Arrival in Morocco

Mark and I decided that as we had singularly failed to organise ourselves a snowbarding holiday this year it seemed like a good plan to have a recce trip to somewhere we had never visited to try and generate some more contacts for Adventure Medical, as well as get us away from the humdrum of everyday life in the UK.
For various reasons achieving a good work / life balance has seemed a challenge so far in 2010 and we both needed an opportunity to mentally and physically regroup. It is amazing how quickly you can get drawn into an unhealthy routine with not enough time to sleep, eat or even simply...be. In recent months too many meals have been taken on the run, in the car or at our desks and the quality of sleep is eroded by time pressures and the teeth grinding ubiquity of stresses, real and imagined. Although we are exponents of pragmatic healthcare at the point of need, we also have a holistic approach to wellbeing in its wider sense, Mark has skills in massage and acupuncture as well as the most indepth ability to manage healthcare emergencies at all extremes. Central to our approach with Adventure Medical is the need to provide holistic health and wellbeing advice in all settings. Anyway in a bid to achieve greater balance we decided a week away was required....it needed to be relaxed, warm and within an easy proximity of the UK.....so here we are in Morocco!
We decided that a week in Marrakech would probably be slightly too manic so we opted to travel down to Essaouira on the Atlantic coast, drawn by the promise of a picturesque medina, varied activites and a reasonable travel time from Marrakech airport with its cheap budget flights from the UK.
A few nights browsing hotel options on the internet turned up the beautiful Villa Daba on the outskirts of Essaouira, complete with swimming pool and a variety of sunny and shaded spots to enjoy a book in peace.
We arranged to have a driver recommended by Villa Daba meet us at the airport, the flight from Luton left at 6am so we knew that we would be tired and jaded before we made it to Essaouira if we had to navigate the coaches and taxi's from the airport.

It was a lovely journey down, the comfort of having a six seater car to ourselves meant that we could enjoy the journey and watch as the scenery changed outside. Omar pointed out olive, orange and argan groves as we passed them. We spotted Berber tents and goats tethered in trees, as the route deviated between new tarmac and rough rocky patches where it is being upgraded. Three hours later we arrived at the blue gates of Villa Daba, our home for the next few days.