My Fiancee and I are meeting up in morocco

[khengool 0]

The hotel situation is a little tricky...

When we were not married, my husband and I didn't even try to stay in a hotel together. We rented apartments from people--they usually do not check any identification. My husband would negotiate with people in the streets--we'd go see the place and they would agree on a price. We stayed in some wonderful apartments at a much better price than most hotels. It might be hard to do this well if you don't speak Moroccan Arabic (French or English will work with some people, but I'd bet prices would be higher).

Later, even though we were married, my husband and I have had a hard time staying in some hotels together in Morocco! The problem was that we were not carrying our marriage certificate with us (for some crazy reason my husband chose to leave it with his mom for safekeeping while we were traveling). Eventually we would find a place, but it took some time!

I've heard that expensive hotels that cater mostly to foreigners are less likely to care if you are married or not.

I just asked my husband--he said that if your fiance/wife has a Iranian passport, hotels will be strict about the marriage issue.

My suggestion: get the marriage certificate translated if it's not written in Arabic or French. I think you would be considered married in Morocco (oh yeah--you should call her your WIFE, not fiance, and carry your marriage certificate to avoid any troubles with the police).

It's a wonderful country to travel to!

Bon voyage!

Carolyn

P.S. Did your wife have any problems getting a visa to Morocco?

Thank you so much for the information, Carolyn.

The people she spoke to at the Moroccan Embassy said she just needed to show a round trip ticket to Morocco as well as her hotel itinerary.

From what you've said, the hotels are pretty strict, and unfortunately, I don't know how to deal with it. Getting two rooms is not a problem, but what you mentioned about traveling together and carrying the marriage certificate to appease local police is not something we'd like to deal with, as we already deal with that sort of thing in our home country. what happens if they don't agree with the translation or they say it's not valid? that's too much of a headache for us to deal with, and being that we look fairly young, we're easy targets.

I'll have to speak to her about all of this and I will call the hotels myself and see if reserving the hotel in both of our names ahead of time will make any difference as far as harassment upon check-in is concerned. we might have to put off morocco until we are legally married in both the US and Iran just to avoid any headaches...

[Carolyn 1]

Oh, I would really hate to have you not go to Morocco because of potential problems that may not even occur!

I don't know if MOST hotels are strict--it sounds like several people on here have had no issues with them. Our experience could be very different from yours as my husband is Moroccan, not a foreigner. I would call hotels and ask...

And as far as problems with police--I know that they sometimes check foreign women with Moroccan looking men because they want to make sure that tourists are not being harassed by the locals. I have read many books about modern Iran, and it sounds NOTHING like the possible issues there! Morocco feels very relaxed, enjoyable and safe to me.

Congrats on your engagement/marriage and good luck with your upcoming travels! By the way, are you both Persian? I have an Iranian-American friend who has lived in the US since she was two and has told me fascinating stories about traveling home to visit family.

Carolyn

[sarah and hicham 3]

We had the hotel problem in Casa at several hotels. We were always told we had to get two rooms. Usually they would give us some kind of deal for 2 rooms but it was still more expensive than one room. In Casa I would highly reccomend the hotel "Ibis". For one thing it is at the Casa Voyageur train stop which is on the way from the airport and secondly they have great rooms for a good price and don't care if you're married or not. They also have a good breakfast in the morning. You should book soon though because it's usually full from my experience.

[khengool 0]

Oh, I would really hate to have you not go to Morocco because of potential problems that may not even occur!

I don't know if MOST hotels are strict--it sounds like several people on here have had no issues with them. Our experience could be very different from yours as my husband is Moroccan, not a foreigner. I would call hotels and ask...

And as far as problems with police--I know that they sometimes check foreign women with Moroccan looking men because they want to make sure that tourists are not being harassed by the locals. I have read many books about modern Iran, and it sounds NOTHING like the possible issues there! Morocco feels very relaxed, enjoyable and safe to me.

Congrats on your engagement/marriage and good luck with your upcoming travels! By the way, are you both Persian? I have an Iranian-American friend who has lived in the US since she was two and has told me fascinating stories about traveling home to visit family.

Carolyn

Hi Carolyn,

I have not given up on morocco, but I will definitely check ahead of time to see if the hotel arrangements will be an issue.

We are both Iranian.

I was born and raised in the united states, but I don't look Iranian at all. When I'm in Iran, i get people yelling at me from cars saying "hey mister, why bush is so bad?" to which, i respond, in perfect farsi: man behesh rai nadaadam! (I didn't vote for him!)

She has much darker skin and hair than i do. If anything, they'd think she's local and I'm a tourist.

I love visiting Iran, and I do so about once a year. My fiancee also lived outside of iran for most of her life. neither of us has a non-western accent when speaking English.

we spent the month of july in iran together, holding hands when walking in the street, driving from place to place at all hours of the day and night, and never were bothered by the police, but it was always something that worried us. it just takes one crooked cop to mess everything up, you know?

[upstategal 0]

Have a wonderful trip!

[maggieNomar 0]

One problem you may encounter at most hotels is that they will ask you for your marriage certificate to share the room. We had to pay for two rooms in Marrakesh and we slept separately because the inspectors may come in the middle of the night.... This "anti prostitution law" is mostly enforced when one in the couple is moroccan. If both are foreigners, they may be less strict. Anybody had the same experience?

Interesting. We stayed at two separate hotels in Morocco (one in Tangier and one in Marrakech) and were never asked for a marriage certificate in order to share a room. It must depend where you are.

The first hotel we stayed in, I think it was the mystic, required 2 rooms. The 2nd one on my way out of town, was the Wyndamm and they did not require two rooms. I thought it was due to their more conservative way of life that they required the two rooms. So when we travel back this winter, will we need to take our marriage certificate for the places in which we need a hotel?

[mybackpages 0]

Its not the hotel usually, unles it is run by an islamist..its abou the law..the police do random checks in the hotel looking t the registry. The hotel employees do not want trouble so they demand two rooms..with foreigners there is not a problems , both of these people are traveling with foreign passports.

The places where you wil have trouble are the places where the tourists are likely to be and if a moroccan is involved.

Edited September 24, 2007 by mybackpages

[morocco4ever 63]

One problem you may encounter at most hotels is that they will ask you for your marriage certificate to share the room. We had to pay for two rooms in Marrakesh and we slept separately because the inspectors may come in the middle of the night.... This "anti prostitution law" is mostly enforced when one in the couple is moroccan. If both are foreigners, they may be less strict. Anybody had the same experience?

On one of my trips there we traveled to Saidia. We didn't have too much trouble as far as our marriage, but my drivers license clearly shows that mine and his last names are the same. Saidia is a tourist city, so they understood that it is common in the U.S. for the wife to take on the husbands last name. The one thing I did have a problem with is that I had left my passport at his house. It never struck me to think I would need it. It took some time, but my husband was finally able to contact home and have them get the number. They accepted that.

I really enjoyed going to Volubus in Meknes. In Rabat they had Chella, and that was great. If you like history at all Morocco is filled with it. I know there is so much more I still want to see.

[SimoFati 0]

One problem you may encounter at most hotels is that they will ask you for your marriage certificate to share the room. We had to pay for two rooms in Marrakesh and we slept separately because the inspectors may come in the middle of the night.... This "anti prostitution law" is mostly enforced when one in the couple is moroccan. If both are foreigners, they may be less strict. Anybody had the same experience?

that applies only to moroccans (morccan ID or passport) otherways they should be alright since niether one of them will carry moroccan identifications.

best of luck

have a nice trip

[khengool 0]

these were taken in Casablanca:

these were taken in marrakech:

Edited November 10, 2007 by khengool

[khengool 0]

these were taken in Essaouira (OUR FAVORITE CITY IN ALL OF AL MAGHREB):

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Khengool - Your pics are absolutely beautiful ! Looks like you enjoyed a fantastic time in Morocco... thanks for sharing these !

-MK

[mybackpages 0]

Thanks for sharing these. Glad to hear you had a wonderful time in Morocco.

[patiently_waiting 0]

Whenever I would go to see my husband, we never stayed in Casa. I would get there and we would go to Rabat. Marakesh was my favorite. So much to see and there is a beautiful garden there that is so peaceful. We always stayed at an Ibis hotel bc it was right next to the train station, it was proced right and we were never asked for a marriage certificate. I don't think there is much to Casa other than the mosque. There were a few times when the taxi driver didnt put the meter on and my husband did pay more then. Hope you enjoy your trip.

[doodlebug 3]

Those pictures are amazing! That cat looks so cozy and I love the one of the wet bumpy sand!