We spent about three weeks in Taghazout and stayed in a private room at a surf hostel during our time there. It worked out perfectly because our private room was in a separate apartment unit so it was very quiet and peaceful but we could always go to the hostel to be social and hang out with friends. We met travelers from all over the world, mainly Europeans escaping winter but also many Aussies. At the surf hostel, they would have a big barbecue with fresh fish every Saturday and would have a couscous meal each Friday. There was a turtle named Tagine that lived on the rooftop patio, he was a major hit for all the people that were saying at the hostel especially the little kids of families that were staying there. When we would hang out on the hostel rooftop during the afternoons, we would play backgammon, chess, cards, or just talk and get to know the other travelers were staying there.

It was refreshing to stay in one spot for a chunk of time so we could get to know the village and honestly, not think about daily logistics. We found our favorite breakfast spot, favorite place for dessert, and favorite surf shop; it was a blast to have our go-tos. We loved the Teapot cafe; they had incredible avocado toast with poached eggs on top, delicious American pancakes, fresh smoothie bowls, and yummy coffee. A typical Moroccan breakfast consists of a fried egg omelette, bread, honey, amlou (sweet peanut or almond butter), orange juice, and tea. We would occasionally get this for breakfast, but gosh, I’m a sucker for avocado toast (basic, I know) so I loved Teapot for that reason. My favorite avo toast had mushrooms on it, phew- so tasty. Our favorite spot for dessert was a spot right on the water so the ambiance was so peaceful and stunning. The dessert was a chocolate molten lava cake that would melt in your mouth served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We would make these back in Denver together so it was a little taste of home and the first few months of marriage living together. :)

Surfing was a very exciting yet a humbling time. This was my 3rd time surfing but I improved quite a bit and graduated to a hard board midway through our trip. The hard board actually felt more natural and was more fun than the foam board. Austin was an excellent teacher and we would catch a lot of “party waves” together. We mainly surfed at Hash Point and Panoramas which are two spots that were a 5 minute walk from our hostel.

Since we didn’t have to plan daily logistics, we were able to free up some space in our mind where we could focus on planning the next chunk of the trip. More planning, sounds stressful, right? This planning is much more fun than our typical daily planning of “where to find dinner, where to do laundry, where to sleep, etc.”. This planning was researching all of the possibilities of places to explore and things to do! I did a lot of research on Morocco and exactly what we wanted to see / do in the next month and Austin headed up research on Tunisia and Sicily. Austin also spent time planning our credit card benefits so we can use those points/benefits for special occasions in a hotel or potentially using the points for a flight.

In our surf hostel, we met four Aussie friends that had just graduated high school a year ago who were doing a gap year before university. They worked in Copenhagen for a few months during summer and then have been traveling and exploring the past few months. Their last month abroad was in Morocco surfing since they all love to surf! Taking a gap year like that was a new idea for me since that would be very uncommon in the United States. I definitely see how it could be extremely valuable and you could learn a lot about the world and yourself but it could also be very challenging too because travel is never easy nor flawless, haha.

Overall, it was an amazing break from the travel trip but both of us are excited to keep trekking along around the world! We will start to head east in a couple of months too; I feel like our time in Europe and Morocco has been mainly north and south travel but I wouldn’t change our route at all, we have explored some epic places. :)