THERE'S something surreal about stepping down, bleary-eyed, from a 4x4 jeep at five in the morning to see flocks of people standing in the Moroccan desert drinking tea. Stranger still is the knowledge that, within ten minutes, you will be floating 800 metres above the desert tea station, watching the red sun break over the horizon from a hot air balloon. It’s not an experience I had ever planned for, and yet when the opportunity came my way, I knew it would have been beyond foolish to turn it down, my fear of heights be damned.
It was just one of the truly eye-opening experiences I was lucky enough to have on my first press trip, which brought me to Club Med in Marrakesh, Morocco . Tired and a bit bewildered, I landed in the Marrakesh airport along with the other journalists at 11.30am, and we were fast tracked to baggage claim and out to the car park.
The first thing I noticed was the heat – I had braced myself for the stifling, close heat that sits on your shoulders and clings to your body, but it never came. Marrakesh in May is a light, warm place with a blue sky, beaming sun, and a gentle breeze that I’m not sure I could have done without. But the main attraction was not the weather – in truth, it wasn’t Marrakesh itself, either.
It was Club Med, the sprawling, palace-like resort twenty minutes from the airport. I was given a room in the family Oasis and had just enough time to admire the bright blue Moroccan décor before changing into dress-code appropriate e.
