of all time. Casablanca, the city, doesn't make such lists for cities.



If you are here and feel the need to pay homage somehow then you could go to Ricks Cafe, at the northern end of the Medina.



There is also a bar called Casablanca Mechoui on Rue Ghali Ahmed.

Casablanca is the biggest city in Morocco weighing in with 3.8 million people. It is the commercial capital of the country so it is more of an everyday functional city. It certainly isn't what your minds eye would conjure up of Casablanca, given the romanticism associated from that movie.

There are many classic old buildings in the city core from the time of the French Protectorate. Hopefully they are restored before they crumble to the ground or demolished.





Some of these buildings are in need of restoration, and some are almost in ruins, like the once glorius Hotel Lincoln, which is covered in scaffolding awaiting a saviour.

Rabat is getting a tramway, which will make it one of the few operating tramways in Africa.

...Rabat. Like Brasilia in Brazil and Canberra in Australia, Rabat is probably not every ones first guess for the capital of Morocco. The city is a mix of tidy administrative buildings as well as a Medina (old city) and a Kasbah (old fort).







Also impressive is the minaret and pillars of Le Tour Hassan. This mosque was destroyed by an earthquake in 1755.

My first coffee on the African Continent. Cafe Au Lait in Tangier. A shot of espresso and hot milk poured on the spot. Costs 6 Dirham (70c US).

I spent the night in Tangier, which not many visitors seem to do. There was definitely a distinct lack of tourism here. Most visitors skip Tangier and head to the train station for the Marrakech Express.



Tangier certainly has a reputation that precedes itself so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I knew the touts at the port gates were legendary so I was braced for an onslaught when I stepped off the ferry.

I was surprised then that I wasn't hassled once. I was staying in a pension about 15 minutes walk away and I only got one taxi offer in that whole time. It seems the city really has cleaned up the tout situation.

I stayed at a Pension called the Hotel Biarritz. A room with a bathroom costs 150 Dirham (about $18 US)


You usually can't book these sort of places online, so you have to wing it when you arrive and hope there are rooms available when you get there. I love these old places with the tiling and decor that looks like it hasn't changed since the 40's.

The Strait of Gibraltar separates Spain from Morocco, Europe from Africa. At its narrowest point it is only 13 km (8 miles). There are bridges and tunnels longer than that, so it only a matter of time before the two continents are joined by road.

I travelled to Morocco from London from which there are many low cost airline flights. I wanted to arrive in Morocco via the classic ferry to Tangier so I opted for a flight to the South of Spain instead. There are numerous airports in Andalucia that you could possibly fly to from London. I chose Gibraltar because not only do you get a great view of the rock when you fly in, non EU residents get a cool passport stamp as well.



I have visited Gibraltar before so I walked across the border to La Linea and got the bus to Tarifa.

To get to Tangier from Spain there are ferries from Algeciras and Tarifa. There is supposedely one from Gibraltar that leaves once a week (you wouldn't want to miss that connection), but the ferry website doesn't offer any further information.

Algeciras has the most amount of ferries operating, but Tarifa is more interesting for the traveller. It takes about 2 hours to get to Tarifa from Gibraltar, via 2 local buses.

Tarifa is the at the Southern tip of Spain in the Straight of Gibraltar, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean. It is the windsurfing capital of Spain due the regular windy days. The town itself has a walled old town with a castle and picturesque whitewashed houses, and the town is filled with surf shops.



I spent the night in Tarifa and it was hard to leave Spain so soon. I reasoned that one day in Spain is better than no day in Spain.

Tarifa to Tangier Ferry

The ferry from Tarifa to Tangier is run by FRS and takes just under one hour.



Spanish passport control is in the ferry terminal and there is a Moroccan passport control onboard, which is a good time saving idea.



As it is only a short trip there is not much in the way of onboard facilities other than a food store and duty free shop.





Made in Australia

I couldn't help but feel a bit of pride in knowing I was on a ship made in Australia. Here I was on a ship made in Australia, registered in Cyprus, sailing between spain and Morocco.





From Europe to Africa

Sailing out of the port in Tarifa Jesus greets ships coming and going.



Arriving at the Tangier port you are greeted with a Mosque minaret.



Welcome to Africa!

Flight: easyJet EZY8901
Date: 13 Nov 2008
From: London Gatwick (LGW)
Date: Gibraltar (GIB)

In October 2007 easyJet bought fellow UK carrier GB Airways. Most of the flights operated by GB Airways have since been integrated into the easyjet network. The acquisition meant that easyJet now has rights to fly to Gibraltar.

I am travelling to Morocco and I want to arrive via ferry so I thought this was a good opportunity to fly to the legendary airport at Gibraltar.

Out of the 5 London airports, I probably like Gatwick the least because it is so expensive to get to. My flight ticket cost me £37 and the train to Gatwick costs £10.

The flight left at 7.30 and checking in with easyJet at Gatwick is relatively painless. They have so many flights out of Gatwick that they have a general check in line and you can check in earlier if you get there before 2 hours.



As this flight was over 2 hours long they showed a movie (Hancock) on the shared screens. It was free providing you brought your own headsets, otherwise you would have had to have bought a pair.



Gibraltar is an UK Overseas Territory at the bottom of Spain, and on a clear day you can see Africa. It is a tiny little peninsula of land not big enough for a runway, so it extends out over the water.



If you are flying to Gibraltar you will get a great view of the famous Rock if you are sitting on the left hand side of the plane.



The runway cuts across a road which is shut down when flight activity is taking place. When you leave the airport the frontier to Spain is next door to the right, so you can walk to the town of La Linea across the border.

Banksy pieces can be found all over London so if you want to do a tour of his work you will need a travel pass and an up to date map on where the pieces are.

I used a Banksy Locations Map put together by Art Of The State. They pin the works on google maps and are quick to mark any that have been removed.

The World Travel Market is a four-day travel industry event held in London every year in November. Here tourist boards and buyers and sellers from every sector of the industry meet under the one roof. Here are some photos of day 2.


Melburnian Danni Minogue at the Etihad stand promoting the new Abu Dhabi - Melbourne service commencing in March 2009.


The Kenyan Tourist Board have wasted no time in promoting the Obama/Kenya connection.






I have always thought that Persia sounds better than Iran. So too does the Iranian Tourist Board. Persia or Iran?

OurExplorer allows you to book user rated professional tour guides from all over the world. If you know your home town well and have a passion for sharing it with visitors then you can register to be a tour guide as well.

ourexplorer.com