School Trip to Morocco

I wouldn’t be happy with that.

I’ve been and travelled a lot. Even DP picked up on the vibe and said we won’t return.

My kids’s secondary school has just asked us to pay £2500 for 10 days in Morocco in October 2024. Two kids = 5 grand! That’s excluding any spending money, special rucksacks, vaccines etc and the stay will be only in hostels or even some huts. A great idea but quite scary (ie. no mobile phones allowed) and sooooooo expensive. It breaks my heart not to let them as this is the first and probably the last time they would go to any school trip abroad as their school is normally useless with offering any trips at all and they will finish their schooling on that sad note that they can’t go to any school trip.

Agreeing strongly with the posters who have lived in the region and speak some Arabic. Have also lived and worked in the region and speak some Arabic. Harassment can be considerable and I noticed a significant increase since around 2011. Social media has not helped and there are disturbing clips shared (I know this happens everywhere, but the volume and content is particularly bad). If you do speak basic Arabic and so understand what is being said it is really concerning in some of the cases of street harassment. Caution definitely needed and I wonder how much the school has taken the threats onboard, or if it is based on holidays 30 years ago.

Many, many lovely people and I do love the region. I rarely went out after dark.

@FlyingWithRyan
Exactly. DH's family are lovely but even they watch out for me if we are out in some places. Algeria doesn't have the level of tourism that Morocco does so there aren't tourist hotspots that are targeted. None the less I dress modestly and cover my hair when we are out (I am not Muslim) and adapt my behaviour to local norms to avoid attention.

Those of us with families and lived experience in the places you mention in your post know what it's like for young (and not so young) western women. As an 18 year old, wearing modest clothing and walking around the capital city of aforementioned country got groped twice during one short outing by disgusting, dumbass stupid young men. They walk past, grab your crotch or breasts and disappear swiftly back into the crowd. All the many other times we get leered at and accosted. Do all MENA men do this? Of course not, some of the most fantastic and least sexist men I have ever met are from MENA. Is it part of street culture for a vast number of weird young and not so young men in these places? Absofuckinglutely.

*North African

Chaz, I too back packed around the world on my own, I have visited nothing African countries with my prebuscent and teenage daughters, and found little sexual harassment, no more than in the UK. We have had different experiences. So I would trust a school to take care of my kids on the adventure of a lifetime.

PP who haven't used a squat toilet in Morocco, haven't even seen one there, cool.

But other posters have. And they're not describing pristine porcelain.

So now, imagine you've got your period. You're away from home. You're 11-13.

Or

You've got horrific food poisoning and peeing poo.

Now go and squat, don't slip in the "liquid" if it's wet, or the sludge if it's not.

Toilet paper not there as you use then wash your hands.

I mean exactly how graphic does it have to be before you say, "Ok, not ok for my child".

Even clean squat toilets are uncomfortable experiences for anybody not used to squatting. Add in all the other things that go with them, then add the "bonus" experiences for females, in backwater areas, and why on earth would you want your tween DD to go through this?

And I agree that toilets shouldn't be an issue in Morocco and I don't think that it's a given that they will be. However, a bus loads of kids in a country where at least one of them is likely to get a stomach bug, coupled with a bus journey to and fro a rural area and it's a very high likelihood.

I'd say if you want your DD to experience Morocco, then take her there yourself. It's a great place. I haven't been with my kids, but I would take them. Not for a school trip though.

I've backpacked around the world on my own including countries like India and Turkey as well as South East Asia so I am reasonably "adventurous". I've been visiting North Africa for over 20 years including at times when the FCO advised against travel. When I visit Algeria I live with DH's family so have a pretty good sense of the culture. I speak some Arabic and reasonable French (we are a bilingual household as DH speaks Arabic to the DC). What real understanding do you have of life in North Africa?

There is nothing adventurous about teenage girls being exposed to street harassment. There is nothing adventurous about unsafe public toilets.

It sounds like we've had very different experiences in the same place, however, I'm still not sure I would shield my kids from low grade toilet situations as you describe, that would rule out quite a lot of countries. I want them to be adventurous in their lives

Yeah they are really really not the same. I’ve never seen an open sewerage pipe offered as the toilet in a UK roadside toilet, with no running water, no lock on the door, and a crowd of men gathered outside when you come out 5 seconds after going in. Don’t lie and say you think the hygiene standards and treatment of women are even close.

Like I’ve mentioned, I live in the Middle East and Morocco is one of the last countries I would send a tween girl to without one on one parental supervision.

I wouldn't be happy to let my DD go, but it would come down to her choice. I think she'd be safer and have a better experience as part of a large group than on a family holiday.

Personally, I wouldn't go if you paid me. I hate the constant unwanted staring, hassling, touching and worry.

The £1k trip would be enough to say no, the experiences others have noted just add more reasons.

I just got back from Marrakech 3 weeks ago, went with my 2 female friends. I wouldn't return without a man. I have red hair and in Marrakech itself I had random men coming up trying to touch it and they generally viewed us as pieces of shit they could deride and mock - some of the male hotel staff were lovely but some were comolete mysoginistic arseholes. I am not sure the staff could manage this level of micro agressions that will be directed at the female students.

Sorry, this is the comment I agreed with.

I agree with this.

I also suspect that £1k is not outrageous for this trip. The days of extremely cheap travel are behind us - my husband struggled to get flights to and from France in the February half term for much less than a grand each - and we are in a period of fairly high inflation. Whether people can afford a grand for a school trip is another question.

I've also posted about the massively overloaded lorries on the road from Marrakesh to Ouarzazate. One nearly tipped in front of us and when DH discussed it at a local petrol station, we were told that accidents are common. DH is Algerian and didn't come to the UK until he was in his 20's so he learnt to drive in N Africa. We visit his family most years in the last 20+ years and have driven widely in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. Those lorries on the winding roads to Ouarzazate was one of the few times I have I have ever seen him so worried.

You can’t really compare Morocco to France!

@PurpleWisteria1

"You wouldn’t send a child on an abroad school trip? What any age?
Do you have any kids? How old are they?
Round here all year 5’s go on a 2 night stay in France!
Then in many secondary schools there are opportunities for kids to go abroad every year - maybe for 1 /2 nights, maybe longer.
Not North Africa countries possibly but lots of European, USA, Singapore, Japan and even to the rain forest for conservation.
Amazing opportunities with their peers and other trusted adults who arnt you."

Yes I do have children. One is an older teen and one is a preschooler.

I am a well travelled adult (including north African countries) that went on zero holidays without a parent as a child. I survived! 🤷 For me as a child my parents simply couldn't have a afforded it. For me as a parent it's a big big NOPE.

They can do UK school trips and go abroad with me or their dad. They'll live, just like I did.

I'm in England. Have never heard of year 5 kids going abroad with school so I think it must vary regionally what schools offer in terms of residential trips. My eldest went on a year six residential school trip but it was UK not abroad.

Again, 'my friend', roadside cafe toilets are the same as uk ones. And what's wrong with the roads, missed that one

A 13/14 year old girl, just started periods? You think squat toilets are like the ones you get in the UK or an old French Bar?

My 14 year old will not even flush anything (as has been drummed into her)

No my friend, they are not. They are overflowing with shit and unsafe with no toilet paper or soap.
In a nice restaurant or the Versace hotel in Marrakech? OBVIOUSLY NOT.

In a roadside Cafe or in a campsite OBVIOUSLY YES.

Everyone, except one PP is ignoring my point about roads. Not safe at all.

Fancylike, my kids have been on camping trips in the UK with squat hole toilets, is it really a reason not to let your kid go on an amazing adventure?

Oh don’t be silly. Since the dawn of time there have been overly expensive school trips that have coincided with economic meltdowns. Do you really think they didn’t happen?

+But not everyone is in crisis, and it’s not compulsory*
how very “let them eat cake” of you.