32:20
- In today's episode, I finally arrive in Morocco after a five day journey across the Mediterranean Sea, marred by unexpected fire emergencies and delays. (speaking in foreign language) (Ewa speaks in foreign language) Of course, my first 48 hours in Africa don't exactly go according to plan either. I gotta admit it, I'm not feeling great. But we're here, and I've just gotten off the Mediterranean ferry and driven onto the African landmass.
Oh my god, we have finally left that damn ship! I am on Moroccan soil. And now, I suppose the next step is to go through passport control and customs. I just really hope that everything goes smoothly, because I have heard and read that Moroccan customs can be very strict and very thorough. I don't have anything illegal with me, so that's a start. But I don't know. This might take a few hours, you know? Someone told me yesterday that last time they were here, it took them five hours to get through customs, which is (huffs) a long time, so,
let's see how this goes. (ethnic acoustic music) Okay, we are approaching the customs check right now. (ethnic acoustic music) I was told to switch off my camera and turn into a bay. (Vilk barks) Okay. I was really getting ready for a grilling. And then. Okay, all done. We got through customs, and I am frankly shocked. Because I was really expecting a grilling. I was expecting questions about drones, about Vilk, about my plans.
Nothing. Not a single question. They just waved me through, and that was it. It took like 15 minutes. (laughs) Oh my god, I'm so, I'm just so excited. I'm exhausted and excited. Let's go to the beach. I think Vilk and I really need to go to the beach right now, and just sit on the sand for a little bit. (whoops) (squeals) We're in Africa! Vilk, we're in Africa! He's like, "I don't think I care." (laughs) Let's do this! (bright acoustic music) After months of prep, it feels so surreal to finally be on African soil.
Right now, it feels like I'm living some kind of daydream, and maybe that's because I didn't sleep much last night, but it's still a little surreal that this is the third continent that Vilk has been to, and the fourth for Odyssey. (bright acoustic music) This is ridiculously beautiful. What the heck? Where am I? (laughs) (speaks French) Well, I guess we got our first river crossing in Morocco. And this is day one. You know, it's kind of amazing how you arrive here and you're just immediately thrown into the culture. Right now, I'm just driving through these beautiful mountain villages on the coastline, and oh my gosh, it just feels like this is the real thing, you know?
There's not a tourist in sight, not a hotel in sight, just local life, that's it. So cool! (laughs) My strategy for finding spots to camp or rest isn't particularly refined. Perhaps as a full-time traveler, I should have come up with something more reliable. But my go-to method is to simply scan the satellite map of a region with my own eyes and fingertips until I find a place that seems cool. That strategy will get me into an unexpected pickle tomorrow, but we'll get to that. There's Odyssey in Africa. (squeals and laughs excitedly) And here we are in Africa.
Buddy! (ethnic music) Free. I'm just in awe, honestly. (ethnic music) You know, it's kind of crazy to think that it took so long to get here, like, basically almost five days. And that over there is Europe. You can see Europe on the horizon. I believe that's Gibraltar, Spain. Oh, so close yet so far. Lead the way, Vilk. Lead the way.
(ethnic acoustic music) Yes! (Vilk barks) Good boy. (ethnic acoustic music) There's a little tent here. What's inside, buddy? Kinda interesting. I wonder what this is used for. It's literally just a little tent perched on the shore here on the rocks, and inside there's a pillow, and another pillow, I think, of some sort. And that's it. And then if you go inside, this is the view. So I wonder if this is like, a fisherman's tent? Or like, an army tent, you know? Like a kind of lookout. I guess it could be either.
Nice. You wanna stay here for the night? That's a clear no. Okay, we don't have to stay here for the night. (ethnic acoustic music) Okay, that's it. Ready to go. Where do we go? Where do we go next? That's the big question. I am really starting to feel the after effects of that long ferry ride. Bye, beautiful beach! Bye Europe! (laughs excitedly) We're in Africa! (squeals) In truth, all I wanna do is to rest somewhere on solid ground with fresh air for a day before really embarking on my journey.
(uplifting acoustic music) Are you a good boy? Are you a little good boy? Yeah. A couple of first impressions in my first few hours on the road here in Morocco. So, number one, the roads are really nice. Very modern, smooth, lovely roads. I'm not gonna be spending too much time on asphalt during this trip, I hope, (chuckles) but it's good to know that, you know, there's a plan B out there. And then the other thing that I've noticed is that there's a lot of police presence and army presence on the roads here. It seems like almost every 15 to 20 minutes there is, you know, a police officer with a little, little speed gun just waiting to catch you and incriminate you, (laughs)
hoping that you're over the speed limit. And yeah, they're everywhere. So much. I mean, I don't think I'm in any immediate danger of being caught on a speed camera because, frankly, Odyssey's top speed is embarrassing. About a hundred kilometers an hour, 60 miles per hour. That's the top speed. I have not driven that fast in Morocco yet. (laughs) (uplifting acoustic music) See a little coffee car here. Cafe Mobile. Mobile Cafe. (Ewa speaks French)
Nice. Aw, look at that thick, thick goodness. Oh my gosh. Okay. (speaks foreign language) Yes! I have been needing this so badly all morning. Good boy. Oh. So, about 70 cents for this beautiful espresso. Oh my god! (laughs) That's a solid, very caffeinated kick. (gentle acoustic music) So there are three things that I need to get done today. Number one, I need to find water and fill up all of my water containers, because I have exactly zero water.
The second thing that I need to do is get some lunch, because I'm starving. And the third thing is find some kind of campsite for the night. That's the mission for today. I found a spot near the famous blue city of Chefchaouen. It's an organized campsite, and my plan is to stop there for a couple of hours, get water, reset, reorganize, and then set off again to find somewhere less organized to spend the night. I'm just about to arrive at a local campsite here. I'm not planning on staying here for the night, but they should have water. So I'm really hoping that I can just use the amenities without actually staying the night.
To be honest, I really dislike staying at campsites. It's kind of like staying in an outdoor hostel. Okay. So 65, yeah? - [Man] Mhmm. So you wanna stay night or you leaving? - I will probably leave in a couple of hours. (acoustic ethnic music) Okay, so I had to get an overnight stay in order to use the amenities here, but it's not very expensive. It cost me about five bucks. So we're gonna fill up on water, park the car, go for a walk, take a little break, and then come back and continue on to my campsite for the night, which is gonna be somewhere in the mountain.
The idea behind campsites is that you're in nature, but in fact, you're surrounded by people and campers. Not my idea of nature. But in the end, you know what? I'm grateful that they're there, because they can definitely come in handy on days like this. We have a little problem. So I was originally just gonna park here for a couple of hours, you know? Sit down for a moment, fill up my water, eat something, and then go up into the hills. But as it turns out, I just sat down and I almost fell asleep.
(laughs) I am just now realizing how exhausted I am. I got like three hours of sleep last night on the ferry. And so I'm thinking that maybe, maybe I should just stay here for the night. Maybe I should just set up camp and take it easy today, you know? Day one. I don't need to rush anywhere. And it would be nice to take a warm shower at some point today or tomorrow morning. Yeah. Change of plans. Oh man, this is exciting. I haven't done this in a while. (laughs) It's been months! (soft ambient music) Oh, yes.
(soft ambient music) Home sweet home. (soft ambient music) (soft ambient music continues) Okay, you guys. So, I gotta admit it, I'm not feeling great. I feel really, really woozy, quite weak, and my head is spinning. So really not awesome, so I'm really happy that I'm staying here for the night, not going anywhere else.
I'm just gonna walk into town to get some food from a restaurant that's about 10 minutes away from here. So it's quite close. I'm not bringing Vilk, because I'm certain that restaurants don't allow dogs inside in Morocco, and I want to just be able to quickly get some food and come back here. So, he'll be fine. He's inside Odyssey. He's taking a bit of a break as well. Oh my god. I am so excited about getting into bed tonight. (soft ambient music) There is this pretty little forest path that leads down to the city center, the Medina, as it's called here.
I thought I would see like, dogs and cats here, but look who I just met. Hello! (soft ambient music) Hi! Did you guys see that dog that was guarding his little flock of goats? Yeah, I'm really glad I didn't bring Vilk along, because I feel like that would've created a lot of conflict. Vilk is a pretty dominant dog, and I'm sure that dog is also protective of his herd, so I feel like that could have definitely escalated. So it was a good call not to bring Vilk along for this little walk. Oh wow. Look at those buildings! Oh, how beautiful! (soft ethnic music) I'm sure you've seen this town on Instagram.
Chefchaouen has become a super popular destination thanks to its striking blue architecture. There's a ton of different theories as to why this city has been painted blue. Some say it's to keep the buildings cool in the hot months. Others say it's to keep mosquitoes away, or to bring the town closer to God and the idea of heaven, or to mirror the Mediterranean sea. Maybe there's a grain of truth in each of these explanations. (soft ethnic music) It's really hard to like, convey just how blue this blue is.
It's so blue that you feel like you're inside a paint bucket. Or a painting. So intense! Okay. Thank you. (speaks foreign language) (soft ethnic music) Oh, Moroccan mint tea. This is exactly what I need right now. (soft ethnic music) Mm. So good. Bye! (speaks foreign language) Got myself some tagine, got some olives, got some bread, got some cheese. I'm so excited to get back to the truck, get back to Vilk, and just chill for the rest of the day. As beautiful as the city is, I am barely even able to hold up this conversation between you and I.
(laughs) Let alone, like, properly focus on exploring. You know, when you're traveling, you'll get days like this as well. Like, it's just part of the deal, especially if you've had a really long journey to get here. (soft acoustic music) Oh yeah, I forgot that I have to go up the hill on the way back. (soft acoustic music)
Hey buddy! Hi! Finally back. Hey buddy! Hi! (chuckles) Okay, here we've got our quick snack. Got some olives, some goats cheese with herbs, and some cheeky prawns. Oh, and of course, that delicious Moroccan bread. (soft acoustic music) You want a little bit of cheese? (laughs) Good boy. I have no idea where the day went. I came back with food, had a little walk with Vilk, planned my route for tomorrow, and all of a sudden it's 8:00 PM and I'm about to fall asleep.
The wolf is already there. He's so exhausted. Bless him. And I'm about to climb up to my bedroom. If you are new to this channel, then you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but I'll show you. And if you know what I'm talking about, then welcome back to the channel. You know, I should definitely do like, a full tour of this truck. Oh! At some point, and I will, for sure. But for now, I'll just show you this. This is my bed! It's kinda like a separate little floor. So Vilk sleeps here in his little nook, and then I sleep up here, and it's amazing.
Check me out. I got a sheepskin blanket on top of my duvet. This is like, real luxury. So I'm gonna switch the main light off, just leave the fairy lights on. So I still need to do a bit of work. I'm actually uploading the files for this series right now as we speak, because we're editing it pretty much as we go. So my editor and I are working together on making sure that we can publish these episodes for you as soon as humanly possible. I'm kind of struggling to believe that just this morning I got off the ferry from Europe and arrived in Africa. Today has felt like the longest day I've had in a very long time. So much has happened.
I am drained and exhausted. I just finished up a little bit of work, and now I'm definitely ready to go to bed. I think for tomorrow, I wanna make sure that I find a really good wild campsite, somewhere really remote, where I can't hear noise and traffic in the background, you know? I really wanna start getting out there and being more self-sufficient. So that's the plan for tomorrow. But in the meantime, let's get some sleep. (soft acoustic music) Ooh. Goodnight, buddy. Good night, you guys. Good morning! So I left the campsite and Chefchaouen a couple of hours ago, and I have since gone into these beautiful green hills of Morocco where there's a ton of olive oil refineries.
Like, look at this one. See, look at that! That's, those are all olives! Those little mounds of little black things? Olives everywhere. So I kind of wanna see if I can stop at one of these and grab myself some beautiful fresh olives. Oh, here we go. That place looks really good. (soft acoustic music) (speaks French) (speaking French) I didn't know that I would be getting an entire, this is like a three liter bottle of olives. This is the most olives I've ever bought in my entire life.
Probably put together. (chuckles) Okay. (speaks foreign language) This? Wow, okay. (speaks foreign language) This cost me five bucks! Look at the size of this. (laughs) It's crazy. What am I gonna do with all these olives? Vilk! What are we gonna do with all these olives? (speaks French) (laughs) (speaks French) (soft acoustic music) Sheesh, I didn't think I'd be getting a lifetime supply of olives.
(laughs) I just wanted like, a little bag, but I don't think, I don't think he understood what I wanted. Or maybe he just didn't sell them in little bags. Maybe all he sold was these giant containers of olives. Vilk, I think he wanted you in exchange. Yeah, I think he said that he would take you in exchange for the olives. You wanted to stay there in Morocco? In the mountains? Yeah? Don't worry, I wouldn't give you away. No, I wouldn't give you away.
(lively acoustic music) Honestly, driving through these northern parts of Morocco feels a little bit like driving through Tuscany, 'cause we've got these beautiful, green, rolling hills, all the olive trees everywhere. It's absolutely gorgeous. (bright acoustic music) All right, this is looking better and better. We've just reached the end of the asphalt road. So now this is just a dirt track, leading deeper and deeper into these fields and olive groves. And I'm really hoping that the spot I found on Google Maps last night,
just by scrubbing through the satellite maps, that it's, that it's a good spot, that it's quiet, and nobody lives there. And that I can spend the night there. I have no idea what it looks like. The problem with my method of finding wild campsites, ie, by looking through Google Maps, satellite maps, is that sometimes it's pretty risky and you just have no idea if the place that you found is any good. It can be really hard to tell. Sometimes you find real hidden gems, and sometimes it's just like, "Oh, oops. Well, I better backtrack and find something else, 'cause this ain't gonna work." So I'm curious to see which category this one belongs in.
(soft steelpan music) (Vilk yelps) It's telling me that this is my turn. Oop! That ain't gonna happen. (speaks foreign language) (man speaks Arabic) Ah, okay. (man speaks Arabic) (Ewa responds) Alright. I think this older gentleman has just invited me to camp over on his property. Which is very sweet. So that's what we're gonna do. So it turned out that the spot I'd found on Google Maps was private property. Just as I was about to turn and look for something else, an elderly man approached me and explained that I could come on his land if I wanted to. So I said, great!
Muhammad offered me some oranges and took Vilk and I for a big walk around his olive grove. Gosh, this is so beautiful. Look at this amazing landscape. This is Morocco! (speaks foreign language) What a place. (both speak foreign language) (both laugh) He's very cheeky. (laughs) And then, eventually, he led me up over the hill where we ended up in his family's house. Stay! (men chatter) (Ewa laughs) We had no idea what to do with Vilk. They said it's okay for me to go inside the house with him, but I know that it's a little bit culturally inappropriate, so I thought I'll just tie him up there for a minute.
Oh, okay. (Ewa speaks foreign language) So these guys have literally just brought out a feast. Oh my god! Wow! (speaks foreign language) That's incredible. (Ewa speaks foreign language) (man speaks foreign language) I have no idea what we're eating, but this is delicious. (speaking foreign language) Well, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia. But I'll let it slide this time. (soft acoustic music) (Ewa laughs) Real Moroccan tea.
(speaks foreign language) So delicious. (speaks foreign language) So we're just on our way back from Muhammad's family's place to the truck. I honestly never dreamt that today would pan out like, like it did. I never expected this in a million years. I thought I would just be alone somewhere in the mountains, but this is why I travel solo, is because things like this happen. And honestly, my heart feels so full. I'm so happy that I got to meet Muhammad's family. (laughs) What a trip. (speaks foreign language) What a life.
(soft acoustic music) Okay, I'm finally back in the truck, and I'm ready to go to bed. It's already dark outside. It's not very late, but I am exhausted. It's been a mad day. And everything is great, except I don't wanna ask Muhammad to use his bathroom. Besides, I'm not sure if he has one, and probably not. And I don't wanna pee out in the public on his field. So that's where a pee bottle comes in really handy. So, gimme a couple minutes. I'll be right back. I am beyond excited about everything that's happened so far.
It's been so wild. The first 48 hours, less than 48 hours in Africa, in Morocco, have been such a whirlwind that I feel like I've been here for two months already. I'm like, how did all this happen in such a short space of time? And yeah. God. What a gift it is to be solo traveling and meeting all these amazing people, being able to stop by the side of a road for a coffee or to get three kilograms of olives. (laughs) It has been so much fun so far, and I just know that this expedition is going to be wild. And in the next episode, I continue to struggle to find my perfect wild campsite.
I find snow in the desert, nearly get myself into car trouble, and start my deep dive into solitude. (soft ethnic flute music)
